Dead seedlings...

My form :]

What is your experience level? Novice

Your Equipment:
.1) Type and wattage of lights. (MH, HPS, CFL's, tube fluorescents, LED's)
-Tube fluroescent, one blue
.2) Distance from tops?
-It's set on top of a humidity dome about a foot above the seedlings
.3) Reflector type? (cool tube set-up, bat wing, enclosed reflector, bare bulb...)
Basic reflector
.4) Is there a consistent fresh air supply?
-Yes, setup is in a rubbermade tote with a fan pushing air in and a passive exhaust
.5) Do you have an exhaust fan and a circulation fan?
-I will when I set my room up :D
.6) What are the bulb wattages, kelvin ratings, and schedule?
-No idea..

Your medium:
.7) Specific brand and type of soil, (coco, peat based soilless...) and anything you've added to it. (vermiculite, perlite, worm castings...)
-Rapid rooters
.8) Size of container.
-Itty bitty
.9) Did you use peat pucks (or similar) to root clones or germinate seedlings?
-Sure am

Your nutrients and water:
10) Source of water? (tap, bottled or filtered) What's it's ph before adjusting?
-Currently using bottles of aquafina. PH is very acidic
11) Method of checking water ph. (ph pen, test strips, aquarium test kit...)
-Dropper test kit
12) Method of adjusting water ph. (phosphoric acid, white vinegar, hydrated lime, PH Up...)
-GH PH up
13) Specific brand and N-P-K ratio for each bottle. List dosages (quantity per gallon) and current feeding schedule.
-Using hygrozyme, a drop per half litre
14) How often are you watering between feedings, and how much per watering?
-Not feeding at the moment
15) Any additives or tea's? (Superthrive, CalMag, molasses, Mother's Earth...)
-Nope
16) Are your ph levels stable, or do they fluctuate?
-IDK
17) What is your ingoing water's ph? ...your runoff ph?
-Ingoing is 6-7, runoff is ?
18) Do you foliar feed? If so, with what, how often, and at what time do you spray?
-Nope

Your growroom:
19) Indoors or outdoors?
-In
20) What size of closet, room or hut?
-Large rubbermade tote
21) What are the temps and humidity levels while lights are on? ...With lights off?
-They fluctuate with my house's temperature, so far they've been between 72-78
22) Have you seen signs of insects in the growroom?
-None

Your strain:
23) What strain are you growing? (Indica dominate or Sativa dom?)
-Alot of different ones
24) From seeds or clones?
-Seeds
25) Is this an autoflower strain?
-Nope


Alright, the problem I'm having is 7/20 of my seedlings have fallen over and died. The obvious answer is damping off right? Well these fall over in the middle of the stalk. And it almost looks like the stalk has been squished where it falls (in the middle) it's a lotttt thinner than the rest of the stalk. Like comparing a piece of fat string to a toothpick. Other than that the ones that die are still green and look alright. They try to hang on and turn their poor little tops towards the light, but die after a day or so. If necessary I can include pictures. This is my third grow and I'm thinking about quitting before I get started. I was gonna go invest a bunch of money in some new equipment and whatnot but idk anymore. If anyone has any suggestions that'd be great..thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by supbro

My form :]

What is your experience level? Novice

Your Equipment:
.1) Type and wattage of lights. (MH, HPS, CFL's, tube fluorescents, LED's)
-Tube fluroescent, one blue
.2) Distance from tops?
-It's set on top of a humidity dome about a foot above the seedlings
.3) Reflector type? (cool tube set-up, bat wing, enclosed reflector, bare bulb...)
Basic reflector
.4) Is there a consistent fresh air supply?
-Yes, setup is in a rubbermade tote with a fan pushing air in and a passive exhaust
.5) Do you have an exhaust fan and a circulation fan?
-I will when I set my room up :D
.6) What are the bulb wattages, kelvin ratings, and schedule?
-No idea..

Your medium:
.7) Specific brand and type of soil, (coco, peat based soilless...) and anything you've added to it. (vermiculite, perlite, worm castings...)
-Rapid rooters
.8) Size of container.
-Itty bitty
.9) Did you use peat pucks (or similar) to root clones or germinate seedlings?
-Sure am

Your nutrients and water:
10) Source of water? (tap, bottled or filtered) What's it's ph before adjusting?
-Currently using bottles of aquafina. PH is very acidic
11) Method of checking water ph. (ph pen, test strips, aquarium test kit...)
-Dropper test kit
12) Method of adjusting water ph. (phosphoric acid, white vinegar, hydrated lime, PH Up...)
-GH PH up
13) Specific brand and N-P-K ratio for each bottle. List dosages (quantity per gallon) and current feeding schedule.
-Using hygrozyme, a drop per half litre
14) How often are you watering between feedings, and how much per watering?
-Not feeding at the moment
15) Any additives or tea's? (Superthrive, CalMag, molasses, Mother's Earth...)
-Nope
16) Are your ph levels stable, or do they fluctuate?
-IDK
17) What is your ingoing water's ph? ...your runoff ph?
-Ingoing is 6-7, runoff is ?
18) Do you foliar feed? If so, with what, how often, and at what time do you spray?
-Nope

Your growroom:
19) Indoors or outdoors?
-In
20) What size of closet, room or hut?
-Large rubbermade tote
21) What are the temps and humidity levels while lights are on? ...With lights off?
-They fluctuate with my house's temperature, so far they've been between 72-78
22) Have you seen signs of insects in the growroom?
-None

Your strain:
23) What strain are you growing? (Indica dominate or Sativa dom?)
-Alot of different ones
24) From seeds or clones?
-Seeds
25) Is this an autoflower strain?
-Nope


Alright, the problem I'm having is 7/20 of my seedlings have fallen over and died. The obvious answer is damping off right? Well these fall over in the middle of the stalk. And it almost looks like the stalk has been squished where it falls (in the middle) it's a lotttt thinner than the rest of the stalk. Like comparing a piece of fat string to a toothpick. Other than that the ones that die are still green and look alright. They try to hang on and turn their poor little tops towards the light, but die after a day or so. If necessary I can include pictures. This is my third grow and I'm thinking about quitting before I get started. I was gonna go invest a bunch of money in some new equipment and whatnot but idk anymore. If anyone has any suggestions that'd be great..thanks

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I would simply re-plant those into soil, bury the stem so soil covers the bend and holds it upright.

You could probably get by just fine if you put them under your lights - if you don't have more you'll need A LOT more - HID if you got it, otherwise 6500k cfl's...

I never use humidity domes or seed starters. I just germinate in a plastic bag and plant once the taproot emerges. I had about a 90% success rate with sprouts using this method... I find keeping it simple usually works out for the better, unless of course you are a true expert in plant biology or whatever. Just my opinion i suppose.

Try and get a more accurate reading on your ph as well, 6-7 is a pretty wide range when it comes to cannabis. It should be in the 6.5-6.8 range in soil.

Hope this helps :thumbsup:

it can still be damping off. there are many bacteria that can cause this to happen. the soil for seedlings (or plugs in your case) should be kept moist, not damp.

also, the aquafina is not really good without being supplemented with some type of calmag product. i mean don't get me wrong, it will work fine for the seedlings as they have a food reserve (cotyledon), but not for very long. if you had a means of checking the PPM of that water it would be around 30 or so i bet.


-shake

Are you taking them out of the humidity dome once they sprout? If not, you should.

I would simply re-plant those into soil, bury the stem so soil covers the bend and holds it upright.

-Mmmm the bend is literally as thick as a piece of string, it thins out so much I wonder at how it doesn't just fall apart :l It's like it collapses in on itself... I could be wrong but it doesn't look like the plant could move any nutrients/water past that area...

You could probably get by just fine if you put them under your lights - if you don't have more you'll need A LOT more - HID if you got it, otherwise 6500k cfl's...

-I haven't set up my grow room yet, but I have a 600 watt hps waiting for them.

I never use humidity domes or seed starters. I just germinate in a plastic bag and plant once the taproot emerges. I had about a 90% success rate with sprouts using this method... I find keeping it simple usually works out for the better, unless of course you are a true expert in plant biology or whatever. Just my opinion i suppose.

-Could it be they were just kept too humid? I had been thinking that maybe it was when I took the humidity dome off and left the fan on the little guys, though it's not a high output fan at all. Is it bad to leave the taproot exposed/out of soil/substrate?

Try and get a more accurate reading on your ph as well, 6-7 is a pretty wide range when it comes to cannabis. It should be in the 6.5-6.8 range in soil.

-Argh, I wish it was that easy. The color from 6-7 on my chart is pretty much the same :(

Hope this helps :thumbsup:[/QUOTE]

-I do too! I'm gonna set my room up tomorrow, and replant them into sunshine mix. Unfortunately since I first posted about this, the remaining three who were droopy died, so I won't be able to see if replanting them deeper will work :sadcrying Thanks for the help and suggestions, though :thumbsup:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by headshake

it can still be damping off. there are many bacteria that can cause this to happen. the soil for seedlings (or plugs in your case) should be kept moist, not damp.

also, the aquafina is not really good without being supplemented with some type of calmag product. i mean don't get me wrong, it will work fine for the seedlings as they have a food reserve (cotyledon), but not for very long. if you had a means of checking the PPM of that water it would be around 30 or so i bet.


-shake

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Yeah, I let the plugs dry out a bit before I water. And aha, you caught me. I had forgot I added a drop of botanicare cal-mag per half litre as well. Do you have any idea when I should start feeding? I always used to feed them very lightly from the start since I grow in soilless media, but I read somewhere that I shouldn't feed them for a few weeks or something? Maybe that's only for soil? Idk

Ahh man you guys make me feel inadequate (makes the 10 hour roundtrip drive to get a digital ppm and ph monitor) :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bigtopsfinn

Are you taking them out of the humidity dome once they sprout? If not, you should.

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Nope I haven't! Is this really that bad? Last time around I kept them in the humidity dome until they were about 5-6 inches tall before transplanting, did I get lucky, lol? I'll take the dome off until I transplant, thanks man.

And thanks everyone for the advice :thumbsup: Ya'll are cool shit

Quote:

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Originally Posted by supbro

Nope I haven't! Is this really that bad? Last time around I kept them in the humidity dome until they were about 5-6 inches tall before transplanting, did I get lucky, lol? I'll take the dome off until I transplant, thanks man.

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Yeah I'd take the dome off as soon as they emerge. You don't really need the dome at all unless you are afraid that they will dry out (like if you can't check on them for a day or two).

I find this a very good guide for managing seedlings: Mandala's Germination Troubleshooting Guide

Never give up! Go get that new equipment and make us all jealous :jointsmile:

If roots are coming out of the RR plug, transplant asap.

I wouldn't feed them till they are ready. One drop a litre (4 drops a gallon) is still too much.

Did you rinse the plugs prior to use, with plain, properly ph'd water? Did you keep 'em moist?

Double-check the ph of the bottled water.