New Grower miserable Double Grape seeks health advice

[Froot n Fuel]

i'm gonna pull her out of the pot today and assess the medium - this pot has had 2/3 dry periods, no fluids for 4-5 days and it doesn't lighten up. digging around in the top of the pot and it feels very dusty. the other two pots have a lot of fibres and bulkier bits. how i managed to fill one pot out of three so differently is a mystery but there's an extreme weight difference between the DG pot, and my other two pots, which have been a total contrast to this plant. The CDLC and Sour Livers are pointing and laughing at poor old Dubble Gee in the corner.

last ditch effort to see if she can be a Cinderella.

 

[Froot n Fuel]

...hmm, I don't know that mix at all, but it would seem mechanical separation isn't a likely suspect..? Is there noticeably less perlite?

it's premixed with only a little perlite as it is (think it relies on fibres etc for drainage) - now i've had a few weeks working with this stuff, it feels like two totally different mediums between the pots. i think this pot is too dense and dusty, prob' the first one i filled before the enthusiasm dropped off :smoking:

i don't think i'll be using Plagron again...for me to have made this much of a balls up there had to be some separation in the bag, i mean the two other pots concern me by how quickly they dry out! they hold max 1L with runoff and will be dry the next day. these girls are happy with that so far so

 

[Waira]

bad mixing. batches can happen,... but pulling her out will FUBAR the roots, and if that happens now, might as well compost her,.. root damage/stunting will badly compromise her health, yields, etc.,...

 

[Froot n Fuel]

I pulled her

Before...
Photos don't really show how crappy she looks. Day 28 Double Grape, been grumpy since the first week. Tried a few different things to fix, but i'm not messing around with pH etc etc, i've seen pH Perfect results and i believe in 'em. My other plants are 1 and 2 days younger than the DG but are twice the size. She grows, but she makes such a damn fuss about it. I've threatened her with termination since her second week and looking at her now, she's not making waves.
Space is limited and as always, a premium. I'd rather take action now, and either way I get a healthier plant worthy of the space, or a space for a new girl to try again. I (thankfully) have two other girls running on my first grow whom are being much more forgiving than this girl, so i'm not putting the entire grow on the line.

tipped on side and gently worked the plant/root ball/medium out of the pot.

root ball around 6/7 inches...didn't look that well developed for a 12L air pot to me but was tough to picture.

perhaps relevant - when this plant first gave me some bother (first set of leaves became discoloured, crinkled), a google search specific to my medium suggested the possibility of larger bits of bark/twig etc can be found in these peat based lightmixes and can be highly acidic. These bits were all pulled out from within the actual root zone as carefully as I could.

Repotted, same medium with the addition of some fresh lightmix left over. i think the heavier, denser soil shifts to the bottom of the bag and leaves the light and fluffy fibres and other components of this lightmix to the top of the bag. for the effort i've made here, i probably should have sourced a replacement medium, but we'll see if she survives.

1L of water (non pH'd) run through the pot. couple of hours later, 1L feed, 1ml Bloom A&B, 1ml CalMag and 1ml Voodoo Juice. This is her the following morning;

she has a week to show me she's worthy of the cupboard space, otherwise she will be replaced with my other DG bean in a new medium choice.

 

[Jimmyclone]

She looks fine bud.. she'll bounce back.. mabe take another week or 2 but looks good.. just chill..
Cheers

 

[Froot n Fuel]

just a quick update...not much happening topside, but there's some action spotted below;

root tips have reached the bottom of the airpot, something they didn't manage to do in it's first 4 weeks alive before rearranging the pot. not expecting a full recovery from her but hopefully i can at least try DG out.