nitrogen deficiency?

[ghostkniife]

im a first time indoor grower and had started some random seeds. they started off great and look green and healthy but then all the bottom leaves started to slowly go yellow and fall off. i wasnt sure what the problem was so i did some research to solve the problem and realised the ph was way out at about 8. so i flushed the plants and corrected the ph but i think maybe its to late for my baby. any suggestions or tips or is it to late? and they seem a little over watered so i will not water again till dry. thanks

[nampra]

What's your light time schedule

[growdemon]

looks to me, its over watering & too much nutrients! Just leave them alone for a bit, new green will grow out, most those curled up leaves will die off since its still early. Also your pot is way way too big for that plant, you might be better off getting faster green growth by transplanting into a smaller pot. The roots will have a better chance of getting the nutrients they need with out heavy watering. Just in case I would sow some new seeds, get them going now.

[ghostkniife]

The light schedule is on 18/6 and temps at 27° c. Also i didnt realise it was an issue putting them in big pot but will invest in smaller ones to start.

[Shovelhandle]

I often go from party cup right to 3 gallon when the plants are only a week or two old. When I water I just use enough to wet the little bit of root and not the whole pot. This can work well, just don't over-water the plant by 'watering the pot'.

[ghostkniife]

So whats the idea with 30% run off because when i first started growing my babies i was only water a little but enough, then read that you are surposed to have run off to remove salts from soil. So water only a little till they are bigger than flush the whole pot?

[Shovelhandle]

yes, the run-off is used with soil and soilless synthetic and organic nutrients. But this is when the plant has grown into it's pot and needs optimum nutrition and water requirements. The amount of salts ( nutrients) can accumulate and not be in the balanced ideal recipe we pick. So one washes out the accumulations by adding 30% extra water per pot.

[emilya]

I go the whole route, from 1" starter cups for the seeds that have germinated on the incubator, into plastic beer cups, to 1gal, to 3gal, to 5gal. It is a lot of work, but I fill out the root ball at each step, and I think end up with a stronger plant by doing it like this.
I don't do anything fancy either... I use Miracle Grow soil and don't even think about adding nutes until the flowering stage.
The picture looks to me to be of a plant that is getting too much love. That curled up look, she is screaming at you, telling you that she is drowning. Use the lift method, and don't water again until the container is dry... let her breathe, and she will be happy.

[ghostkniife]

298245

here is another plant i have started. Keep in mind these are only bag seeds and just for practice only and dont really expect them to amount to anything really, just all for practice before i purchase some seeds.
the top of the plant looks good and healthy, but the bottom leaves are starting to die is this natural?
the room temps are good, ph is good, humidity is great so im not sure if its sick or not. thanks in advance

[emilya]

how often are you watering in that big pot?

[Weezard]

how often are you watering in that big pot?

Short answer?
Too often. :D

Aloha,
Weeze

[ghostkniife]

i wasnt watering them too much, i was using the finger technique in the soil to see if it was dry. but in saying that i did flush the pot a while back because the ph was way to high, i didnt have a tester and didnt realise my tap water was reading 7.8. so i flushed the pots and left it for a week or so for it to fully dry before watering it again. and only use a quarter of the specified amount of nutrient needed. Everyone keeps posting about my watering but im only watering once every week so maybe even thats to much for them. ill stop watering all together till they show signs of being thirsty then feed them again. hopefully this fixes the problem. thanks again for all the help. im writing this all down so i dont have to goole all the time lol

[emilya]

I seriously doubt that you need any nutrients at this stage either. Next time, try starting your plants in a beer cup or even smaller, and plan on transplanting to larger pots several times. This makes it much easier to tell when you are watering too much.

Imagine what the roots are doing in that big pot... they have gone straight down to the bottom and are wrapping around the bottom of that huge container. Every time you water, you totally immerse all of the root system, and the plant just cant handle that much water. So for days, the majority of your roots are drowning, waiting on mostly evaporation to take that water away.

I am convinced now that your problems are way too much love, and a way too big pot. If you can, start another one beside that one, using a starter pot or a beer cup, and see how much difference it makes. And no nutes!

Emmie

[Shovelhandle]

I've read that a relatively deep container will help express more female plants compared to shallow vessels. Old Wife Tale? I start the seeds in the paper towel, then into a windowbox planter and then a beer cup within a week. Many times I have the luxury of starting dozens of seeds and select the few I want to put into cups. This saves the time of putting dozens of seeds into cups and then throwing most of them out during selection.