Durban Poison seedling growth.

[TheHungryCaterpillar]

Howdy, newbie THC here from SE Australia. Occasional outdoor grower for personal use.
I did a number of outdoor grows in my 20's...made some mistakes but grew some decent smoke without the knowledge that is available since the interwebz. Now in my 40's I picked up a heap of seeds from a hermied plant some years back. No idea on the strain but have grown a number of healthy females since. There's a perfumed lady vegging nicely in the backyard atm.
So this season together with my usual seeds I decided to buy some Dutch Passion Durban Poison seeds from a UK seedbank. I miss those heady Sativa days from my youth. Also supposedly it's an easy and hardy strain to grow.

Three feminzed seeds....I planned to grow one plant only this season.
The first seed didn't pop using the paper towel method. Soaked it in cooled boiled water for 24 hours before returned to the towels. Shoot then came out and grew quickly. I planted it with the husk still attached in a 30% seedling/cutting mix 20% composted soil and 50% perlite. The seedling didn't shake the husk off and was dead within 48hours with the husk and the embryo detaching from the long seedling stem. Thought that was pretty quick and severe but lesson learnt. .
Germinated the second seed using the same method. Planted her in a similar mix with the husk underground. The following morning it had sprouted successfully. Over the next few days it shot up in stem height at an incredible rate. The first leaves showed and the second set could be seen just forming. After about a week it suddenly stopped growing and producing the second fan leaves. At around 10 days I noticed the cotyledon was dying and within 48hours the plant had shrivelled from the top and was not saveable.
I tend to underwater my plants a little to develop a strong root system but I always keep the soil moist for seedlings. Use sterilised cooled boiled water. The seedling also had limited sunshine time but was outside on a mild day when she wilted.
Onto the third seed which I germinated a week ago. It's followed the same pattern as the second seedling. I can see the second set of leaves forming and is currently just over 8cm.
Difference to 2nd attempt - This time I used more of the soil rather than the seedling mix (maybe too hot?). I also sterilised the soil in case there was disease. Added 5-10% vermiculite. I'm using distilled water with a touch of seasol diluted when watering. In my growing experience I've never bothered with testing PH as our local water is A1.

Anyway Pics are attached at days 2, 3 and 5.

Day 2 - 3.5cm
Day 3 - 6cm
Day 5 - 8cm

 

Obviously I'm pretty worried she's gonna go the way of the second seedling.

She's a sativa so is prone to stretch....but from pics of durban poison seedlings i've seen on the net this don't look right. I'll expose that stem to a bit of wind or fan this week to see if i can get the plant to concentrate its energies on thickening the stem.

Any advice or suggestion on this leggy thing would be appreciated.

It wouldn't be a light issue given it's less than a week old. right?

I'm thinking perhaps I got some seeds with dodgy genetics but that could be the paranoia kicking in.


Peace THC

 

Soz there's no pics,,..Can't load my png files. *Uploaded day 5 as my avator  

Edited December 14, 2015 by TheHungryCaterpillar

[Matanuska Thunder]

"It wouldn't be a light issue given it's less than a week old. right?"[/size]

wrong,[/size] it can be a light issue (not enough)[/size]

 

the stretch is (most likely) because 'she' is looking for light

 gently build up the soil mix around her stem, probably halfway or a little more but not all the way to the top[/size]

 

no need for seasol yet [/size]

 

the photos you are trying to upload ... be sure to hit 'more reply options' on the bottom right of the screen

Edited December 15, 2015 by Matanuska Thunder

[crow]

...*Uploaded day 5 as my avator  

 

 

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your grow.