small, curled leaves + damn slow growth, can't figure this one out

Hi everyone, this'll be my first post here :]

I'm currently experiencing problems with my 4 week (!) old WW plant. As illustrated in the photos, the leaves are curled, twisted downwards, and growth is ridiculously slow. The newest set of leaves is showing less curling, but a slight yellow color in it's veins.

It wasn't more than 2 months ago that I performed a successful vegetative phase trial-run on some indica seeds, using the same setup. Now, obviously my new plant has problems.

My set up is:
-3 23w CFLs very close the the plants (about one inch from the tube), 24/0 cycle
-table fan for promoting stem thickness, prevent heat build-up
-growth medium is 30% perlite 10% leca 60% normal flower soil (pH 6.0)
-current soil pH is 6.1
-temperature is minimum 68 max 75, relative humidity averages at 60%

any comments/suggestions is highly appreciated, thanks in advance :]

what pics

here they are

How often do u water it,

Looks like a over/under water

Do u give it any ferts

Anything at all different sence last grow,

I water every 4-5 days, when about an inch of the top soil is dry. I use tap water which is a bit hard with a pH of 6.8 to 7.3, but I guessed that was ok since the soil pH is still at 6.1.

Haven't used any ferts yet

Soil looks quite heavy. I can see some perlite in there but Im wondering if theres enough. I think te soil may be holding the water to well.

yeah :o maybe I should add more perlite ... I'll do that, and report back in a few days time, thanks :]

hi Elisabeth, sorry you're having troubles. i'm no expert at diagnosing
problems but we have several folks here that are.

here is a link to a troubleshooting form for you to fill out. if you do, it
will make it much easier for the experts to pin-point your problem

http://boards.cannabis.com/plant-pro...anted-one.html

good luck from a fellow CFL'er

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Elisabeth65

Hi everyone, this'll be my first post here :]

I'm currently experiencing problems with my 4 week (!) old WW plant. As illustrated in the photos, the leaves are curled, twisted downwards, and growth is ridiculously slow. The newest set of leaves is showing less curling, but a slight yellow color in it's veins.

It wasn't more than 2 months ago that I performed a successful vegetative phase trial-run on some indica seeds, using the same setup. Now, obviously my new plant has problems.

My set up is:
-3 23w CFLs very close the the plants (about one inch from the tube), 24/0 cycle
-table fan for promoting stem thickness, prevent heat build-up
-growth medium is 30% perlite 10% leca 60% normal flower soil (pH 6.0)
-current soil pH is 6.1
-temperature is minimum 68 max 75, relative humidity averages at 60%

any comments/suggestions is highly appreciated, thanks in advance :]

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What kind of soil are you running? I had small tiny dwarfed plants also when I used a soil that had nutes in it. Also how often are you watering and what method are you using to determine it's time to water again?

Quote:

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What kind of soil are you running? I had small tiny dwarfed plants also when I used a soil that had nutes in it. Also how often are you watering and what method are you using to determine it's time to water again?

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The flower soil is loaded with lots of nutes, but the plant I had before this one (an indica) grew much better than my current one, despite the soil mix I used then had very slow drainage, too low pH and was quite heavy:wtf:. I water the plant when about an inch of the top soil is dry (every 3 days at the moment).

I've added more perlite to the soil, and it's now very light and has good drainage. I've also purchased BioBizz Bio-Grow fertilizer (npk 8-2-6).

After adding more perlite, and using this fertilizer, my plant grows faster and seems to be getting better. However, now there's something else I can't figure out. The veins of most of my leaves now seems to have turned yellow or very pale green. The chlorosis starts from the center of the leaf (at the leaf stem), and kinda follows the veins out to the tip. This has happened over the last 5 days.

I don't know if this is even a problem. Been searching alot on the web and in lots of forums, looking for "yellow veins", but I haven't really gotten any smarter :what:

So what might cause this ?


Oh, and here's the form : P

E-indoor
E-soil
CSL-half normal flower soil (pH 6) half perlite
SCLR-pH 6.2
E-tap water
E-ph about 7
E-5 weeks
E-BioBizz Bio-Grow
E-every watering
E-CFL about an inch
E-68-75 degrees
E-24/0
E-table fan

u might need more light. more nitrogen maybe

how deep is your pot and plant hieght?
what brand of soil and what n-p-k doews it have is it slow release or one time water?
i like to let my water sit out for a day before i use it

Quote:

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how deep is your pot and plant hieght?
what brand of soil and what n-p-k doews it have is it slow release or one time water?
i like to let my water sit out for a day before i use it

---

The plant is about 10 inches, the pot is about 5 inches deep. I inspected the roots about a week ago, and they're not large. I'm 99% sure the roots don't touch the pot at this moment.

The bag of soil I use lists the following ingredients (miligram per litre)

NPK 14-7-15
Ca 350
Mg 180
S 110
B 0,5
Cu 1,6
Fe 62
Mn 17
Mo 1,5
Zn 3,5

I don't know if it's slow release etc, it doesn't say.

Hi Elisabeth, sorry to see you're having problems.
It seems like your pH may be too low for a soil grow... 6.1 is about perfect for hydro, but very low for a soil run.
You may also have a bit of burn, as the description of the soil & nutes you're giving seems pretty hot.

Try flushing the soil out really well with some pH adjusted (7.0) plain water, letting them dry out for a couple days, and then adjust the pH of your nutrient solution up to about 6.6 or 6.7, and see what happens. You might even want to reduce the strength of the nutes to half-strength.

I think your babies will respond in a positive manner.

Best of luck!

Your soil is totally wrogn for cannabis. You gotta run it at pH 6.7 or so. That's the problem, and it's worse from overwatering in low light conditions.
Choose a normal potting soil like promix. Unless you REALLY care about those genetics, that's a do-over- that plant may never grow properly because of the stress and stunting it has been subjected to.

Read the first link in my sig all the way through, and practice on bag seed.

Thanks for the great responses here, I'm gonna flush the soil completely now, and ease down a bit on fertilizing. I guess the pH will go up a bit by flushing, as my tap water here has a pH of about 7.1. I've ordered 2 additional 35W circular CFL's designed for the vegetative phase.

In about a week or so I will start germinating seeds again, and try to get a hold on some real made-for-cannabis soil. I'm also gonna post back here with the results of the flushing:thumbsup:

Soil doesn't need to be made for cannabis, just for seedlings. Simple unfertilized potting mix is what you are looking for.
Read the link about flushing at the top of this section carefully before you proceed. Post any questions back here.

after flushing the soil thoroughly, my soil run-off pH has climbed to 6.8. The leaves grow much faster, and show a darker, more healthy green color. I've added a tiny portion of epsom salt since I took the last batch of photos, after advice from a friend.



As you can see from the photos, I tried to perform a FIM-pruning about a week ago. Does it seem to have been successful?

I also suspect that this is a male plant ... can anyone confirm this from looking at the photos ?

BTW, the leaves may seem to hang down, but this is due to my current light setup in which I am using 2 circular CFL's surrounding the plants (I tested this by reverting back to my old light setup for 24 hours. The leaves then stretched naturally). : ]

Yep.. maleness confirmed.
Definitely, absolutely, without a doubt.
Sorry.

That's a male but you learned a lot so he's not a loss.
Good luck on the next go-round; try starting a half dozen seeds to ensure a few healthy females to choose among.