Planted from seed and two weeks in the leaves are drying and curling

[Grow4m]

Hello and thanks in advance to anyone who can help me save this plant.

I am a newbie at growing indoors and I have grown outdoors in the past using clones.
The outdoor growth was good until someone stole my plants so I'm trying to grown indoors.

I have a utility room attached to the house approx. 4' x 10'
Walls and ceiling are flat white
Room is light tight
Using 3-26W CFL lights
Distance of plant from lights= 3"
Light cycle=18/6
Using soil to grow (Nutri HP Mix)
PH level= 7.0
Seeds - Afghan Kush X Black Domina, 100% Indica
Watering every 3-4 days

Since the room is part of the house, it has a floor register for heat and a return air.

I used Jiffy peat pellet to germinate and transplanted to a clay pot after leaves had formed.
The growth was starting out nicely and then the leaves started yellowing from the bottom set and progressing to the upper leaves.

I didn't add any nutrients as I lost one plant previous to this one with the same symptoms and thought that it was the adding of nutrients too soon that caused it to die.

Now I'm getting the same results and I'm getting discouraged.
Appreciate any help that I can get.

Here are some pics

 

[Grow4m]

 

[Kola320]

I think your PH is a little high. I don't do much soil but that seems high, you must not be worried about smell since the return air will pull it threw the house ?? You ever done any research on Hempy ? just growing in like perilite mix your nutes adjust PH to 5.8 water every other day or so.

 

[Grow4m]

Thanks Kola320 but PH is out of the bag and thought it was ok at 7. I'll look into that for sure.
As far as smell, I'm not concerned until it starts to flower. I have some activated charcoal that I will be placing over the cold air return that I'm hoping will work. (fingers crossed)

 

[Antics]

I absolutely can't find any specific information on the exact contents in Nutri Mix HP, other than it contains Perlite AND Vermiculite, and it appears to be sold in a compressed block, much like coco coir.

If this is a coco growing medium, then you need to supplement nutrients, as well as lower the PH to around 5.8.

Now if it's not a coco medium, and is in fact soil, it would appear that the mix might be too hot? Or it could be holding too much water.

The previous plant that died... was it in this same soil mix?

And how old is this plant?

 

[Grow4m]

Thanks Antics,

It is soil but how do I know if the soil is too hot and what can I do about it?
I will look into lowering the PH to 5.8

The other plant that died was in the same soil and this one is about two weeks old.

 

[Joeshmo]

By the looks of that soil she looks way overwatered and nutrients are being locked out because of root swelling. Those dying leaves may never recover but should show healthy bounce back if you a transplant her into some nice soil as soon as possible. Can you find any Fox Farm, Pro Mix, or Roots Organic soil around your area? All of my plants were showing the same signs they would grow really nice for 2 weeks then progressively yellow and start to die from the help of people like Antics and the others we managed to save them and they are actually flowering as we speak.

 

[Cannabelle]

The soil does look too wet. When the soil remains saturated with water, the roots can't absorb enough oxygen and hence become weak and susceptible to pathogens.

From the look of the residue white ring around the inside pot rim, either the soil already has too much nutrients in it or the water has too much minerals for one little seedling. A cannabis seedling as young as yours cannot tolerate much nutrients.

The trunk of your seeding has purple banding which could be a sign of a weak root system.

When the seedling was in just plain Jiffy peat, it was healthy, and then encountered an excess of nutrients in the Nutri HP Mix when transplanted. Since the seedling was too immature to handle the nutrients, the roots weakened.

A wet, nutrient rich soil is also attractive to fungal pathogens which in turn will feast on weak roots.

I am not familiar with your soil mix. Flushing soil which is embedded with time released fertilizer will only introduce more nutrients in the soil.

If you can't transplant to a no nutrient soil immediately, you can use a companion plant with anti-fungal qualities to help absorb the excess nutrients. I commonly grow Welsh onions (aka: green onions, oriental bunching onions or Allium fistulosum - L.) alongside my medicinal cannabis. Just go to the grocery store and by a bunch of green onions, lop off the long green leaves and poke the stalk directly into the soil next to the seedling.

I use a system of Glomus intradices mycorhizza + Allium fistulosum - L. with my cannabis because I live in a Miracle Grow area. Even when I mix my own soil using coco noir, the only kind of perlite and vermiculite I can get a hold of is Miracle Grow which comes embedded with nutrients. If the excess nutrients don't outright kill cannabis seedlings, it stunts their growth.

It's a funny story about how I came to use green onions in my cannabis grow. You see, I am part-Asian and must have green onions with noodles, soup or omelets. I was about to give-up on growing cannabis to treat a severely disabling Lupus condition because I live in an area devoid of hydroponics but overloaded on Miracle Grow. I already lost 3 seedlings to Miracle Grow soil toxicity. Coco noir alone is not airy enough so I mixed 2 parts coco noir + 1 part sphagnum moss + 1 part Miracle Grow perlite + 1 part Miracle Grow vermiculite + 1 teaspoon of Glomus intradices mychorhizza spores. The result was a severely stunted Cotton Candy and a Blueblood. After 7 weeks, the 2 poor seedlings remained green but stuck at about 5 inches. I thought, "fuck it. I am not wasting the mycorrhizal spores and soil." So I stuck green onion stalks into the pots with the stunted Cotton Candy and Blueblood so that I would a least have more green onions in a week.

Something truly amazing occurred. Within a week, not only did I have a new green onion harvest, but the stunted Cotton Candy and Blueblood overtook the green onions. Both cannabis plants had a phenomenal, bushy growth spurt.

I'll write a pictorial article about the green onion phenomenon here soon.

 

[Antics]

Thanks Antics,

It is soil but how do I know if the soil is too hot and what can I do about it?
I will look into lowering the PH to 5.8

The other plant that died was in the same soil and this one is about two weeks old.

If this is in fact soil, you want the PH to be around 6.5 (6.0-6.8)

The packaging just looks so much like coco.. I've never seen soil sold in a compressed brick shape.

 

[Grow4m]

Thanks for the feedback. I am getting a little frustrated to say the least but I have transplanted into a solo cup with regular bagged soil. I'll see what that does and post it here. I wil try another seed with new soil and less water as well.