I have had about 6 of my seeds sprout and start growing fine, and then once they’re about 3 inches tall and have a couple of their first true leaves they suddenly die and fall over. Idk what’s causing this or what to do to prevent it, and I’m wasting my seeds.
I’m using the A Pot for Pot little white sprouting pods/pots. I have tried it with Apple fritter autos and LSD fem. (The LSD also has a bigger pot to put it in once it gets bigger)
I have tried putting a baggie over the top so they don’t dry out and they do great for awhile, then I take the baggie off once it’s pretty tall and it does fine for another few days then suddenly I find them toppled over and dead. Should I leave the baggie on longer? Should I not even be using a baggie?
If you use a dome (the baggie) then watering of the soil is unnecessary. If you choose to water instead of using a dome then seedlings only need a few ml of water per day. Seedlings are very susceptible to overwatering. It’s the most common cause of lost seedlings.
I have a bunch of non-cannabis indoor plants, so I have a ton of grow lights all over my house. So I was just planning on putting it under one of those. I also have a few halo lights from Amazon I could use if it isn’t enough light from one of the big grow lamps
The light is inadequate for flowering cannabis. It is short on wattage and the light spectrum is incorrect at 6k white. Cannabis needs red spectrum to be productive.
Cannabis is an extremely light hungry plant. The only plants that require as much light as cannabis include palm trees, olive trees, and some varieties of cacti. A typical house plant requires far less lighting than is needed to grow cannabis. I suggest good lighting with Samsung LM301 series diodes. HLG, Mars Hydro, and Spider Farmer all sell decent lights. Expect to pay a little over $1 per watt for good lighting.
Lighting for 6 plants is going to be very expensive.
There are 2 ways to calculate lighting requirements. One is to have 45 watts of lighting per square foot of canopy space. Since you are a new grower and don’t understand what a mature canopy looks like, I suggest keeping it simple and shooting for a minimum of 200 watts per plant.
I also have this grow light, which is what my black sapote and mamey plants are under. I have another bulb like this I can use for them too. Would this be adequate or should I invest in one you suggested instead?
I expect it is due to too much water. Cannabis tolerates dry soil far better than wet soil, especially at the seedling stage. All a seedling has is a single tap root. Roots need oxygen and it is difficult for a seedling to extract oxygen from the soil if it is wet all the time. Soil should be watered and then left to dry out before watering again.
The Suraielec light is not a 200 watt equivalent, it is a 30 watt bulb. An actual 200 watt light is going to cost a little over $200. Some light makers puff up their light’s capabilities by using fraudulent calculations. This is one of them. You can avoid this by insisting on a light built with LM301 diodes.
It is, but it is underpowered. It’s only a 100 watt light. It’s okay through the veg stage, but you’ll need more wattage to maximize harvest yield during flowering. If I were to use that light, I would run at least 2 of them per plant.
I run three 135 watt panels per plant on my grows and get results like this. I believe I hauled 12 ounces from this plant.
The most common mistake is over water in the seedling stage as pointed out already. Any pictures you may have could maybe help us give better advice.
Light’s also can sometimes be confusing.
Advertising sometimes makes it seem like you get more light then you actually do.
For example, light manufacturers will use 1000 watts worth of LED diodes and then use a 100 watt driver, and call it a 1000w light, when in reality it’s a 100w light.
As growers, we are interested in actually “power draw” or “power usage” from the wall.
For example, here’s a 300watt light that actually pulls 300ish watts of power from the wall.
That 300watt driver powers a LED board that contains probably 3000 watts worth of LED diodes. But its a 300 watt light not 3000 watts like some shady manufacturers would make it seem.
Here is how they scam the numbers. The theoretical max wattage per diode is 10 watts, so they rate each diode at 10 watts and sum total wattage based on the number of diodes. The problem is that actual wattage per diode is limited to ~2 watts in practice for older generation LEDs.
Quality LEDs like the LM301 are far more efficient and consume only 0.2 watts per diode.
Have you tried straight coco coir (such as canna bricks)? It pretty much eliminates overwatering issues you may be having. You do have to water daily but let’s get past the seedling stage. You can get Canna bricks off Amazon and then rehydrate them in a 5 gallon bucket using ph’d water (I stick to 5.8-6.0 on ph). I dome using clear solo cups (smaller sized ones) with a hole poked in the bottom. I don’t water until I see some actual leaves growing, instead I mist the inside of the dome daily. I do start all my seeds after germination in a solo cup with holes punched in the bottom. As mentioned above you’ll need to invest in a decent light to be successful. It’s probably the biggest expense in this hobby. I personally am running 3 tents and have well over $2k in just lights. You don’t need to go big at first. If you’re doing a plant or two, follow what @MidwestGuy said. Stay off Amazon for lights lol, they tend to exaggerate on actual wattage. HLG makes great lights, spider farmer is good as well. Good luck, just keep trying but only do the amount of plants you have lighting and space for.
Skeptical of this. It is a Samsung metric and who knows how they developed the number. A literal look at it suggests that a 100w light would require >500 diodes, and that just isn’t the case.
It’s the baggie! Cannabis needs fresh air. Too much humidity, too much water and your seedling will drown.
As many others have said, you will want to find a better light. The bare minimum a cannabis plant needs is 35 actual watts (referring to the wattage draw, not the brightness equivalency), but she will prefer much higher-- like in the 100-200 watt range.
Don’t forget our grow coaches are always available to help via email! We are dedicated to your success.
Welcome to the community. The members of this group are very knowledgeable and will help you save money in the long run. Don’t be like me and end up with a corner in your grow room with items you purchased but no longer use. It can be a little pricey buying what works best for your grow but you will be all smiles on harvest day. You can also get refurbished sometimes or used but be careful. Lights usually have a 5 year warranty. Market place has a lot of grow tools. Good luck and happy growing!
Is it the baggie if it grows well with the baggie but dies when I take it off?
I do what the A Pot for Pot instructions said and just hydrate the seed starting pod and plant the germinated seed. Then I ignore it I added the baggie just the last two seeds I tried planting (after the first 4 died) and they grew bigger and longer, but then died when I took the baggie off.
I wonder if the room they are in is too warm? It’s around 75-78°F, which I just read is good for germination but may be too warm for the seedlings? I could move them to a slightly cooler room for awhile until they’re more hardy, if that would help. I just need that room to stay that warm for my tropical plants that are in there too. Thoughts?
I use a dome and it is 80°F and 80% humidity in there for 1-2 weeks. I have only had to give water to 1 seedling using this method in that 2 week period. I pre-moisten the soil before I drop the bean and it is ready to go by the time she pops a tail.
It gets like a lil rainforest in there.
I also transition her to no dome by opening the vents a bit each day after the first week. Going from that enviro to nothing at once will cause probs as well. Call it hardening her off.
Consider the VPD. Temperature and humidity play off each other. Can you show a picture of the ‘bigger and longer’? Cannabis is not a tropical plant. But seedlings are okay at warmer temperatures. Cooler temperatures are most important during the late flowering stage.
Could be just a shock to the system going from extreme humidity (under a baggie) to fresh air.
and start growing fine, and then once they’re about 3 inches tall and have a couple of their first true leaves they suddenly die and fall over. Idk what’s causing this or what to do to prevent it, and I’m wasting my seeds.
I added the baggie just the last two seeds I tried planting (after the first 4 died) and they grew bigger and longer, but then died when I took the baggie off.
