ILGM Support Ticket:
What is the strain and type?
AK47 Feminized
Indoor or Outdoor? Containers?
Indoor in recycled 1 quart yogurt tubs
Size of space?
24"x18"x24" home designed seedling starter. It has two 40mm cpu fans on the sides of the box pulling air in, and two on the top pushing air out. Lights are two 5500K CFL’s.
Soil or Hydro? Type of Medium used? System type?
Soil. 40% organic top soil 40% organic compost 10% Perlite.
pH? Of the soil or medium (root zone/reservoir/run-off) and of the water and/or nutrient mix that is fed to the plant?
Unknown. I’m going to get some test strips today to use until my handheld arrives.
Type and strength of nutrients used? NPK?
No nutes yet.
EC/TDS/PPM levels? Of what you feed it as well as what is in the water by itself and in the soil/medium (run-off), or reservoir.
Unknown. I feed them RO water.
Temperature? Day vs. night temp or highest andlowest temps? Root zone temps?
Night 71°F. Day 76°F.
Humidity %? Day vs. night
Unknown.
Light system/watts/lumens/FLUX/PAR?
Two 5500K CFL’s at 1660 Lumens each.
Ventilation system? Size? CFM? CO2? AC,
Two 40mm pulling fans. Two 40mm pushing fans.
Humidifier, De-humidifier?
None
Number “weeks/days” from into Season, Vegetative Growth or Bloom/flowering?
12 days from sprouting.
NOW MY ISSUE:
Seedlings have been turning from a nice healthy dark green color, to a lighter green almost yellow color and starting to droop. I have included some pics. The pics don’t really show the true light green color. Any ideas??
this would be my first concern aside from not knowing the ph of your soil too hot (nutrient rich) soil can and will cause the above mentioned as well over watering may as well. Seedlings start best in almost nutrient free soil to hot and it will struggle or die before it establishes roots your plants may yet recover they have the signs of nute burn. All I can suggest is to try flushing your soil with correctly ph’d water run 3-4 times the containers size of water through your soil it may help as long as there is still new growth you have a chance.
Thanks for the input. So flush with a gallon of RO water. What soil should I have started them in? Would a simple potting soil have been better? Finally, how can I control the ph of the water prior to feeding?
Most gardening stores sell seed starting soils and potting mixes I use Sunshine mix #4 or Pro-mix you can use what you have for soil just use after your plants are ready for transplant 5 nodes or more by then they should better handle a hotter soil, mind you many suggest use only in bottom third of pot for nutrient rich soils.
if you don’t have a hydro shop in town and no time to order you can get ph up and down from pet store the same stuff they use for fish tanks will work they also sell ph test kits but can be more costly
Thanks for all of the input, DonaldJ. I have a Dr Meter PH Tester ordered. It just hasn’t arrived yet. Headed to WalMart in the morning for some test strips for now. I just finished flushing the soil on my seedlings. Hopefully its not too late. If they don’t start to pep up, should I consider transplanting them out of this composted mixture?
almost impossible to successfully transplant when a seedling is that small even worse odds if that seedling has already gone through stress after flushing they may recover and pick up.
Gonna have to start new seedlings, I fear. I flushed them last night. One is WRECKED… One might make it, but is practically yellow. When I go to start these next 2 seedlings, can I start them in some EarthGro?
I would go with a peat pellet or simple peat perilite mix you want a soil with almost no N-P-K most soils are marked on the bag somewhere I start seeds in Jiffy peat pellets soaked in pH’d water no nutes let them get to second or third set of true leaves I wait for roots visibly coming out of peat pellet to plant them in soil then it’s simple solo cup for another week or so I like to get first couple feedings into them in cups so after 5 nodes I transplant with fem or reg seeds I will transplant from solo cup to 1 ltr pot this encourages root mass to spread horizontal not just vertical better utilizing my soil.
Biggest thing is to use soil with no or super low n-p-k to start
Yes, most places, even a big box store like walmart, homedepot, etc, should have a “seedling starter” soil and this would be your best bet and will have very low NPK values as Donald has spoken about, he’s given you some good advice there and I agree that was most likely your problem with your seedlings in this post.
Hey guys. Just wanted you to see the seedlings that I flushed out the other night. These 2 look ok to me! 1 didn’t do so hot. So I am using that seedling as a transplant experiment. Not looking very promising, though. But check these 2 out! How are they looking to you???
Thanks for the direction. I’ve also found some 105W 6500k bulbs for $22 a pair. Gonna get 4 of them and 4 42W 2700k’s. Back on track! Thank you again, for your input. I know you guys see the same things over and over again with us noobs. Your patience is appreciated.
