NOT AGAIN (need help)

this is the second time this has happend
i get my plants to a week old and then they die
i planted them in soil friday when they where sprouts and they where doin just fine
i check on them today after school and all of them have fallen over and the leaves are drooped i dont know what im doing wrong
i have cfls about one inch away and they have been on 24/0 lighting for about a week
i water them only once every 4-5 days
i have a fan blowing on them gently but constantly
i dont know what to do
and i dont know if i can save my plants
i need someones help

Try hydro . In all honesty though, so many things can change your grow. I like Hydro as I personally have more control over what I am doing. If you're not going to just let it go, then I figure I want as much control as I can have!

i might try hydro in the future but right now i need to know whats going on with these plants the leaves have a yellowish tint to them

I also use hydro but will try to help anyway...

It could be any of the following or some combination (or even something else entirely like temperature/humidity/pests/etc..):
1) Soil - should be sanitized and proper consistency for drainage
2) pH - should be a little higher than using hydro (around 6 i think but check FAQ or ask soil growers)
3) Nutes - that young you shouldn't be using any
4) Lights - insufficient (not enough) or incorrect (incandescent) lighting is a death sentence to plants (i use HIDs so maybe some of the CFL growers can weigh in here)
5) medium/containor - should allow for drainage and not hold too much water - rockwool can effect pH

Like i said - i'm no expert but these are the things i would be looking at in your situation.

what were they in when they were sprouts?


what i would do is germ them in the rockwool cube and keep it moist and around 78 deg f, thet them sprout in there intill you roots trying to poke out, then put them in soil. i dont do soil but my guess is that when you are putting them in the soil you are also watering that soil and you are drowning the roots with too much water cuz they need oxygen to live. so let them just be damp, must be somthing basic cuz they are too young to be worried about much more than basics

i think you're over heating them

you say you have a cfl an inch from the buggers?

well, at such a young age they don't need so much light... and the added heat (yes cfls aren't as hot as HIDs but you can still burn a plant if its too close...) just gonna beat your babies up....

i'd suggest moving the light higher... 6 inches or so until the first set of true leaves show (the pointy ones) then down to 3in or so and go from there...

question... how big of a cfl? and how many?

the first set of true leaves are already out and being used for photosynthisis and i have 2 48 inch 250watt cfl over them i just moved the plants down and they are now about 4 inch away from the light but the leaves have changed to almost brown
should i stop the 24/0 lighting cycle and switch to a 18/6
or what could turn the leaves brownish

lots of things turn the leaves brown...

heat def. does
try taking the fan off the plant... keep it around for air circulation but done have it constantly blowing on the plant... see if that helps a bit...

does the soil have any nutes in it already? like time release stuff? sometimes it can burn really easy early on from that...



you say you have 2 48 inch 250w cfl?
that doesn't make sense... cfl= compact flourescent light... compact being the keyword

48in is not very compact...

are you sure they arne't flouro tubes?

i'm a bit confused on that part...

tsdriles06 said:

the first set of true leaves are already out and being used for photosynthisis and i have 2 48 inch 250watt cfl over them i just moved the plants down and they are now about 4 inch away from the light but the leaves have changed to almost brown
should i stop the 24/0 lighting cycle and switch to a 18/6
or what could turn the leaves brownish

Click to expand...

well the leaves are turning brown cause they are dying. i dont think overwater is it or the light. what kind of soil do you use? and do you know if your water that you use is hard or soft or if it contains high chlorine? in larger cities they tend to add more chemicals. if your using nutes dont wait until they get older and stronger for those. like mentioned before makesure its not holding too much water and it aerates good cause roots also need oxygen to survive too much water or really compacted soil can prevent this. other then that idk i had that problem once and switched my soil and my problem went away but then i later found out it didnt really have any organics or anything in it so good soil helps. if your using MG soil or some crappy i would switch to fox farms or something near the quality of that. but for now it looks like you will prolly loose your plants it would only be a waste to try and get them into healthy plants if they already doing bad. as a test try some new soil clean purified drinking water and same lighting and fan conditions and see if it works and then maybe youll find one of few problems that could be it.

no im sorry they are flouro tubes
but no nutes in the soil or time release stuff no nothing
ill go turn the fan off the plants

i used this nursery soil i found its blended for sprouts and small plants

ok thanks for the help everybody

hmm, next time water them with store bought distilled water and pull away a the light turn off the fan, that should fix it
then as they are strong you can bring everything back and use tap water but check the ph and maybe drop clorine remover in it

i thought it was called weed for a reason its supposed to grow like a weed
but this is so much harder than i thought

i used filterd reffrigerator water on them

mmk... so tubes are fine

but yeah, keep them about 4 inches away from you're plants for a bit... you can move them close later...

if you have a temp gauge put it at soil level and find out the temps... seedlings are best in the 70's and will grow slowly in the low to mid 80's... but higher temps will burn them/kill them... i've killed a few that way...

the soil's fine if its not preferted

the suggestion on water is a good one

if you are using tap water, let it sit out in a jug or whatever for a day before watering.... that'll let the chlorine evap.

then just shake it up to aerate it again (or if you happen to have an airpump and bubblestone sitting around you can just bubble it)

too cold of water can shock the roots too... so if its strait from the fridge leave it out for a little bit and let it come to room temp...

are my plants dead and long gone or can i save them!!
i will try to post pics of them later tonight

probably salvagable... the pics would help in determining that though...