Very slow root growth of 14-day old seedling (indoor soil)

Indoor grow in soil, LED.
The picture above is of a 14-day old plant in a small seedling pot.
Looks healthy, right?
I water by hand and the pot dries out in less than two days.
Judging by the size of the seedling, it should be ready to transplant before it gets root-bound.

But when I slid the plant out of the pot, the soil just crumbled.
It wasn't root-bound at all.
The root ball was too small/frail to keep the soil together.
Is there any cause for concern, or am I just worrying over nothing?
Any ideas of what is causing this slow root growth?

This is what the plant looks like in its new container, just after transplanting:

Ideally, I should transplant again when the plant has doubled in size, but if the roots are growing so slowly, maybe I should wait a lot longer than that.
I will keep this thread updated on the progress of the plant.

That first pic looks great, but it won't look healthy much longer if allowed to stay in wet conditions. Elevate grow bag out of standing water, and provide air circulation. Your bag and medium are too wet. Roots have to breathe. Moist not wet.

Many thanks for the advice, quirk!
The standing water in the photo was run-off that was slowly seeping out. I had to empty out the tray a few times before it stopped.
I have an extractor fan and another fan in the tent to circulate air.

What changes should I make to my watering technique? Right now I wait until the soil is dry (by weighing the pot), then water until the soil is completely saturated.
I have read that if I don't completely saturate the soil, there may be areas of dry spots. Is this bad advice?

Put the plant elevated on something in the saucer so when you water, the pot/bag doesn't sit in the runoff. It will suck the stuff back into it. Actually, what I do [I'm a soil grower] I have old baking racks elevated by 3inch little blocks on the sides so the plants sit on the racks and the saucer sits under the racks.. when I water, it drips thru the racks into the saucer... I go back in after an hour, and empty the saucers when the dripping stops. I lose a few inches in height in my tent, but emptying the saucers is cake and I don't have to ever move the plants.
Hope that helps! Good luck to ya and if you have any more questions... I'm sure many more like minded growers will chime in.

I water when the pot is dry/light, and completely saturate the soil during feed/watering so I get about 20% runoff every time [except when transplanting or I put small plant in big pot]

Thanks for the advice, Illicitmango! I will use a grill rack next time I water. I put the pot on a grill rack right now. It makes sense because it's a fabric pot: exposing the bottom of the pot to air will prune the roots at the bottom, I guess.

TurnipJuice said:

Many thanks for the advice, quirk!
The standing water in the photo was run-off that was slowly seeping out. I had to empty out the tray a few times before it stopped.
I have an extractor fan and another fan in the tent to circulate air.

What changes should I make to my watering technique? Right now I wait until the soil is dry (by weighing the pot), then water until the soil is completely saturated.
I have read that if I don't completely saturate the soil, there may be areas of dry spots. Is this bad advice?

Click to expand...

Medium has to contain air pockets for the roots to transpire, therefore I never keep my medium saturated. I water slowly in an outward radiating circular pattern, one 16oz. container at a time. If I get runoff, I stop immediately, but I always keep my pot 1lb under saturated weight. Runoff doesn't require saturation if your medium is light, airy and fluffy. After a couple of weeks I get used to the feel and lose the scales but I don't take chances with young plants. Experience from mistakes. I've got these pots acclimating in the grow room and will transfer seedlings upon sprout, which will be in 30-48 more hours, by which time the pots will be at least 1lb. below saturation. This is what works for me TurnipJuice. You'll develop your technique.

I see now! Thanks for sharing your method and your help, quirk! Fortunately, my seedling did not seem affected by the transplant. I got lucky this time, but next time I'll know the right way to do it!

My 22-day old plant shows signs of stress because I let the pot dry out too much.



The soil was so dry that it no longer stuck to the bottom of the pot. Bone dry from top to bottom. At least I recorded the weights so I know what to do next time.

I watered using a 200ml container adding 1/4 strength fertilizer to the container each time. A bit tedious but that should be enough time for the soil to absorb the water. I waited a few hours for the pot to finish dripping before weighing it. I weighed the runoff and it was about 32% of the water I added. A bit too much.
I plan to water to run off by about 10-20% only if I'm adding ferts. If using only water, I will use the weights I've recorded to calculate how much to water with little to no runoff.