SegerDog11

1. Are you growing in Soil or using a Hydro system? SOIL
2. How old are your plants? 3 WEEKS
3. How tall are your plants? 5 INS
4. What size containers are they planted in? 5 GAL
5. What is your Soil mix composed of? 50/50 PERLITE/SOIL
Are you using pre-fertilized potting soil? YES
6. How often do you water? WHEN 80% DRY
What are you watering with? DE-CHLORINATED TAP H2O
7. Are you using fertilizers? KELP EX. (3/4 TBS/GAL) GIVEN ONCE
8. What kind of lights are you using? 250 HPS
How many lights? 1
How many watts or lumens? 250
How close are the lights to the plants? 14 INS
9. What size is your grow space? 5 SQ FEET
10. What is the temperature in your grow space? IN RANGE
11. What is the pH of the soil? 6.5-6.7
12. Have you noticed any insect activity in your grow space? NO
13. How much experience do you have growing? 2ND GROW

Because of some nasty little jiffy pots I transplanted with I have overwatered my root system. The jiffy pots held water around the roots and I think the slow growth and wilting I have been experiencing was caused by this. The decomposing jiffy pots also heated up the soil around the roots. The jiffy pots have been removed and discarded, never to be used again.

They were recently transplanted (2 weeks ago) into a new soil medium (50/50 of Supersoil brand/perlite) and they have only been given some kelp extract about a week ago, so over nutrition is not the problem. Undernutrition is a possibility though. I will be giving some Fish Emulsion (1 tbs per gallon) at the next watering to supply them with some Nitrogen. I really think it is a root problem caused by overwatering though, because they (the roots) have not really developed well, and the soil they are in is new, thus it contains a nutrient supply sufficient for a few weeks at least.

Anyway...I was wondering how I can combat the possible problems the jiffy pots caused? I want the roots to get healthy and grow. They definitely seem stunted.

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sixpiece

You can use products like peroxide which is very good for root disease, damp off for overwatering, guardian angel and more. If you are overwatering, stop and water properly. you should probably give your plants higher temps around 30 Celsius and a lot of light and also dry to stay on the dryer end of things 40% humdity. It's a common problem and underwatering is sometimes better than overdoing it as the problem can be fixed easier. Wait until the soil is starting to dry, water until moist.

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3hounds

I would never pot 3 week old seedlings in a 5 gal container. They first go into a 1 gal for a month or so to develop strong, aggressive roots.
If your mass of soil is way bigger than your root mass (and yours is), the moisture in the soil is not utilized- it just sits there and gets sour.
JMO

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taoofbob

I had a similar problem with my last harvest in which I transplanted very healthy plants with nice strong roots into 5 gal. buckets. After a few weeks the plants started to do poorly and I have determined that my soil mixture was too dense and the plants did not drain well, thus creating the "sour" soil like conditions 3hounds is talking about. So, the point is, check how well your plants are draining too. LawDog recommended the followin soil mixture to me, which I will be trying on my next harvest in one week

1 36lb bag of Miracle Grow Potting soil
16 qts of perlite
12 qts. of vermiculite

Smokinrav also recommended a moisture meter costing about $5.

Cheers,

Bobby C.

SegerDog11

The five gallon buckets have been draining pretty well. The problem was the jiffy pots around the plants roots. They were holding water for a long time after the rest of the soil was dry. But I will try the two transplant method with the 1 gallon planters on the next grow.

I have a water meter and I check the moisture levels frequently. I wait almost till the entire medium is dry before watering again.

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"Weather down here...so fine"