What is wrong with my seedling? Please help

[wootonb]

If anyone can give me some advice for my seedling, I'd really appreciate it. Over the past 2 years, I've had about 5-6 seedlings grow like this and I do not know what is wrong.

Some information to begin with:
1. These are the seeds I'm using: Sour Lowryder 2 Autoflower Green Pheno Regular Cannabis Seeds - Just Cannabis Seeds
2. I live in Southern California, where there is plenty of sunlight.
3. The seedling gets at least 6 hours of direct sun every day.
4. There is no problem with germination. When the seedlings first germinate and for about 2-3 weeks after that, they look perfectly healthy.
5. However, as time goes on, they invariably become lanky, yellowish, and start growing what appear to be flowers(?), even though they are just seedlings.
6. They are planted in this potting soil mix: Kellogg Garden Organics 1.5 cu. ft. Patio Plus Premium Outdoor Organic Potting Mix-681 - The Home Depot
7. I tried only watering them every few days, so as not to overwater, but it does not seem to make a difference.
8. I have not used any kind of fertilizer.
9. The seedling shown in the photo is about 5-6 weeks old.

Thanks in advance for any help!!

 

[Emilya Green]

It sounds and looks like you are overwatering by watering too often. These weeds need to dry out all the way to the bottom of the container between waterings so that the lower roots can get oxygen. Look up the "lift the pot" method of telling when it is time to water and then when you do water, soak the container to runoff. You can't overwater by giving too much water in one session.. the soil can only hold so much. The only way to overwater this plant is to water too often.

 

[Mustang92]

i'd be tempted to start your auto's in june or late May, way more daylight, i think you only at 14hours daylight in May.

 

[Nunyabiz]

Most likely that soil.

 

[Roy Growin]

Medium: Their website says to add organic nutes when planting, then regularly after that
Get yourself some good balanced organic nutes with micronutes etc such as BioBizz
In sunshine these will need a lot of nutes to grow properly
You got a Ferrari light source in tricycle medium - it's not even soil or compost, more like mulch

 

[SmokingWings]

Most likely that soil.

Yep.

Medium: Their website says to add organic nutes when planting, then regularly after that

Yep.

The website says the soil mix has "wood fines" mixed in. Wood Fines can be anything from decomposing logs to wood that has been chipped for particle board and the small splinters & surplus chips that are left over. The fines are moistened and allowed to start decomposing. Nothing wrong with wood fines as long as the gardener knows what they are and their pluses & minuses.

Right now the wood is still decomposing. Any nutrients they can provide will not be available to plants until after the decomposing stage is finished. The company might have thrown in some top-soil but I did not notice any reference to compost being used.

Those plants are starving for basic nutrients and none is in the mix and none has been added. Since the plants are auto-flowers they tried to survive best they could and started to flower long before they had the right growth of leaves, stems and roots. As @Nunyabiz jokes, and we do not need a tricorder to see it, they are done for. In my opinion no amount or type of fertilizer will save them, and nothing will get them to start growing or back to flowering properly.

Nothing really wrong with the Patio Plus Potting Mix except it is the wrong product for the job you wanted it to do.

 

[wootonb]

Thanks, everyone, for your tips. I actually put a layer of mulch on top, thinking that the soil needed to be kept moist since the pot is so small.

Can anyone point me in the right direction for what is the proper soil?

Thank you very much!

 

[013]

Fox Farm Ocean Forest, Stonington Coast of Maine, online at Build a Soil has several options Coots mix or Oly Mountain. Hydroponics stores should be in every city in Cali. The big box stores may have Pro-Mix HP with mycos or Sunshine #4

 

[SmokingWings]

Fox Farms has the Ocean Forest brand that 013 mentions. Another one they have is the Happy Frog brand which is supposed to be a milder version and many say it is great for seed starting and seedlings. It is a starter soil and after several weeks the grower will have to transplant to a more robust potting soil like the Ocean Forest or one of the many others that are on the market.

Myself, I decided to go with the Happy Frog because I was getting tired of mixing up my own seed starter soil mixes. The Happy Frog has been working just great for starting my Marijuana seeds, starting root growth when taking cuttings and also for starting vegetable and flower seeds.

 

[Nunyabiz]

Depends on how you want to grow and the space you have available.
If you want to feed bottled nutrients then I wouldn't use soil at all, I would use Coco with a little pumice and biochar mixed in, and put in 5 gal fabric pot.
Coco is easier to feed and less problems watering, you just water everyday.

If you want to use soil then I would go Living Organic Soil.
Use a Clackamas Coots soil recipe, either buy one ready made like the Buildasoil V3 LOS.
Or you could build your own if you buy aged compost can be ready in a couple weeks, if you make your own compost probably take 6 months.

You need to be in a minimum of 15 gallon fabric pots for LOS to work properly.
Then add worms and bugs and a cover crop.

 

[wootonb]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone!!!

Nunyabiz, which option do you think is the less expensive way to go? Is it the Coco w/ pumice/biochar with bottled nutrients? Or would it be the Living Organic Soil?

Thanks!

 

[Nunyabiz]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone!!!

Nunyabiz, which option do you think is the less expensive way to go? Is it the Coco w/ pumice/biochar with bottled nutrients? Or would it be the Living Organic Soil?

Thanks!

Umm, in the long run the LOS is cheaper, easier and better quality.
Once you get your soil set up you only need maybe $20 worth of amendments between grows and keep using the same soil.
If done correctly will get better with age.
The larger the pot the easier it is and the longer it will last.

So, just this one grow probably a bit cheaper to go with coco, depending on how expensive the nutrients are.
But overall LOS is cheaper

 

[wootonb]

I already have some 10 gal. fabric pots. Do you think the LOS might work with those?

 

[Nunyabiz]

Not really.
Personally I wouldn't use less than 20 gal.
If they would fit my space i would use 30 gallon fabric pots as I think that would be optimum size for indoor

 

[wootonb]

Oh, but I am planning to grow them outdoors. Would it be ok if I got 20 gal. pots with LOS and put them outside?

 

[Nunyabiz]

Jeebus, if you're going to grow a full cycle outdoor, I would either dig a big hole and fill with quality LOS or get like 100 gallon fabric pot.
I don't grow cannabis outdoor but I think that's how I would do it if I did.

Would most likely do a Hugelkultur mound layered with LOS.

 

[SmokingWings]

Oh, but I am planning to grow them outdoors. Would it be ok if I got 20 gal. pots with LOS and put them outside?

20 gallon pots filled with soil can get really heavy; even heavier if the soil in the pot has been recently watered.

If you are thinking of using the pots just as something to hold the LOS then you might want to consider this idea based on what Nunyabiz's comment. Select your spot and dig a hole deep and wide enough to drop the 20 gallon pot into. The soil you are removing from the hole will go into a wheelbarrow. Loosen that soil up and add some peat moss and mix in the amendments including compost. Dump the wheelbarrow full of soil back into the hole. Put in your plant. Mulch the immediate area with grass clippings or shredded leaves or any other organic material that is cut or chopped up into small pieces.

You will now have several 100 gallons of soil the plant's roots can grow into. The soil in the hole gets the plant started. It will find everything it needs there for the first couple of weeks. As it gets larger the roots will grow into the other soil getting more of the macro and micro nutrients needed.

Most likely there will be little need to water. With that much soil the roots can spread out and down looking for moisture. Roots growing down into the soil for water is something that cannot happen easily if the plant is in a pot.

Two downsides to this are that if there is a long dry spell you will have to get water to the area. But, if the plant is in a pot then you would have to water once a day, maybe more often, so there is that to consider. The other downside is that the plant is in its 'forever home' unless you can figure out how to dig it up and put it into a large pot.