Problems growing AK420 Auto

[MikeB1]

Thanks, everyone

Okay so no perlite as mulch. I'll continue to look for coconut coir in my area.

Just thinking, what about clay rocks? Those things you see on the surface of office plants.

Viastone Expanded Clay Rocks, 10-Liter​

Tebru Hydroponic Rock,Hydroponic Clay Pebbles Growing Media Anion Clay Rocks for Hydroponic System​

Same problems as perlite?

 

[MikeB1]

I thought I'd post an update on my little plants

After the time of those first photos I posted it remained cold and rainy outside, so it's been difficult trying to dry the soil of the overwatered seedlings. As if that wasn't bad enough I also discovered a pest infestation. There were tiny white things on the leaves and here and there some webbing, so I feared spider mites.

I've had trouble with spider mites in the past with new plants both on my balcony and with plants inside the house. Some of them were infested so bad that it even killed the plant completely and I had to throw it away.

So what I did was transplant one of the seedlings (the bigger pot one) into new, dryer soil. I carefully took the plant out of its soggy soil, and placed it into a smaller cup that I've prepared with new soil which I finely sieved and then added akadama into the mix to improve drainage.

I also sprayed the plants with an insecticide in the hope it will take care of the spider mites problem.

The seedlings then looked like this:

The one in the white cup is the transplanted one. The one in the black cup is still in its original container.


Fast forward a while later, I've cut off the bottom set of leaves that turned all brown, hoping to contain the problem, unfortunately it continued. After growing a bit, more leaves were still getting brown.

I've been watering very sparingly. Only a little bit at a time and only when the soil felt dry when I dig the tip of my finger into the soil.

I was still still seeing signs of active spider mites or some other bug infestation. When I took close-up pictures and zoom all the way in I saw white dots throughout the plants. And there was very thin webbing between several leaves, which doesn't show up well on the photos, I had to take the plants inside into a dark room and shine a flashlight right onto them to spot the webbing. It was only a few threads.

The growth still seemed very stunted, growing only a few new leaves that week, very slowly. And the stem was getting elongated.

Fast forward to today... the plants are still very much stunted, BUT the past week they have started their flowering phase, haha.

So it appears I'll be getting a couple of bonsai cannabis plants

Which is very fitting, I suppose, since I'm using bonsai akadama in my soil for drainage