Outdoor Grow: Seedling bent over after a few days

[ChalupaBatman]

Hey guys,

I'm growing some strawberry banana photo periods and I'm having issue this round with my seedlings. The following seedling seems to be bending over for some reason-- It was not like that this morning, it seems to have gotten worse. I've been very careful to not water too much to avoid dampening off. The seedling has been on my deck with good strong sunlight and 65-80 degree temperature and about 50% humidity.

The other thing I have noticed is that the pusher leaves seem stuck together by a film from the seed pod which hasn't come off so perhaps that might be weighing it down?

Below are the details:

Time so Far: 3 days since planted
Soil: coco coir 70/30 perlite mix
Nutrients: none so far since it was just planted
Water: tap water
Light Distance: 18 inches
Tent Size: 3 x 3 feet
Temperature Range: I have it maintained at a range of 85 degrees Fahrenheit

Appreciate the help!

 

[Sueet]

Hi and welcome

I'm not a coco grower, but I think you are supposed to keep it wet, and with food too, since there is nothing in coco to feed.

The little membrane can be slid off usually, if you are very careful. Just don't pull the head off the plant, else it will die.
In your case, it looks like the plant almost has herself worked out of it, so you could probably just leave it alone.

 

[013]

Hey ChalupaBatman,

Ditto, wrong plan cause that’s coco - but no worries we will get you hooked up. Coco is way different from soil. Coco is totally inert, there is nothing in coco to nourish a plant. It must be bottle fed quarter strength nutes every day, plus you will need cal-mag or a calcium & magnesium supplement too. Coco should not be allowed to dry out. Don’t give it plain water or plain ph adjusted water. It needs to be fed daily low dose nutes plus cal-mag.

If you grow in coco you will need bottled NPK nutes made for hydro not soil. Plus cal-mag, a ph pen ph up & ph down, prob gonna need a way to measure ppm too, maybe storage solution & calibration fluid depending on which model you buy. I’m going to shout at @Bill284 to jump in

Better get nutes & cal mag fast cuz those cotys are the only food source the plant has for now yes if she don’t get nutes soon she will suck the life out of her cotys trying to launch. Most cities across North America have hydroponics shop, google on that. So to mix your soup each day - draw water & let it sit out overnight. Measure a dose of cal-mag and mix in your water, stir and wait 10 minutes. Add quarter strength nutes stir & wait. Stir and measure ph, then adjust to 5.8 for coco. Now it’s time to feed her. Feed each time to slight runoff, this helps prevent chemical salt buildup, runoff flushed out some old nutes & delivers fresh nutes. When plant is small feed 1X per day, when plant is bigver in veg feed 2X per day and in flower feed 3X per day

as far as the cotyledons, yes they have a membrane but a few gentle drops of water may soften it up. Also I’m indoors gardener but it might be wise to grow them up indoors very close to a compact fluorescent light bulb then in a a week or two you can begin to harden them off for outdoors slowly over time. Anyway whatever you decide - we will back you up as best we can

Welcome aboard!

 

[013]

Learn to do the math & mix SMALL FRESH BATCHES of nutes daily, use syringe for accurate measure

Water / nutes
32 ounces / 10 mil
16 ounces / 5 mil
8 ounces / 2.5 mil

all doses are same strength but less volume - less waste