Over/Under watering question

nroth

nroth

Active Member
Hi guys, I have a question about some seedlings that we have. Our log is in my sig, and here are some pictures that show the issue. I'm doing this with a friend, and I've read alot about how overwatering is easy to do. But, at the same time the soil seems to dry out very fast on top. Using a moisture meter though it shows that these, which havn't been watered in a full day and a half now, have a moisture level of around a 7 which I think is pushing it. Yesterday they were around an 8. From the pictures, does anyone think I'm over/under watering? One has the clover leaves that have turned yellow, which is the reason of my concern.

Also, while being scared of over watering, I measured the PH which is a bit high....in the high 7's. I also tested the water with a pool kit, which showed a PH of 7.8. So how can we lower the PH without being scared that we are overwatering. We have lowered the the water's PH with vinegar to around 6-7 before watering the last time they were.

Thanks in advance for any advice.




 
Bump, anyone? Again should I trust the moisture meters, and just wait till they get down to 4 or so then water again?
 
Well now I'm afraid that it might be root rot or something. The soil was kinda packed down feeling since I've been letting it dry out. But they are starting to look a little bit worse every day, and there is a sour smell we get a hint of when we open the door. Could this be something growing in the soil, and is there anyway to replant them in new soil?
 
Could be either over-or underwatering. they both look the same, unfortunately. but I don't see a light of any sort. could be they need more light, if they look pale yellow. usually over-under watering makes them droopy, not so much yellow. keep em warm too, 70-75 light on/ --65-70 light off Keep your ph around 6.2-7 you should be ok that's what i've read. I don't use a ph meter, (no money) I go by 'feel'. but only water every 3-4 days, not every day no fertz during first two weeks of first dirt transp[lant. then only about 1/4 strength (they're little, don't want kill 'em) fertz for 1 week or so, try to get a breeze across the leaves. This will strengthen the stems (so they can hold up fat buds later!).
 
idk, if i was u, i would just keep watering until they look like they need water, thats what i do. my plants leaves start to droop when they need water, and that tells me"hay give them some fucking water", you know.
 
every few waterings, I poke a few holes from top to the bottom around the sides of my plamt pots. this loosens up the soil, and at the same time, I check to see how wet the dirt is, so I know when to water next. If my 1/4 thick dowel comes up with dirt on it, the dirt is still damp, if it's clean coming back up, then the soil is dry enough for a rewater. this keeps my soil loose.
don't use a pencil, it has paint on it that may react with fertz or worse yet, if you're an indoor grower, do nOT use a stick from outside! you run the risk of transferring an outside fungus into your indoor soil mix. (just to be safe invest $1.00 in a dowel) 1x a month I throw a new cupful or two of mygromw medium across the top of my grow containers, this puts fresh dirt (with its nutrients) into the soil. and areates the top 1/2 inch or so, again.
 
faralos said:
Could be either over-or underwatering. they both look the same, unfortunately. but I don't see a light of any sort. could be they need more light, if they look pale yellow. usually over-under watering makes them droopy, not so much yellow. keep em warm too, 70-75 light on/ --65-70 light off Keep your ph around 6.2-7 you should be ok that's what i've read. I don't use a ph meter, (no money) I go by 'feel'. but only water every 3-4 days, not every day no fertz during first two weeks of first dirt transp[lant. then only about 1/4 strength (they're little, don't want kill 'em) fertz for 1 week or so, try to get a breeze across the leaves. This will strengthen the stems (so they can hold up fat buds later!).
Click to expand...

Hey, thanks for the reply, yeah we have 8 42watt cfl's and 70w of led's on them. I took them out of the closet to get better lighting for a picture with my iphone. I will take some better ones later tonight. We also have a fan on them and also blowing over the cfl's. I think this might be overwatering/bad drainage. It's been now 3 days since last real watering and it's still showing a 7 at the very bottom of the pot, and 5 in the middle with the moisture meter.
 
faralos said:
every few waterings, I poke a few holes from top to the bottom around the sides of my plamt pots. this loosens up the soil, and at the same time, I check to see how wet the dirt is, so I know when to water next. If my 1/4 thick dowel comes up with dirt on it, the dirt is still damp, if it's clean coming back up, then the soil is dry enough for a rewater. this keeps my soil loose.
don't use a pencil, it has paint on it that may react with fertz or worse yet, if you're an indoor grower, do nOT use a stick from outside! you run the risk of transferring an outside fungus into your indoor soil mix. (just to be safe invest $1.00 in a dowel) 1x a month I throw a new cupful or two of mygromw medium across the top of my grow containers, this puts fresh dirt (with its nutrients) into the soil. and areates the top 1/2 inch or so, again.
Click to expand...

Last night I noticed the packed dirt, and took the moisture meter and airated the soil up pretty well. Hopefully this will help with the problem. My buddy also told me there are a couple which have some small brown almost burn looking spots, and tips. We have not given any nutes though.
 
i rely on my meter , and intuition.
If the tops dry test it , then water , but only every 2-3 days!!
 
So a quick update....So as of yesterday we have seen an amazing turn around, and I'm almost positive the yellowing was due to overwatering. The slightly older seedlings were the main ones turning yellow, and all of them now have new green healthly leaves coming in. They leaves are also now standing at attention for the light, instead of drooping. To top it off, the younger seedlings are growing crazy fast now. The soil is now at the ideal wetness, now 3 days after not watering, but is taking forever to dry out. I think when we transplant we will definitely look more into the soil. I'll post some new pictures here sometime tonight.
 
I promised some more pictures of the turn around in the last two days. So far giving them LESS attention is making them look better. You can see in these pictures that they look much more green, and our largest one looked like this two days ago.....

And here the same one is tonight. You can see, it only made one set of 3 leaves, and jumped straight to the sets of 5 leaves.

More pictures are in my grow log. Our plan with the watering now is just to trust our two moisture meters, and water with correct ph water.
 
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