These are the first plants we’ve ever grown and they’re only 2 weeks old, Gorilla Glue Autoflower seedlings, but we’ve had so many issues so far. Currently dealing with leaves that seem to be folding downward and yellowing cotyledons. Not severe, but their growth has slowed and we’re worried about their progress for 2 weeks!
Here’s our stats:
Strain: Gorilla Glue
Type (fem/auto/reg): Auto
Climate (indoor/outdoor): Indoor
Medium (soil/hydro/details): Peat moss/compost/perlite/vermiculite
pH of runoff or solution in reservoir: N/A
Nutrient mix strength (EC/TDS): None, yet, but Canna Veg/Flora for later
Light type & schedule: 18/6
Temperatures day & night: 70-73 F, 22-25 C
Humidity day & night: 40%-50% 24/7
Ventilation: Yes
AC: No
Humidifier: Yes
De-humidifier: No
Under a 600w MH positioned about 4 feet above them.
It should be noted that our ballast failed about a week and a half in and we had to switch from a 400w MH to a 600w MH to replace it, we’re not sure if this may have caused it. Overwatering seemed like a suspect, but spacing out the intervals of watering (about every 2 days) didn’t seem to help much. The first set of leaves seem to be doing okay, but new growth seems to be drooping downward. All-over color looks an unpleasant light green color. If anything about our set up looks wrong please let us know. Any help would be much appreciated!
Keep an eye on it, but I don’t know that there is much to worry about at this point, particularly if overwatered. Backing off the watering will help. Cannabis doesn’t like wet feet. A ml or 2 of water a day is sufficient at this point. Watering can increase as she grows.
Some growers put a clear, plastic dome over their seedlings (I do.) Mist inside the dome a couple of times per day to keep the humidity up and she will need very little water applied to the soil.
You shouldn’t need no more than 5 to 10 ml at this point. Make sure to do a spiral circle away from the plants. This will cause the roots to search for the water and lay down some nice roots.
Thanks everyone, taking notes on all this! Is it fair to say this is most likely an over-watering problem? We haven’t been drenching them but have definitely been going beyond the threshold of mL’s.
We’ve spaced out the watering and the seedlings are hanging in there, though the cotyledons are now yellowing significantly. We aren’t using more than 5-10 mL every 2 days, and just started using the spiral method as well. We’re hoping we’re on the right track, if anyone has any other takes on what might be wrong with them, please let us know.
They’re still very small and slow growing, but the most we can do now is wait and pray they improve.
Welcome to the forum, great bunch here. Your babies look ok. That’s a big pot for such a small plant you might want to consider starting your next grow in smaller pots. I use 6 inch pots to start them off then when the leaves are touching the sides I move them to their forever homes. Some growers do this some don’t the choice is yours but for me it makes water management a lot easier. A lot of growers start in solo cups with drainage holes in the bottom but like I say the choice is yours
Thank you! We definitely wish we could have started them smaller and potted up, but ILGM (and everywhere else, pretty much) said autoflowers should be started in their final pot because their short lifespan’s can’t recover from the stress of transplanting.
Do you think this is valid? Sometimes we wonder if we should have at least started them in a solo cup because potting this big has been SUCH a headache
I wouldn’t move them now but future grows for sure. I have 4 autos in small pots just now and I will transplant into 3 gal pots in around a week. I have one that’s been transplanted and one that’s just finished and both were fine. Just be super careful not to disturb the roots. I used to do 3 sizes of pot but that was a proper pia. Now it’s small pot then forever home and it works just fine for me
If you need anybody’s attention then put an @ in front of their user name. That will bring them here. Like @DragonQueen or @Davyg. Puts a flag up in the top right of the screen
@Davyg < I see, ty! I think that’s the right idea. I’d be willing to risk whatever “stress from transplanting” may happen just to get a seedling to grow beyond this stage in the first place! What’s the danger of transplant stress if the seedling never grows bigger than 2 inches because the pots too freakin’ big, lol
Will do a 2 or 3 pot method from now on, even with autos, and we may just switch to regular feminized seeds next time. Seems to be more intuitive and straightforward than autos have been.
All my grows have been feminised. I use autos to fill the gap between the photos. Never had a massive yield with my autos but they keep things ticking over. For sure on the pots. 3 pot means wrestling with a longish plant and I was getting damage so switched to 2 pots. Less stress for me
@Davyg We lament going with autos, honestly. We thought it would be more idiot proof as they’re largely heralded as “good for beginners”, but there’s just so much more obvious steps with fems that make them more stress-free. Will get through the rest of the seeds we have and go feminized in the future.
We’ve had fungus gnats, failed ballasts, problems germinating and about every other problem in the book with these, so we reckon we’re savvy enough by now anyway! Thanks so much anyway!
No worries, my first grows you would swear I was trying to kill my plants but “skill to do comes from doing”. Enjoy your grow and keep the questions coming.
@Davyg Thanks so much for the encouragement! Out of curiosity, did you ever actually kill any of them? We’re wondering what the likelihood is of them just dying completely.
I actually forgot about them. They were around 5 weeks old and I left them in my greenhouse, in the dead of summer with no water and temperatures of 100+ for 3 days. When I finally remembered I went round and they were brown. I could lift the weightless compost and rootball out the pot with zero effort they were that dry. I could take a leaf, rub it in my hand, powder it and blow the dust off my hand it was that fine. I was so close to composting it but I watered just out of curiosity and it survived. I had it in a big propagator where I added loads of water and brought the humidity right up and just watched it. Slowly little bits of green started to appear, like field mice sticking their noses out of a hole. As it got bigger I trimmed the brown leaves off and away it went
Their biggest killer is rot from being too wet, particularly in the early stages
It’s so good to get advice from other growers, we’re very stressed first-time parents.
