Young plant growth halted leaves yellowing and drooping

[PTSD 4 ME]

OK so to start, it is a unknown seed that I just randomly decided to start up. I have been a long time growing outdoors and what not but wanted to try indoor due to location and seasonal changes. I germinated the seed about 3 weeks ago and sprouted it in small pete cup. I wanted to use natural window light but the seeding stretched to much so I moved it away and added a 60w CFL to assist. the first 2 weeks it went great good growth and leaves came in great. Week 3 growth stopped. I thought at first I was overwater so cut back with no change. I then thought maybe root bound ( although I highly doubted this due to the size of cup and plant). So I decided to repot the plant in new soil and continued what I was doing. It has now been a week longer and the cotyledons are almost completely dead and the first leaves are now drooped over to a 45 degree angle and the yellow has consumed over 90% of both leaves. I have done lots of research on the subject and not just jumping into a post. Nitrogen deficiency is where I am about to go now. The 60W should be more then enough for growth at this time, bottled water used in watering. I even tried to increase CO2 to give it a boost with no avail. It is in just standard potting soil and now in a 3 gallon pot when I repotted. Maybe the pictures will give you a better idea of how this has transpired. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Before

After

 

[go4snypr]

do you know what your ph is?? also what kind of potting soil?? also transplanting it could have shocked it

 

[PTSD 4 ME]

PH I am unsure of although if it may be a factor I will pick up PH strips tomorrow and check. The soil is Espoma Organic Potting Mix which I have used previously with good success, although not on cannabis. The transplant was in an attempt to halt the yellowing of the leaves. Correct me if I am wrong but the PH from the soil was naturally at 6.5 and the water being bottled should be balanced to about that. Tomorrow I will get some PH strips and test. The growth completely halted after no changes. Could it be under lighting possibly from the single CFL? I have a 600W HPS/ MH that I can use although I felt as though it was real overkill for this one lil guy.

 

[go4snypr]

yeah check your ph, I know the bottled water I checked was a ph of 8. If your using an organic mix I would assume that is contains nitrogen already. As for the light, a single cfl should keep it going. I would really look into the ph first and go from there, if your dumping a high ph water into your potting mix it could be locking out nutirents. Let us know tomorrow after you check it.

 

[PTSD 4 ME]

Will do and thank you for the quick responses go4snyper.

 

[Teddy Edwards]

Hello PTSD and to

I don't bother about pH (my soil is naturally buffered) but I do know about poorly seedlings. This looks exactly like my problems last year when I started the babies in organic potting compost which was far too rich (even though it had been fine for vegetable seeds). She's so small I think a deficiency is unlikely - more likely is an excess. If this is right, then its a Sophie's choice between seeing if she'll make it and re-potting again. Tough one. Good luck and keep us posted.

EDIT - Don't mean to disrespect go4synpr's pH advice. I'm sure he's right. Just another point of view.

 

[go4snypr]

Hey Teddy, I am by no means an expert, so all opinions are welcome.. could very well be an excess of something locking out nitrogen, because it does look like it is lacking nitrogen, I thought possible excess too, but it is not showing signs of nute burn. I dont think plants that young should need any nutrients, but I am not familiar with organic soil, or soil at all for that matter.

 

[PTSD 4 ME]

Thanks for that. I have attempted to get PH strips but considering I live in bum fuck Egypt its a tougher situation but I have someone making a run into the larger city to pick some up and should have some tomorrow. I kind of fluffed the soil up a little today since it was looking very compact and checked the roots out again and they are a nice shade of white and looking very healthy. So I guess the waiting game is on again till I can get these PH strips. And thanks for the Welcome Mr. Teddy, I have been reading on this and forums a like and look forward to working with this community. The soil I have read good reviews about it for cannabis and has worked great with other functions. I did go ahead and put it under a stronger light set up maybe it just wasn't getting enough from that CFL.... I guess I am kind of at a loss till I can get these damn PH strips. Thanks again guys!!

 

[PTSD 4 ME]

So I tested my water with a PH strip I was able to find and found it to be 7.2. So me in all my great intelligence thought hmm.... lemons will lower the ph. My idea was to poke a small hole in the lemon and drizzle a little juice in the soil. Well the lemon exploded in my hand and went all over my plant. The amount of juice was really big and I am expecting to see a dead plant from the amount of concentration of the lemon juice. Maybe I will try a VERY good flush of the soil and a good spraying down of the plant and see. I will give a update on Saturday or Sunday to see how this one went haha...... I amaze myself sometimes.

 

[go4snypr]

son of a..... yup, that sucks, hopefully you can get it cleaned up enough to keep her alive. let us know...

 

[PTSD 4 ME]

Here are some pictures from today. Although the growth has increased finally the yellowing is starting to get into the next step of leaves. And the outside of the fully yellow leaves is browning and starting to fold up.... Although it does seem to like the light a bit more then those shitty cfl's IDK what to think about this yellowing.....

From this in the span of 2 days or so

From this 10 days ago

Tell me what to think..... I know CPR?? Also there are small white specs that could be an indication I suppose.

 

[Dan Ultra]

Damn, ok. Well next time if you need to add lemon juice, add it to water to adjust the pH of the water, not directly in the soil at full strength. Lemons generally have a pH of around 2.0, sooo... that would throw a monkey wrench into your soils pH level. I would flush and then try and re-establish a good pH of 6.5

What type of lighting did you switch too?

 

[PTSD 4 ME]

Ya and in retrospective I would have gone that route. I did flush the soil really well and cleaned the plant as much as possible. The light is a MH 68000 lumens running at 50% and roughly 18 " from the plant. Could the CFL been the issue? It was a 60 watt full spectrum bulb. Additionally with the yellow dieing leaves am I best to remove them to allow more nutes to the uppers or could they make a come back?

 

[Dan Ultra]

I doubt the light was the culprit. pH seems much more likely. What wattage is that MH? Are you planning to use the MH through flowering as well, or switch to HPS?

 

[PTSD 4 ME]

It runs off a 600W ballast but like I said its dimmed down to 50% so I figured that would put me at about 14000 lumens or so to the plant at 18". I have a HPS for the same 600W ballast rated at 98000 lumens and I would make changes accordingly after veg... If I can get to that point.

 

[PTSD 4 ME]

I guess u can monitor the progress here.......
PTSD's - Unknown - 600W MH/HPS - Grow Journal