How long has this problem been going on? 3-4 weeks ago it started...
What STRAIN are you growing? No idea, a collection of seeds from good stuff.
What was the establishing technique? seed
What is the age of your plants? 2 months from the time i put seed in soil (18 on-3 off-1 on-2 off Light schdule)
How Tall are the plants? left side is 2", middle 4", right 4.5 "
What PHASE (seedling, vegetative or flower) are the plants in? veg
What Technique are you using? indoor soil
What size pots are you using? 9 inch/1 gallon pots
What substrate/medium are you using? organic soil with perlite
What Nutrient's are you using?How much of each with how much water? Fox Farm Liquid Fert 1/4 recommened (USED ONCE) and Miracle grow 1/4 of recommended (USED ONCE) i spread the use out 1 time every 2 weeks... I water every 72 hours or even longer, but i was watering too often in the beginning i think maybe every other day.
What is the TDS/EC/PPM of your nutrients used? Miracle grow - 18-18-21 and Fox farm -.01-.03 -.07
What is the pH of the "RUN-OFF"? I tested it three weeks ago and it was netural (7)
What method of pH test was administered? Using Strips? pH pen? I used a capsule with the run off in a test tube and matched it by color chart.
When was your last feeding and how often are you feeding? A bit over a week ago. 1 every 14 days
What size bulb are you using? 3-120 soft light watt cfl, 3-100 watt daylight cfl 1 - 40 watt daylight florescent bulb
What is the distance to the canopy?1 -3 inches in some spots
What is your RH Factor? (Relative Humidity) 50 - 60
What is the canopy temperature?70-75
What is the Day/Night Temp? (Include fluctuation range)75 day 70 night
What is the current Air Flow? Great air flow, Oscillating fan on low with exhaust above
Is the fan blowing directly at plants?Yes, but Oscillating on low
Is the grow substrate constantly wet or moist? it has been moist
Is your water HARD or SOFT? Hard, but i let it sit for 24 hours to get chlorine out
What water are you using? Reverse Osmosis (RO)? Tap? Bottled? Well water? Distilled? Mineral Water? tap water
Has plant been recently pruned, cloned or pinched? I've trimmed dead spots in the last week
Have any pest chemicals been used? I used Diatomatious Earth all over the plants which is the white stuff in the soil. 3-1 fungus killer. Both are non toxins that can be used on fruits we eat and Hydrogen Peroxide 1 to 4 of water ratio too.
Are plant's infected with pest's? ATM not really, I did have a horrible issue with fungus gnats for 2 weeks. I think they are the reason why they look the way they do.

Hello there, I'm a first time poster/ indoor gardener. I've documented my experience on a calendar and I'm hoping you pro's can help me save my babbies!!!
April 26,
I started 3 seeds in peat moss containers and the seedlings went great sitting inside my window next to my tomatoes and peppers using the natural sunlight schedule for 3 weeks. I was able to grow them without any suspicion from 2 roommates or the occasional visitor for almost a month. I was amazed at how easy it was to get them started without people acknowledging them. I felt very sneaky.

May 15th,
I decided to move them into the basement in my storage room for the next phase. My set up was was going good but I know I was over watering them. I use a couple drops of fox farm liquid fert with my 2 quarts of water for the 3 plants. I was watering them maybe every other day for 2 weeks with 2 quarts for the 3 plants.

June 1st,
2 weeks later the plants still aren't getting taller and now they are starting to have a yellowish color on the lower leaves. The leaves are definitely getting bigger but the stem isn't growing. I was also seeing a gnat here and there and had no idea what to expect next. I still think they came from the peat moss composting but you're the experts.

June 6th,
It's just not one or two gnats anymore there are dozens flying around going in and out of the soil. I panic. I run a PH test on the soil run off and it measures at netural (7).

June 7th,
Panic continues,
I tried the natural methods of soapy water dish, yellow bug lights and it only seemed to intensify them.

June 8th, I got 3-1 fungus killer. Applied with water. Next day, Results of the insects were still there. The fungus killer is for the babies.

June 10th,
I get diatomacious earth. I put about 1/4 inch covering the top soil and sprinkle on plants. I also got the fly strips because my two sided tape wasn't working to hold them.

June 12th,
Fungus gnats numbers are down big time. I watered plants with a 1 to 4 hydrogen peroxide to water ratio and listen to the plants fizzle. I also managed to drop the pot on the left of the picture (blue pot) and soil was everywhere. I did see long roots which gave me some hope. So I flushed it and watched about 20 gnats come flying out. I put it back into another pot. Plants are still yellowish/brown lower leaves.

June 18th,
I give them some water with Miracle grow fertilizer 1/4 the recommened amount and only a couple gnats now, but my fly strips look like a gnat killing field. Plants are still yellowish/brown spots. They feel like a fake plastic tree.

June 22nd,
Gnats are almost non existent now. I water with my 1 to 4 hydro peroxide / water. Plants seem to have more life after the water. I'm letting the soil become very dry at the top before waterings. They still have the spots so I trimmed off a lot of brown tips and trim leaves that look very unhealthy.

June 27th (present)
Gnats presence is down to 1 or 2 survivors and I noticed a strange beetle on my plant. Looked like a flea beetle but it didn't jumple like one. Killed it and hopefully its friends stay out of this picture. Soil is very dry on surface and if i stick my finger into the soil 3 inches there is a bit of moisture still so I will water tomorrow.

My research tells me this
- over nutrients ( I've given it 2 doses and it was 1/4 recommened. One was fox farm liquid fert which i realized after the fact was for flowering stage and not veg, the next was miracle grow 18 - 18 - 21 i think.)
- under nutrients
- fungus gnats lavre eating roots
- over watering
- underwaters
- Phosphorus deficiencies
- potassium
- magnessium
- too much light/ too little light
- etc...

My plant problems seem to be any of the above to my eyes. I'm pointing at the gnats or when I hit them at 4 weeks old with the fox farm even thought the dose was seriously about 2 or 3 drops.

any questions/ input is greatly appreciated.

I have access to walmart and local garden shops i don't want to be ordering anything off the internet though.

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well set up post, is the first thing i have to say. i feel like i dont need to ask any questions because you told us what your working with

second, i can hardly believe these plants are 2 mo old! there so small, they look like 2 weekers. maybe it has something to do with only receiving a few hours of light for the first mo of its life. you realize one sid of your house gets a tops of like 6 hrs of light

third, i think your light cycle is a little confusing, it was to me so i can imagine how your plant feels. just give it 24/0, 20/4 or 18/6. keep it simple, i dont understand are you trying to trick your plant into thinking there are leap days?

i wouldnt wory about nute burn, you seem responsable with the doses. also a big mistake you did not make that a lot of noobs do is over watering. you understand it needs to be dry to grow as much as it needs to be wet to grow

i had a little gnat problem too, kill the buggers when you see them so they dont get a chance to fuck

i honestly dont know why your plants are runty. i would keep them but start one or two new ones and see if they dont surpass your runts. feed them only water and air and see how they do, hold off on the nutes untill there like 2x this size

I thank you for the reply! I totally agree with the window thing with the lack of light, but they seemed to grow better there than my room. My light schedule will go to 18/6 after your comment. I was doing that weird time because I read it ensures females.

I forgot to mention when I first moved them to the room i was using only daylight 3 cfl 100 watt /40 watt flouresent and no soft lights until about 2 weeks ago. So I think we can narrow down the runts - it happened when I moved them to room and went on a funky lights/light schedule. They are also in peat moss containers would that be preventing the roots full potential?

And my other question is - really lay off the nutrients until 6 plus inch? Most say after a month hit em... I see you what you mean though that they aren't the typical size of a month old.

Thats exactly what I thought. Man!... as small as those are, you might as well start over, because about the only loss will be time. And I'm not ripping on you, just thinking efficiently.. a, count your loss, type thing.

ya there not ur average 1 mo olds. id hold off on nutes but who am i? i only like to use water and molasses. the peat moss containers tho! those things with like a cloth wraper around a little soil ball? i never bothered with these but my mom uses them for her veg garden. im prity sure we removed the cloth before transplanting them into the ground. they are supposed to be quick and easy and biodegradeable but ill bet the problem is your plants are rootlocked and stunted

It won't ensure females, it'll ensure stress and you'll think you have females until it turns hermmie and you have a self polinated plant with yucky ass seeds.

Use good 'ol black dirt instead of that peat moss.

The peat moss containers aren't too think maybe 1/8 inch thick. I don't think they decomposed yet. It's making sense. I would drop them and start new but I'm out of ammo. I will say the new growth isn't looking bad it looks the way it's supposed to just the older low leaves.

Question - If I fight this battle out and get them to flower will I have some sickly looking babbies or is there any chance I could still be on the cover of high times at this point?

naw ill bet they bounce back when evrything works its self out. it cant be too hard too be out of seeds, just get some good ass regs and pop em in the ground or germinate.if they stay short they might grow the littlest buds ever, lol. i wouldnt get ready to be on high times, unless its for your method of keeping plants runty, lol. ya im just having fun at this point.

ya so id say start some new ones, natural style. take the seeds from bud to soil water then grow. keep the others untill the new plants are ready to flower. honestly i think i remember reading someone who grew 3 plants of the same strain and the runt was the most potent female and the biggest was a male

Don't chop them down until you know what the sex is. It's good practice either way. Those plants are so small they are like dwarfed bonsai trees, but cannabis. They should've passed that size in the first two weeks. I'm surprised that you were able to keep them alive so long and grow so small, it's like they went thru a busted time machine or something....

All the grow issues your having aside, the first and real problem is your seed source...good for practice, but thats it. And I say this because I've had such bad luck with bag seed. You'll probably end up with hermmies. I did, the first few attempts. And cops don't care if you got males and fucked up females, so you might as well go for the Gold and not waste time.

When you pull a seed out of a really good bag and think, "oh man, I'm going to save that seed, this is some killer smoke!" Ask yourself, how that seed was created. It wasn't created out of deliberate and selectve breeding, in other words, male pollen from another plant didn't come into contact with that female bud you're smoking and create those seeds. The proof in that, is, you would have more seed clusters, not just one here, one there.

Those seeds were, infact, created out of a stress or genetic factor(s), the plant may have partially grown male parts and pollinated itself. Once that happens, once that seed is created, its genetic fate will have a high likelihood of being hermaphrodite. And you're probably growing those seeds as we speak...like i said, nothing wrong with it, but when it happened to me the first time, I was so disgusted, and the pot was horrible.

And once you get started growing, that in and of itself becomes a high too, so you're constantly trying to perfect your hobby. Having inferior materials is not as trivial as one may think. Seed quality, Lighting, Odor control, Ventilation & Temp, Soil comp, There's no way to half ass it and get anything close to "high times" quality rope.

You to me, seem like a really 'with it' guy, the kind of guy who understands things and isn't retarded, you may have to step out of your comfort zone and buy some stuff online, walmart doesn't have the supplys you need, bro. I wish best of luck to you.

I know I'm off topic a bit for what you're asking,

^^^ he is right, im just saying keep doing bagseeds till you know what your doing. dont go blowing 60 bucks on a 5 pack of feminzed seeds of the dopest dope only to mess it up. i want to see people grow bagseed and amaze themselve with the quality of carefuly grown bud as opposed to the neglected shit the seeds came out of