Stunted growth? or just a dwarf strain? I am confused!

Hello all,

Today is officially the day 20 since I planted my germinated seed (JD Easy Ryder) into 50/50 coco perlite soil. And, as you can see in the pics, my plant is rather small, and it's difficult to see the main stem. I have compared week 3 growth progress with other members' Easy Ryder, and their plants have grown tall and strong with thick main stems ever since like week 2...

I admit that I haven't given my plant proper nutrients it needed in the beginning (I thought I should only give ph'ed tap water for the first two weeks, but I figured with coco I should always give nutrients...), but I am confused as it is normal to grow like a dwarfish bush like plant in the beginning and eventually it can progress into a a tall and stemmy plant...

Can anyone help me??? Maybe something is wrong with the setup?

Thanks in advance for your responses

.

Sometimes I have found with old seed stock that the plants can start stunted. They usually begin normal growth at some point though. How old are your seeds?

I am not sure how long they have been stocked for, but I've gotten them online only a few weeks ago. So, should I take it as it being simply stunted a bit? Is the plant looking healthy to you?

It does not look healthy. It looks like it is burning from over fertilization. The stunted growth just happens to some seeds which is always why I start a bunch of them. I had some seed stock from 6 years ago that had about a 50% germination rate and several were stunted. Typically they just get better and start taking off at some point.

Go go super easy on the ferts when they are young. Like basically nothing. Use organics. Maybe 1/4 strength if your medium isn't loaded with nutes. I use ocean forest which has all i need for the first 4 weeks. I use only water.

I started off with two plants, one with FFOF and one with coco/perlite. One with FFOF died early even though I only watered it, no nutes. The one i'm having problem seemed super healthy in the beginning but is showing dwarfed growth...I am very stressed out!

yea coco and perlite doesnt have much in it. coco has a natural low ph. I like to go with a mix of promix vermiculite perlite compost and 3 or 4 other things all mixed together. it feeds the plants for 4-5 weeks, I only water which makes it really easy to get fast growing seedlings. I like to save the fert for older plants who can handle it a little better.

Your plant looks like boron deff. at its best!! look this over https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=11688 What is the ph of your soil? or water? it may be out of range thats why the funky looking leaves

dwarfish... what sea do you catch that in?? lol

I have been very cautiously monitored the ph if water that I gave to my plant (~6.5). Ph of the soil also seems to show neutral ph due to having dolomote lime. Could it possibly be due to having too much lime in the soil?

I am still guessing bad seed stock. If they aren't going to be vigorous plants then they won't. If you started one in ocean forest and it died immediately I wonder why. Make sure not to overwater. The taproot digs deep and seeds can drown. Did you pre pop your seeds or just plant in the medium? I have done both with good results. Just because ph is good going into the soil doesn't mean it is good coming out.

i would flush with plain water and start over using plain water and see what happens.

you could start by flushing with ph 6.5 water, and check the water that comes out the bottom, "run-off". That will tell you a general..too high....too low reading. That will not be the exact ph of the soil but will give the right direction to head. Too much lime will cause the ph to climb out of sight, but this also takes time, months or weeks at best.

check your run-off and report back, if it is high you could start to drop it by flushing with a lower ph water than what you want in the end...ie... if my soil is 8 I will flush with 5.0-5.5 water... if it is 8.5 or higher I will flush with 4.0-4.5 water this will drop the ph to a range of 6.5.

Will I still get an near accurate reading upon flushing even if I watered it two days ago?

I am going for drowning in water and under fed nutes. That pot size should only need feeding at most once a week, probably longer. Perlite and coco have no nutrients and therefore should be given a low dose of nutrients.

Why are you using perlite?? No need with coco.

If it was me, I would feed em some nutes then leave it until the pot is close to bone dry and resume feeding regime. Unless your natural water ph is way off, I wouldn't worry about ph to much.

I waited until the soil was bone dry and flushed it with r/o water. Guess what though. The ph of the soil was actually 6.0-6.5! I do believe my mistake throughout my first grow was overwatering. I watered my small pot of plant at least once 3-4 days and never waited it to dry completely. Today is actually day 24, and I am planning to do it all over after flushed water dries out. I am also leaving the pot out in the sun approximately 6-7 hours/day. Here are some of the new pictures. It is, however, still very small, although it seems to have developed many new leaflets. What are your impressions of my plant?

Do I really not need perlite with coco? It seems like everywhere I look at, they recommend 50/50 coco mixed with perlite....I am debating if I will start with coco or FFOF for my next grow.

perlite is a good help for drainage, as is lava rock. I always use perlite and vermiculite in my mix.

Some thing is seriously wrong there.. So coco and perlite? wouldnt that fit into soilless grow? If it does, which coco is not soil it would require a bit lower ph. I know boron shuts down at 7.5 in soil and 6 in coco unless you have not feed them a micro nute ever.

Soilless grows are done best at a ph of 5-6 anything over 6.0 will lead to a boron deff. anything over 6.5 will have many nute lock out at the same time, which it kinda looks like.

Should I ph the nute water to about 5 to avoid boron deff?