Please Help! First Grow - Droopy Thin Mints

[DapperNomad]

Some of my ladies aren't looking so healthy anymore.

Grow Journal

The thin mints all seem to have stopped growing and look very droopy ever since uppotting. Any advice?

This is one of my bag seeds that appears the healthiest of all my ladies.

 

[Weaselcracker]

The obvious suspect would be overwatering- with such small plants for the pot size. I would have left them in the cups longer myself. Not necessarily overwatering though. Extended overwatering will cause yellowing and I don't see any of that going on yet. You'll have to be the judge of how wet or dry they are.

Some of them look like they have too much nitrogen- leaves are dark green, deformed and downward pointing. Have you been feeding them? They hardly need anything at this age.
What is happening with the double pot thing?

 

[Sejd2131]

I believe your lightening is not enough from the appearance. Whats the PH of the water? Thats a problem in itself......

 

[DapperNomad]

The obvious suspect would be overwatering- with such small plants for the pot size. I would have left them in the cups longer myself. Not necessarily overwatering though. Extended overwatering will cause yellowing and I don't see any of that going on yet. You'll have to be the judge of how wet or dry they are.

Some of them look like they have too much nitrogen- leaves are dark green, deformed and downward pointing. Have you been feeding them? They hardly need anything at this age.
What is happening with the double pot thing?

Overwatering is a possibility, they are all in regular size solo cups right now the 1 gallon pot has the solo cup inside it. I haven't been using any nutrients at all.

 

[DapperNomad]

I believe your lightening is not enough from the appearance. Whats the PH of the water? Thats a problem in itself......

Could you clarify what you mean by lightening is not enough?
I have been testing the PH before watering and try to get it around 6 - 6.5

 

[Weaselcracker]

Ok- well, my guess about the nitrogen is uncertain. It could be just overwatering causing the downward pointing look of the leaves, along with the lighting in the photos making them look dark green.
Or - there could be nutrients in whatever type of soil you are growing in causing trouble. Worth checking that out.

Re the watering thing- cannabis does well when it has a chance to dry up between waterings. And especially when they are small- they should never be very wet.
The best way by far to tell when they need watering is by testing the weight of the container.
Fill a solo cup full of dry soil, or soil that is just very slightly moist- like the bare minimum of moisture. Compare the weight of that container to the one with the plant in it. That's what you should be aiming for when they are small like this. When they get larger you can soak them down, but at this age you have to baby them a little. Overwatering is the number one killer of seedlings.
Here's a great link full of growing info. Scroll down to the watering section and check the 'lift the pot method' thread. You'll probably find some other interesting info along the way. How to Grow Marijuana Everything You Need to Know

 

[DapperNomad]

Ok- well, my guess about the nitrogen is uncertain. It could be just overwatering causing the downward pointing look of the leaves, along with the lighting in the photos making them look dark green.
Or - there could be nutrients in whatever type of soil you are growing in causing trouble. Worth checking that out.

Re the watering thing- cannabis does well when it has a chance to dry up between waterings. And especially when they are small- they should never be very wet.
The best way by far to tell when they need watering is by testing the weight of the container.
Fill a solo cup full of dry soil, or soil that is just very slightly moist- like the bare minimum of moisture. Compare the weight of that container to the one with the plant in it. That's what you should be aiming for when they are small like this. When they get larger you can soak them down, but at this age you have to baby them a little. Overwatering is the number one killer of seedlings.
Here's a great link full of growing info. Scroll down to the watering section and check the 'lift the pot method' thread. You'll probably find some other interesting info along the way. How to Grow Marijuana Everything You Need to Know

Ok I've got to be even more cautious about over watering, the thin mints definitely got more water than the others but I still thought that I was letting them dry out pretty well and gave them about 2 days between waterings. But I was still leaning more towards a keep them moist attitude rather than a let it dry all the way out and then water cycle.

The leaves on the thin mints are certainly dark green, far darker than the leaves on my healthy looking plants which is really strange considering the same soil was used for all of them. Is there a way to test for nitrogen and correct?

 

[Weaselcracker]

Definitely aim on the dry side. Even to the point where they are almost/just starting to wilt a little before watering. You'll get the feel of it quickly. A constant state of dampness is quite bad for them.
As for the nitrogen- it depends. It might be fine as long as nutrient levels aren't too high. Usually they can grow past it. I'd worry more about the watering at this point.
What are you growing in? It should say on the bag- otherwise possibly google will dredge up some info.

 

[DapperNomad]

Definitely aim on the dry side. Even to the point where they are almost/just starting to wilt a little before watering. You'll get the feel of it quickly. A constant state of dampness is quite bad for them.
As for the nitrogen- it depends. It might be fine as long as nutrient levels aren't too high. Usually they can grow past it. I'd worry more about the watering at this point.
What are you growing in? It should say on the bag- otherwise possibly google will dredge up some info.

Yeah I'm going to try my best to just leave them a lone for a few days and hope they recover. It's like I have to go against my instincts to water them and to check on them constantly. The soil is Happy Frog and then I added about 30% perlite.

 

[redmud]

Just checked in and the advice WC gave is right in line with mine. You have to let them dry out, otherwise the roots won't search for water and be underdeveloped they also need oxygen to grow so if they are always wet they can't get air for oxygen. Different strains require different amounts of nutes some will take whatever you throw at them and others will get nute burn at half strength.

Best of luck

Sent from my XT1032 using 420

 

[Weaselcracker]

I don't have those Foxfarm soils in my country but I'm familiar with reading about them on this forum. Happy frog does have nutrients in it. It's borderline too hot for cannabis seedlings, depending on what strains you're growing and what their feeding needs are. Your plant will grow through it though- just get the watering thing under control and the roots will start to grow quickly and the overall size of the plant will increase exponentially. Right now they're struggling to deal with everything because the roots are half drowning. Or at least that's a good working theory. It's a very common problem when just learning.
Read through that link I gave you. when it comes time to feed them, always aim very low to start and work up from there slowly.

 

[DapperNomad]

Just checked in and the advice WC gave is right in line with mine. You have to let them dry out, otherwise the roots won't search for water and be underdeveloped they also need oxygen to grow so if they are always wet they can't get air for oxygen. Different strains require different amounts of nutes some will take whatever you throw at them and others will get nute burn at half strength.

Best of luck

Sent from my XT1032 using 420

I don't have those Foxfarm soils in my country but I'm familiar with reading about them on this forum. Happy frog does have nutrients in it. It's borderline too hot for cannabis seedlings, depending on what strains you're growing and what their feeding needs are. Your plant will grow through it though- just get the watering thing under control and the roots will start to grow quickly and the overall size of the plant will increase exponentially. Right now they're struggling to deal with everything because the roots are half drowning. Or at least that's a good working theory. It's a very common problem when just learning.
Read through that link I gave you. when it comes time to feed them, always aim very low to start and work up from there slowly.

Thanks!

I've left them alone and they do seem to be recovering already, the two lowest leaves on each of the thin mints are still very droopy but there's new growth at the tops and some of the other leaves don't look as droopy as they did yesterday. Two of my bag seeds have some roots already growing out the bottom of their solo cups so I will water, up pot them and post some new pics in my grow journal tomorrow

 

[DapperNomad]

Thanks to everyone that came in this thread to help me out. I'll be returning to my grow journal after this update.

Let them dry out for several days, then yesterday morning I gave them all just a little bit of water and trimmed off the lower most leaves which were turning yellow and dying. I saw a lot of growth between then and this morning. One of the thin mints has leaves with a very different texture and wider spaces between the "veins" than the others and I did also notice a bit of yellowing on the very tips of some of the lower leaves on other plants but overall I think its going well and I don't want to add a bunch of nutrients or make the grow very complicated. My whole plan from the start was to keep it fairly simple just soil, lights, water and LST or mainlining. So I'm going to stick to that plan and try not to worry myself too much with trying to "fix" the plants. I'm not trying to grow club quality stuff or win any contests, just want a nice headstash for myself so I don't spend anymore $$ on weed and overall I'm really enjoying growing and taking care of the plants as a hobby. I check on, hangout and smoke with my ladies often