Hello and thanks in advance because I know there is some real expertise on this forum.
So I’m a first time grower and I live in the Yucatan one of the hottest and most humid parts of Mexico. I acquired some autoflower seeds and managed to successfully germinate two of them: A white widow XXL and a Deimos XXL. The two plants seemed to be growing nicely on my sunny roof in 5L pots with a basic soil enriched with some compost and dried manure. I water well but only once the pot is quite dry, using tap water and some vinegar to push the PH to around 6 to compensate for the local soil which is a little chalky and maybe just above 7. A full week has passed since the first two tiny serrated leaves appeared on each plant but now the Widow seems to have stunted whereas the Deimos is going from strength to strength.
The Deimos has now sprouted a second pair of serrated leaves and is looking generally larger and slightly greener, but the Widow has been roughly the same size for about 3 days and the second set of true leaves came out looking like tiny coiled tendrils and don’t seem to be developing much at all. Also the first set of true leaves point noticeably upwards and not outwards. I hope I have detected this problem in time to save the plant. I have a small bag of what looks like coco, peat and perlite which is unused, if the Widow is critical should I maybe repot to a solo cup and some of this light starter mix? I am going to share some close up photos of each for comparison, in which you should be able to see the wierd tendrils that the Widow (first photo) has produced instead of a second healthy pair of true leaves which the Deimos (second photo) now has.
Don’t do anything. It looks great! Be patient.
And welcome to the forum!
Thanks OlyBoy and yes, it’s true that i am a noob and i can’t stop checking my plants and worrying that there’s something wrong with them. But the plant in the first photo does seem to be a bit yellower, smaller and with more shrivelled new leaves compared to the plant in the second, even more so since the photo was taken. So you don’t advise changing to a small cup with some of the packet growing medium then?
I am a noob too. I still love obsessing over my little plants.
Simone else with more experience might advise on taking corrective actions, but I think those tendrils will unfurl and the colors will even out.
You mentioned the humidity of where you live. Are your seedlings also under domes?
No they aren’t. I figured domes were little greenhouses for people growing in climates where the temps drop in the night. Do you think they might help here? It already feels like a greenhouse
The dome also helps protect the plant, stabilize humidity and focus the sun light.
Oh right. Sounds like it might have some benefits, although the sunlight levels are already pretty fierce here, like you can fry and egg on your car roof at midday
No to the dome. Agree with your sun she would cook in no time. I just had a seedling with similar swirled set of leaves. It was because she had a hard time throwing the seen husk. But she came around and other than having 2 apical stems, she is fine. It took 10 - 14 days
I hope you keep us posted with more updates and pics!