Newbie With Yellowing and Drooping Leaves, and Red Stem

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fendz457

Member
Hi. First post. Before I get into my problem, I will provide some background.

So I'm new to the game of growing and just got this young plant from a dispensary in town. My indoor set up includes 2 bulbs, which are on for 24 hours per day at the moment and are located about 8" from the plant. The bulb spec are as follows:

1 100W equiv. CFL w/ 1400 lumens @ 5500K
1 150W equiv. CFL w/ 2600 lumens @ 2700K

I also have a fan (not blowing directly at the plant) on for half the day to help with circulation.

It has been 5+ days since getting the plant (I don't know how old it was when I bought it), but I do not see any signs of growth. I have taken a picture of the plant every morning, so I can keep track of any noticeable changes in its appearance, and have posted those pictures here. (The picture format is "Mary_mmddyy" and they aren't all in order... sorry. The closeup was taken just minutes before this posting).

I should add that I live in CO, so dryness could be an issue.

MY PROBLEM

I am really concerned about the yellowish tint to the leaves, which has progressively gotten worse since I have gotten it. On the biggest leaf, the tip of that leaf has turned pale yellow (looks like it's dying).

At the same time, my leaves have not even attained at least a "flat" appearance since I got the plant. They have been drooping since Day 1, and I really haven't seen much to change my mind on that.

Also, the stem has turned reddish, and I can notice some of that red in the primary vein for the leaves.

Finally, I have not seen any noticeable growth. As you can see from the pictures, the plant has pretty much been the same size since Day 1. Could it be adjusting to it's new environment?

WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING

I've been watering this plant on an average of 1.5 days. I was told that a rule of thumb for watering is to wait until the top soil gets completely dry, then give the plant a good watering until some water drains out the bottom.

The soil is MG Organic, with a 10-5-5 NPK distribution. Is this providing too many nutrients at such an early age?

During my first water, I learned that the soil was packed too tightly, so I did a quick repot to loosen the soil, but the soil around the roots stayed more-or-less intact.


I would really appreciate any help in diagnosing this problem. I just am too inexperienced to tell whether this is an OVERWATERING issue, a NUTRIENT BURN problem, a NUTRIENT DEFICIENCY problem, or something else.

As a final note, I should add that I just germinated a seed in the MG Organic soil that has sprouted just fine, so I am at a loss for the stunted growth.

Any suggestions or recommendations?
 

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darkdestruction420

darkdestruction420

Well-Known Member
lower the lights to 1-2 inches, keep the fan on all the time, blowing on the plant to get big strong healthy stems. it looks overwatered. whats your temps at?
 
F

fendz457

Member
I paid $20 for the thing. Haven't been too impressed so far. :/

CiderSpy, I apologize but I can't understand what you are trying to say in your message. What is "foto 6-7"? And what does "your light close, inches." mean?
 
BKCSG

BKCSG

Active Member
you have nowhere near enough light my friend. The equiv 100 watt light is really a 23 watt cfl, and the other is a 26 w. The equiv is compared to incandescent. (23 w cfl = 100w incadescent) you need at least 2 more if not more than that and you want them almost touching the plant.
 
riddleme

riddleme

Well-Known Member
Are those clay pots???

If so you get rid of em

your lights are the wrong percentage of spectrum (should be reversed for veg)

That MG soil is a bit hot for a plant this young, and I agree it looks like you are over watering, which releases more nutes everytime with that soil

the burn on the leaf tip could be a nute burn hard to tell, but would be my vote if you have never had those lights very close and since you are in MG soil

The climate in CO is perfect for growing (I'm in Denver) MJ loves our low humidity during flowering :bigjoint:
 
F

fendz457

Member
riddleme said:
Are those clay pots???

If so you get rid of em

your lights are the wrong percentage of spectrum (should be reversed for veg)

That MG soil is a bit hot for a plant this young, and I agree it looks like you are over watering, which releases more nutes everytime with that soil

the burn on the leaf tip could be a nute burn hard to tell, but would be my vote if you have never had those lights very close and since you are in MG soil

The climate in CO is perfect for growing (I'm in Denver) MJ loves our low humidity during flowering :bigjoint:
Click to expand...
What should I use instead of a clay pot? And why are clay pots so bad?

By "reversing" the lights, do you mean 150W equiv. of 5500K and 100W equiv. of 2700K?

BKCSG, I did ample research and found that a lot of people have grown with such bulbs. Plus, my other seedling had no problem sprouting and it's not even as close to the light. I heard that as long as the Watt-to-lumen ratio was near 70, the lights should work fine, but then again, this is my first time growing anything indoors. What wattage do you suggest?
 
jawbrodt

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
Well, they definitely need more light, that's a certainty. As to why they are so yellow and drooping, it's likely a combo of the crap soil, and over or under-watering. If they were getting too many nutes, they should look dark green and showing other signs of fert burn. Hard to tell because some of the pics look really dry, and some of them look nice an wet. Have you been letting them dry out excessively? It's hard to overwater, unless you are flooding them everyday, so I don't think that's the problem. They could be starving due to water with an excessively high PH, so that's something that should be checked.

I'd put one light over each pot(preferably a 42 watt or bigger), and water more often with PHed water. When you say you let the soil dry completely on top, keep in mind that those are small pots, so you don't want to let them dry out too much. The 'finger test' doesn't really apply when using small pots, because you can stick your finger in at least 2", which is too dry for a pot that size. Wait until the top 1/2 inch is dry, then water evenly.
 
riddleme

riddleme

Well-Known Member
Clay pots are porous and cause water to evaporate faster than the plant can keep up with and will cause you to overwater (biggest new grower mistake) to compensate for the evaoration.

for veg you want 70% 6500k and 30% 2700K

for flower you want 70% 2700K and 30% 6500K

your lights are fine for vegging (not right spectrum % but ok wattage for 1 plant) you will want more light to flower, you will get all kinds of opinions but rule of thumb is 50 watts per sq ft and a minimum of 3000 lumens

If I were you I would transplant out of the MG soil to something more like FoxFarms Happy Frogs and 1 gallon plastic pots
 
jawbrodt

jawbrodt

Well-Known Member
Those plants above are stretching quite a bit, and need some more light output. Invest in some of those cone-shaped reflectors, and you'll get alot more of that light directed at the plants, rather than being wasted.


Also...listen to riddleme, especially with the suggestion to switch to plastic pots, as soon as possible. Not only will they help with evaporation, they'll allow you to get used to picking them up and 'feel' the proper time for watering. It takes a little while to get used to doing it that way, but it works great once you get the hang of it.
 
connorbrown

connorbrown

Well-Known Member
I'm not trying to take over the this thread but I have a question.
Miracle grow has those water release nutrient balls, right?
So if I were to take out the water release balls then would it make MG soil better?
 
snowwhitebudman

snowwhitebudman

Active Member
riddleme said:
Clay pots are porous and cause water to evaporate faster than the plant can keep up with and will cause you to overwater (biggest new grower mistake) to compensate for the evaoration.

for veg you want 70% 6500k and 30% 2700K

for flower you want 70% 2700K and 30% 6500K

your lights are fine for vegging (not right spectrum % but ok wattage for 1 plant) you will want more light to flower, you will get all kinds of opinions but rule of thumb is 50 watts per sq ft and a minimum of 3000 lumens

If I were you I would transplant out of the MG soil to something more like FoxFarms Happy Frogs and 1 gallon plastic pots
Click to expand...
they are in plastic pots and my soild is scotts moisture controll that were the little balls come from. where can i get the reflecters @
 
riddleme

riddleme

Well-Known Member
connorbrown said:
I'm not trying to take over the this thread but I have a question.
Miracle grow has those water release nutrient balls, right?
So if I were to take out the water release balls then would it make MG soil better?
Click to expand...
NO, I'm not a MG hater but there is not a lot that could make it better, it has a low overall ph, it has bugs and spores, and it is not designed for growing MJ,,,,,that being said if tended properly it can work and offer great plants with high yields,,,,,,,,it's the tended properly that offers the most problems
 
snowwhitebudman

snowwhitebudman

Active Member
riddleme said:
NO, I'm not a MG hater but there is not a lot that could make it better, it has a low overall ph, it has bugs and spores, and it is not designed for growing MJ,,,,,that being said if tended properly it can work and offer great plants with high yields,,,,,,,,it's the tended properly that offers the most problems
Click to expand...
hey riddleme what about mg nute how are they. im currently useing them
 
riddleme

riddleme

Well-Known Member
snowwhitebudman said:
hey riddleme what about mg nute how are they. im currently useing them
Click to expand...
MG nutes will work, I just told someone else that a 15-30-15 would be ok to use, if you can't find a source for something better. Keep in mind though that they contain some somewhat questionable ingrediants in terms of the quality of the sources they use , some say this makes the buds taste bad??? can't say as I have never used em

My advice is if you can in any way find a source for good quality nutes you should, I use Jack's Classic only cost $5 and is available at most nurseries
 
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