Seedlings stage yellowish leaf color!

[Erni2019]

Hi,

I am new here and looking for help with my first garden. I noticed a change in color with the leafs in my seedling stage, where i am now. I am watering them once every 3 days , 150 ML a day with pH between 6 and 6.5. The lights on top of them is 18 inch height. I am keeping a 72 F average temperature and 65 Humidity. I attached some pictures, this started with one and now it spread to 3

a

 

[Emilya Green]

what is the grow medium?

 

[Erni2019]

I started the seeding process in a seeding tray (in the pic below) and then moved them to a 3.5 by 3.5 inch after 4 days.

I have the led at 18” because that’s what I read.
The current size of the pot is 3.5 in by 3.5 inch

When we first started we used the following:

 

[Emilya Green]

everything seems right except the regular watering interval... I think you may be keeping them too wet. Try letting them dry out completely before watering again. You shouldn't need to add anything else but water with that soil

 

[Erni2019]

I water them only when the soil is dry and the pot gets light. The pic i attached was from the same i water them. I water them once every 3 days.

 

[Emilya Green]

I water them only when the soil is dry and the pot gets light. The pic i attached was from the same i water them. I water them once every 3 days.

That also sounds correct... how long have they been in these starter pots?

 

[Erni2019]

The 24th of January

 

[Emilya Green]

I bet that's it then... they are rootbound already. Uppot them into something about 3x bigger than this and they should recover fast. Just keep doing what you are doing now in the new container.

 

[Erni2019]

Ok, what u think of the lights height? i have it at 18 inch now.
This is my exact lights:

Regarding to the soil when i move them to the new pots, should i keep the soil they were in in the current small pot? or should i use this soil:

 

[Emilya Green]

Good choice! They can handle FF Ocean Forest by now, I would definitely use that. How far are you planning to uppot? What distance does the documentation with your light recommend for veg? Each of these light manufacturers and products are a little different, so what works with my lights might not with yours. If you are wondering, the leaf damage doesn't look like sunburn to me.

 

[Erni2019]

Thanks a lot for the feedback. I didn’t think it was light burn either. Can they get root bound when they are this small? I see images all the time of much bigger plants in the same size container. Unless the soils i used had been really allowing the roots to expand quickly. One thing to mention is that I had already moved them once to a same size container because the seed grew too fast and they had a long stem. So when I first planted them, I left a lot of the stem out so the were bent all the time. So I basically replanted them “deeper” in new same-sized containers. That I did last week and there weren’t any roots showing at that point when I removed the old container.

I wanted to give you more info. If you still think that it is very possible that the plants outgrew the pot, I’ll move them tomorrow.

 

[Emilya Green]

Based on what you have given us so far, it seems like you are doing everything right. I don't see what else it could be, and yes, these things do throw out roots pretty quickly, and they prefer a deeper rather than a wider container. The bottom roots hit the bottom almost immediately and probably started wrapping pretty fast. Lift one out of there temporarily and look, and lets hear what you see.

 

[Erni2019]

Sorry I didn’t have the chance to respond yesterday but I removed one of the plants and saw the roots all the way at the bottom. I looked at the others and they seems similar (see attached). I followed your advice and moved them to a larger container. I watered them (250ml) around the stem and didn’t water the remaining soil (should I).

 

[Erni2019]

Based on what you have given us so far, it seems like you are doing everything right. I don't see what else it could be, and yes, these things do throw out roots pretty quickly, and they prefer a deeper rather than a wider container. The bottom roots hit the bottom almost immediately and probably started wrapping pretty fast. Lift one out of there temporarily and look, and lets hear what you see.

how long you think it will take us to notice improvement since we moved them?

 

[Emilya Green]

a couple of wet/dry cycles fixes a lot of things

 

[Erni2019]

a couple of wet/dry cycles fixes a lot of things

I appreciate all your help on this! Do you think my watering technique is good? I am only watering around the plant not the whole soil in the pot.

 

[Emilya Green]

I appreciate all your help on this! Do you think my watering technique is good? I am only watering around the plant not the whole soil in the pot.

yes, for now that is perfect... but there is a bottom root system to keep alive too when it is time to fully water the container. Keep doing what you are doing for now, it is just what is needed.

 

[Erni2019]

yes, for now that is perfect... but there is a bottom root system to keep alive too when it is time to fully water the container. Keep doing what you are doing for now, it is just what is needed.

Great! one last question , i promise
I noticed one of the leaf yesterday seemed very bad, should i be concerned?

 

[Emilya Green]

you will probably lose that leaf. It has been targeted for destruction by the plant... but just keep on keeping on... all will be ok from here on as the roots continue to recover

 

[Erni2019]

you will probably lose that leaf. It has been targeted for destruction by the plant... but just keep on keeping on... all will be ok from here on as the roots continue to recover

Thank you so much! we will be in touch again hopefully not for issues