Pics of My Plants... potential grow log I suppose...

[jsn9333]

3 Afghans, 1 Trainwreck, 1 Orange Bud, 3 "mixed". All seeds were purchased online except for the Trainwreck, which was found in a bag. This heat wave in the Southeastern U.S. hit just as I put them outside. I think that week of 100 degree heat hurt them. I'm not sure. I kept them well watered, but maybe I even over-watered them. I never really let the soil dry out. I'm not sure if you're supposed to when they are that small. I don't think the yellowing leaves occurs from over-watering though... from what I've read it is usually heat burn or nutrient burn (or lack of nutrients I guess).

I had them in some store bought potting mix... no fertilizer added. I burnt my babies to death last year using miracle grow potting mix from the start, and didn't want to do that again.

I'm guessing they just got burnt up in the heat. What do you think? It's the lower leaves that are yellow and curved up, so hopefully they all are recovering now.

Just in case it was the lack of nutes that was causing the problem, I repotted them in the current pots yesterday (taking them out of the plastic cups they were in) along with a tsp. of 5-5-5 granules in each pot, mixed in. I also sprinkled 1/2 to 1/4 tsp. of the fertilizer granules (link below) around the top. Hopefully I didn't over fertilize them... we'll see I guess.

What do you think? Did the heat do it, or am I just an idiot and they were over fertilized already... and now I just made sure of their demise? I guess if they start looking worse I should try flush out the nutes I just added.

Potting Mix: Fafard Professional Potting Mix - 8 QT at Merrifield Garden Center

5-5-5: All-Purpose Fertilizer

P.S. - They area they are located in gets about 6 hours of direct sunlight a day.

jsn9333 Reviewed by jsn9333 on 06-13-2008. Pics of My Plants... potential grow log I suppose... 3 Afghans, 1 Trainwreck, 1 Orange Bud, 3 "mixed". All seeds were purchased online except for the Trainwreck, which was found in a bag. This heat wave in the Southeastern U.S. hit just as I put them outside. I think that week of 100 degree heat hurt them. I'm not sure. I kept them well watered, but maybe I even over-watered them. I never really let the soil dry out. I'm not sure if you're supposed to when they are that small. I don't think the yellowing leaves occurs from over-watering Rating: 5

[Forwhat420]

Lookin fine...I would back up off the water and let the soil just about dry out in between waterings. This lets the roots search more inturn creating growth above also. Also less water prevents the chances of root rot.

[Weedhound]

Personally I think they are overferted already.....if they continue to go downhill I would consider flushing, especially since you just repotted them with MORE ferts.

Otherwise heat, but I have a feeling its your ferts.....heat would make the entire plant look bad at once.

[jsn9333]

Personally I think they are overferted already.....if they continue to go downhill I would consider flushing, especially since you just repotted them with MORE ferts.

Otherwise heat, but I have a feeling its your ferts.....heat would make the entire plant look bad at once.

Shit! I hope its not too much fertilizer. Since I worked some granules into the top layer flushing might actually make the problem worse. I might have to re-pot again and try to remove the soil around the roots as much as I can if that really is the problem.

But if that is really the case, what soil can I replace it with? The link to my potting mix is above. It doesn't seem to have any fertilizer in it. I'm mean, I'm sure it had something in there the plant could eat... but do you really think they could get over-fed from that? They looked this way before I even added any fertilizer.

If that is the case, I guess I need to just use rock-wool to start out next time or something like that. I'm not sure I could buy soil that has absolutely no food at all in it.

Thanks for the advice you all. I'll let you know how things go.

[Weedhound]

Well I'm trying some new seedlings in something called Happy Frog.....Stinky suggested it so here goes.....I'll let you know how MINE do.

Can't tell you anything about your soil.....I'm looking strictly at the plant itself and what the symptoms are saying to me. the link to your soil says "ph adjusted".....to what if I may ask? I seem to remember Stinky saying peat moss was a no no because of it's acidic ph......

Those are just guesses on my part as i'm no soil pro for sure.....but in looking at the plant itself it seems like overfert. If the plant gets WORSE in the new soil you can be pretty sure that's the problem.

[TxChronic1]

Yeah I agree they look like they have been over fertalized. I like using liqued nutrients so you know exactly how much they are being fertalized.

[jsn9333]

Visited the plants today... I guess they were over-fertilized after all. I added a little bit of 5-5-5 like I said earlier, and now, as you can see, the lower leaves that were yellow are now totally dead and withered, and the higher leaves are now yellowing. Damn... I should not have added fertilizer after all I guess. I thought surely the problem was that the plants were under fed, because I hadn't fed them yet.

That Fafard potting mix must have had a lot of food in it after all, even though it didn't say it had any. I'm kind of pissed that it says "perfect for starting seedlings" when in reality it over-fed my babies like a mo-fo. Oh well... another lesson learned I guess. Next year I'm starting in rockwool for sure.

Do any of you start in rock wool or another soil-less mix? If so, when do you start feeding the plants?

I suppose I need to flush these ASAP, but we've been getting rain and the soil hasn't dried totally out for a couple days. I want to let it dry out so I don't continue drowning the plants. Plus the rain has helped flush them I'm sure.

Also, I think I'm going to get a Ph tester. I haven't tested the soil or my water... I figured, how bad off could it really be? Given my poor performance so far with these plants, I should probably be doing everything I can to give these plants the perfect environment...

[jsn9333]

Tested the ph of my soil and of my water today.

My water (tap water) is 7.0.
My soil, tested with a separate test kit, is 6.0.

So I'm guessing overfeeding was now definitely the problem... since ph seems to be at an acceptable level.

Keep that in mind whenever you use Fafard potting mix, I guess... might want to mix in some extra soiless medium, or just not start seeds in it at all. Lord willing I'm not in jail next year, I guess I'll try starting in rock wool and see if the plants look healthier.

The plants just seem to be growing a lot slower then they did last year.

I had some green fungus looking stuff growing on the tops of the soil last time I checked. I tried to get rid of it as best I good. I guess it was because the soil stayed wet with the rain over the past 4 days or so. That happened last year too, and it didn't seem to hurt the plant.

I'm letting a couple of the plants go extra long without water. I've been watering all the plants whenever the first inch of soil goes dry, because the pots are big for the plants and I don't want to let the whole thing go dry for fear of hurting the plants. But I'm going to let those two plants go without water until they start to look a little rough (thirsty) and then give it to them. I'm going to see if that makes the roots get bigger and helps these little plants of mine grow faster despite by nutritional abuse. If it does, I guess I'll start doing that with all the plants.

[greenatik]

i dont think its the soil that is burning your seedlings. its the granules that you added. repot back into that soil if you still have some fresh left and dont feed it until its a couple weeks in. and then you do it very lightly, 1/4 dosage

[jsn9333]

i dont think its the soil that is burning your seedlings. its the granules that you added. repot back into that soil if you still have some fresh left and dont feed it until its a couple weeks in. and then you do it very lightly, 1/4 dosage

Are you sure? The first pics I posted showed the yellowing leaves, and that was before I added the granules...