really slow seedling?

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kronicking421

Active Member
I was curious if anyone could help me out? All the strains in the pictures are the same except the last picture and were watered 6 hours earlier. All are autoflowers 3 of them fastbuds zkittles and 1 a free cheese seed. My plants are growing very slowly (around 3 weeks above ground) and am not sure what the cause is. I have a myriad of problems that could possibly be causing it but I was wondering if anyone sees anything specific. I am using CMH lighting using 630 watt cmh at the moment but have a 315 watt cmh that runs a lot cooler and brings my temps to only 23 C but I can't get it close enough to my plants so I thought I should try the 630 watt. My temps are high at 29 C and 23 C at night and humidity extremely low at 30% which I was putting domes over the plants to correct and spraying the inside to add humidity but it held the heat and was getting above 30 C. I am using promix HP mixed with quite a bit of extra perlite (possibly too much as the medium doesn't stay heavy for more than 2 days it may have dried out too much a couple of times) and a bit of worm castings but not much maybe 1/3 bucket gaia green each. I am watering using EM and liquid kelp fertilizer which I use to bring the ph down to 6.0 but watered them a couple times with a ph of 6.5 approximately and 5.8. I bought them from the following website Organic Gardener's Pantry - Fundamental ingredients for plants and soil. I just did a top dress a couple days ago of worm castings because of the pale leaves but I also see them curling so I don't know if it is N toxicity or deficiency or if I possibly shocked them by pouring water too quickly on the medium.. If anyone has any suggestions as to what the major problem is I would greatly appreciate it.


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kronicking421

Active Member
so I guess you're saying I should cut out the liquid kelp fertilizer? I was using it because I thought kelp was supposed to help the root system grow. I am not sure if it is possible to use too much EM but I use lots as I use it to adjust ph. Yea I was wondering if it was overwatering too because it looks like it to me but the pots seemed pretty damn light when I lifted them the last couple of times before watering. Also there is tons of perlite so the water seems to drain through easily and it feels light within a couple of days so I will have to let it go a little longer than usual and see what happens.
 
G

Green Refuge

Well-Known Member
I'm no expert but people on here and other forums were telling me my cmh 315 was too much for seedlings so I guess 630 would also be too much light ? Idk man I'd wait for more experienced people to answer.
 
D

Driver733

Well-Known Member
kronicking421 said:
.... My temps are high at 29 C and 23 C at night and humidity extremely low at 30% which I was putting domes over the plants to correct and spraying the inside to add humidity but it held the heat and was getting above 30 C.
Click to expand...
I had issues with yellowing and slow growth, and low humidity. I decided the humidity was so low (mine around 25%) that the seedlings were using too much water thru the roots and not getting enough water thru the leaves, this can cause issues that look like deficiencies.

I put a small evaporative humidifier ($40 rite aid) in the veg tent and set my ac infinity controller to exhaust over 65% humidity. This keeps the humidity from building up in the tent, sends the air directly outside, and passively draws fresh air into the tent.

Once I did this, the plants really took off and did well. I kept the humidifier in the tent right up until a couple days ago, I flipped them into flower.

Is that your problem? I don't know, this is what worked for me. Lots of people seem to think the plants are fine with low humidity, and that is true up to a point. Too low can really cause problems. Imagine the plant trying to grow in the desert, even with plenty of water at the roots it would struggle in the dry desert sun without humidity.
 
MickFoster

MickFoster

Well-Known Member
Starting in a large pot will almost always result in slow growth........it's difficult to maintain the proper moisture level.
3 weeks from sprout for a comparison.
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Good luck.
 
Rurumo

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
How close is the 630 to the seedlings? I have a feeling these are stunted due to too much light, a 630 would need to be at the very top of your tent, or room, and even then it might be too much light. Do you have a light meter on your phone? They aren't very accurate, but for things like this they can help determine if you are giving them too much light. It also looks overwatered.
 
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Dape Green

Well-Known Member
630 is way too much light. Even a 315 is pushing it at that stage unless you are really far away. You don’t have the root structure to feed yet. Just like when you put clones under strong light, they go yellow. Plants that size do so well under cheap fluorescent light. Leave them alone, no need to mess with them that much. Seeds come with everything they need to grow but water. Do an experiment and watch how long an a seed can go before it goes deficient. Will surely change the way you start your girls.
 
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kronicking421

Active Member
tthank you everyone for your responses so far. So I guess I will try to switch my cmh to my 315 watt cmh fixture and put it at the top of tent which is 6 foot. I am not quite sure what was too much food are you guys saying to not put any worm castings into soilless mix and too cut out the liquid kelp fertilizer till later on when in veg? Also is the EM okay to use in large quantities as I am using it to lower ph or should I find another way to lower ph? I am trying to use fully organic feeding (top dressing with gaia green worm castings and adding gaia green all purpose for later in veg then gaia green power bloom for flower) if anyone thinks this will not work for feeding the plant please let me know.
 
Rob Roy

Rob Roy

Well-Known Member
I've often wondered if some slow seedlings are a result of a slow to form or damaged root system. Not saying that's what's going on in your case, but I think it's possible some roots develop enough to technically keep the plant alive, but not enough for the plant to proceed developing like a normal seedling. I've waited some slow ones out, some never made it and some kicked in after a bit of time.

How root damage occurs could be grower induced or it could be just something not quite right with a given seedling. That's a hypothesis, maybe some sciency person will chime in?
 
K

kronicking421

Active Member
you know that is what I was thinking. I believe that I am watering the peat moss/perlite badly causing it to rise and compact due to puddling up the water from pouring to quickly or because I don't use a watering can to separate the stream (pour from a pitcher as slowly as I can that was filled with fresh high quality tap water with low chlorine content and lots of oxygen bubbles suspended in the water solution)
 
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kronicking421

Active Member
I just noticed when I shut off my ballast to take out a bulb that the red light on my heater was shining through the tape I put on it. Does anyone know if that could cause these issues?
 
K

kronicking421

Active Member
okay so I have raised the light the light to the top of the tent (6 ft) and removed a bulb so it is now 315 watts. I am going to water them with water and added EM every watering and possibly molasses every 4th watering or so (unless someone thinks I should cut out the EM or molasses). I think they were overwatered because I just felt some of the soilless mix and the dry portions and wet portions feel similar but a little different so I thought it was dry. The pots also seemed pretty light so I thought it was in need of some water. I will let it dry for longer and see what happens.
 
K

kronicking421

Active Member
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So I haven't watered my plants since Tuesday (6 days) and they seem to be picking up a bit. The light is now at the very top of the tent and only 315 watts. I would use another weaker bulb for seedling but don't have one and got a pretty good harvest out of my last batch which started under the cmh. I am hoping they will really take off soon and hope I didn't screw them up way too much with them being stressed and stunted for so long. I still am unsure if using the Effective Microorganisms mixture every time is hurting the plant at all? If anyone has any expertise please let me know it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone for trying to help me out.
 
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kronicking421

Active Member
i'm curious if I should be thinking about watering these soon. It has been 6 days if not 7-8 since last watering and the top is really dry and dry a decent way down but I feel like there is still moisture down further in the pot and was wondering if anyone has any advice as to whether I should keep letting them dry or water em?
 
K

kronicking421

Active Member
Okay well I am looking at other peoples diaries of this strain and I can't believe that these look like they are on the first week when it has been about 4 weeks. Do you guys really think that it could all be caused from overwatering and the light being too close or is there some other things that anyone suggests me trying to fix? I thought the humidity could be an issue but I see people growing good plants with lower humidity and I thought that with lower humidity the plants would use more water but it seems like 7 days or more is a long time to be waiting before watering. Any help would be greatly appreciated as this is getting frustrating and I am feeling like ripping up the smaller one from its pot to see its roots and what is happening and just planting another one in its place.
 
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