Newbie Semi Disaster

[colacalyx]

Hi Guys,

 

I was wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction to save my babies.

 

They are growing under a semi-cheap Full Spectrum LED light, in a coco/pierlite/seedling mix blend 

 

They'd be a few weeks old now and a few days ago one of the seedlings began to get a few black/grey splotches, then after a day or so started to yellow.

 

I have grown in the past but not from seed, or starting them indoors, so totally new territory.

 

The first starting to suffer was in the red pot

 

 

Then the second has started with the splotches and ended up drooping, in the Dark Blue Pot

 

 

 

And now the third is getting the splotches just starting now, lighter blue pot.

You can only just sort of make out the greyness on the top leaf towards the tips.

 

 

 

I will also add when they started looking sick,I decided to try and perk them up with a weak seasol feed.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

After running the customs gauntlet for the seeds, would be heartbreaking to lose them now due to being a peanut.

 

Thanks.

[Carlos Danger Mouse]

youre loving them to death. stop trying so hard. and stop overwatering... last thing, if youre doing things indoors buy a real light

[colacalyx]

Thanks.

I haven't watered them for a few days as I thought I might have overwatered.

 

The idea was just to get them started indoors, then they'll be going outside.

[slicker1]

youre loving them to death. stop trying so hard. and stop overwatering... last thing, if youre doing things indoors buy a real light

dead right Carlos.

put them out into a sunny spot and leave them alone.

dont water them until they are dry to an inch below the surface.

dont give them any nutrients.

if there are snails around where you put them put snail bait all around the outsides of the pots.

and good luck, they can recover from here but only if you stop killing them with kindness, there a weed.

[Evo13]

What slicker1 said and throw out ur cheap led unless u spend the money and buy a good led therw useless!

 

Evo13

[Sir PsychoHashy]

If they're genuinely a few weeks old, then you've definitely been doing things horribly wrong, they should be at 5-6 nodes, lush green, and spreading out with small branches by now.  Going to have to assume you've been doing at least 2 things wrong, with overwatering at the top of the list, followed by the wrong feed.  They are clearly starving now, but for the 1st week or so they would have been okay with the reserves in the cotyledons, so you must have bogged them down so badly with saturated coco that they couldn't get enough oxygen to grow after the first few days.  Problem you have now is that they can only get nutrition through their roots, which are not only drowning, but also unable to access food as you are using completely the wrong nutrients for coco/perlite, which is a hydroponic medium.  And they are clearly starving, amongst other things.

 

To have any chance of saving them I would do the following:

 

• Get some coco specific nutrients, as in hydroponic nutrients specifically designed for coco.
• Make up some nutes at about half strength.  Get yourself PH and EC meters for future nutrient mixing.
• Put some fresh coco/perlite in a tub and hydrate it with the above mix.
• Take your plants out of their pots, and as gently as possible remove as much of the coco as you can without damaging what rootball they have.  A bucket with some lukewarm water is a gentle way to do this.
• Check the roots, if they are slimy and brownish with an icky smell, bin them and start from scratch, if not, continue.
• Repot in the fresh coco/perlite.  As you put the new mix in the pot, grab a handful and squeeze out excess moisture before putting it in.
• Feel the weight of the pot, and don't water them until it is near as light as it would be with dry coco.
• Give them light and just leave them the fuck alone for a few days.

 

As for the LED, not a fan myself, but I have seen others get some nice results with them except for yield, so do whatever you want on that front.

 

Best of luck.

[flamstaa]

If they're genuinely a few weeks old, then you've definitely been doing things horribly wrong, they should be at 5-6 nodes, lush green, and spreading out with small branches by now.  Going to have to assume you've been doing at least 2 things wrong, with overwatering at the top of the list, followed by the wrong feed.  They are clearly starving now, but for the 1st week or so they would have been okay with the reserves in the cotyledons, so you must have bogged them down so badly with saturated coco that they couldn't get enough oxygen to grow after the first few days.  Problem you have now is that they can only get nutrition through their roots, which are not only drowning, but also unable to access food as you are using completely the wrong nutrients for coco/perlite, which is a hydroponic medium.  And they are clearly starving, amongst other things.

 

To have any chance of saving them I would do the following:

 

• Get some coco specific nutrients, as in hydroponic nutrients specifically designed for coco.
• Make up some nutes at about half strength.  Get yourself PH and EC meters for future nutrient mixing.
• Put some fresh coco/perlite in a tub and hydrate it with the above mix.
• Take your plants out of their pots, and as gently as possible remove as much of the coco as you can without damaging what rootball they have.  A bucket with some lukewarm water is a gentle way to do this.
• Check the roots, if they are slimy and brownish with an icky smell, bin them and start from scratch, if not, continue.
• Repot in the fresh coco/perlite.  As you put the new mix in the pot, grab a handful and squeeze out excess moisture before putting it in.
• Feel the weight of the pot, and don't water them until it is near as light as it would be with dry coco.
• Give them light and just leave them the fuck alone for a few days.

 

As for the LED, not a fan myself, but I have seen others get some nice results with them except for yield, so do whatever you want on that front.

 

Best of luck.

Spot on.

 

I've done this before to struggling seedlings and resurrected them, in fact I've got a couple I germinated in too hot potting mix that are coming back to life now repotted in coco.

 

Do you have an EC pen and PH meter? particularly at this stage of development - Absolutely essential!

 

Personally I feed at an EC of around 0.8 at that stage but after 2-3 sets of leaves, bumping it up to 1.0-1.1. Seedlings are very tricky and personally I've found it the most difficult stage to manage successfully although after many trials and tribulations am getting better more consistant results. I'd also add some Seasol when you re-pot

 

Good luck!

[colacalyx]

Thanks Slicker.

Thanks Hashy.

 

After reading Slickers comments, I did put them out in the Sun yesterday for a while, they seemed to appreciate that.

 

I'll try and re-pot them tomorrow and start praying.

 

If all else fails, I can get some clones from my usual supplier, but thought I'd give growing from seed a go this year, regretting that now, .

 

@flamstaa No fancy kit here

[colacalyx]

Well 2 weeks after the mistakes, the plants have regained some composure but seem to be struggling all the same. I'm thinking they are lost causes.

I didn't have time to repot them but have introduced some Hy-Gen Cornucopia Grow which worked. The whole escapade seems to have stunted their rate of growth though.

When the disaster happened, I decided it was best to plant another seed as a fall back. I used a free Heavyweight Seeds Strawberry Cheesecake. That's her in the bottom right of the pic. She;'d have probably sprouted on the 14th November.

 

If only I didn't mess things up initially. 

 

Oh well, live and learn.

 

What are your guys thoughts, give up on the other 3??

[Harry Bootlace]

unless you dont want 4 plants, i wouldnt give up, look ok to me.

maybe slow going, but who knows?