Just planted my first clone, need lots of help

This is my first attempt at growing, I thought it would be a fun little project and since it's the perfect time of year to grow I figured why not. So the last time I was at the Cannabis club I decided to take a look and ended up buying a Girl Scout Cookies clone. Once I got home and started doing some research I started to realize how complicated the growing process can be and now I'm completely overwhelmed. I thought since I'm growing outdoors it will be easy right? Ya I didn't realize I had to consider the soil, the light schedule, the temperature, the humidity, the nutrients, the PH of the water. I've done a lot of research but there's still so much I don't understand.

Ok, so I bought this clone, bought some expensive organic soil (Dr. Earths Pot of Gold) and a 6 inch pot and transplanted my clone into the pot. I plan on keeping it in the pot until I transplant into the ground. Ever since the transplant its been growing very very slowly and the leaves are pretty much constantly drooping. I've been putting it outside in the sun during the day and putting it under a couple CFL's for a few hours at night. I don't know if the CFL's even help, I have a 42 watt and a 23 watt bulb on them. I've watered it like 3 times. I've been playing with the PH of the water trying to lower it because my tap water is like 7.8, so I've been trying to get it down to 6.2-6.5. Any theories on why the plant is still drooping? Is it still in transplant shock? I'm always worried the drainage in the pot might not be good enough but it doesn't seem to be suffering from over watering.

I plan on getting another clone or two this weekend, now that I know a little bit more I plan on adding Pearlite to the soil before I transplant it into a pot. Should I add anything else to the soil? Should I use a bigger pot? Any advice would help I'm overwhelmed by how much information there is on growing.

First, pictures would help.

By your description it sounds like you have over watered your plant. I'm also not sure of what your temperatures are where you are setting it outside and the cfls after being in sunlight isn't really going to do anything for you. Depending on the temps and the humidity is one way of knowing how quickly your medium is drying out. You can also stick your finger in the medium and if it is still moist an inch deep then you should wait before you water.

Organic soil is good, doesn't have to be expensive as FFOF works great and is pretty cheap as well.

Post pictures when you ask questions like this and you will get a better response.

I am with Suess. Watering issue. Post pics.

Did you make sure your clone had roots? I ordered some clones and a few were drooping bad so I gave them a slight tug and realized there was not even 1 root on three of them! I would check and just a slight tug to make sure its rooted in the cube and doesn't just pull right out.

If its rooted then I agree with the guys above. You only want to water your plants about every 3 days. I made that mistake when I first started growing and watered every day. I ended up overwatering and also ended up getting powdery mildew and fruit flies.

With small/ young clones, I like to drench the soil every 3-4 days and mist the babies 2 times a day.

you really shouldve looked into clone care before you dove in but at the same time i like the decision to just go for it. first thing i would do is check roots Then like everyone else has said dont water so often.

For your future clones i would look into a humidity dome. Make sure its tall so they have room. I found one at a local gardening store for about $12. Just a plastic tray and dome. Mist the dome make sure it stays at high humidity in there. Before clones have roots they have to feed through the leaves so misting them and humidity is important. also you may want to look for a T5 CFL light to set above the dome. Clones dont need full power lights or full strength sun until they grow root systems. Just be sure you control the environment theyre in and all should be well. Also pics always more helpful than words

Also what I did for my clones that wernt rooted was instead of buying a dome I just placed a clear plastic or glass container over top of the clones that needed some help. After about a week they all rooted and perked up. Just have to keep the inside of the container humid and moist. no need to water the soil. I just misted the top to help keep it moist in the container.

Salty3 said:

Also what I did for my clones that wernt rooted was instead of buying a dome I just placed a clear plastic or glass container over top of the clones that needed some help. After about a week they all rooted and perked up. Just have to keep the inside of the container humid and moist. no need to water the soil. I just misted the top to help keep it moist in the container.

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Another excellent point i have seen people cut the tops off of plastic water bottles and use those as humid domes.

How long ago did you pot this plant? What was the root structure like? If it had good roots it may be over-watered, but if it didn't it might be stressed from the exposure to full sun. I just had to baby a clone that had just a few small roots and wilted quickly, even in filtered sun. After several days in a bright, indirectly lit window, then a couple of days outside but closely watched and moved as necessary, it now seems to be fine and has stayed outside for several days with no extra attention. I'm probably not qualified to offer much advice on the problem, but I do want to address the quote below.

Cannabliss89 said:

..... Once I got home and started doing some research I started to realize how complicated the growing process can be and now I'm completely overwhelmed. I thought since I'm growing outdoors it will be easy right? Ya I didn't realize I had to consider the soil, the light schedule, the temperature, the humidity, the nutrients, the PH of the water. I've done a lot of research but there's still so much I don't understand.

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Since this is your first grow, I would advise you to stay basic and not over-think and over-complicate the process. You are growing outdoors and you cannot control lighting, temp or humidity, so you don't need to stress about it. You can control the soil, water and nutrients, so do that and enjoy. If you can grow a good tomato, you can grow good outdoor weed. Seriously, strip this this down to the basics and just get yourself through this first grow and your confidence will build quickly.

You mentioned planting your clones in the ground. Do you have a place with excellent soil? If not, you would be better to use 7 or 10, or even 15 gallon pots filled with quality commercial soil. As mentioned, FoxFarm Ocean Forest is a winner. Everyone has favorites and opinions, but FFOF will serve you well as you learn. If you live in a place that gets hot during the summer, bury the pots in the ground for insulation. I do this and it makes care much easier and harvest much heavier.

Water carefully, feed quality nutrients as needed and be watchful for pests. That's it. Don't think of this first grow as a "make or break", but instead, have some fun and learn. You'll be smiling in October!

Thank you for your replies, I really appreciate any advice I can get. So I took a few pictures of her... It's kinda weird the bottom two leaves look dark green and healthy but the main leaf above them is a little lighter colored and seems to have a more noticeable wilt or droop constantly. I think I'm just impatient and need to wait to see results, I don't know. It is growing, which is good, I think it's just getting accustomed to its new home. Because when I bought the clone a week ago it only had four leaves and now in the last couple days there's been 2 extra sets of leaves sprouting out the top, you can see it well in the last couple photos. So it is growing which is good, what worries more is how small and fragile its stem is, in some of those pictures it looks like it's tilting over a little bit, I had to pack a little soil around the base to give it extra support, I'm worried because it's been windy lately. Right now it's overcast/rainy so I have it under the CFLs. Some info on the clone, bought it from the club, came in one of those rockwool cubes and was told it was ready to plant right away, I could see white roots on the bottom of the cube so I knew it was ready. All I did was buy organic soil and that pot and planted it. I'm going to plant another this weekend, although I think ill use FFOF mixed with pearlite. Unless someone recommends something better. What do you guys think about the pot size? I read that putting clones in big pots right away is bad because the roots can't reach the nutrients. But the bad side of this smaller pot is that I'll have to transplant it again, either into the ground or a bigger pot.

And what nutrients do you recommend? And how long until I should start feeding? I read that I shouldn't feed nutrients or water as much during this stage so the plant has to fight to build its roots, resulting in a better rooted plant. Is this true? If so then at what point do you choose to start feeding nutrients?

Get a fan on it to strengthen the stem. Watering it 3 times in a week is your issue.

I agree with merlot , your way over watering , leaf droop is a sure sign of over watering & 3 x a week for such a small plant is excessive, i'd water once every 5 or 6 days & check soil moisture before watering .

Also as merlot said get a fan blowing on the plant to strengthen its stalk & structure , start out slow where the leaves are barely fluttering , then every few days increase air flow a little , after a week or 2 the stalk will be twice as thick & stronger .

Dont pack soil around the stalk to hold it up , wet soil & weak stalks cause stem rott , if it needs help supporting itself use a stick pushed in the soil so the plant can lean on it until the fan strengthens the stalk & branches.

Cannabliss89 said:

.... What do you guys think about the pot size? I read that putting clones in big pots right away is bad because the roots can't reach the nutrients. But the bad side of this smaller pot is that I'll have to transplant it again, either into the ground or a bigger pot.

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Put the new clones into 1g nursery pots and you'll have at least 3-4 weeks before you need to pot up again. Don't use clay as they make handling the moisture content a bit more difficult, and the regular black plastic pots are very inexpensive at any garden center or home improvement store. With a soil like FFOF, you'll need no nutrients during the 1g phase. The nutrients are well distributed when you water, so I really don't buy that "roots can't reach the nutrients" thing.

Again, I'm certainly not an expert, but what has worked very well for me with clones is 1g/2g/10g. I usually get them into the 10g around mid June or so.

hey buddy ...yes lik evryone says u r overwateering...evn i hav a plant growing from clones..probably as tall as yours but mine is sativa dominant...
initially it will look droopy cuz of the transplant shock ....bt if it happns after 1-2 days ..its cuz u gt excited and started watering it i gues...u should water the soil befor transplanting the clone and then let the pot dry out till u feel ur babies are thirsty..this helps in increasing ur clones root growth..i did this ..and i hav got some excellent root growth in a weeks time after transplanting in my pot.......and also b prepared to get a bit of weird leaf growth ..m having 3 fan leaf growth!!
so hey bst f luck

Hi I'm a first time grower with Clones and I was wondering what's wrong with my plants