*sigh* ok heeere we go
I started growing 5 El Nino girls over 60 days ago and at this point they are only just under 8 inches tall!
Started them in Solo cups with crappy potting mix and they sprouted quick and thrived well for about 2 weeks until they all but stopped growing.
I found i had a fungus gnat infestation and fixed it pronto with the hydrogen peroxide trick..worked VERY well and haven't seen one of the little assholes since lol.
I thought by killing the gnats i had found the slow growth issue and all would be well but they still just wouldn't grow! so i decided it was probably the terrible chunky potting mix i used and the small solo cups causing the problem. so i re-planted them into 1 gallon pots with good drainage using 1/3 perlite, 1/3 vermiculite and 1/3 coir, and almost immediatly they took off (still not fast but by comparison it was quick lol) and went from this to this in about 30 days. but once again they have all but stopped growing! aside from the slow growth they always seem rather healthy! always nice and perky, very nice green colour and a strong stem. They stay under 2 x 17w T8 gro lights because even if i slowly train them to the MH lamp they're health will start to deteriorate quickly under the MH no matter how close. i have always kept the PH at 6.3 up untill about 2 days ago i changed it to 5.7 based on greenhouse seeds instructions for growing el nino (and just for the sake of trying anything at this point) and i havnt seen any change. i always water every 3 days or so when it feels dry a couple inches inside the medium. ive had to clip alot of lower leaves because it seems for every few new sets of leaves that fully mature on top, a set of old leaves on the bottom start to turn yellow and do this until eventually the whole leaf shrivels and dies and i have to clip it. Nutrients do not help even at the lowest possible level..little to no nutes do nothing, while bringing the level up to about 1/4 - 1/2 the recommended level burns the girls. could it be the coir? should i re-pot into a new medium? at first when i re-planted them its like i gave them new life and now its like they hate me lol. im at my wits end and feel like im just wasting money at this point >_< any help at all would be incredible, thanks so much to anyone who takes the time to read my long idiotic post ^_^
also here are a couple more pics..and just so you know, out of the 4 remaining girls the one ive been showing is the best one..the others are only about half this size >_< starting to feel like a dumb girl -_-
I started growing 5 El Nino girls over 60 days ago and at this point they are only just under 8 inches tall!
Started them in Solo cups with crappy potting mix and they sprouted quick and thrived well for about 2 weeks until they all but stopped growing.
I found i had a fungus gnat infestation and fixed it pronto with the hydrogen peroxide trick..worked VERY well and haven't seen one of the little assholes since lol.
I thought by killing the gnats i had found the slow growth issue and all would be well but they still just wouldn't grow! so i decided it was probably the terrible chunky potting mix i used and the small solo cups causing the problem. so i re-planted them into 1 gallon pots with good drainage using 1/3 perlite, 1/3 vermiculite and 1/3 coir, and almost immediatly they took off (still not fast but by comparison it was quick lol) and went from this to this in about 30 days. but once again they have all but stopped growing! aside from the slow growth they always seem rather healthy! always nice and perky, very nice green colour and a strong stem. They stay under 2 x 17w T8 gro lights because even if i slowly train them to the MH lamp they're health will start to deteriorate quickly under the MH no matter how close. i have always kept the PH at 6.3 up untill about 2 days ago i changed it to 5.7 based on greenhouse seeds instructions for growing el nino (and just for the sake of trying anything at this point) and i havnt seen any change. i always water every 3 days or so when it feels dry a couple inches inside the medium. ive had to clip alot of lower leaves because it seems for every few new sets of leaves that fully mature on top, a set of old leaves on the bottom start to turn yellow and do this until eventually the whole leaf shrivels and dies and i have to clip it. Nutrients do not help even at the lowest possible level..little to no nutes do nothing, while bringing the level up to about 1/4 - 1/2 the recommended level burns the girls. could it be the coir? should i re-pot into a new medium? at first when i re-planted them its like i gave them new life and now its like they hate me lol. im at my wits end and feel like im just wasting money at this point >_< any help at all would be incredible, thanks so much to anyone who takes the time to read my long idiotic post ^_^
also here are a couple more pics..and just so you know, out of the 4 remaining girls the one ive been showing is the best one..the others are only about half this size >_< starting to feel like a dumb girl -_-
