All I do is kill seedlings!

F

F46531C4

New Member
Soil Grow
Strain: Feminized Blueberry
Stage: Veg
How Long: 2wks from sprout
Indoor/Outdoor: Indor
Soil/Hydro: Soil
Mix: Promix BX
Pot Size: Small plastic cups
Lighting: 6x 21W floro tubes
Temperature: 23C
RH: 40-50%
pH:6.4
Pests: Nope
Watering: Every 4-5 days. pH of water is 6.4
Fertilizers: None used yet
Room Sq Ft: 3x3 Tent

If there is one thing I am good at lately, it is killing seedlings. I am on attempt #14 and 15 now. I have been trying in batches of 2 or 3 with different types of seeds bought from different seed banks (no bagseed). The results are almost always the same. I've been germinating my seeds directly in the soil and have had all but 2 pop. Seeds usually sprout within 3-5 days. At first, everything looks great. The first thing I notice anywhere from 1-3 weeks in is lightening of the first leaves. Then comes the edge burns and spots on the leafs. Then the plants existing leaves stop growing larger and the plant stretches while very small new leaves grow and the older ones turn yellow and die off. This continues until I toss'em.

I am using tap water. It starts with a pH around 8, and I use pH down to bring it down to 6.3-6.5. A few times I've tried giving the plants a very small amount of FloraNova grow to no avail. I am feeding every 4-5 days, when the plants start to feel light.

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What am I doing wrong?!
 
Lots of drainage holes. I had just watered prior to taking the picture.

Soil is ProMix BX - is this known for being rich?
 
Promix has like nothing in it. And is also known to have a high PH out of the bag. Check your soil PH n make sure its around 6.5 n try just watering with unbalanced tap water.. You could be over doing the PH down. Also add some veg nutrients. I am currently using 5ml per gallon of BPN Grow + 1TBS of molasses with seedlings that are a week old no issues here.

BTW just a little tip. Promix and sunshine mix are both really overpriced and don't give the best results.. you can either mix your own or buy premixed soils for less and achieve the same or better results.

If you can give roots organics a shot. Its like 12$ a bag.

Also MG wouldn't cause this unless it was super hot in the grow room.. They have time released ferts that release faster with heat. I used to use MG for all my outdoor flowers. Even starting those from seeds they never got burnt. Your more likely to see nutrient deficiencies than burn with MG.
 
Hey f4, whats up..... just my 2 cents. could be a combo of small cups, soil that isn't airy enough and too much water ? not frequency of waterings, just too much at one time. i use 50 percent coco coir/50 percent ffof or sunshine mix #4 when i germinate- 95 percent germinate, they all make it to flower. i dont feed them until day 21 usually. keep trying, its worth it-good luck:peace:
 
Thanks folks. Is there anything I can do at this point to improve it, or should I start yet again with new seeds?

To answer a couple things:
- Promix is pretty cheap here. I think I paid like $22 for 79L
- I'm only watering until I see a bit come out the bottom
- I'm only using maybe 8 drops of pH down for a watering can thats about 2L

Ledtron, you mentioned small cups might be an issue for seedlings? Can you elaborate as to why? curious..

thx again
 
Very puzzling indeed...I'd start all over and go back to basics. Get a very inert seedling starter mix like jiffy organic seed starter mix or similar (promix BX does have a proprietary blend of who knows what in it) and fill it up to 1/4" of the top of container. Not saying it's the problem, but yours may be a little deep and may not be getting enough air flow causing rot. So, make sure you have a gentle breeze flowing and use distilled water. Seeds have everything they need to live for a few weeks so try to get to that point before adding anything. If I had some bagseed, i'd go that route til you figure out what's going wrong. Best of luck bro!
 
F46531C4, easy fix. Looks like you got some nutrients burn and deficiency. Too much of one element can cause lock out of other elements.

Find some Bontanicare coco coir block which cost about 16 usd and can make 70L when water is added. They are great for growing cannabis, very good on all stages of plants growth even seedling.

Germinate the seed then stick them into the cup of coco. No nutrients is added and make sure there is a drainage hole under the cup. Leave it under the light and the seed will grow into seedling. Just add water when it dries out and feed it no nutrients for the first week. Second week add 5ml of grow, micro, and bloom per gal and feed that every other day until it reaches its first true leaves, then transplant into bigger container and up the nute to 10ml/gal.

I advised you to test out the coco with some new seeds to see how it works for you. Best to use bagseed on tests to find methods that works before popping stronger genetics could save some cash.
 
The promix isn't nutrient rich so you may need to feed it some diluted veg nutes. Also promix bx isn't quite as good for MJ out of the bag. It contains more vermiculite & is a more water retaining mix which isn't necessarily what you want. The HP is better then the BX, more perlite for a lighter mix. I would cut it with perlite or something equivalent and decrease watering. I know it seems weird like watering less= better growth but MJ doesn't like soggy roots.
 
F46531C4 said:
Thanks folks. Is there anything I can do at this point to improve it, or should I start yet again with new seeds?

To answer a couple things:
- Promix is pretty cheap here. I think I paid like $22 for 79L
- I'm only watering until I see a bit come out the bottom
- I'm only using maybe 8 drops of pH down for a watering can thats about 2L

Ledtron, you mentioned small cups might be an issue for seedlings? Can you elaborate as to why? curious..

thx again
Click to expand...

roots need to breathe. small cups + too much water and roots will just drown. i use cups too, but they are 12 oz cups and i fill dirt almost to the top.
 
thanks for all the advice. the new growth actually looks OK so far, and the other plant isn't showing signs of burning yet, so I am going to stick this one out and see what happens this time. will definitely reduce watering - I thought I was being conservative watering every 4-5 days! also bought a bag of perlite for next time around. will keep ya posted.
 
Weed plants or not, every time perlite in my indoor plants turns yellow I have problems. My guess is that it is salts from nute buildup with my plants here, but I've only been at this for about a year and fugginup left and right myself. They look a little like the GDP grow I'm doing now before I put a seed starter mat under them (the roots were probably in the middle to low 60s fahrenheit; too cold for plant growth. They wouldn't grow at a normal rate, along with slight browning of the leaves and the never-drying-out-for-a-week soil). :goodluck:
 
I transplanted them a couple days ago into larger pots with a mix of 50% Promix / 50% perlite, and aside from about 2" of stretching that occured prior to the transplant, they are actually looking pretty perky with lots of new growth. I'm going to keep an eye on them over the next few days to see what happens, but i'm crossing my fingers they might actually make it!
 
F46531C4 said:
I transplanted them a couple days ago into larger pots with a mix of 50% Promix / 50% perlite, and aside from about 2" of stretching that occured prior to the transplant, they are actually looking pretty perky with lots of new growth. I'm going to keep an eye on them over the next few days to see what happens, but i'm crossing my fingers they might actually make it!
Click to expand...

:thumb:
 

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