Drooping Seedlings (First Grow)

Hi,

My problem is as my title suggests, my seedlings are drooping. Now i know this could be a number of problems because i have read up extensively. I just do not have the experiance to be able to say for sure what it is.

Ok so symptoms:

Leaves are drooping and growth is possibly not as fast as expected. They are prob about a week and a half from germing

What i have done:

I transplanted a couple days ago and at the time gave them 1 litre of water (1 gallon pots)

I havent watered since because if i stick my finger in an inch or two there is still moisture. Althought i did give them maybe 50 ml nearer the centre of the pot just incase the root system was to small (its hard to tell but i think it may have perked them up a bit)

I havent used any nutes so it cant be nute burn

Possibly over watering? From everything ive read its hard to tell what type of leaf curl i have.

The temps stay at about 80F, I have a fan blowing on the plants 24/7 and a fan sitting at a window blowing in fresh air towards the plants.

I dont have a PH meter atm but im getting one soon.

Oh ye and im using a 400 hps (i know bad for veg but its all i got)

I know i havent added a lot of info that is probably required but im hoping the pics will answer any questions.

I have 4 plants, the strain is Auto AK 47 (L2 x AK47)

Sorry about the crappy quality but i hope it gives you the general idea




The Pics are in sets of two of each plant. The 3rd and 4th pics is of the best plant so far, it was first to germ and its really taking off. It seems least affected by the leaf curl but for some reason its growing outwards instead of up :S and it seems to be taking a long time to form new leaf sets

EDIT: soil is levington, a british brand and as far as i can tell fine for seedlings.

how far above the plants is your light ? they are still small and high intensity light may be to much yet try lifting you light to a couple of feet from the plants until they get a lil bigger

maybe u need nutes

the light is 50cm from the plants. saying that i have recent lowered the light from 60cm.

from what i understand the plants shouldnt need nutes for the first 3 weeks, is this not true?

thanks for the fast reply

I'd say your problem is over watering, don't water again till your soil is dry (I use a moisture meter). Your light should be closer yet, a 400 watt HPS can be as close as a foot away safely. Poke holes with a pencil deep down in the soil to help it dry down. No nutes are need yet, that is correct. There's probably some in your soil anyways.

That sounds good, although im not gonna lower to 30cm, the heat from the light is massive, think i will try it at 60cm and also poke holes around the side of the soil in the pot so that air can get down (dont wanna damage those roots)

Also i cut circular peices of white paper and put them on the pots so the soil wont dry. I think its to early for that so will leave it for later stages.

Im getting a combi ph, moisture meter soon so should help. But as i said the soil was damp about 2 inches down after 2 days. Im guessing the roots wernt developed enough to take all that water.

Thanks for the help peeps. Anyone else had this same problem with their plants as from what i seen there are different types of leaf curl

i just looked at this again and i think its over watering

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SAmisery said:

maybe u need nutes

Click to expand...

No nutes for awhile, shes so young you dont want to over feed her, there are enough nutrients in your soil for now. Dont feed them until the plant has about 4 or 5 stages of leaves....

When you transplanted them did you bury the stem of the plants a bit? They look very stocky. if you bury the stem when transplanting they will die because the plant has already decided which tissue will become roots and which tissue will be stem

dpjones,

First off, always be weary of strangers advice. I only say that because your right, you SHOULDN'T be adding nutes as the above member mentioned. I too have been having problems germing, but I know my problem. I noticed in your pics your soil looks really compact and chronically wet. Let it dry out. Over watering gives the same sign as underwatering. As long as you stay away from where the root mass is you can take a paper clip and "turn" the top inch or so, and along the outside take a pencil and poke holes all the way to the bottom, this will allow excess water to drain out much faster. Check your drain holes on the bottom to make sure soil has not compacted and preventing water flow. As for the light, you should have that thing backed off 2 to 2 1/2 feet. Don't lower it until your at your 3 node with a set of full leafs (3-5 blades). Sometimes plants do much better when neglected than when "spoiled". Good luck, keep us posted.

Jimmy,

Sorry bro but what you just said is not entirly true. Your right, the plant has released hormones determining the structure, but if your plant has stretched 4" it is okay to bury an 1 1/2" of the stem. Also, I can't speak for him, but I would say it is stalky because of the HID light. The plant doesn't need to grow up & search for light when being blasted by that much light (ie can be bad).

wow thank you very much guys, i wasnt expecting this much help its really appreciated ^.^

I will definitely try the pencil and paper clip thing to get more drainage.

I didnt compact the soil but i did tap the pot on the floor when filling so there would be no air holes in the medium.

The plants seem to have improved a lot in the last couple hours since i removed the paper so im hoping by tommorrow they will be perky =D

Will post tommorrow on the update.