Stunted Seedling Growth?

This is my first grow (indoors with a 250 W hps on a 18/6 schedule) and I'm using a combination of vermiculite/perlite for my 2 seedlings, but I have seen no change in their growth over the past 2 or 3 days and it worries me. I put the seedlings straight into the main pot after I germinated them, not sure if this is relevant. The leafs seem to be a little bit dark and curling a little, but I'm not sure. I've been watering them every 2 days with a very small amount of nutes. Is there even anything wrong with them or am I being paranoid? If clearer pics are needed i'll get some.

n4alpaca said:

This is my first grow (indoors with a 250 W hps on a 18/6 schedule) and I'm using a combination of vermiculite/perlite for my 2 seedlings, but I have seen no change in their growth over the past 2 or 3 days and it worries me. I put the seedlings straight into the main pot after I germinated them, not sure if this is relevant. The leafs seem to be a little bit dark and curling a little, but I'm not sure. I've been watering them every 2 days with a very small amount of nutes. Is there even anything wrong with them or am I being paranoid? If clearer pics are needed i'll get some.View attachment 1584104View attachment 1584105

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probably need more nutes. the medium is barren of them and if the medium EC is too low it can actually suck the nutes out of the roots. i've seen that happening. or at least that's what i think. do you know what the EC of the feeding was?

what kind of pots u have em on,what kind of soil, and what strain are they

they look fine to me, mines went true a face where they really didnt grow for like 3 days and then they went back to normal

I don't know the EC of the nutes how would the soil leech nutes out of the roots if i sprayed the soil? (specs here, but no EC) Provided this were the case, how would I fix it?

one is in a plastic planter, one is in a clay pot. I'm trying to grow blackjack in 2 vermiculite 1 perlite and 1 potting soil

all looks good bro, mine will look like for atleast the first week, then when the roots get established the plant will grow, peace man

before you said it's just perlite/vermiculite. if there's potting soil too, then you should be fine. give them two three days, if you don't see an improvement by then, and i'm guessing you won't, flush the medium (should be easy if it's soil less, just put a lot of water in it), and put in 150-200% of the nutes you gave them before. this shouldn't be much, but I do suggest that if you are growing hydroponics (no potting soil = hydro), you should get an EC meter, it's not very expensive.

now i checked out the fert you used. perhaps this is the problem. if i see correctly, that fertilizer is specific and not wide, meaning it has no pk, for instance, just N. that's bad - if you aren't using any soil, your plant has actually no way of getting some of the nurtients - and despite what we've all read about seedlings having what they need - i've learnt that this is not very true.

Also, of course, check your pH. This is the single most important factor. with no soil, you want it @ 5.8-6.2.

I have some 0-10-10 also, would it be ok if I just mixed that in too in addition to the 8-0-0 after the flush? There is some soil, it's something for the roots to grab onto, not sure if I needed it, but perlite and vermiculite seem awfully insubstantial by themselves. I will check with litmus paper.

I can't tell. It would most likely help if you added the 0-10-10 as well, but it won't suffice, unless it has mag and cal and fe (iron) in it too, as well as some other important elements. my advice is get a normal fertilizer. i'm not sure this is indeed your problem, but you will definitely need that anyway.

and yes, perlite and vermiculite are indeed insubstantial, in terms that they hold no nutrients, that's what makes it hydroponics - your plants are counting on the feeding solution instead of soil for elements. I can't tell about your medium, but it could be that the amount of soil you have there isn't enough.

I could also be quite wrong, your problem can even be the opposite - that having more than enough nutrient rich potting soil in there, you gave them more nutes and burned them. But after having the same problem as you (or so it seems) in my coco grow, I can say that I solved it by adding substantially more nutrients to the feeding.


and please, if you do solve your problem and if you don't, please don't forget to report back with results. that way in the future people can see your problem and how you worked it out. peace

What do you mean by normal fertilizer?

n4alpaca said:

What do you mean by normal fertilizer?

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one that has all the elements in it, NPK and micros. if i understood correctly from the link you gave, yours only has N and some of the micros.

do you know of any specific fertilizers that contain the important micros?

yes, all of the ones you can find in hydro shops, but also many that you can find in regular gardening shops. the popular ones are GHE ferts (flora, one part, total, etc.), canna (more expensive I hear), biobizz (organic), ATAMI, House and Garden and more.

fertilizers and nutes kill your plants at this age.

PeacefulKid1992 said:

fertilizers and nutes kill your plants at this age.

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not true. not only do they not kill them, they are sometimes necessary to add.

Normal fertilizer = a fertilizer that contains the full NPK spectrum (and some other microelements, as well, like B, Cu, Fe and such; most fertilizers have these all). Something without zeroes, but with more N than the rest (for the vegging period): 15-10-10 for example. For example, I'm using a general fertilizer that has a ratio of 8.5-3-4 but I'm growing in organic soil. However, you still need to provide your plant with all elements it needs; miss one of the main ones (N, P or K) and you experience stunted growth, or even worse.

ok, thanks I will be getting a new fertilizer today an will post results as soon as I see improvement... or (hopefully not) massive failure.

Hmmm hard to say what is going on. Seedlings usually have a slow few days after the true leaves come in because they are growing the roots and then they will explode. But they could be stunted from feeding to early or too much. Some people say not to feed at all for the first 2 weeks and others will feed a light flowering solution because it inspires root growth. Best bet is to wait and if they're stunted you may want to start over rather than wait for them to come back. Good luck.

i never seen a name brand of nutes your using....but if you have a fertalizer at 0-10-10 and one at 8-0-0...you should be fine if you mix them...

After flushing my systems I got new nutes (http://www.americanagritech.com/fertilizers/pure-blend-pro/pure-blend-pro-grow). maybe this will do the trick, now to sit and wait a while