Noob grower, need some help

Greetings all. I'm a first time grower, and I just thought I'd put some pics up for you guys to help me figure out what I'm doing wrong here.

Basically, I planted my babies about 12 days ago (Northen Lights), been doing the 18/6 light cycle using three CFL 45W bulbs (2 on 6500K, 1 on 2700K) also 3 smaller 26W (all 6400K) running a total of 213W for now. Been feeding them 6.5PH water every two days until I see about a 10% runoff at the bottom. I also have a fan on them to help with airflow (although temperature isnt always constant, usually between 69F-82F/21C-28C). No nutes so far as I'm waiting on them to grow a bit more.

The set-up is improvised cause I'm waiting on getting my tent which should be here this week, and then I'll move them to actual pots instead of plastic cups, and probably add another 4-5 45W bulbs (2700K) all coming from the top down instead of how I have my current ghetto ass set-up.

The issue is that 3 of them are a bit smaller and less healthier looking, and I'm just not entirely sure on what I might be doing wrong.

#1 is the biggest and healthiest so far, #4 was on the same level until the leaves started going downwards and growth was stunted , hasnt recovered fully since. #2 and #3 are a tiny bit smaller then the rest but seem to be OK, still not 100% healthy. The final picture is showing how I currently have the lights set-up in case it might make a difference.

Is there anything you guys think I could do to improve my plants health ? Any help is welcome.

THANKS !

What kind of soil are you growing them in?

sllim said:

Been feeding them 6.5PH water every two days until I see about a 10% runoff at the bottom

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babies DO NOT need run off, nor do they need water every 2 days, I water babies with 3 oz's of water every 5 to 7 days (varies with strains)

Have you not read here that the biggest new grower mistake is over watering ?

RM3 said:

babies DO NOT need run off, nor do they need water every 2 days, I water babies with 3 oz's of water every 5 to 7 days (varies with strains)

Have you not read here here that biggest new grower mistake is over watering ?

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I figured overwatering might be the issue cause all the other conditions are fairly decent, I just could never find any exact info on dealing with babies specifically and I got misinformed by my own account.

also the soil was getting rather dry within 2-3 days so I figured anytime it gets dry u must water

that explains it SMH, thanks !

PoodleBud said:

What kind of soil are you growing them in?

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Its a foreign brand as I'm from a foreign country so I'm not sure it would be of much help if I mentioned the name of it, however most people on local forums were using this one so I went with it myself.

I'll go with putting in 3oz's of water (or just enough not to get runoff) every 5 days and then post some updates, hopefully they'll all get back to optimal health.

Read up on overwatering. Read about how to avoid it.

RM3 is right on!

You dont 'feed' plants with water.
You are overwatering bro, plants that size in pots that big only need watering when the pots are much lighter to lift. As they are sick as fuck now they will need even less water. Stop watering no feeding raise the lights a little and pray they come back.

sllim said:

Greetings all. I'm a first time grower, and I just thought I'd put some pics up for you guys to help me figure out what I'm doing wrong here.

Basically, I planted my babies about 12 days ago (Northen Lights), been doing the 18/6 light cycle using three CFL 45W bulbs (2 on 6500K, 1 on 2700K) also 3 smaller 26W (all 6400K) running a total of 213W for now. Been feeding them 6.5PH water every two days until I see about a 10% runoff at the bottom. I also have a fan on them to help with airflow (although temperature isnt always constant, usually between 69F-82F/21C-28C). No nutes so far as I'm waiting on them to grow a bit more.

The set-up is improvised cause I'm waiting on getting my tent which should be here this week, and then I'll move them to actual pots instead of plastic cups, and probably add another 4-5 45W bulbs (2700K) all coming from the top down instead of how I have my current ghetto ass set-up.

The issue is that 3 of them are a bit smaller and less healthier looking, and I'm just not entirely sure on what I might be doing wrong.

#1 is the biggest and healthiest so far, #4 was on the same level until the leaves started going downwards and growth was stunted , hasnt recovered fully since. #2 and #3 are a tiny bit smaller then the rest but seem to be OK, still not 100% healthy. The final picture is showing how I currently have the lights set-up in case it might make a difference.

Is there anything you guys think I could do to improve my plants health ? Any help is welcome.

THANKS !

View attachment 3677183 View attachment 3677184 View attachment 3677185

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Looks like over watering. That will also cause slow or stunted growth.

sllim said:

I'll go with putting in 3oz's of water (or just enough not to get runoff) every 5 days and then post some updates, hopefully they'll all get back to optimal health.

Click to expand...

Each plant pot and soil will require different watering schedules.. Stick your finger down in the dirt if you feel moisture it's fine if it's bone dry 1"-1/2" below the surface give it some water. i let mine almost completely dry before watering ESP in flower it looks like a desert haha

Thanks for all the comments guys ! Much appreciated

I cant see any yellow/brown on the leaves yet so hopefully I havent killed any roots, fml

So apparently, about the soil that I use, there are two brands with the same name (differentiated by one letter), one of them has good soil which is the one I thought I use, and the other has really poor soil with bad drainage which is the one I got :-/.

The problem became clear as overwatering + bad soil results in a deadly combo

Ive ordered myself some BioBizz Lightmix soil and some perlite, and my quesiton is do you think they would survive repotting ?

I dont even know how I'm gonna pull it off as I need to get rid of that bad soil off the roots somehow, would watering it off with some lukewarm water work or is that a stupid idea ?

sllim said:

So apparently, about the soil that I use, there are two brands with the same name (differentiated by one letter), one of them has good soil which is the one I thought I use, and the other has really poor soil with bad drainage which is the one I got :-/.

The problem became clear as overwatering + bad soil results in a deadly combo

Ive ordered myself some BioBizz Lightmix soil and some perlite, and my quesiton is do you think they would survive repotting ?

I dont even know how I'm gonna pull it off as I need to get rid of that bad soil off the roots somehow, would watering it off with some lukewarm water work or is that a stupid idea ?

Click to expand...

Just leave them alone until they bounce back, then use better soil when you re-pot. Seedlings don't need anything except light and a little water, they certainly don't like to be messed with at such a young fragile stage

As far as an update goes, the leaves seen in the pictures are all rather deteriorated and yellow due to how there were no nutes in the soil anymore and I haven't watered them for awhile to fix the overwatering issue, BUT there is fresh new growth going on which I guess isnt a bad sign, I have also started feeding them some nutes last watering, a very small amount I might add.

Can you post new pictures?

For sure, I will be posting pics soon. I've transplanted the babies yesterday to the new BioGrow soil and let me tell you, they have grown more in 1 day than they have in 3/4 weeks since I've planted them in that shit soil. I'm amazed at how almost instantly after the transplant they looked better than ever.

Maybe explaining the method I used to transplant will help someone in the future facing a similar situation,

basically I waited a few dails for the soil to get completely dry, then I took a wide container and filled it with lukewarm tap water after which I proceeded to take the plant out of the plastic cup while removing soil that wasnt connected to any roots. Then I took the bulk of soil containing the root system and plant and submerged it in the lukewarm water, but not completely, I made sure to leave the stem and leaves out. I let it sit for about 10 minutes, time in which I went and cleaned the inside of the plastic cup, made more drainage holes and prepared my soil by filling the cup with it to know how much I need, then I poured it out on a surface so I could mix it with more perlite before putting it back in together with the plant.

After 10 minutes of having the plant sit in the water, I put my hands in there and started to break down the soil with my fingers, very gently though not to break any roots, but it happened regardless since the plant is very young. As I was doing that I made sure to be conscious of the roots dragging along after being freed from the soil, so I didnt pull the plant out by the stem but instead I first put my hand at the bottom of the container making sure all the roots were in my hand as I took it out of the water. Immediately after taking it out of the water I went and planted it by adding new soil over the roots and around the stem while gently making the surface even. After I was done I watered the plant very slightly, then placed it back into the grow tent under the lights.

That was my experience with transplanting. I think something that worked in my favor was the fact that the plants were very small, therefore not so many leaves to feed, therefore it would regenerate much faster than a bigger plant.

deffo over watering, also it might be time for bigger pots