I'm panicking over here guys! my seedlings seem to be stuck... and yellow. First I recognize I should have probably had my nutes on hand already. but I failed to realize local brick and mortor are sorely lacking in any nutes I've seen touted here. I wasn't in a big hurry because I have seen some say that immediate nutes are not required growing in soil. I have seen the symptoms of deficiencies among established plants but cannot readily diagnose my girls illness. advice is appriciated.
@homegrownhog, there's a little more to it then just running the lights at 24/7. So a seedling or any plant can only absorb so much light in a day. If the light (PAR) is weak then it can take the plant all day-24hrs, to absorb enough light, but if it's strong light it can be to much and the plant can't use all the light and it becomes stressed. Plant need their dark period, that's why very few places in the world have 24hrs days and only for a very short time. So the folks who do grow at 24/7 they have done this before and may have finally perfected it, or say they have.
I have had good success with running autos at 18/6. When they come out of their 6 hr nap, you'll like what you see.
My other question would be, how close are your lights? and where at on the dimmer switch? 👍
@woodi2 ive lowered the lights because I've noticed considerable stretch in one but not the other. the lights are now about 15 inches from the canopy and they seem to be enjoying it. the dimmer was set at 75% over the weekend and they seem to be handling 75% so I bumped it to 80% this morning. the light timer is set at 18/6.
its brand sold at walmart, "back to the roots" is the brand name and its a organic soil. Ph is running in the 4.9 to 5 range. Also I mixed in a bit of coir with the soil, my thinking being it would help retain moisture. I am using "spring water"
This could be a problem as cannabis grown in soil prefers a ph of 6.5-7.0. I’ve tried to look up that soil but couldn’t find a lot of information. It’s listed as contains fertilizer so maybe it’s too hot for the seedlings to handle. Me being a coco grower I’m hesitant on giving a recommendation here. I’d usually say you need to flush with ph 7.0 water till your ph is in range but that’s going to leach lots of stuff from the soil. Best wait for another opinion before doing anything drastic.
Random acts of kindness make the world a better place
This will be the problem mate, pH should be around 6.5-70 for best results on soil. Mixing coco wont really help with holding in moisture either mate, that's what vermiculite is used for How much did you mix in?
Adjust the pH of your water to around 7.0 and move forward from there. dont water too much, and do not get run off. Let see some pics so we can see whats going on too
Please keep up to date with forum rules and posting guidelines to keep the forum tidy 🙂 Forum Rules Posting Guidelines Community Standards "Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” ― Mark Twain
Hey mate I had the same problem as you here, with that low pH and your pre-fed soil you now have a pretty solid nutrition lookout, even though you have a lot of nutrients in the soil the plant can't use them. My approach would be 7.5-8 pH with fertilizer for the next 2 waterings and a little more water than before without drowning them, and 6.5 for the rest of the growth. And the light keeps stressing them out too, give them the 18/6 or 20/4 cycle and dim those Mars LEDs to 50% when hanging 40cm apart.
Here’s the pH range for soil recommended by this site
I am a massive auto fan and in my experience you get your best results at 18/6 or 20/4, personally I run 18/6 and the plants are generally always decent yielders, I find that that 6 hr rest is just right for most strains with some strains able to make use of 20/4. Besides being expensive at 24/0 over an entire grow, the dark period is important for the plants growth patterns, if you watch a plant being grown under 24/0 you will see them start to droop and perk back up, this is the point they are "resting"(provided its not thirsty), I have found that having the light on while they are resting can be more detrimental to the overall plant health. By all means I'm not saying you cant run 24/0 because you definitely can but you will see better results from a rest period imo. One thing I will say is that autos aren't fans of big feed straight out of the gate and that mix could be a little too hot for them at their current life stage, If I am running a soil run I will plant the seed into a small handful of coco in the centre of the pot and then the roots can reach out for the nutrients at its own pace, but I am in no way a "Soil Expert" as I mainly run coco these days, however thankfully there are a few members on here that can point you in the right direction.
As for the PH, looks like you have been given plenty of info on that already but yes you really want to be in that 6.5-7ph range in soil based mediums, if you want extra water retention you would likely need to add a touch more peat to the mix or some vermiculite as both of these would hold moisture better than coco as coco and perlite are better for drainage. The ratio of these can be a bit tricky as you don't want it holding too much and you don't want it draining too fast either. I would suggest taking a look at Temple Growers soil recipe, he has worked for a long time to perfect that mix and it works very well with cannabis which is a tall ask considering even the top name brand soil companies struggle to get the ratios just right.
Good Luck
I feel like a, like a slice of butter... melting on top of a big-ol' pile of flapjacks... yeah.
thanks for all the good advice ! I'm homing in on a good PH however I am a little fuzzy on the background PH... the spring water I am using registers at 6 to 8 straight out of the jug... perhaps I need to use distilled water? also PH testing the soil, The Instructions with the PH tester says to put a teaspoon of the media to be tested in a small amount of water. However using my present water with it being 6 to 8 out of the gate if I understand background PH should I be looking for 12 to 14 PH? I know all this information is likely contained is various threads but the sheer volume of info on the page is quite intimidating when a stoner is not even sure what questions to ask! lol
Background is for EC, because there is stuff in the water out the tap already that is what we call background, so say for example you want 1.2 EC but your back ground is 0.4 straight out the tap then you can only add 0.8 of nutrients because you already have 0.4 before you started. 👍🏻
Instructions with the PH tester says to put a teaspoon of the media to be tested in a small amount of water
This is a slurry test and yes distilled or reverse osmosis water is used because it needs to be neutral at 7ph. Use 1-1.5 ml of distilled water for every gram of soil. So for 50grams of soil 50-75 ml of distilled water. Stir for a bit and then leave for at least an hour, then stir and insert your meter and take a reading. You may want to let the soil settle to the bottom before taking the reading, keeps the meter cleaner.
There are actual soil ph meters you just stick in the soil but the accurate ones are very expensive, and the Amazon, department store cheapos are not that accurate.
The other test is the run off test, you intentionally flood your plant container until you get enough run off to check the ph. You should use neutral ph water for this test also I would think. I hope I didn't confuse you, cause I am 🤣
We just smiled n waved sittn there on that sack o seeds
ok.... 48 hrs ago I flushed the soil with ph balanced at 7.0 ph. today I fed Fox Farm grow big at the recommended concentrations on the bottle. I'm guessing that the EC numbers recommended here are the same regardless of grow method I am growing in soil and the slurry PH is dead on 7.0. my plants are still tiny considering they were sprouted on 4/20
I don't hold out much hope making a harvest, perhaps the next grow will be better.....
today I fed Fox Farm grow big at the recommended concentrations on the bottle
That’s going to be high. The bottle recommended rate is 2 to 4 times too high for most plants. As small as your seedlings are cut that rate to 1/4 the recommended rate. Very often less gives more when growing cannabis.
Random acts of kindness make the world a better place
We also use some cookies to improve your experience here. Please click accept, but you can opt out if you wish. AcceptReject Cookie settings
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
How much did you mix in? 
