Seedling stunted, anything wrong?

[SmokingWings]

I feel like I'm just too dumb to understand the actually so simple process of growing a literal weed. I have monsteras thriving, insanely huge plants, aloe veras, bonsai trees, just everything. But I kill every cannabis plant I touch right now.

I know the feeling. Over 40 houseplants spread over the rooms in the house but the Cannabis plants were slow growing and often looking very sickly. Then I started to put it together in that the usual houseplant can survive and grow very well in lower light like what we get coming through a window. It will get by on smaller amounts of soil found in typical houseplant flower pots. The house plant can get by with being watered less often and still look green. And, of course, most people are happy with slow growing houseplants since that keeps them small and means less maintenance and keeps them from taking over the room.

When I boosted the lights up and put the Cannabis plants in larger containers and fertilized them more often and at higher levels they started to grow faster and larger. They did start to take over the grow room but since that is what I wanted I went with it.

 

[Roy Growin]

I'm highly confused right now. Everwhere I went, people said to let the soil dry out fully, and then water again, repeat, repeat. What is BioBizz Allmix, if it isn't soil? I feel like I'm falling deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole here.

@Acid
AllMix isn't soil, it's a blend of moss n stuff charged with some nutes so requires water little and often
It needs to kept always moist and rarely wet and after a week or two you'll need to bottle feed
Once the nutes are depleted, you can pretty much treat it like coco or hydro

 

[SmokingWings]

And about soil - I don't.. know? What is coir or soilless? I just know that I have BioBizz Allmix, isn't that just soil? I'm highly confused right now.

It can be confusing. Look at it this way with some very basic thoughts on soil and soil-less. At one end is growing in soil; either directly in the ground outside or in a mix of the outdoor soil and some amendments like peat moss and Perlite. The roots will get the water the plant needs from the soil along with nutrients. The nutrients are from decomposed organic material and minerals found in almost all naturally occurring soil. The soil is the medium that the roots grow in.

At the other end is hydroponics. This is where the plant is grown in a way where it is suspended over water which has the nutrients already dissolved. The roots are directly in the water or just above it and the water and plant nutrients are sprayed over the roots.

Everything else is somewhere between the two methods. Sometimes closer to being in a soil mix and sometimes closer to a near complete water/hydro grow. For practical reasons many growers will use hydroponic methods or rules when growing in any method that is not growing in a natural soil mix.

Typical soil mixes will contain 1/3 natural mineral soil and 1/3 peat moss for holding water and 1/3 Perlite or a similar to help with holding water and as a way to keep a decent amount of air in the mix.

You might come across mixes that contain coco coir mixed in with peat moss or even be a complete coco coir mix with no peat moss. Again, because there is little, if any, natural soils added, the mixes are usually called soil-less.

Everwhere I went, people said to let the soil dry out fully, and then water again, repeat, repeat.

If you told people that you were growing in soil then they will give suggestions for a typical soil grow. If you mention that you are growing in AllMix soil they might automatically assume that you are growing in soil and give the same sort of suggestions.

Even though the AllMix looks like soil and feels like soil when touched it is not a natural mineral soil. So, some of the rules of hydroponic styles of growing will have to be used.

What is BioBizz Allmix, if it isn't soil?

Your AllMix is a combination of several types of peat moss (55%), some Worm Humus or worm castings (10%), Perlite (30%) and the companies Pre-Mix (5%) which is what their fertilizer is mix with.

The AllMix is considered to be a soil-less mix since the worm castings are the closest thing to natural soil and the amount is only 10%. The peat moss is an organic plant based material but peat can take several years to decompose and if it were just left outside in a pile it might take 5 or more years to completely decompose. Coco coir can take 20 years, sometimes more to break down if just left laying around in piles. For practical reasons many growers will say that peat moss or coco coir are inert since they contribute little in the way of nutrients to the plant over the several months a typical Cannabis grow takes.

Over the past several years more of the growing or gardening companies started using coco coir instead of the peat moss for their mixes.. They are doing this more for ecological reasons than any other. But, as far as growing plants is concerned the two can be inter-changeable and the hydro rules will start to apply.

I feel like I'm falling deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole here.

Yes, it is easy to get so deep into that rabbit hole that Alice would be proud to go along for the trip.

A little bit of research every now and then starts to fill what is going on. Then when needed asking for more details here will help since the basics have been picked up.

Just trying to hit you up with the basics of the methods of growing with soil at one end and pure hydro at the other and everything else somewhere between those two methods.

 

[Acid]

Hey guys, so it's been a few days now.

All the plants have died for whatever reason, maybe overwatering, who knows. I planted a new seed, and it popped out on the 26th of August. It's now the 1st of September, growth has once again stopped for the past 2 or 3 days already, even though I'm using normal potting soil with added perlite now. Temperatures are honestly a bit low this time, around 21-22°C (69-72°F) at daytime, but it should be enough. I absolutely kept myself from watering this time, and let it dry out before watering. I also use a heating mat now, as I still had a very old one from some reptiles I had a few years ago. It's very low wattage, it just keeps the floor at a good 20°C and slightly raises the ambient temperature in the tent by 1-2°C, which is wonderful. Water is PHed at 6.5 as it's normal potting mix, dechlorinated, with 1/3 of a dose of fish mix, as there's not a lot of nutrients inside this potting mix.

Here's where we are currently:

That's one week of growth for me, without counting the germination stage. It may look a bit bigger in this picture, but it's tiny (I'm used to saying this, not just because of cannabis ). I imagine it's fine, it looks absolutely healthy, but I hope it'll actually grow this time. There is not one root visible on the bottom of the pot, I feel like the root system will once again be horrible this time, but let's just wait and see where this will take us. Yes I'm an impatient person, but my last seedling only had one half-developed set of leaves more than this seedling after 21 days of veg. I'm just sad and clueless about why they all slow down and die. I'm not expecting CO2-enhanced-growth, but all the diaries I look at, all grow reports I check out, the plants are double the size of mine after a week.

I do have one question right now:

* Is a heating mat of any use for colder climates, especially for this soilless medium, even IN the veg / flowering stage, not just seedlings? I use Biobizz nutrients, and I feel like there should be a specific temperature inside the substrate. Does anyone know more about this? I literally asked BioBizz, and this is what they told me:

My question:
"Thanks a lot for the answer. I have one more question though - What is the recommended temperature for your BioBizz Light Mix substrate? Not the outside temperature, but the actual temperature inside the soil ensuring a good microbial life. I couldn't find something useful online, so I'd like to ask directly so I don't have to worry anymore."

Their answer:
"Hi there
Thank you for contacting us.
The optimal storing conditions of the Biobizz products are in a dark and dry place, at room temperature (18-20ºC) and away from light and heat sources, like in a cool cupboard."


So.. yeah. I'd rather ask you guys if you know what I mean.

 

[Roy Growin]

Around 68-75F is ideal, but the plant can handle a bit lower - I've seen them popping up out of snow in Nepal
Problem with heat mats is that the heat can build up below the pot so even though the therm says 20°C, it's actually 24°C or more under the pot so I would use a bit of wood or an upturned plate to evenly spread the warmth

Are you using anything like Root Juice or seaweed extract? And water a little from the bottom?
Your plant doesn't look bad for week 1

 

[Acid]

Around 68-75F is ideal, but the plant can handle a bit lower - I've seen them popping up out of snow in Nepal
Problem with heat mats is that the heat can build up below the pot so even though the therm says 20°C, it's actually 24°C or more under the pot so I would use a bit of wood or an upturned plate to evenly spread the warmth

Are you using anything like Root Juice or seaweed extract? And water a little from the bottom?
Your plant doesn't look bad for week 1

Please don't laugh but.. I already MacGyvered something before using the heating mat:

Yes it's hot glue and wooden sticks. But it works and only took 10 minutes, so I can't complain

And yes, I do have Root Juice and Algamic (Which is seaweed extract), but I honestly forgot to use it when I watered this night. There's myco in the potting mix though, but as we all know it'll take some time until myco actually works. I did use Root Juice in all my other attempts though, especially with the Autos I had at the beginning. And as I've mentioned somewhere, the rootsystem was just insanely underdeveloped and tiny. In every plant I had so far. That's one of the biggest problems I have, bad root systems. My autos were around 13 inches high, but the root system was around 2x3 inches in size after pulling them out carefully.

 

[Roy Growin]

Please don't laugh but.. I already MacGyvered something before using the heating mat:

Yes it's hot glue and wooden sticks. But it works and only took 10 minutes, so I can't complain

And yes, I do have Root Juice and Algamic (Which is seaweed extract), but I honestly forgot to use it when I watered this night. There's myco in the potting mix though, but as we all know it'll take some time until myco actually works. I did use Root Juice in all my other attempts though, especially with the Autos I had at the beginning. And as I've mentioned somewhere, the rootsystem was just insanely underdeveloped and tiny. In every plant I had so far. That's one of the biggest problems I have, bad root systems. My autos were around 13 inches high, but the root system was around 2x3 inches in size after pulling them out carefully.

That's cool, sort of thing I would knock up too lol
Weak roots is often the result of uneven watering or needing some P and esp K
I now add a little frass, or BF+B to the seedling mix [won't burn because it's organic] to give them a good start, with some seaweed extract in the water
Y'know there's so much paranoia about over-watering, overfeeding that many people just don't feed enough - you can and should push cannabis plants, just don't overdo it
Stand in the solution and allow the medium to draw it up for the first couple of weeks
I grow in smallish pots so the dunk and drain method works best for me after up-potting into coco
In a tent, water to run off is impractical

 

[SmokingWings]

I use Biobizz nutrients, and I feel like there should be a specific temperature inside the substrate. Does anyone know more about this? I literally asked BioBizz, and this is what they told me:

Did you call them or eMail. It reads like they might have misunderstood your question and gave you a safe temperature for storing the soil and not the best temp for growing something.

It is not directly answering your question but I figure that the container of soil will be within a degree or two of the air temperatures. When the lights are on and the air warms up the soil is also starting to warm up. Then it cools off as the temperatures cool off when the lights are off.

 

[Acid]

That's cool, sort of thing I would knock up too lol
Weak roots is often the result of uneven watering or needing some P and esp K
I now add a little frass, or BF+B to the seedling mix [won't burn because it's organic] to give them a good start, with some seaweed extract in the water
Y'know there's so much paranoia about over-watering, overfeeding that many people just don't feed enough - you can and should push cannabis plants, just don't overdo it
Stand in the solution and allow the medium to draw it up for the first couple of weeks
I grow in smallish pots so the dunk and drain method works best for me after up-potting into coco
In a tent, water to run off is impractical

I currently water with 1/3rd to 1/4th of the pots volume in ML, but slowly to get the soil slightly wet first, then the rest. I then let it dry out again, until the soil is just loose again until about an inch deep. Then repeat. Problem is whenever I push my plants, they look like what you're seeing in the span over the whole thread. Problems over problems over problems, wonderful plants that suddenly just die with similar symptoms, strange looking leaves, small tiny root systems, the list is long. And that with organic nutrients. Where it's hard to overfeed the plant anyways. I'm just a silly person.

I felt like this may be interesting for some people who know their water-stuff, so here are my tap water statistics, did a test a few weeks back. Not because my plants were dying, just because I wanted to know. All my other plants are thriving with this water, it's only weed that dies for whatever reason when I touch it:

 

[Azimuth]

All my other plants are thriving with this water, it's only weed that dies for whatever reason when I touch it:

Sounds like you just have to tweak things a bit if your other plants are doing well. And soil/root temps are more important than air temps.

 

[Fenderbender]

Using fabric pots and setting them up like Bill might be a big help, where you really alternate layers of soil & perlite like making a striped cake.
That way you get a medium that you can apply a fast Wet & Dry cycle to in order to get enough nutrients to the plant.
Otherwise what happens if the pot doesn't drain and dry enough and depending on the soil composition & quality it keeps a wet centre and bottom around the rootmass which you then keep overwatering.
If the pot is setup that way you can feed and water often and that's what needed to keep a plant happy and able to keep up with environment she's experiencing which is designed to make her grow grow grow.

The water source can also be a culprit in combo with certain nutes. And sure other indoor plants do well with it, but the other indoor plants are not on such a feeding regiment and don't get blasted with a big light to make them perform.
So yeah worth to check if it improves by using something else if it keeps persisting.
I use a bit of my tap water mixed with mostly distilled, although I just bought nutes designed for hard water to see if I could go full tap again.

And as Azi says SIP is always an option to skip the watering process and let your plant do most of the work.

 

[Wastei]

Using fabric pots and setting them up like Bill might be a big help, where you really alternate layers of soil & perlite like making a striped cake.
That way you get a medium that you can apply a fast Wet & Dry cycle to in order to get enough nutrients to the plant.
Otherwise what happens if the pot doesn't drain and dry enough and depending on the soil composition & quality it keeps a wet centre and bottom around the rootmass which you then keep overwatering.
If the pot is setup that way you can feed and water often and that's what needed to keep a plant happy and able to keep up with environment she's experiencing which is designed to make her grow grow grow.

The water source can also be a culprit in combo with certain nutes. And sure other indoor plants do well with it, but the other indoor plants are not on such a feeding regiment and don't get blasted with a big light to make them perform.
So yeah worth to check if it improves by using something else if it keeps persisting.
I use a bit of my tap water mixed with mostly distilled, although I just bought nutes designed for hard water to see if I could go full tap again.

And as Azi says SIP is always an option to skip the watering process and let your plant do most of the work.

I never really understood what the layering would do different than homogenous 50/50 coco/perlite mix? I have a hard time getting to thick root masses in containers in soilless, specially on moms where you have to trim roots and replant every 6 months to a year.

I don't really think the layering do anything other than just adding straight perlite already does? People are free to have their own style but I havent seen anything pointing me to it being in any way better? It's what we call bro science, work without any proof of concept or side by side comparison.

 

[Fenderbender]

I never really understood what the layering would do different than homogenous 50/50 coco/perlite mix? I have a hard time getting to thick root masses in containers in soilless, specially on moms where you have to trim roots and replant every 6 months to a year. I don't really think the layering do anything other than just adding straight perlite already does? People are free to have their own style but I havent seen anything pointing me to it being in any way better? It's what we call bro science, work without any proof of concept or side by side comparison.

Cause it works well with regular soil in preventing wet clumpy masses? Ah I didn't know he was on substrate.. scusi

 

[Fenderbender]

Of course now I should see if mixing soil half and half with perlite would be identical to a layered pot.
But anyhow it works in the sense you get a pot that's quickly dry enough to the centre to water again.
And when the roots are well established and the plant is in flower it will even be hard to keep up with the watering.

 

[Wastei]

Cause it works well with regular soil in preventing wet clumpy masses? Ah I didn't know he was on substrate.. scusi

Hmm I though that was the sole reason for adding perlite in the first place? I'm a little confused by the answer.

That's what I tried to point out that it couldn't possibly be in any way different or better than a homogenous mix? I've seen the best results with homogenous mixes.

People have tried many different styles and methods throughout the years like adding clay pebbles in the bottom of the pot, layering soil with perlite or clay pebbles. For a couple of years perlite/vermiculite grows was all the craze. "Hempy" passive styles seem to have stuck and has been used since the late 60's. There's many different hydro methods that works really well.

Things and styles and peoples reasonings repeat themselves if you look at recorded history. Most of the unorthodox styles has been debunked on forums 10+ years ago. They work for sure to grow healthy plants, just not better than the standard practice.

Cheers!

 

[Fenderbender]

Hmm I though that was the sole reason for adding perlite in the first place? I'm a little confused by the answer.

That's what I tried to point out that it couldn't possibly be in any way different or better than a homogenous mix? I've seen the best results with homogenous mixes.

People have tried many different styles and methods throughout the years like adding clay pebbles in the bottom of the pot, layering soil with perlite or clay pebbles. For a couple of years perlite/vermiculite grows was all the craze. "Hempy" passive styles seem to have stuck and has been used since the late 60's. There's many different hydro methods that works really well.

Things and styles and peoples reasonings repeat themselves if you look at recorded history. Most of the unorthodox styles has been debunked on forums 10+ years ago. They work for sure to grow healthy plants, just not better than the standard practice.

Cheers!

Well yeah but usually people just put soil or add in like 20-30% perlite through the mix.
And depending on the soil still end up with a pot that stays wet all week.
So cutting it hard with perlite gives you a structure that easily ventilates.

Okay cool guess I'm doing retro-growing as I'm doing all that, got clay pebbles at the bottom for the wicking, I'm using some 70's/80's style self-watering pots, there's even some groovy music playing .. and I can't complain about the results and it's definitely very passive so yeah that's pretty much a win if it produces healthy plants that way why worry with all scheduling.

 

[Acid]

Oh yall had a big conversation again. So - The SIP thing is already saved, and I'll try it as soon as this next attempt fails, if it fails. I'd need some stuff for it, and have to make a list for all of it, and I'll focus on this attempt for now.

Growth is, as expected, very slow once again after day 4, I'm on day 8 now, it pretty much came to a halt for the past 3 days again. I know the root system is more important now, but why do other plants grow in that time, yet mine don't? That's the part I don't understand. It's only a little more than 1 inch in width, but the angle makes it look like it's almost as big as the pot. Day 8:

For the soil conversation: This seedling is in normal potting soil, no soilless mixture or anything. I added 30% perlite, Mycorrhizae cultures (mostly endo), and watered with PHed water at 6.4 after the pot became very light, took 4 days. My other plants that slowed down until growth came to a halt, with strange deficiencies that later just killed them, were all in BioBizz AllMix, which is a peat-based soilless substrate. And it was also very hot nutrient-wise. Thats why I currently attempt a seedling in fresh potting mix soil. I have Light Mix on hand now though, which will be used to re-pot this plant, as it's apparently perfect for seedlings and even until flower. Light mix is once again a peat-based substrate with light nutrients for 1-2 weeks.

I'm slowly losing the fun in doing this, I just feel dumb and dumber in each attempt, because I tried everything. At first I really did overwater, I got enough criticism and completely changed it up. I changed to potting soil, I got an insanely good PH meter, got very good genetics from a well known breeder (HSC), I started weighing the pots on a scale before and after watering, I even check water temperatures now, I water in several cycles so the soil can take it all, I use 1/3rd of the pots volume in water, I have a smart humidifier so my humidity is always perfect, I always have good temperatures of 70-75F at day, 62-66F at night. No light leaks or anything, as the plant is in a secluded room with no activity at all, in a corner that won't get any light even if the sun is out.

I felt like the room may be the cause, as I only opened a window in that room maybe every 1-2 days this grow, but then I remembered that I had the window open 24/7 when my last plants died, so that doesn't seem to be the culprit, too.

I know this plant looks perfectly healthy, but my last plant slowed down at this exact stage too, and only half-grew one more set of leaves over the span of 10 days, and then died. It pretty much looked like a 6 day old seedling at day 21. I also know that it looks like I'm overcomplicating stuff, but I try to be as chill as possible. I don't touch that plant, only to weigh / water it. But my gut feeling tells me that this missing growth for 3 days isn't a good sign once again. It should be building its third set of leaves already at this stage, or at least show signs of it.

What makes me laugh is the fact that I still grew a single bag seed ~6oz plant like 8 years ago with nothing, in a homemade box out of 2 shelves, with a completely wonky door. Light leaks, people smoked in that room, partied in that room, it only had one fan for circulation, and it was in old basement soil with no perlite, and lived most of its life in a clay pot with one tiny hole on the bottom until I sent it into flower. I literally vegged that thing in a cardboard box with aluminum foil, an old LED strip & a bypassed PC PSU with one fan attached to it. Temperatures didn't matter, sometimes 51°F, sometimes 93°F. Humidity? Whatever, sometimes 30%, sometimes 80%. It was an insane plant, and I'm glad I still have it saved on my profile here.

Oh how I miss it Now my nutrients cost more than this whole grow back then, and my plants scream in pain as soon as I look at them.

 

[bluter]

Oh yall had a big conversation again. So - The SIP thing is already saved, and I'll try it as soon as this next attempt fails, if it fails. I'd need some stuff for it, and have to make a list for all of it, and I'll focus on this attempt for now.

Growth is, as expected, very slow once again after day 4, I'm on day 8 now, it pretty much came to a halt for the past 3 days again. I know the root system is more important now, but why do other plants grow in that time, yet mine don't? That's the part I don't understand. It's only a little more than 1 inch in width, but the angle makes it look like it's almost as big as the pot.

don't stress over it. they're doing fine unless they give you a bad look.

Day 8:

For the soil conversation: This seedling is in normal potting soil, no soilless mixture or anything. I added 30% perlite, Mycorrhizae cultures (mostly endo), and watered with PHed water at 6.4 after the pot became very light, took 4 days.

what constitutes "normal" ?

you media is a complete guess from what i read. if it's a true soil ph won't enter the picture.

My other plants that slowed down until growth came to a halt, with strange deficiencies that later just killed them, were all in BioBizz AllMix, which is a peat-based soilless substrate. And it was also very hot nutrient-wise. Thats why I currently attempt a seedling in fresh potting mix soil. I have Light Mix on hand now though, which will be used to re-pot this plant, as it's apparently perfect for seedlings and even until flower. Light mix is once again a peat-based substrate with light nutrients for 1-2 weeks.

it's best to stick with a cannabis specific media until you get a little experience with the plant. what most folk call soil may not be a true soil at all.


it's super common to see new folk struggle with biobizz. the allmix is a starter soil, it depletes itself of nutrients after a few weeks. you need to be on the ball with those types of mixes and watch for when the hand off to feeding a bottle nute or other system begins as the media depletes.

you may have been having issues since you missed when that hand off begins and your plants have keeled as a result.

normally i recommend a neutral or non-nuted media for new folk, and have them feed from seedling forward, unless they want to pursue organics.

I'm slowly losing the fun in doing this, I just feel dumb and dumber in each attempt, because I tried everything. At first I really did overwater, I got enough criticism and completely changed it up. I changed to potting soil, I got an insanely good PH meter, got very good genetics from a well known breeder (HSC), I started weighing the pots on a scale before and after watering, I even check water temperatures now, I water in several cycles so the soil can take it all, I use 1/3rd of the pots volume in water, I have a smart humidifier so my humidity is always perfect, I always have good temperatures of 70-75F at day, 62-66F at night. No light leaks or anything, as the plant is in a secluded room with no activity at all, in a corner that won't get any light even if the sun is out.

what nute system are you using and what does your feed sched look like ? it's advisable to choose a media and nute system paired for each other. it will eliminate a lot of issues when first starting out.

i took a quick look at your water report. the conductivity is a little high, your water is a bit chunky. i wouldn't expect you to need calmag with that water, and it should be ok for a soil type mix.

there is enough ppm in it to effect your nute levels a little. if i calculated correct you'd have a ppm in 200+ range. a safe level is generally in the 120ppm range. it would be a lot more crucial in a straight hydro grow, but you might bump up against that in the future.

I know this plant looks perfectly healthy, but my last plant slowed down at this exact stage too, and only half-grew one more set of leaves over the span of 10 days, and then died. It pretty much looked like a 6 day old seedling at day 21. I also know that it looks like I'm overcomplicating stuff, but I try to be as chill as possible. I don't touch that plant, only to weigh / water it. But my gut feeling tells me that this missing growth for 3 days isn't a good sign once again. It should be building its third set of leaves already at this stage, or at least show signs of it.

leave them alone unless they start to show problems. it's easy to love them too much.

Oh how I miss it Now my nutrients cost more than this whole grow back then, and my plants scream in pain as soon as I look at them.

it did ok because you didn't stress over it. these plants will take care of themselves if you give them the basics they need.

 

[Azimuth]

I'd personally get the temps up a bit, 75-85*F. They'll grow in cooler temps, but slowly.

 

[Acid]

what constitutes "normal" ?

you media is a complete guess from what i read. if it's a true soil ph won't enter the picture.

Normal soil as in no-name cheap potting soil, it's literally so basic that there isn't even a good description about its ingredients. It's for house plants, garden plants, and it apparently has a low starter-mix of nutrients. It's pretty much the same I used 8 years ago, so I thought "it's worth a try once more", even if they probably changed some stuff about it in that big timeframe.

normally i recommend a neutral or non-nuted media for new folk, and have them feed from seedling forward, unless they want to pursue organics.

Yeah, that should've been my go-to from the beginning, too. My first plan was actually a hydro grow, but I didn't inform myself sufficiently & thought it's expensive as hell. Apparently it isn't expensive at all if it's just for one plant. Then I bought BioBizz Allmix, because it's pretty much the only purchasable organic substrate where Iive, with the exception of very expensive super soil. I could've just made my own, but.. I'm an impatient b**** . I then killed several plants in the All Mix, overwatered, and had slow growth from the beginning. Now I switched to Light Mix substrate & normal potting mix soil. The potting mix got watered around 2 days ago, as the pot felt very light, it had around 10% moisture left if I go by the scale. I then fed it with 6.4 ph water, and small amounts of fish mix & bio heaven (PPM was at 500). I also have the problem of my substrate / soil not drying as fast as I see with other grows. It takes 1-2 days for other people and the upper soil is already dry as a desert again, even for their seedlings in final pots (autos). And I wanna mention that I had this exact problem even with temps up to 85°F. My exhaust should be fine (?), negative pressure is there, exhaust on top, intake on the bottom. Yet the soil is rarely really dry on top.

what nute system are you using and what does your feed sched look like ? it's advisable to choose a media and nute system paired for each other. it will eliminate a lot of issues when first starting out.

i took a quick look at your water report. the conductivity is a little high, your water is a bit chunky. i wouldn't expect you to need calmag with that water, and it should be ok for a soil type mix.

there is enough ppm in it to effect your nute levels a little. if i calculated correct you'd have a ppm in 200+ range. a safe level is generally in the 120ppm range. it would be a lot more crucial in a straight hydro grow, but you might bump up against that in the future.

I use the BioBizz line, I pretty much have most of them with a few exceptions. Root Juice, Grow, Fish Mix, Bloom, TopMax, Algamic, Heaven, CalMag, PhDown. I also own a bottle of epsom salts, and Aptus Regulator (Silica something? Never used it).

That's why I also have the BioBizz substrate, I felt like it'd only make sense like this. Feeding schedule never existed yet, as I always used AllMix with seedlings dying sooner or later. The only two that made it into flower were two autos in the AllMix, they grew wonderfully outdoors first, then indoors even better. They were in 25L fabric pots with 20L of substrate (effed up a bit there), but I rolled the pots just down a bit. I fed them with Grow (2ml/l), Bloom (2ml/l), Topmax (2ml/l) each watering, as soon as the first 1-2 inches of substrate were dry. Around 1L around each plant back then, as they weren't that big.

PPM for my water is 197 right out the tap, which I thought was okay. I always measure ppm after adding nutrients and everything, and for seedlings it'll always settle at 500-580PPM.

leave them alone unless they start to show problems. it's easy to love them too much.

Yeah I wish it'd be that easy, but after all my plants died, I get an unwell feeling whenever the plants just stop growing for days. The whole thread pretty much shows all the plants I had & killed for some dumb reason. But one good update right now - A tiny root is poking outta one of the holes in the pot. Makes me happy already.

EDIT: It doesn't show all of them, I have an older thread before this one, with my two autos that died.

This were my autos

it did ok because you didn't stress over it. these plants will take care of themselves if you give them the basics they need.

I feel like that's one of the main reasons. I didn't care how slow it grew, I just did it for fun. I wanted that feeling back I guess, as I don't even smoke, I just gifted it all away to close friends. I just love plants in general. But this time it gets less and less fun, because everything just goes wrong & I'm still not sure what exactly it is.

I'd personally get the temps up a bit, 75-85*F. They'll grow in cooler temps, but slowly.

A little hard where I live, I can't just heat up this room as it'd be expensive as hell. Currently I'm VERY lucky as it's getting warmer again, but I try my best to raise the temperatures whenever it's colder around here.

I still want to know if I can somehow introduce the compost I have in my garden. It's 20+ years old compost, just stacking up every year, with very dark soil appearing the lower you go. Is there any use for this stuff in this peat-based substrate I have?