Jiffy pots causing slow growth?

[420NLguy]

The leaves started showing signs of turning brown at the tips, and curling upward, at day 22. I had moved the Jiffy pots to 6" pots (using same type of soil) at day 15.

I can't tell if they are N-deficient or what. I use 6400K CFL bulbs about 2.5" away, getting about 3000 lumens/sq. ft. One bulb for each plant. I water sparingly to not drown them. Fan on constantly. Lights on 18/6 cycle. Temp a steady 26-28C. Humidity 69%. Using Northern Lights seeds.

Here is a photo of one plant. [I hope this shows up. It is not showing up in the Preview, but the URL is there.]

I started thinking about the Jiffy pots. I stuck my finger in about an inch today and could feel the side of the Jiffy pot. So it seems like it hasn't dissolved like I had expect. Is it possible that the Jiffy pot is restraining the roots?

Any help will be appreciated. This is my very first grow. Growth is very very slow. At day 25, maybe 3" tall.

 

[McBudz]

The leaves started showing signs of turning brown at the tips, and curling upward, at day 22. I had moved the Jiffy pots to 6" pots (using same type of soil) at day 15.

I can't tell if they are N-deficient or what. I use 6400K CFL bulbs about 2.5" away, getting about 3000 lumens/sq. ft. One bulb for each plant. I water sparingly to not drown them. Fan on constantly. Lights on 18/6 cycle. Temp a steady 26-28C. Humidity 69%. Using Northern Lights seeds.

Here is a photo of one plant. [I hope this shows up. It is not showing up in the Preview, but the URL is there.]

I started thinking about the Jiffy pots. I stuck my finger in about an inch today and could feel the side of the Jiffy pot. So it seems like it hasn't dissolved like I had expect. Is it possible that the Jiffy pot is restraining the roots?

Any help will be appreciated. This is my very first grow. Growth is very very slow. At day 25, maybe 3" tall.

Here you go bud.. You need to right click the picture iotself and copy the url there. The one in the address bar is not the url to the pic itself and wont work.

A good url will look like: replace -- with tt

h--p://www.420magazine.com/gallery/data/504/Day_22_-_plant_1-B.JPG

What kind of soil? Whats the pH of your water / runoff?

If that is day 22 seems like its hungry. may be due to bad ph, not sure.

 

[thebmxerj]

I used peat pots (not sure if they're the same thing as Jiffy but it sounds like the same thing). I did a little experiment with the peat pots. They were about 6" diameter. I planted my little babies and they sprouted and grew great as normal... until about 6" height. At that point they slowed ever so slightly so I moved them to bigger pots but left the peat pots intact in the new pot. The experiment was this, I took the bottom off of one of the peat pots, completely removed another peat pot (typical transplant), and left one peat pot completely intact. From that point the plant with no more peat pot continued growing until at 15" it was smashed on accident (RIP). The one with the bottom taken off grew to 14" at the time the first got smashed. The third one with the peat pot intact stopped growing at 8". All of my plants get the same treatment and great PH levels. I foolishly thought these peat pots would be a convenient way to transplant. Maybe someone else has had better luck, but with my constants and variables the conclusion was that peat pots suck. BTW how many peats could a peat pot pot if a peat pot could pot peat?

 

[Weed420]

Were these clones or seeds?
It looks to wet. Whether cloning or seeding you want to just mist the soil and clone not water the soil. Have patience It takes a good 2 weeks for them get healthy. And NO nutes till about the 3rd or 4th week after they look healthy.

 

[420NLguy]

OK, this is EXACTLY what I was looking for. I suspected that Jiffy pots might be impeding the roots. Excellent experiment, thebmxerj!!! Thanks!!

I am growing from seeds (Northern Lights). It took 3 days for seeds to germinate in a cup of water. Then I planted them in Jiffy pots (using a straw to suck them up head first and transfer to soil, tail-down).

It took another 7 days to show 1st sign of leaf popping out. Then all 5 plants grew nicely for about a week. Then one of them keeled over (the stem looked pinched in middle and it just fell like a tree - very weird).

I watered very sparingly, slowly applying about 15 mL water (with a calibrated syringe) to each plant at first, about 1 to 2 times a day. It looked like the right amount of water, so I don't think I over-watered or under-watered, but this is my first time, so I don't really know.

After plants got to about 3" high, I planted Jiffy pots directly into 6" pots using same soil as in Jiffy pots. They seemed to stop grow much after that, maybe 1/2" per week. I increased water to 4 ozs about every other day or so. No nutes at all.

Then leaves started turning brown at tips and working inward. I got worried about that and the slow growth, so I added 1 oz of Forza (Nitrogen) mix per mixing instructions.

After reading more about nute problems, I concluded that it must be lack of N, so I fed them with 4 oz of Miracle Gro All Purpose (20-20-20) solution.

One plant continues to grow nicely (4" now at 28 days), but the other plants don't seem to be growing much (steady at 3"). One plant had it's lower small leaves die. That's the plant in which I removed the Jiffy pot and replanted. I expected this might cause some shock, so still waiting to see. It's only been 3 days for transplant.

PS: I count Day 0 as the day I put seeds in water to start germination. I don't know how others count days.

I'm using 6400K CFL bulbs (24W, 1560 lumens at 1 ft). So I keep lights about 2.5" from top of plants to get 2800 lumens/sq. ft. (30,000 lux, as recommended).

I made lamp reflectors using 6" plastic pots with hole cut in bottom for bulb end, and bulb inserted through hole into socket. Light from inside pot is now directed downwards onto each plant.

I used peat pots (not sure if they're the same thing as Jiffy but it sounds like the same thing). I did a little experiment with the peat pots. They were about 6" diameter. I planted my little babies and they sprouted and grew great as normal... until about 6" height. At that point they slowed ever so slightly so I moved them to bigger pots but left the peat pots intact in the new pot. The experiment was this, I took the bottom off of one of the peat pots, completely removed another peat pot (typical transplant), and left one peat pot completely intact. From that point the plant with no more peat pot continued growing until at 15" it was smashed on accident (RIP). The one with the bottom taken off grew to 14" at the time the first got smashed. The third one with the peat pot intact stopped growing at 8". All of my plants get the same treatment and great PH levels. I foolishly thought these peat pots would be a convenient way to transplant. Maybe someone else has had better luck, but with my constants and variables the conclusion was that peat pots suck. BTW how many peats could a peat pot pot if a peat pot could pot peat?

 

[thebmxerj]

Holy smokes man, what you wrote... it sounds like you live on my apartment deck and are talking about my plants. I did the same thing at first loadin em with (N). My plant ended up not taking the transplant so well but theres plenty of seeds in the sea (or the ground). Anyway, I guess we learned our lesson about using Jiffy and Peat Pots. They hold too much water and F the roots.

 

[420NLguy]

Haha -- I'm actually in Panama, in a house in the mountains, and growing in a closet. So the plants think they're on your apt. deck. hahaha

I did what you did too: Yesterday, I took the weakest looking plant and removed the Jiffy pot from the soil. But I think I pulled the one lone root that was coming out the bottom of the Jiffy pot. I didn't notice that until I had pulled it up. I felt a "snap" and wen't "Oh shit." I cut the bottom off of the Jiffy pot and replanted it, but won't know if I screwed it up for another few days. One plant is growing very nicely now (after a shot of Miracle Gro), and is in it's original Jiffy pot. I don't want to mess with that one. But the other 3 don't look so hot, so I'm experimenting with those on my 1st grow.