Seedlings Wilting! 3 weeks in! PICS included

Hey everyone,
Ive got problems, heres the basic info about the grow.
This is my second real grow with Green house indica mix pack H. Its under one MH/HPS 400 watt light. Using rockwool medium.Im using MH now. The lights are about 3.5 ft above seedlings. No Nutes introduced yet... I have FoxFarm nutes. Great white shark has already died due to my poor planting. so four plants total now.

So Everything was going great with every plant except the GWS until I decided to leave for the weekend. I left feeling comfortable because everywhere I read said it rock wool didnt need to watered but every three days or so. It evens says that in the cannabible. I come back to wilty, slooped over plants that look 100% different than when I left. there almost dead looking (Thats when I almost cry)

The plot thickens even more after that. Im not sure what to do because I think they'll recover but I am on a time crunch. I'm leaving this apartment Aug. 1st and these weak plants are about 3 weeks in. It's april 7th now...


Can someone tell me if this even makes sense to continue the grow b/c after all I dont want to waste electric on something thats just not going to be done in time.

The last question I ask to get it out of the way is how to get these things back on track.


Gimme some of that expert oppinion and I throughly appreciate everyones help.

if your a new grower, i suggest growing in soil, because its simpler and alot more forgiving

i cant even begin to diagnose your problem; way too many factors

if your 3 weeks in and your plant is that small youve got bigger problems to fix my friend.......

darkdestruction420 said:

if your 3 weeks in and your plant is that small youve got bigger problems to fix my friend.......

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i agree, your plants have probably been dead since before you left for the weekend

seriously though, just drop a germinated seed in a small cup of moss or neutral soil untill its 2-3 weeks. then transplant, either into rich soil, or be ready to use nutrients soon

i can help you with soil if you choose to follow that road

darkdestruction420 said:

if your 3 weeks in and your plant is that small youve got bigger problems to fix my friend.......

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my thoughts exactly

so, lets get down to it then, give us lots of detailed info on your setup and how you've been doing things through the grow(how often and how much watering, light cycle, any and all info)so far. We'll help where we can. dont take our words too sharply

darkdestruction420 said:

so, lets get down to it then, give us lots of detailed info on your setup and how you've been doing things through the grow(how often and how much watering, light cycle, any and all info)so far. We'll help where we can. dont take our words too sharply

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10 4 on that were here to help!! im subbed

Chances are they are overwatered.

Rockwool holds moisture for a long time- longer than soil in most conditions.

Let the blocks dry to the point that they are as light as a feather, then add a very weak mix of nutes. Pay close attention the the PH- another factor. Keep the ph at around 6-- yellow if you're using a liquid test kit. With three weeks in you should be at that point, anyway. But the size of the plants indicate otherwise.

Lastly, drop the light to about a foot and a half from the top of the plants, as long as it doesn't raise the ambient temp around the tops of the plants too much.

Let the cubes dry,
add a very conservative nute mix
drop the light

report your results

btw- I have a nice nute calc in my signature. use it!

No problem with the harsh words but help me out please as well. And obviously I cant transplant these things so to late for that... Moving on

Details:
light 16 on 8 off. Have an inward fan to suck outside air in. Temps stick around 75 to 85. PH 6.5. Been watering when rockwool becomes dry on top as I have read that is the most successful way to help roots try to find water and encourage growth.

It may be dry on top, but what about the bottom? If it is soggy, then you let it ride.

In fact, if I were you, i would pull the cubes out of the geolite and let them sit freely in a tray, in order to encourage the cubes to dry evenly-- This will coax seeker roots to poke out of the sides/bottom of the cubes. THAT's when you drop it in whatever grow medium you want.

In fact, you can drop in in soil, too. Whatever.

But you don't have to pull them out of the rockwool and plant them in soil, despite the previous advice. That'llkill them. However, you can do that once roots pop out of the rockwool. It's still early enough to decide what medium you want to grow them in. You are not committed at this point.

As far as finishing them by august: you can start a fresh batch tomorrow and finish in time.

and overwatering doesnt make any sense cause when I stopped watering them for the weekend they all the sudden lost the healthy look. Keep in mind people before that weekend these plants were vibrant and looked totally normal for what stage they were in. I believe the were underwatered, how do I fix it?

Theres already tap roots at the bottom of the cubes coming out so so much for putting them in another tray at this point.

i'd put them into some good soil, rockwool and all, its fine to do it that way. It's much easier. Just because you were overwatering before doesnt mean it wont get stressed from underwatering if it happens.so its still very possible you were watering a bit too much. what type of lights and how away are they? Since you said they were relatively healthy looking before you left I dont think overwatering is the main culprit. Those plants were not growing well for its stage.......at 2 or 3 weeks in your plant should be ALOT bigger imo. my 3-5 day old plants are usually bigger than those. lol

darkdestruction420 said:

i'd put them into some good soil, rockwool and all, its fine to do it that way. It's much easier. Just because you were overwatering before doesnt mean it wont get stressed from underwatering if it happens.so its still very possible you were watering a bit too much. what type of lights and how away are they? Since you said they were relatively healthy looking before you left I dont think overwatering is the main culprit. Those plants were not growing well for its stage.......at 2 or 3 weeks in your plant should be ALOT bigger imo. my 3-5 day old plants are usually bigger than those. lol

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well to be honest they have shrunk about an inch sense they were what I would call "healthy" i.e before I left. I also wanted to say that I havent given them any nutrient at all. Even when they were healthy I hadnt so that would explain the lack in heighth anyways. I guess I forgot sense last time I grew.

Btw, just to clarify, are you saying to plant in soil and let roots grow into soil THEN put them back into system? I have to do this the fastest way possible. I've heard soil is not fast/as fast..

Im using Hydroton as the grow medium by the way. Its dry

you have to use the fastest grow medium possible? well, considering you wasted 3 weeks already I would not call that the fastest. my plants are usually 1 ft or more w/topping and lsting them for many top colas so they are super bushy at around 3 weeks. i really think you should start in soil till you have some sort of idea of what your doing, nothing personal, just calling it as i see it.......

by the way, should I take the paper off the rockwool?

update:
I pulled plants up a bit out of the hydroton to allow more air into the rockwool. I also dropped the light about 6 inches.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Any other ideas are more than welcome, thanks in advance.

yo I cant put it in soil. I've got hydroton, rockwool, a light, nutes, a resevoir, a temp. meter and a little closet. Thats about it. Nothing big

On the bright side I have grown here before and had great results so I guess that is why i'm a little hesitant to drop them in soil right now.

I just added a itsy bitsy dose of veg nute to the water.

Any other ideas?

I have an experiement dwc plant just as you're growing. This is my very first grow. I'm using organic soil along with FF nutes and gen hydro nutes for the dwc. When I first started off, I didn't know wtf I was doing but after reading and getting guidance, my plant is thriving. You might be underwatering or overwatering....but I don't think that's either of your problem. That air pump you have in the pic.....how many outlets does it have? I'm using a 2 outlet walmart special airpump for just a 3 gal bucket, single site. I honestly think you aren't getting enough oxygen/bubble action to your plants. Even when my dwc plant was jacked up, it was still about 8 inches in 3 weeks....and bro it was pretty fucked up. If you don't have any root growth coming out the bottom of the rockwool, you need to have your water level in your res pretty high. Bubble action is what you're looking for when the plants are that young. I top fed mine about every 3 days and it was fine...sometimes 4 or 5 days. Once you see roots coming out of the net pots, you can then lower you water level. The roots will grow and reach for that water. I think you might of started nutes a little late as well. Give them a small dose of your grow nutes and see how they react. ALSO...if you're using Fox Farm soil nutes STOP. Some dude told me I could use them and that's what fucked my plant up. Get hydro nutes. Gen hydroponics is what I went with. Cheap and easy. That dwc plant is now almost 2 ft tall and is looking great. HOPEFULLY I didn't stress her out too much and she doesn't go hermie on me. She is a fem White Widow! Good luck bro and I hope my newbie experience helps you out in some way.

Also, you can put a plant that was started in rockwool into soil. I did that as well. I just tore away the rockwool that didn't have any root growth into it. CAREFULLY. I was worried about the rockwool holding too much water and rotting my roots.