Advice Wanted, Should I Keep Going Or Start Again?

Just curious. I grow a lot of plants taken as cuttings. Sometimes I find minimum roots when I go to transplant those clones, looking like the ones in your recent photos, and I have to make some decisions as to whether to toss them or continue to transplant. Sometimes it works and the cutting takes off growing new roots and then leaves and stems. Sometimes it just does nothing and ends up being tossed anyway.
 
@Emilya, how are you?

So my BD auto died as well, again due to what we think is overwatering.

Since you gave advise i have been watering a little around the perimeter of the plant as you suggested. I have started to try to be familiar with the weight while i still use the moisture meter.

Over the past 5 to 6 days, these girls have had no growth from visible ends. Over the last 3 days i have literally given them no water as the pot is still heavy and there are still many wet and moist parts. I figured i was just adding to the lake, so best to let it completely dry as I felt i was instructed.

Have also tried getting lights closer and bringing down the humidity from around 65 to 50.

I have not been able to get any of my girls any bigger than this, EVERRRR! HAHA... There has been almost zero visible growth for about a week.

I find it hard to figure out what to do. All the girls here are 12 to 15 days old. All autos
 

Attachments

  • 20200119_095230.jpg
    20200119_095230.jpg
    1.4 MB · Views: 52
  • 20200119_095225.jpg
    20200119_095225.jpg
    1.4 MB · Views: 50
  • 20200119_095220.jpg
    20200119_095220.jpg
    1.5 MB · Views: 45
  • 20200119_095215.jpg
    20200119_095215.jpg
    1.5 MB · Views: 46
@Emilya, how are you?

So my BD auto died as well, again due to what we think is overwatering.

Since you gave advise i have been watering a little around the perimeter of the plant as you suggested. I have started to try to be familiar with the weight while i still use the moisture meter.

Over the past 5 to 6 days, these girls have had no growth from visible ends. Over the last 3 days i have literally given them no water as the pot is still heavy and there are still many wet and moist parts. I figured i was just adding to the lake, so best to let it completely dry as I felt i was instructed.

Have also tried getting lights closer and bringing down the humidity from around 65 to 50.

I have not been able to get any of my girls any bigger than this, EVERRRR! HAHA... There has been almost zero visible growth for about a week.

I find it hard to figure out what to do. All the girls here are 12 to 15 days old. All autos
all with the exception of the last picture look like they are starving, and the last one shows that it is soon to be on the same path. Something basic is wrong here... what is the medium? Are you feeding? Usually if the lights are too far away the plants will get leggy... but as long as you aren't burning them, more light is better.
 
all with the exception of the last picture look like they are starving, and the last one shows that it is soon to be on the same path. Something basic is wrong here... what is the medium? Are you feeding? Usually if the lights are too far away the plants will get leggy... but as long as you aren't burning them, more light is better.
No feeding given, as i thought they are too young for nutes.

Medium is a quality soil from a bonsai nursery, it is basically combined with river rock, some gravel, etc and is quite airy and good. I am wanting to add some perlite to it. It has no nutes in it. The guy has been making it for 30 years and supplies it to people for many needs including this he tells me.

You say they are hungry, yet weight of pot is not dry and neither is moisture metre in wet places etc. Let me know what you think i should do? Sorry for so many questions, this is a real challenge for me atm.

I can bring lights closer if i like, they don't seem to be burning.

Think i can save them seeing as thry are autos?
 
as long as they are still living you can probably save them... I still suspect that this soil that you are using is not actually a soil and has no nitrogen in it available for the plants to use. It may be a great soil for holding the plants and nutes, but I think it is not supporting your young plants nutritionally. I would start feeding them nutes with the very next watering.

Also, even though the container still needs to dry out at the bottom, until the roots develop to the point that the plant can pull all of that water through its system, you need to be misting the top, keeping the young roots spreading across the top just under the surface, viable. Don't go more than 3 days without watering out to 3x the diameter of your plants, even if that just means misting the surface enough to soak down 2 or 3 inches.
 
as long as they are still living you can probably save them... I still suspect that this soil that you are using is not actually a soil and has no nitrogen in it available for the plants to use. It may be a great soil for holding the plants and nutes, but I think it is not supporting your young plants nutritionally. I would start feeding them nutes with the very next watering.

Also, even though the container still needs to dry out at the bottom, until the roots develop to the point that the plant can pull all of that water through its system, you need to be misting the top, keeping the young roots spreading across the top just under the surface, viable. Don't go more than 3 days without watering out to 3x the diameter of your plants, even if that just means misting the surface enough to soak down 2 or 3 inches.
Ok, I think you are right. He told me it was neutral and to add my own nutes. But i always thought that the plant seed produces enough for a few weeks, and everywhere suggests otherwise. What is interesting is, the best one thar you said is good was watered initially (before seed went in) with worm comppst tea, the others were not.

I will water it now and use seasol and other nutes in small amounts. I will use only the mister and a small cup potentially every few days to soak the top roots as you said.

I was doing this, but nothung was happening. Let's see if nutes help
 
I have started growing a new auto seedling in a little cup like the one attached. Basically a cup that sits inside another, and when it has developed well enough, i should be able to transplant it without stress into its final pot.

@Emilya And friends. Those seedlings you saw got worse. Today i decided to dig around them and once again their roots barely grew.

I decided to move them all to little cups as you can see in the other attached photo. I put them in with good nutrient dense soil with some perlite. I just followed my gut here and can really hope for the best as they are 2-3 of 10-weeks in.

Basically now, i think i got it all right. What i mean is I have fixed lighting intensity (with regard to lumens for seedlings etc), humidity is good, heat is almost always under 30 degrees celcius, airflow good, watering process improved. But for some reason, these ones didn't take, or I got to it too late. Perhaps I still don't have it. I dunno!

I gave all of them a root stimulant after i moved them into the cups. I got them right at the bottom of the tent. I probably should have figured out a way to grow them under a light bulb, it seems like overkill.

I have been growing since October 25th last year and to this day have lost them all! I am pretty much likely to stop if I cannot get these going.

In the photo, we have a 3 day old seedling. The others are from 15 to 18 days old.
 

Attachments

  • received_1063655517329158.jpeg
    received_1063655517329158.jpeg
    287.1 KB · Views: 46
  • 20200123_200132.jpg
    20200123_200132.jpg
    1.1 MB · Views: 51
are there drainage holes in the bottoms of the outer cup so that stagnant water can drain out? Lets figure this out so you don't have to quit!
Yes. I got drainage holes in all cups. Meaning there are holes in the bottom of the inner and outer cup. Thanks

What amount of water do you think i should be giving and how often? Etc
 
Yes. I got drainage holes in all cups. Meaning there are holes in the bottom of the inner and outer cup. Thanks

What amount of water do you think i should be giving and how often? Etc
You should be saturating the soil and waiting until the plants use all of that water before you water again. Establish a wet/dry cycle so you can directly see how much water the plants are using and when it is time to uppot. Please read my article on how to properly water a potted plant... it is a sticky with over 100,000 reads, and thousands of people who so strongly endorse my method of growing weeds, that they include the link to it in their signatures.
 
Thanks. I guess i have to understand the weight of a light cup in comparison? I have to fill some cups with dry soil to help possibly. Any rough idea of days in between?
 
Thanks. I guess i have to understand the weight of a light cup in comparison? I have to fill some cups with dry soil to help possibly. Any rough idea of days in between?


So yes, you just described the "lift method" to tell when it is time to water, by comparing the weight of dry soil in a similar sized cup. In early veg I keep a postal scale in the tent so that I can accurately measure how much water is in there. In a solo cup just starting out, a seedling can take 5-7 days the first time to drain the cup, so I recommend using a mister and just lightly watering out to 3x the diameter of the plant a couple of times a day, and when the plant's 3x the diameter hits the outer edges of the cup, properly water it to saturation.
With each cycle the time between watering will get shorter. After properly watering the first time, expect about 5 days to need water again. The next time, some more roots will have grown, and it may only take 4 days.... then 3, 2... and soon it will be time to uppot into a container 3x this size. I generally go from solo cup to 1 gallon, to 3 or 5, and with extended veg going 2 months or more, I go from 3 up to 7 or 10 gallon... always maintaining and monitoring a strong wet/dry cycle until the beginning of bloom, when I stop growing the roots, and I start using them, by watering more often and not worrying about the wet/dry cycle.
 
Back
Top Bottom