Leaves keep dying, please help!

This is my first grow and I'm having a lot of trouble. These are from seed, and at around 2 ½ weeks since sprouting, my oldest set of leaves started to yellow at the tips, then it started on to the newer leaves once it had far progressed on the older ones. This can be seen in the first pic taken 1 week ago at 3 weeks old. Since then, those 2 sets of leaves in the first pic are fully yellowed and pretty much done for. Now it seems every time a new set of leaves grows out they start to yellow as well. This can be seen in the pic taken today (the plant is 4 weeks old now).


Here is a full breakdown of my setup and routine:

-Both plants are Feminized Hindu Kush (100% indica)
-Water every 48 hours (they show signs of extreme thirst around 72 hours)
-Water pH is usually around ~6.5 (using spring water, left out overnight to get rid of any possibly chloride)
-temp is maintained at 77F
- relative humidity has been kept around 60
-Using 150W HPS, plant tops have been ~9-10 inches from bulb
-There is a fan breezing them 24/7
-Light cycle is 23/1
-Soil mix is :
-3/6 promix potting+seedling soil (75-80% sphagnum peat moss, and the rest is perlite, limestone, and wetting agent)
-1/6 vermiculite
-1/6 worm castings (1-0-0)
-1/6 manure with organic humus (0.05-0.05-0.05) (it might be of importance to note that this big bag has been out in the yard for probably 5-6 years through many winters, and there are various small holes in it....)


I had only fed it nutes once, at a 1/8 dose of 9-9-6 bulb food just 1 day ago since the most recent pic was taken. It didn't seem to help stop the yellowing, and it seems now it made things worse as there are tiny dark spots appearing on the top leaves (as can sort of be seen in the pic). Would you say my initial problem here with the yellowing is actually nute burn from a strong soil? Maybe that manure is bad? I have no ideas now. What do you guys think and suggest I do to fix this issue? I really do not want to have to start over. Any and ALL insight is greatly appreciated. Please help me save my baby! Thanks!

you are burning your plants with nutes. and watering every 2 days? seems a little excessive. how big are your pots?

I think the manure is probably too hot for the little seedlings. Stuff like that is usually really strong (made to cover a lot of square footage outdoors). You probably need to cut the soil more. Try to transplant into slightly bigger pots filled with only the promix and vermiculite, and water them very well afterwards to get the manure to run out the bottom as much as you can.

If adding amendments to your soil is something that you are interested in doing. You should start with pre-mixed dry amendments like the Happy Frog series (All Purpose for veg, Rose Food for pre-flower, and Bulb Food for Flowering).

Here is one of the videos from my outdoor last year. I give a complete rundown on all the dry nutrients that I used to top dress our native soil with, as well as, a rundown of the teas I brewed to supplement the dry amendments.

Thank you all so much for your help!

BxHaZe87 said:

you are burning your plants with nutes. and watering every 2 days? seems a little excessive. how big are your pots?

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My pots are ~3 inches diameter by ~6 inches deep. It may sound excessive, but last week when I tried to wait watering every 3 days instead of 2 my baby looked really stressed from thirst. Once I watered it her leaves perked right up again after an hour.

DannyBlaze2 said:

I like to keep it simple when you add a 1/6th of this and 1/6th of that it makes it harder to say what it is how many ppms is 1/8 dose of bulb food you want be feeding 500 ppm with plants that size

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I don't know the ppm. I did a slight top dressing with like 1/8 a teaspoon.

OR Stoner said:

I think the manure is probably too hot for the little seedlings. Stuff like that is usually really strong (made to cover a lot of square footage outdoors). You probably need to cut the soil more. Try to transplant into slightly bigger pots filled with only the promix and vermiculite, and water them very well afterwards to get the manure to run out the bottom as much as you can.

If adding amendments to your soil is something that you are interested in doing. You should start with pre-mixed dry amendments like the Happy Frog series (All Purpose for veg, Rose Food for pre-flower, and Bulb Food for Flowering).

Here is one of the videos from my outdoor last year. I give a complete rundown on all the dry nutrients that I used to top dress our native soil with, as well as, a rundown of the teas I brewed to supplement the dry amendments.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the vid. I am going to watch that now. I will transplant as you have suggested in only promix and vermiculite. I've never transplanted before though and I am worried the soil will not stay together as one big clump. Is it ok if I water right before to help it stay together? Any suggestions?

Yeah, go ahead and water them before you transplant. And let it drain well too. That would make the soil clump up better.

OR Stoner said:

Yeah, go ahead and water them before you transplant. And let it drain well too. That would make the soil clump up better.

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Thx so much for your help OR Stoner. I'll let you know how it goes after the flush and transplant.

I have another question that I've been wondering about. I have two sets of dying leaves, one curled up, and the other nearly completely yellow (as can sort of be seen in the pic). Should I trim my leaves once they're completely yellow, or wait for them to fall off by themselves? I've read different opinions on this and I would like your take please.

Honestly, I don't think it matters whether you pull the leaves off or let them drop naturally. That is more of a preference thing for the grower. Some like to leave it to nature and some prefer to keep their plants looking clean by stripping off dead/ dying growth. If I'm flushing in the end stages of flower, I'll leave them on and let them drop naturally. But if it's a dead leaf during any other stage, I usually take them off myself.