Depressed, Desperate, is this worth saving?

Ok, so this is my second attempt at straight hydro. I have had hell with this little thing from the very beginning. Heres a diagram of the cup its in and a couple actual pics. I started to ramble about all the problems from the beginning, but unless you actually want the details, I will just ask. Is this damn little thing worth saving? Its still "growing" but it sprouted on the 7-11. Its way behind. I didnt have near the f'n problems on my first grow. It looks burned, but im not sure its not a ph problem as well? The only thing added to the water was 1 drop of superthrive, which i split into a quarter dose as of late, and calmag+ when i switched everything to distilled water. There is more information, I just dont want to bore the living crap out of anyone until they actually want that information.
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Well, do you have the cup in a drip system right now or is it just sitting in a cup full of hydroton? All plants are worth saving as long as it isn't yellowed too bad. Right now at its stage you just need to make sure its well watered with ph balanced water and its under 24/7 lighting. That thing will start to grow more aggressively if you keep it well watered... I know that hydroton doesn't store water at all but is great for drip style grows. Tell me what your setup is and we can go from there. Just keep that bad boy or hopefully girl under lots of light and you can get away with a fluorescent lamp for now but when it gets bigger your best best will be an hid lamp. Hope this helps!

Its in a bubbler right now. The cotton is supposed to be wicking the water up to the rockwool until the roots make it to the bubbles. I check it every day for signs of roots in the bottom. Its under a 27 watt daylight cfl right now too. Ive got a couple 70 watt hps lamps to add to the 8 27 watt cfls when it comes time for flowering.

Also, I am re-phing/washing the rest of the hydroton in my waterfarm to try and stop all the ph fluctuation before i transplant it into there. My wife and I are checking and adjusting the ph 3 times a day in the bubbler. It goes from 5.8 to 6.3 in 8 hours pretty consistently. Driving me f'n nuts. Worse still, is we are leaving for 2 nights next weekend for anniversary. God knows how im gonna keep this damn thing alive then if it doesnt get a growth spurt and give me a little cussion for ph error.

Just curious. Anyone think that it isnt the superthrive that is burning the seedling? All I hear is good things about superthrive. The only difference between this seedling and the last one is the superthrive and the first one was put under light the moment I saw something starting to poke out the top. It was fine appearantly but someone told me it was dead. The leaves just curled because of the duel light sources and I thought something was wrong with it. Im such a noob at the hydro.

I've been growing hydro for about 2 years now and I can tell you that all you really need is water for that baby right now. I have never had to use anything for the seedlings until they start to show their 3rd set of leaves. Even when I move them to my waterfarms, I still use water for them until that third set of leaves comes in and then I start off with seedling stage feed. But yes it could be the superthrive that would be affecting your plants growth since its so small. your ph won't harm your plant so much as long as you keep it between 5.5 and 6.5. A reading of 6 is ideal but I have had it bounce like that before and finally settled at around 6. Good luck... hope this helps. :jointsmile:

thanks for the advice. That seedling did die btw. Im no so surprised or upset. Starting again from a different approach. Im going to grow in soil like i did the first time i grew until I get the 2nd or 3rd set of leaves. Then carefully wash the soil off the roots and plant it in the hydroton. Im still having hell getting the hydroton to ph bellow 6.3-6.5. I even set it up with a fresh batch of 5.0 phed water to maybe help it meet halfway.

Anyway, after I pulled the above seedling, I took out the rockwool cube to inspect the root development. There was no more development since I had put it in the hydroton cup and the cube was soaked to the bone. Should I not have put the cotton wick in there? The bubbles were just at the bottom of the cup like in the diagram. I still want to start seedlings this way just for something different and fun, but I have to have this next seedling start right or I wont be able to harvest before I leave for 2 weeks next thanksgiving.

You need to ph correct both your hydroton and your rockwool before you plant.

Honestly, I would try using rapid rooter plugs for your seeds after they start sprouting and put them in a seedling tray with a dome and put that under a fluorescent grow light that you can get at wal-mart in the lighting department for 10 bucks. I have always started my seedlings this way and then put the rapid rooter plug in the hydroton which is already set in a drip ring system or a deep water culture system with ph balanced water. I stay away from rock wool cuz of the whole root rot issues I have heard about. Rapid Rooter plugs never fail me ever! And all you have to do with the seedling tray is keep the plugs moist with daily check ups. Those seedlings will thrive like hell underneath a dome with all the humidity. Once their roots start penetrating the rooter plugs, you can move them to your grow system of choice. Peace! A bag of rapid rooter plugs runs about 15 bucks for about 40 plugs.

Keep in mind that hydro is the only growing experience I have and have been very successful with it. All it takes is daily monitoring of ph levels and nutrient/water levels. Keep the ph good and you will have a nice crop. I don't even have a ppm meter. I change nutes weekly and keep ph at or around 6. I take that back... I change nutes weekly after seedling stage is over cuz your plants won't suck up too much nutrient solution at first. Any more help.. feel free to contact me.