New Grower Yellowish leaves, 9th day auto short-rider

[tronikculture]

Hi all,

I've been following the forum for a few weeks now in order to collect info about growing.

I just registered today because I'm finding it dificult to evaluate my little plants development on my own, since I'm a fresh-grower (it's my very first grow). I would like to share my experience with others and use this post to help others like me.

I have potted an auto feminized seedling 9 days ago (6th of September) and from two days ago the bottom leaves started turning yellow. I think I clearly have an over-watering problem, since I care too much about her (I don't know, I guess I'm affraid of letting the plant die from thirst). I've been feeding her with nutes from the 5th day or so (BioGrow), but I stopped yesterday when i noticed the referred yellow leaves. I watered it with springed water (the one that I use for drinking) so the nutes could be washed up (I think this would renew the water stored in the soil and also the root system).

My question is what could possibly be harming the plant?

Beside the over-water problem (that I stopped now!) I have another issue. I've been exposing her to direct sunlight from 9am to 8pm permanentely. The weather has been a but hot (still feels like summer), so this could be an issue also? At night I light her with a CLF using a box with reflective material to maximize the lighting.

I'm posting some pictures of her to illustrate her current situation.



Please feedback.

 

[Muddy]

Welcome to the forum. The first set of leaves always yellow and die off. That's normal and not something you need to be concerned about. But it does look a little over watered. Too much water can suffocate the roots and cause the plant to die. Let it dry out more between waterings. Also, it's a little early for any nutrients. You don't mention what kind of soil you used but normally the soil has enough nutrients for the first 2 -3 weeks. Then start out with a weak solution 1/4 or 1/2 strength depending on how strong a formula you are using, gradually increasing the strength. From what I can see in your pictures there doesn't appear to be any perlite in your soil mix. When you transplant to your final pot make sure your mix includes about 15% or so of perlite. It helps to hold water and supply much needed oxygen to your roots. Also, you should be fine with the light you are giving. And since you are a new grower, I've moved your thread to the New Growers Forum. Joe Dirt and myself moderate that forum and will be glad to help you out.

 

[tronikculture]

wowww, wasn't expecting such quick reply. thanks a lot!!

I'm happy to hear that it's normal to have yellow leaves, it tranquilizes me. Im't not watering it again until I feel the cup light enough. I bought some soil from Siro:



The mixture seemed alright for me, but there was no nitrogen, that's why I felt like giving nutes that contained nitrogen in this early stage of development. I'll surely take ur advice and stop for now. Also with the nutes, I don't quite understand what u mean with 1/2 and 1/4 strenght's.. do u mean the manufacturer's instructions (like 2 ml for 5 litres of soil)?

As for the perlite, I have it in my mix.. what happened was that i didn't have the pot fully loaded with soil, and yesterday i noticed that the stalk was getting too thin (it seemed that it wouldn't be able to sustain itself), so I added a little more soil on the surface to hold it straight. I believe the portion of Perlite would be around 20% in that tiny pot.

Still, about the stalk, i don't know but it seems a little thin.. is it normal on the 9th day from seedling, or should it be thicker? if not, when should I be expecting it to be thicker?

I'm thinking of germinating a fast bud seed to have another grow, what would be ur advice on the germination method? soaked paper towell or the shot glass?

Finally, I purchased some jiffy turf pots for the seedling start, do u advice them? I've seen both sides: people saying it sucks and slows growth, and others saying it's a great medium for seedling stater.

Thanks in advance!

 

[tronikculture]

another question I forgot to ask: Can the sunlight be harming/"cooking" my plant? is she too little to be exposed for several hours to intense sunlight?

 

[lynchie51588]

Yeah sounds exactly like me. I know its hard to resist the urge to give her more water everytime you look at her, especially when you are like.. "well, the top looks dry, maybe more nutes!"but it definitely takes a toll on the plants. I just had a problem with curling up leaves from doing the same thing. That definitely sounds like whats ailing your plants though; that and probably you started nuting when they were really young which made it to high of a dose and it coudln't burn the chemicals off but that doesnt mean anything they should be perfectly fine. It took me like 10 plants to figure out that you gotta water like every 3 days and overwatering is DEFINITELY worse than underwatering so push through the urge! As for the sunlight problem.. I keep my plants on 24 light 2 feet away from an HPS so that isn't a problem, only heat problem would be if it gets past 85, as if it does, i hear marijuana plants basically stop growing.

 

[HomieHogleg]

Welcome bro, always nice to see another new auto grower.
It sounds to me like in addition to the over watering, you may have given nutes too early. Autoflowers are really nute sensitive. I have learned, though the school of hard knocks, that with autoflowers, you do not want to use a prenuted soil. It will stress your young plant, which increases the chance of herms, with fem seeds and increase the male/female ratio with regular seed.
Best of luck with your grow
Green Mojo Sent

HomieHogleg
P.S. Go ahead and buy a PH pen and calibration liquid now, you will need it.

 

[GnomeGrown]

Don't be afraid to let it dry out. You get the thick, solid stalk from giving good wet/dry cycles. It's also hard for a plant to pull nutrients from wet soil (osmosis?). I see the most growth as the soil/medium dries.

 

[GnomeGrown]

Here's one of mine at 10 days. You can see the stalk and how dry the top layer is.

 

[Muddy]

Yes, 1/4 or 1/2 strength of what the manufacturer recommends on the nutrients. As I said, start with a weak mixture and work up.

Watering by weight is the best way, even after you transplant to a bigger pot. Only water when it feels light.

The paper towel method works very well. I like to soak mine till I see the shell split open, then I transplant to small pots till they sex, then the females go into bigger pots. If you use the paper towel method just be sure and not damage the tap root when you plant it. A pair of tweezers is good to pick them up with so you don't damage them.

I've never used Jiffy pots but I seem to remember someone saying there is a problem with them. I'm sure someone else will jump in with a more detailed opinion about them.

wowww, wasn't expecting such quick reply. thanks a lot!!

I'm happy to hear that it's normal to have yellow leaves, it tranquilizes me. Im't not watering it again until I feel the cup light enough. I bought some soil from Siro:

View attachment 29245View attachment 29246

The mixture seemed alright for me, but there was no nitrogen, that's why I felt like giving nutes that contained nitrogen in this early stage of development. I'll surely take ur advice and stop for now. Also with the nutes, I don't quite understand what u mean with 1/2 and 1/4 strenght's.. do u mean the manufacturer's instructions (like 2 ml for 5 litres of soil)?

As for the perlite, I have it in my mix.. what happened was that i didn't have the pot fully loaded with soil, and yesterday i noticed that the stalk was getting too thin (it seemed that it wouldn't be able to sustain itself), so I added a little more soil on the surface to hold it straight. I believe the portion of Perlite would be around 20% in that tiny pot.

Still, about the stalk, i don't know but it seems a little thin.. is it normal on the 9th day from seedling, or should it be thicker? if not, when should I be expecting it to be thicker?

I'm thinking of germinating a fast bud seed to have another grow, what would be ur advice on the germination method? soaked paper towell or the shot glass?

Finally, I purchased some jiffy turf pots for the seedling start, do u advice them? I've seen both sides: people saying it sucks and slows growth, and others saying it's a great medium for seedling stater.

Thanks in advance!

 

[tronikculture]

Awesomeee, mine isn't developing as good as that. I thought mine was developing good enough, but after seeing yours I see that mine is quite under-developed. I hope someday I'm able to provide with nthe best conditions to a plant.. it's live and learn eheh, thanks for the feedback!!