Help - Seedlings have really droopy leaves - is this from overwatering or what?

[theengineer]

you're over watering. if you don't listen to the advice you're being given, they will die.

 

[Ravyn]

i transplant from 1 inch cubes into the same cups as your's when the first real leaves show. water them in with 1/4 strength nutes and then no water again for a over a week. my room stays around 55-65% rh without turning on humidifier so they might not dry out as quickly.

 

[Buddy McNugs]

Oh, trust me I am listening to the advice I am being given or I would have already watered them again in the last couple days. I am just posting progress reports in case anyone thinks I need to make a course correction. Thanks Ravyn, knowing how much you watered yours in the first couple weeks helps. I thought I had remembered reading somewhere it was every couple days but that must be for older plants, that's why I was so worried. But if they should be ok for a few more days I am happy to "wait and see". Just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything else I could do in the mean time.

Thanks again everyone for the suggestions and advice. These little plants would probably be dead if it wasn't for the help.

 

[theengineer]

don't water them for at least another week

 

[Buddy McNugs]

Ok thanks, I will hold off and not water them for another week. Is it ok to mist them lightly with a spray bottle? Was told to do that for humidity. If it is ok, how many times a day would you suggest misting them?

 

[maxinmaine]

When those baby girls are that small, all you need is a regular low power flourescent light, and keep it about 12" above it until they are a good 6-10 inches tall. The soil should just remain damp, no need to water them that much in low light. You can always just try to poke a couple holes in the bottom of the cup and let them air out good for a couple days. I would have to bet they probably will look close to the same. This method has never failed me and it's easy.

 

[theengineer]

no, don't mist them and don't spray them, this is probably what's causing your issues, where are you getting this misinformation fed to you from?

 

[Buddy McNugs]

Thanks for the advice. I currently have them about 3-4 inches from 4 23w CFLs. Going to increase the CFLs after a week or so. I like the idea of maybe poking a couple holes in the cup like you said to help them air out. I already have several holes in the bottom but may cut a couple more to see if that helps.

Ok, glad you told me not to mist. It was suggested to me in my grow journal when they found out my humidity was in the high 30s. I also have a wet hand towel folded in the cabinet as well as a pie tin with water sitting in it at the bottom of the cabinet. Hoping that helps with humidity but it hasn't seemed to help much yet. I also read in some other places, I don't remember where, that light misting every once in a while would be good for them. But I will stop doing that now. How old/tall should they be before I start misting them?

 

[go4snypr]

forget misting them, i never do. Not saying that its a bad thing, I just don't do it. A rule of thumb for you. it is easier to fix an under water than an over water situation. with watering LESS IS MORE.

 

[theengineer]

you should never mist them

 

[Buddy McNugs]

Ok, I will retire the misting bottle then. Thanks everyone for the advice. I will hold off and not water or mist and hopefully they will continue to perk up over the next couple days.

 

[Buddy McNugs]

Thanks to everyone's advice I have not watered my plants anymore and the seem to be perking up a bit. Here are a couple pictures of the ladies(hopefully) from this morning:

First from the top:

And from the side:

Temps are staying in the 77 - 81 range(81 in one spot directly under the middle lights but a few inches to the sides it is high 70s. Thanks again everyone for the helpful advice.

 

[theengineer]

they're stretching quite a lot; how far away are the lights?

 

[Buddy McNugs]

Oh, I think that is from when they first popped above the soil. I did not have my cabinet finished yet so they were under a single CFL light that was too far away for a few days before I got them in the cabinet under adequate lighting. Ever since I put them in the cabinet under the new lights (currently 6 23w 6500k CFLs, will go up to 8 CFLs next week) they don't seem to have stretched any more. They are currently about 3-4 inches from the CFLs.

 

[Buddy McNugs]

I am doing my regular updates in my Grow Journal, but I wanted to keep updating this thread until the droopy leaves completely go away. This morning it still looks like they are perking up. One of them still looks wrinkly. Should I just go ahead and get rid of that one? I don't mind thinning a couple out because I have good seeds that have popped above soil and are ready to come in the cabinet. I am only going to be growing 5-6 during veg and then hope to take 2-3 into flower. These 4 are from random bag seeds from lower quality stuff so I started out with these to test the waters and figure out some do's and don'ts before using my better seeds which are above soil and ready to go in the cabinet so I wouldn't mind clearing out 1 or 2 of these. So here are the pictures below from the 4 bagseed plants that I was having problems with:

First from the top:

Now from the side:

As you can see, the wrinkly one(bottom left in the picture) I was talking about still doesn't look so great. I could actually stand to get rid of two if I needed to. Should I get rid of the two on the left or just the wrinkly one? Also, I don't know if you can tell from the pictures, but there are some very small light yellow spots on the leaves of a couple of the plants closest to the lights. The tallest plants are now about 2" from the CFLs. Think I should lower them another inch so they are at least 3" from the lights?

 

[go4snypr]

I would keep it. I started 5 random seeds, only 2 were female, one was my twisted plant, now it looks great...

 

[oldsalt]

There is nothing wrong with misting. I misted mine twice a day until two weeks old. Transplanted and gave them there first watering. Unsulphered molasses did wonders in the spray.

 

[Buddy McNugs]

Thanks for your replies and advice.

Snypr - Good point, I may hold on to it, but I have a couple others ready to come into the cabinet and I need to cut one or two of these out to make room for the better strains I have ready. I won't be going over 6 total plants so I need to cut out one or two of the weakest ones.

Salt - Great to hear that others mist too. I thought it would be a good idea and it was suggested to me by others. I also plan to do some molasses at some point, but thought I was supposed to wait til flowering for that. I will do some more research and may try that out. I am using Foxfarm Ocean Forest soil so I should be ok to not feed them for a while, or so I have heard anyway.

 

[Buddy McNugs]

Ok here is this morning's update. I watered them this morning. I know some said not to water them anymore but before this problem I really had not watered them much and I did what you suggested and did the cup weight check(was very light) and also finger checked and it was about bone dry several inches down so I watered until I had water coming out of the bottom of the cups, let them drain for a few minutes, shook them a little to drain more, and then put them back in the cabinet. Here are a couple pictures from this morning:

First from the top of the plants:

Now from the front looking into the cabinet:

I am still seriously considering getting rid of that really wrinkly one and possibly the tall stretchy one to make room for a couple new plants I just germinated and have popped above soil. Some of the leaves on a couple of these plants look oddly shaped, can anyone else notice that on the leaves? Anything I should worry about or is that something that they will probably grow out of later?

 

[Buddy McNugs]

Ok, these plants seem to have gotten over the watering issue so I am going to stop updating this thread. Updates will be in my Grow Journal linked in my signature below. Thanks to everyone for the advice.