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Hi everybody,
I'm currently facing a very peculiar 4-week old seedling, which looks like it's only a couple days old. This thing has barely grown at all for a whole month. You can see below it's second set of leaves, which are lime green and discoloring. This happened to the cotyledons and first set of leaves as well, which eventually turned yellow and died. Take a look at it today:
Here's a bit of backstory:
-This is my third attempt with Northern Lights Auto from Crop King Seeds. Poignantly, my last grow exhibited disfigured leaves during it's seedling stage but it ultimately recovered nicely and yielded a great harvest.
-This time, it grew really nicely for a day or two. It seemed a little stretchy, so I increased the brightness on my light a bit (more on this below). Anyway, it remained bright lime green and eventually, a small discolored spot appeared on the cotyledon, and a day or two after that, both cotyledons and the first two true leaves turned yellow and died.
-Slowly over the course of 2-3 weeks, a new set of (tiny) 3-finger leaves appeared which you can see above. Now, after four-weeks from initial sprouting, these leaves are starting to show that same discoloration. I predict in a couple of days, these may die as well.
Here are a few of my theories, including information on my setup. Keep in mind, I only have one successful grow under my belt, so I'm still very much a newbie.
Nutrients and pH:
-The yellowing leaves and stunted growth suggest nitrogen deficiency. However, I'm growing in Fox Farm Happy Frog Soil with 30% perlite in a 5 gallon pot (last time I used a 3 gallon pot). I used no nutrients for the first 2 weeks or so, as per my last grow. After 3 weeks of no growth and yellow leaves, I decided to supplement with a 1/4 strength nutrient regiment of the Flora Trio + CaliMag. I haven't really observed much difference since starting this regimen. I should also point out I have a minor concern over soil storage. This batch has been in a large tupperware container for 5 months or so. Is this OK?
-My pH's are fine. Soil is reading 6.8-6.9; tap water is 6.9-7.
Lights:
-I'm using a Quantum Board QB135. I use a wattmeter and luxmeter to keep an eye on light levels. The light is rated for an output of 135W, but at 100% it reads 160W on my watt-meter (around 25W of losses through the power supply). I aim for 100-300ppm during the seedling stage, which based on my light works out to be 5000-15000 lux. It was at 5000 lux I saw a bit of stretching, so I bumped it up to 10,000. It's currently closer to 15,000, but like I said, very little growth from those first few days. This equates to roughly 50% light power. For my last grow, I used 20,000 lux during the seedling stage, and I observed a very short plant with some curled leaves. So based on my meter, I do believe that 10-15,000 range is adequate.
Temperature and Humidity:
-Kept around 25 degrees Celcius and 60% RH.
Watering
-For the first 5 days or so, I pretty much just kept the surface moist. After that, I started with 20mL or so in a small circle around the stem gradually increasing each day. Last time, I waited until I saw proper 5-finger leaves before watering over a litre. Anyway, in the past 4 weeks I've never actually watered more than 125mL due to it being so small. It's barely an inch.
Anyway, here's a few final things to note and consequently, my theories. There are two things in particular that stand out as being different factors this time that may explain what's going on:
1. I didn't plant the seed deep enough -- I germinated in a paper towel and had a real nice looking taproot. However, the seed was merely millimetres under the soil when I planted it. I dropped it in the hole, and it didn't go all the way down and pretty much said "good enough", and sprinkled some soil over it. I under if, upon the surface of the soil drying out, I actually dried out the seed a bit. Moreover, I assume nutrients such as nitrogen rely on moisture for absorption. If the roots where too dry, they couldn't absorb nitrogen, resulting in stunted lime green leaves. Does this make sense?
2. Poor airflow and bacteria -- I have a carbon filter on my exhaust, a couple of circulating fans, and I rely on passive intake air in my tent. However, the tent is in my closet, and there's only a couple of inches between my intake port and the wall. There's also a lot of dust in the area and today I realized there was a layer of dust on the intake fans blocking intake air. Could this be affecting the seedling?
Does anyone have any thoughts on what could be stunting my seedling? I realize autoflowers are on an internal clock, but I kind of want to ride this out to see what happens (for science lol). BUT, any tips on how I can resolve this would be greatly appreciated. My inclination now is to try 1/2 nutrients for a few days and see if I can get some nicer darker green color.
Thanks,
tronN00dles
I'm currently facing a very peculiar 4-week old seedling, which looks like it's only a couple days old. This thing has barely grown at all for a whole month. You can see below it's second set of leaves, which are lime green and discoloring. This happened to the cotyledons and first set of leaves as well, which eventually turned yellow and died. Take a look at it today:
Here's a bit of backstory:
-This is my third attempt with Northern Lights Auto from Crop King Seeds. Poignantly, my last grow exhibited disfigured leaves during it's seedling stage but it ultimately recovered nicely and yielded a great harvest.
-This time, it grew really nicely for a day or two. It seemed a little stretchy, so I increased the brightness on my light a bit (more on this below). Anyway, it remained bright lime green and eventually, a small discolored spot appeared on the cotyledon, and a day or two after that, both cotyledons and the first two true leaves turned yellow and died.
-Slowly over the course of 2-3 weeks, a new set of (tiny) 3-finger leaves appeared which you can see above. Now, after four-weeks from initial sprouting, these leaves are starting to show that same discoloration. I predict in a couple of days, these may die as well.
Here are a few of my theories, including information on my setup. Keep in mind, I only have one successful grow under my belt, so I'm still very much a newbie.
Nutrients and pH:
-The yellowing leaves and stunted growth suggest nitrogen deficiency. However, I'm growing in Fox Farm Happy Frog Soil with 30% perlite in a 5 gallon pot (last time I used a 3 gallon pot). I used no nutrients for the first 2 weeks or so, as per my last grow. After 3 weeks of no growth and yellow leaves, I decided to supplement with a 1/4 strength nutrient regiment of the Flora Trio + CaliMag. I haven't really observed much difference since starting this regimen. I should also point out I have a minor concern over soil storage. This batch has been in a large tupperware container for 5 months or so. Is this OK?
-My pH's are fine. Soil is reading 6.8-6.9; tap water is 6.9-7.
Lights:
-I'm using a Quantum Board QB135. I use a wattmeter and luxmeter to keep an eye on light levels. The light is rated for an output of 135W, but at 100% it reads 160W on my watt-meter (around 25W of losses through the power supply). I aim for 100-300ppm during the seedling stage, which based on my light works out to be 5000-15000 lux. It was at 5000 lux I saw a bit of stretching, so I bumped it up to 10,000. It's currently closer to 15,000, but like I said, very little growth from those first few days. This equates to roughly 50% light power. For my last grow, I used 20,000 lux during the seedling stage, and I observed a very short plant with some curled leaves. So based on my meter, I do believe that 10-15,000 range is adequate.
Temperature and Humidity:
-Kept around 25 degrees Celcius and 60% RH.
Watering
-For the first 5 days or so, I pretty much just kept the surface moist. After that, I started with 20mL or so in a small circle around the stem gradually increasing each day. Last time, I waited until I saw proper 5-finger leaves before watering over a litre. Anyway, in the past 4 weeks I've never actually watered more than 125mL due to it being so small. It's barely an inch.
Anyway, here's a few final things to note and consequently, my theories. There are two things in particular that stand out as being different factors this time that may explain what's going on:
1. I didn't plant the seed deep enough -- I germinated in a paper towel and had a real nice looking taproot. However, the seed was merely millimetres under the soil when I planted it. I dropped it in the hole, and it didn't go all the way down and pretty much said "good enough", and sprinkled some soil over it. I under if, upon the surface of the soil drying out, I actually dried out the seed a bit. Moreover, I assume nutrients such as nitrogen rely on moisture for absorption. If the roots where too dry, they couldn't absorb nitrogen, resulting in stunted lime green leaves. Does this make sense?
2. Poor airflow and bacteria -- I have a carbon filter on my exhaust, a couple of circulating fans, and I rely on passive intake air in my tent. However, the tent is in my closet, and there's only a couple of inches between my intake port and the wall. There's also a lot of dust in the area and today I realized there was a layer of dust on the intake fans blocking intake air. Could this be affecting the seedling?
Does anyone have any thoughts on what could be stunting my seedling? I realize autoflowers are on an internal clock, but I kind of want to ride this out to see what happens (for science lol). BUT, any tips on how I can resolve this would be greatly appreciated. My inclination now is to try 1/2 nutrients for a few days and see if I can get some nicer darker green color.
Thanks,
tronN00dles
