It was all going so well

[JustCIDER]

An then it shit the bed.

so to start I have pretty much no idea what I am doing. I naively thought I could plant a seed water it now and then an nature would just take it from there.

I got a small fungus Gnat situation which is under control now (I think) then the leaves got brownie orangish in places. I’m guessing some sort of rust disease. Also noticed two different types of white something on there. Being a massive noob I’ve probably overwatered it too. So maybe root rot?

I feel like I took a pure innocent virgin and gave her practically every STI all in one night. ‍

now it seems to be wilting a little more each day. My guess is that it only has a few days left before DEATH. It may already be a foregone conclusion at this point.

‘sighs’

I’m not sure wether to:

-leave it an pray
-Water a little and pray
-dig it up check for root rot. Snip dead bits of so an re pot

After the Fungus gnats and almost certainly overwatering I haven’t watered in a few days to try an dry out the soil. Hoping not to create the perfect moist home for gnat larvae. With the exception of an aspirin water misting last night in an attempt to help with the rust disease.

Running out of ideas. Would hate to dig it up and it turns out not to have root rot after all.

Sorry about the essay. If you made it this far thank you for your time. I appreciate any help you can offer.

 

[Billpopy79]

She looks perfectly recoverable,
I'm no expert but she does look like overwartering could be your enemy here.

I would give her a little drizzle, just enough to wet the top few inches of soil, that should see the feeder roots through for a few more days while the bottom of that pot dries out.

 

[JustCIDER]

She looks perfectly recoverable,
I'm no expert but she does look like overwartering could be your enemy here.

I would give her a little drizzle, just enough to wet the top few inches of soil, that should see the feeder roots through for a few more days while the bottom of that pot dries out.

The weird part is the whole time I was potentially overwatering it never wilted / drooped once.
It’s only now after several days of not watering that this dropping has occurred.

maybe I’ve gone too far the other direction and now it’s under watered?

either that or root rot / rust disease / or maybe even the fungus gnat larvae aren’t gone and one of these is killing it.

I think il have a careful dig around to check soil for pests. An maybe a light watering as you suggest depending on how the soil looks an feels.

Thanks again.

 

[Konks Dirt Empire]

I feel like I took a pure innocent virgin and gave her practically every STI all in one night. ‍♂

^ love finding deep and profound feels

Here is a plant abuse chart

Plant Abuse Chart

Heat Stress : Look closely below, and you'll see the brown leaf edges that are indicative of heat stress. This damage looks alot like nutrient burn, except it occurs only at the tops of the plants closest to the lamps. There's only one cure for this...get the heat away from the plants, either...

www.420magazine.com

with leaf images and their deficiencies, take a look. I'll read the other details after your eloquence above stops cracking me up!

Edit:

Friend Or Foe? Predators Of Eden

and that fly is probably Scathophaga stercoraria

www.420magazine.com

this has a good visual bug collection and great info!

 

[JustCIDER]

^ love finding deep and profound feels

Here is a plant abuse chart

Plant Abuse Chart

Heat Stress : Look closely below, and you'll see the brown leaf edges that are indicative of heat stress. This damage looks alot like nutrient burn, except it occurs only at the tops of the plants closest to the lamps. There's only one cure for this...get the heat away from the plants, either...

www.420magazine.com

with leaf images and their deficiencies, take a look. I'll read the other details after your eloquence above stops cracking me up!

Edit:

Friend Or Foe? Predators Of Eden

and that fly is probably Scathophaga stercoraria

www.420magazine.com

this has a good visual bug collection and great info!

I’m glad you enjoyed it.

I’ve been doing a lot of googling and looking at these pictures the last two days. Although a few look slightly similar, none of them look like the same thing to me. Not that I’m any sort of expert.

 

[Billpopy79]

The weird part is the whole time I was potentially overwatering it never wilted / drooped once.
It’s only now after several days of not watering that this dropping has occurred.

maybe I’ve gone too far the other direction and now it’s under watered?

either that or root rot / rust disease / or maybe even the fungus gnat larvae aren’t gone and one of these is killing it.

I think il have a careful dig around to check soil for pests. An maybe a light watering as you suggest depending on how the soil looks an feels.

Thanks again.

Getting the watering wrong is probably the most common mistake new growers make.


I'd still say she is probably sat in wet soil at the bottom of that pot.
Underwatered tends to show as droopy lifeless almost papery leaves going from the bottom up,


Next time I would suggest starting in a much smaller pot, it makes it easier to water correctly and build a strong rootball before reporting in a larger container.

Have a read of this thread, Emilyas watering advice has helped so many new growers.

The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant

The Proper Way to Water a Potted Plant Also covered: the importance of pH and why we successively up-pot How to Water Over the last several years I have put a lot of study into this, and I feel that I can now define the proper way to water a potted plant. Keep in mind that this discussion...

www.420magazine.com

Keep the faith I'm sure you can turn her around

 

[JustCIDER]

So as carefully as my clumsy thumb finger hands Could manage I’ve moved around some top soil and dug down a tiny bit.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover rather healthy looking white roots, not the stinky mangled mess of brown rot I had expected.
At this point a wondered if maybe that was just the top and the lower roots might be rotting. After lifting and inspecting the underside of the pot I was once again surprised to see nice healthy white roots poking through the drainage holes in the base of the pot.

So it seems like my fears of root rot were unfounded.

As well as not noticing any creepy crawly pests is the soil.

It is possible that after thinking I’d drowned it while simultaneously creating a breeding ground for fungus gnats. In my effort to dry out the soil that I’ve just left it to long and now I have an under watering problem.

Does that sound like it could be the issue?

 

[JustCIDER]

The plant does appear quite droopy compared to the past few days as well as having a rather papery feel to the leaves.

I’ve pushed my finger a little other 2 inches into the soil. It was cool but didn’t feel wet. If you’ll forgive the poor wording I fingered the dirt a little at the drainage holes and it too felt dry.

I will definitely check out that watering guide.

 

[JustCIDER]

One of the leaves was heavily drooping practically being held up by the edge of the pot. Since a slight watering the leaves are still not right but the one sat on the pot has picked back up and is once again holding its own.

while this is a rather small improvement it has lifted my spirits somewhat.

Any further advise would still be much appreciated.

 

[NuttyProfessor]

where is this kept , is it kept warm, with good lights
to me it looks cold wet footed and has no lightness to soil , soil looks a tad heavy
the marks look like run off water from the top leaves , do you hit the leaves too ?

 

[NuttyProfessor]

it lines up nicely

 

[Konks Dirt Empire]

where is this kept , is it kept warm, with good lights
to me it looks cold wet footed and has no lightness to soil , soil looks a tad heavy
the marks look like run off water from the top leaves , do you hit the leaves too ?

it lines up nicely

^ this is a great lesson @TheNuttyProfessor! This shows me what more to look for with leaf issues, seems obvious now but it is the experience to spot it or even know to look.

@JustCIDER, you have jumped in and started digging at roots, have heard it can be turned around and been given some watering suggestions. There is hope! The link to Emily's how to water a potted plant thread mention above is legendary, it really can help you reset how & when and what to watch for when watering.

 

[013]

Hey JustCIDER,

I agree with Prof. something looks off about that soil mix.... is that soil or coco? Big difference in how plants are intended to be fed / watered, also theres no aeration. What he said about cold feet & wet feet matters... the floor is the coldest spot in any room, the ceiling is the warmest. Get that sucker elevated, do you have a hygrometer to monitor temps & rh? Tilt the pot to 45 degree angle & hold there for 3 to 5 minutes, see how much she pees... maybe none, could be a little or a lot just wait to see.... that’s the perched water table draining out

You are in excellent hands with Nutty & the Dirt Empire, seriously either one can grow in the back of a flat bed Ford... while it’s cruising down the interstate

 

[JustCIDER]

where is this kept , is it kept warm, with good lights
to me it looks cold wet footed and has no lightness to soil , soil looks a tad heavy
the marks look like run off water from the top leaves , do you hit the leaves too ?

I won’t lie I am amateur houring this one big time.
I found an old seed in a pot and planted it on a whim, never really expected it to actually sprout.

It is on the floor in the corner of my room. In my house so it never gets too cold but I do live in England so it could probably be better temperature wise.

The light I’m using is budget but it has been doing the job quite well up until it seemed to get sick.

I went round my parents house for the soil knowing my mother had a couple bags in the garden. So it’s probably some nothing special straight from the hardware store stuff.

I’d never noticed that, it does look like it could be ‘run off’.
I don’t specifically water the leaves themselves. I have one of those spray bottles and give a light misting now an then.

When I had a bug issue I did reluctantly spray a pesticide on it. I couldn’t find anything organic around. Really poor selection at garden centres around here.
The nozzle was damaged an sort of sprayed out sideways. So instead of just getting the soil some definitely got onto the plant. So maybe that stuff ran off and caused that orange damage to those leaves? Weird though because it got on other areas of the plant and didn’t cause any orange marks anywhere else.

Then I’m guessing the dead decaying bugs in the soil released nitrogen which given the dark green leaves and clawing / talon look I’m guessing caused nitrogen toxicity?

I have since flushed it twice in a fingers crossed attempted to save it.

 

[JustCIDER]

Hey JustCIDER,

I agree with Prof. something looks off about that soil mix.... is that soil or coco? Big difference in how plants are intended to be fed / watered, also theres no aeration. What he said about cold feet & wet feet matters... the floor is the coldest spot in any room, the ceiling is the warmest. Get that sucker elevated, do you have a hygrometer to monitor temps & rh? Tilt the pot to 45 degree angle & hold there for 3 to 5 minutes, see how much she pees... maybe none, could be a little or a lot just wait to see.... that’s the perched water table draining out

You are in excellent hands with Nutty & the Dirt Empire, seriously either one can grow in the back of a flat bed Ford... while it’s cruising down the interstate

The soil is straight up bag from the hardware store stuff. This was all done very teenage pregnancy style...unplanned.

Next time I will save up some cash and buy a load of supplies first. It’s seems borderline impossible to get all the stuff I see people talking about on here atm, Amazon has it all as unavailable. I’m guessing they aren’t shipping much to the UK during this COVID situation, not exactly essential I guess.
Its been sat at an angle for 5 mins now and no water drained out.

the soil is currently damp though after a flush yesterday.
The act of flushing has probably compacted the soil somewhat.
Not sure if it made any difference but I used a thing stick to poke several holes deep into the soil in an attempt to get some air down there. Think that made any difference?

The soil seems to be hanging onto that moisture. Is there a trick for drying it out quickly after a flush?

 

[JustCIDER]

This is what we are looking like today. So I would say there are definite signs of improvement there. So hopefully it stays on course.

what do you guys think?

 

[013]

Hold the soil so it doesn’t fall out and tilt the pot to 45 degree angle & hold that position for about 5 full minutes. The container will pee - that’s the perched water table draining out. Prop it up at an angle and collect the water. Think you will be amazed at how much water is being held in suspension in your soil. Search Emilya here read herbwatering tech articles in her signature line - How to water a potted plant and how to water an auto or small plant in large final container. If this is soil (not coco) then do not water again for at least 3 days...... if this is coco then you need more help cause coco needs quarter strength nutes every day- coco cannot dry out or big trouble

bio-buzz is big over there, don’t know if grow shops or online but hear that name often

also coco is not soil - so be careful there, the 2 are very different!

peace out - hope it helps

 

[Billpopy79]

As 013 says ^ Biobizz all mix is available on UK Amazon.
I'm UK and I buy most of my supplies on Amazon.
I've used the light mix but the allmix has nutes built in which would see your plant fed for a while.

Hey I've seen some pretty successful amateur hour plants grown, give them enough light, get your watering right and you should end up with something to be proud of.
She's certainly looking better already

 

[013]

Thanks BillPopy! .... Ooops it should say read her (emilya’s) watering tech articles

 

[I'mOne]

Buy a good autofem seed, buy a good light (I started with 150 watt compact florescent at 6500k) good soil with no weird polymer beads etc, maybe foxfarm soil, add some perlite to it to assure drainage and rock on.