Everytime you skip this post, my plants droop an extra inch.

[The Grim Reefer]

Alright, here's some info - maybe you can help me out as to why my plants are drooping so much and what I need to do to help!

-Soil is PHed at: 6.3-6.6 (for both plants)

-Currently at day 14 since popped through the soil.

-I have an A/C fan unit in my grow room, it uses water as it's primary source of cooling the air which often makes the room humid.
(it goes through 3 gallons in half of a day)

-The stems are green. No discoloration on the leaves EXCEPT the very very tips are starting to yellow a bit.

-The lights I use are 2x 250 watt HPS

I watered them yesterday as well as 2 days before that. I use SuperThrive in every watering. I have NOT used nutes yet - I'd like to know if that may be the problem - if so please get back to me a.s.a.p as my lights are currently off and they're under a 24 hour period.
(the lights are off so I can foliage feed nutes if need be)

It also might be viable to metion that the temp is usually anywhere from 83.6 to 93.0 being the all time high but that was not on purpose, believe me. The temp usually runs from mid to high 80s.
help! :D

Photo #1 - The victim
Photo #2 - The counterpart (not drooping as badly)
Photo #3/5 The environment in which I grow

[J DOG 6000]

Your not letting the soil dry out enough before you water again...Overwatering....bring your ph down to 6.8

[justaseed]

your also gonna want to get the temps below 80. i have never had luck with seedlings above 80. i mean they live but they just don't look as heathy or grow vigorously. mid to high 80's is way to high imo. also i think jdogg is right about the overwatering

[Herbus]

What kind of soil is that you are using? You should not use ST every time you water on plants this small. It's easy to stress plants with supplements especially while they are in the seedling stage.

Herbus

[The Grim Reefer]

Thanks for all of the replies, guys!

J Dog - My PH on all of the soil is about 6.3-6.5 right now, and you're right. I'm almost 100% it's overwatering.

Justaseed - Are there any suggestions you have? I already have lights pointing at the fans and cooling them down as well as an oscilating fan and that A/C unit.

Herbus - I use ST about every other water, is this still too much? The soil I use is a mixture I created using bag soil, 30% pearlite, a little bit of sand and sphagnum rock.

The plants are definitely perking up since I stopped watering them so much and started letting the soil dry out a bit more. I also used a few chopsticks and made sure the soil was getting enough oxygen to the roots.

I'll post pics as soon as they go on their 23/1 tonight!

[The Grim Reefer]

By the way, here's a more updated pic of my set up -

[J DOG 6000]

What light are you going to use for flowering?

[justaseed]

i'm suprised the temps are still that high with the ventillation you have and it's not an enclosed box. what is the ambient temp in the house?

[The Grim Reefer]

Justaseed - You and me both. :D Still drooping.. Ambient temp in the house is 69 F. I went ahead and put the A/C on a chair so it had more of a chance to cool the ladies off.. I actually have it down to 78.4 F in there right now.

I also went ahead and raised the lights above them by 2 links to try and take some of the direct heat off of them. Any other ideas?

J Dog - I was planning on using the same lights. Any suggestions?

Thanks again for replying guys, I want to make these girls FLOURISH!

[The Grim Reefer]

Alright, so apparantly the leaves are still curling under. Not only that, but the stems are starting to show a slight glimpse of purple.

Grr.. any ideas?

[The Grim Reefer]

Oh wow, I'm such a stoner.

Well, I actually just realized that i used the Jiffy peat-pellet procedure with these.. meaning after germination I used the expanding peat-pellet mounds and just popped the sead in. Then from seedling I placed the entire thing into the pot and surrounded it with my soil mix.

I'm now positive that what was happening, was the peat was still wet while the soil around it wasn't so I was overwatering to the extreme.

Why do I think this? Because I haven't watered in two days and today upon my realization, I felt down to where I could feel the moss mound and it was still pretty damp.

Oops. :o

Should I just leave them and let the dry out and recover?

[GucciSolice]

Grim,

This is my first time responding to a thread on this system for someone other than myself. I grow a little or a lot different than you , but here's what I'd say...

1. Never have a HPS bulb closer than 12 inches to the plant. The root system on the seedling isn't capable of feeding the plants nutrients (ie. water, etc.) fast enough to keep up with the energy the HPS bulb is giving it.

2. Always use florescent to start clones or seedlings. This light is softer and allows for the seedling to maintain its health and build a larger root system. If you do not have access to a florescent light than try possibly moving the bulbs away and or use only 1 bulb for now and add the second for flowering.

A seedling is a baby. Try watering it with nothing but aerated water and B-1, 3 times per day, 1/2 tsp. to 1 tsp. per watering. Babies eat many times per day. The plants root system is very small and needs fresh water always. You just want to keep the other soil around it somewhat dry to avoid fungus mites, etc.

Hope this helps.

[The Grim Reefer]

Thanks a lot for the help Gucci.

-I raised the lights to 12 inches from the top of the plant.

I'm still a little worried though as they seem to be getting worse and the stems more purple. I'm wondering if I need to pull them out of the ball of peat their in and put them straight into the mixed soil.

I might also be a little paranoid about it, so I'll sit on it for another day.

I just don't want to let a small problem develop into a large one. :D

[HARDDON]

Listen to gucci...

those lights are way too fucking close for babies like that. If you move the lights higher, you can do without the AC for now.

Seems awfully humid for little babies.

Get your lights up and keep em up. DOnt go screwing with babies...let them grow on their own and a 60% humidity level is good...any higher and it can get too much for the plant to respirate especially such a youngin.

[J DOG 6000]

I would,nt flower with less then a 250 watt HPS

[The Grim Reefer]

Thanks for the help! I was thinking the lights may be a bit much as close as they were.

I went ahead and moved the lights away, and they're looking a bit better.

J Dog - I was planning on flowering in the same area, that would be 500 watts

I also went ahead and turned the cooler down to the lowest setting as well as made sure the lights were at least 12 inches away

One of the plants is already starting to perk up :thumbsup:

The other one still has a slight purple coloration but I THINK it's starting to perk up a small amount.

I'll get some pics up tonight! :dance:

[del...]

grim, also our tap water is extremely hard (off the color scale here) so if you're using it you should be thinking about fixing it. i used to use a britta water purifier (it knocks our tap water down to around 5.0) but ex-roomy took it with her. i needed to water today and had nothing to lower the ph with (so i thought) so i tested some orange juice in the water. one tablespoon took it down from above 9.5 to 6.0! i ran the test several times and each time came out with the same results...
so you know what i'll be doing with our water supply when needed...

[The Grim Reefer]

LOL, del you don't have to tell me twice.

I've lived in Arizona all of my life and used to suck down our tap water straight from the sink. Everytime I would go out and play really hard as a kid, I would come in and just stick my mouth under the sink.

Then I worked at a water store for over 3 years. In that time, I learned that the fact you can smell the chlorine in our water, isn't too healthy.

Needless to say I've been using bottled on my babies :D

Wow.. OJ! Holy hell, why didn't I think of that! That's actually a really good idea.

Thanks for the tip :thumbsup: :stoned:

Plant #1 (the not-so-sick one):

[The Grim Reefer]

Plant #2:

[J DOG 6000]

Those water filters that atach to the sink work really well,I think it's a britta.But it removes all the clorine and the ph comes out of the tap perfectly at 6.8! So I would never grow again without one.

[The Grim Reefer]

J Dog - I'll have to pick one up then. Are there relatively cheap? Hell, I guess it would pay for itself after awhile.

[britewire]

1st of all, create a light cycle.. the plants need their dark aswell.
2nd,´Give water when you notice the soil get dryer, to much water means no oxigen at the roots.

I´m sure it´s the water though...

[The Grim Reefer]

LOL, Fantastic.

The plant that's not doing so well, I gave him some water today and guess what? The soil smells like mildew. Fantastic.

Going to do some research on root rot and what I need to do to go about this mess.

Brite - they're on a cycle - I'm bringing the light down slowly, it was 24/0 for the 2nd week and the 3rd ( which we're in now ) is 23/1. I'm going to bring it down slowly until I think they're ready to flower or until I get to 12/12, whichever comes first.