Over/Underwatering? HELP!

Hi Guys,

Tips of my 17 day old plant are turning brown. Not all leaves just about 3 at the moment but any ideas what it can be... I've only recently added nutes (the last time i watered) and i'm using a moisture wand to guide me as to when to water.... I'm waiting until they are nearly completely dry before watering and when i water, I'm trying to ensure they get moist and not wet...

any ideas would be helpful...

cheers

Just looked at the photo and the leaves are a nice colour, but they are drooping a bit, either underwatering or overwatering. Your soil mix looks alright and you say you have added nutes, maybe there are still nutes in the soil and you have raised the nutrients too much.

Do you check the ph level of the run off.

Looks to me like a slight fert burn next time you water water with just h20 at 6.5-7 ph and I would bet they will green right up.

First off, how often are you watering? Second, What's your Ph at (water & soil)?

Take a good look at the light green streaks going from the edge of the leaf going inward. Now take a look at the brown on the edge of your leaf. This is commonly caused by over watering and soil Ph out of balance. Also if soil is staying to wet, you might be looking at root-rot down the road if you don't back off on watering. If of course you are over watering.

Myself I would back off on watering and let the soil dry out to the point that it is almost, but not completely dry all the way through. Then water with Ph balanced water only every 3-4. days. for 1 1/2 weeks. Then go back to a normal watering and nutes schedule.

Looks like you have a nice soil mix going!

Thanks for the compliments!!

Yeah i think i've got a real nice soil mix now.. it's taken a while but i chose a good soil with good nitrogen content and one that had perlite already mixed in... i've added vermiculite which seems to retain moisture and nutrients better. Also seems to stop frost getting to roots. This mixed with the perlite also provides good drainage but my hunch is that maybe the vermiculite has retained the additional nutes i've added and therefore maybe the nutrients are slightly too high... I've been using both my moisture wand and the ph wand... soil is bang on ph7, water is slightly below 7...

The nutrient mix was only a quarter measure so i thought i'd be ok, i'm gonna back off on the nutrients for a while and use just water, but maybe water a little less... I've been using the moisture wand... goes from 1-3 (dry), 4-7 (moist), 8-10 (wet) - I've been keeping my soil in the moist range when watered and not letting it get dryer than 2, maybe i should allow it to dry even more... your thoughts?

Additionally, probably a daft newbie question, but should the leaves have a certain 'feel'? The first leaves at the bottom now feel dryer than the new leaves, i guess this is expected but would be handy to know if there's anything i can 'feel' for as well as see.

Thanks for your comments - much appreciated, keep em coming!

7 is too high to keep it at I dont water till my moisture meter reads 1-2

Thats in the red zone too^

on my tester its in the green zone.... 8-10 is in the red.

I did say that I have been letting my soil dry out to 2 before watering and watering until its around the 7 mark...

I did leave them a little longer to dry out more as a test earlier in the week but found that ALL the leaves drooped until I watered, after watering they picked up.

It is weird though because they still look a bit droopy, apart from the top ones that are nearer the light...

any other thoughts Air?

As well as the test above, Air, your suggestion to water with no nutes paid off, no more fert burns have occurred since the earlier pic so thanks for the tip!

If you are watering right (for sure) and they are a little droopy I wouldnt worry about it.

Everything has since picked up and th eplants are looking great now!