Unhappy seedlings :-(

[MtRainDog]

Seedlings growing in a perlie/ewc/compost mix. Very slow since birth. Both of these perked up a couple days ago, threw some bigger leaves out, and then the new growth showed yellowing/lime green working it's way from the top down it seems.

With the slow growth early on, I fed these some mild kelp meal/water solution. That perked them up a bit. I notice these don't seem to have much of a root structure to them, hardly any roots at all. Normally by this time I'd expect roots poking through the bottom of their cups.

But the yellowing is new. A nitrogen deficiency would seem odd given the medium and the kelp meal feeding. They definitely have trouble drinking, takes them forever to dry out. Maybe low porosity in the soil mix?

 

[H.A.F.]

Hungry?

 

[H.A.F.]

They might be ready for bigger shoes as well.

 

[MtRainDog]

Yeah I kinda see that maybe they're hungry feeders. The first feed they got definitely perked them up. Gave them a feed and foliar today of some mild 2-1-3. Hoping they'll bounce back.

I up-potted their two original bunk mates, and they aren't doing well either. I chose them because they were actually further along then these two... now these two look bigger/better lol. But when I transplanted them, they had hardly any roots at all. Weird.

 

[yougrowyourway]

Food diluted down 1/4 strength
Ahh nevermind you were already on it today. They'll be happy soon enough.

 

[H.A.F.]

If you look in my thread, (link in sig block) about 3 days ago I repotted my challenged seedlings. I put them in dry soil, and gently got most of the old soil off the roots. Mine were way smaller than yours when they hiccupped.

My problem was my addition to the seedling mix (neem seed meal) but today they are moving again. There's not much soil there, so anything little thing you did could have been too much.

They don't look bad though, but I agree on the possible N-deficiency. For me, any time I see anything that resembles an N, P, or K deficiency I just feed them. But I have never fed plants as big as yours still in a little cup. The thing about soil is that it is usually forgiving - the more the better.

 

[MtRainDog]

If you look in my thread, (link in sig block) about 3 days ago I repotted my challenged seedlings. I put them in dry soil, and gently got most of the old soil off the roots. Mine were way smaller than yours when they hiccupped.

My problem was my addition to the seedling mix (neem seed meal) but today they are moving again. There's not much soil there, so anything little thing you did could have been too much.

They don't look bad though, but I agree on the possible N-deficiency. For me, any time I see anything that resembles an N, P, or K deficiency I just feed them. But I have never fed plants as big as yours still in a little cup. The thing about soil is that it is usually forgiving - the more the better.

Thanks! Great advice, much appreciated

 

[H.A.F.]

Thanks! Great advice, much appreciated

If you are using "charged" soil (already has food stuff in it) putting them in new soil is also feeding them a little so go easy if at all with the nutes.

 

[MtRainDog]

If you are using "charged" soil (already has food stuff in it) putting them in new soil is also feeding them a little so go easy if at all with the nutes.

I start off in just ewc/perlite. The first up-pot is into some used soil (from previous grows), freshened up with just ewc/perlite. They won't go into the real stuff until they're in the final pots they'll flower in. 3 or 5 gal pots usually. I'm planning on going back to my DIY octopot-ish way of growing. I feel like they grow faster/more consistently when they can grow massive root balls into the water and drink at their own pace.

 

[H.A.F.]

Cool! I use new soil on the babies, and older soil (like recycled from culled males) can get used on older re-pots.

 

[H.A.F.]

Any soil that makes it to harvest goes to my tomatoes and stuff afterwards

 

[MtRainDog]

I do blame myself for some of the slowness. I think I had too much ewc and not enough perlite. My general rule of thumb is it should be able to dry out/need watering in a week no matter what pot it's in. These just started out damp I think. Caused them to not want to spit roots, and that just slowed everything down. I'll try up-potting these in a day or two, and get more dirt off the roots then I normally would as per your suggestion.

 

[H.A.F.]

I'll try up-potting these in a day or two, and get more dirt off the roots then I normally would as per your suggestion.

I knocked the dirt off because it was loose - I did not damage any roots. Yours will be cup-bound, so I wouldn't do anything different that your regular repot. If I had left the old soil, that is all my roots would have been touching, so it would have solved nothing. I let them dry out a day before I watered it in as well, just to make the damp soil around them dry out.

 

[MtRainDog]

I'll take some pics when I report these, because the other two I thought would be somewhat root bound, but they were everything but.

 

[MtRainDog]

So the two that were yellowing are both showing roots starting to poke out the bottom that’s usually my sign to up pot.

The other two that were already up-potted look sad. Their soil was pretty dry so they got fed today.

We had some cool, humid conditions yesterday. Poured rain all day. Humidity is on the decline now.

 

[H.A.F.]

I have been taking pointers from pros - so I am no expert. I was always hesitant about repotting, worried I would break something. I would go straight from solo cups to a 5-gallon pot. I now use a graduated system of up-potting and it also saves soil. Here's the nuggets, take what you like

I use half size (8oz?) solo cups for seeds. but I fill the cup almost full so there's room for the roots to spread. Probably the same amount of dirt as you have but easier to re-pot.

No matter the size of the starter cup, I only wait until the plant is established and about as tall as the cup before I go to a 1 gallon.

I don't feed anything until they have settled into the 1 gallon (3-4 weeks) then I start soaking and feeding. Before that it's just RO with cal-mag and let them eat the soil-food and stretch roots looking for it.

I only veg for about 4 weeks, then flip in the 1 gallon. Since I am running regs I wait until they show sex then the girls are usually big enough for a 3 gallon or bigger. Again, I go by plant-vs-pot size. pots are 12" tall, and the plants are around that when I repot.

General rule is 1 quart of soil per week of grow to keep them from being root bound. So for me, 4 week veg and ~8 week flower means a 3 gallon minimum for flower.

Hope there's something in there that helps.

 

[H.A.F.]

The soil I have from the 1 gallon pot males I cull gets saved and use it to repot the girls into 3-gallons.

 

[H.A.F.]

Oh, and it also makes managing the watering easier if they are in comparatively sized pots.

My recent run was in the 1 gallons for almost 2 weeks before I soaked them. The starting soil was moist but not damp, then I watered 200ml about every 3 days until it was evident the pots were getting light. Only took about 500ml to soak them at about day 28.

I think the 'relative' pot sizes helps them to drink the soil dry at a good 3-4 day rate. So when they start getting light earlier than that it's a sign to up-pot.