Please help 16 day old seedling is dying

Joeshmo

New Member
Good evening everyone I am sorry this has to be my first post but I am in need of help.

My seedling has been growing very slow and now has signs of yellowing and drooping, pictures will be included.

I planted in a 3 gallon pot and after a few days the seedling emerged and looked great very green and growing well. One weird thing was it has a 3 leaf mutation but I know that it doesn't mean the plant is ruined so I continued on and now here is day 13 the plant started dropping and yellowing and I could just tell the growth was very far off of what It should be at 13 days so I transplanted to a Solo cup with holes punched for draining, in order to hopefully gain some much needed root growth. Now at day 16 the plant looks worse it is drooping even lower.

Soil: Vigoro Organic potting soil
Lights: 2 13 watt CFL (I know this sounds horrible but they were advertised as the 60W equivalent)
Light Cycle: 24/0
Strain: Auto berry big bomb
Nutes: Fox Farm Trio (Not yet used at all because the soil has plenty for now)
And finally a fan for air flow.

Main Issues: Yellowing, Drooping, Purple stem, stunted growth, Mutation.

Please help me save this plant Thank You so much for your help.

Edit: I am sorry that the photos are the wrong orientation.
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This is the pot that it was originally planted in before I transferred to a small solo cup.

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Re: Please help 16 day old seedling is dying.

Ok I just ran to my back room and took picture of all the added nuts in the soil.

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As far as watering goes I was following a schedule of watering when the first inch to inch and a half of soil were dry then I would water until I got 10% run off. This came out to watering every 5 - 6 days.

When She was transplanted into here new temporary solo cup home she was watered again for 10% run off out of the solo cup which was yesterday.

Thank you for a quick reply hopefully we can save her.
 
Re: Please help 16 day old seedling is dying.

Don't use nutrients before like 3-4 weeks. The plant has enough to live off of.

Looks to be overwatered. I would suggest STOP watering until runoff, and only water to slightly MOISTEN the soil. It should not be wet. Let the soil dry up and start to pull away from the sides of the cup before you water again.

It should be much bigger at 16 days. I'm guessing your problem is just over watering related.
 
Re: Please help 16 day old seedling is dying.

Don't use nutrients before like 3-4 weeks. The plant has enough to live off of.

Looks to be overwatered. I would suggest STOP watering until runoff, and only water to slightly MOISTEN the soil. It should not be wet. Let the soil dry up and start to pull away from the sides of the cup before you water again.

It should be much bigger at 16 days. I'm guessing your problem is just over watering related.

Thank you for your response, I will not start nutes just yet.

I have been waiting until week 4 to start and may wait longer because of her small size.
As far as watering goes I have been thinking this also because when I did pull her up to move her to the Cup she only had about 1 inch of root and at 13 days that just did not seem right which led me to believe that she had to much water so the roots were not trying to grow and seek water, From now on I am going to monitor her add some extra CFL's and only water as you said just till she's slightly moist and the soil is pulling away.

If anyone has any more recommendations I would gladly take it all.
 
Re: Please help 16 day old seedling is dying.

Ok I went out today and bought some new 100w equivalent CFL's they are 1600 lumens a piece and they are putting out 5000k color temp, I set one directly above the seedling and I have included pictures. Please let me know if this is a better setup.

I have also poked some ventilation holes into the soil with a pencil in order to maintain oxygen to the roots and let it dry out quicker.

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Is This to close?
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The Lights off to the side are the old ones they are 2 13w 60w equivalent bulbs that are producing 6500k color temp so I left them to aid in growth.

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Re: Please help 16 day old seedling is dying.

Ignore the equivalent number completely from now on.

That number is in place so people can replace an incandescent bulb with a CFL of similar brightness, and since Incandescent bulbs cannot grow Cannabis, it's not helpful for our purposes.

At the current size, 1-2 bulbs will be perfect, about 1-2" 2.5-5cm above the plant. Higher temperatures 6500K are preferred for Veg growth, and Lower temps like 2700K for Flower. But you can mix and match easily, and still have a great harvest.

For bigger Veg beyond 1-2 weeks, I suggest at least 4 23w bulbs, and at least 6 23w bulbs for flower.
 
Re: Please help 16 day old seedling is dying.

Just picked up 4 more splitters this morning and another full size fixture when I bought the new 23w bulbs.

I was making sure that from now on until harvest I will be set.

Thank you for your help Antics I read all of your grow reports and the new LED Grow looks interesting I can't wait to see how everything turns out.
 
Re: Please help 16 day old seedling is dying.

You can easily grow a great yield from your CFLs. Obviously it'll be difficult to harvest 16 ounce plants from CFLs, but you can see 1 ounce+ plants with a little practice.

For your first harvest, I suggest setting your goal lower, 7-8 grams per plant. The first grow is usually the most difficult as there's a LOT to learn. And when you think about it, 1/4 ounce isn't bad from 1 plant, especially on a first grow. After you get used to growing, your second grow move the goal up to 14-21 grams per plant.

My first plant from this harvest was 30 grams. A little over an ounce using CFLs. and I have the second plant drying now, which should be more than that.

Just stay relaxed, think clearly, if you have questions or concerns post on the forum and we'll help keep you on the right path.

Your 13w CFLs will work fine. Just spread them out among the 23w bulbs and you should have a harvest that you can be proud of. Just focus on a quality plant first, the yield will take care of itself.

:Namaste:
 
Re: Please help 16 day old seedling is dying.

Ok today I went out and bought a ph test kit I couldn't believe it I was at 8.0 ph and I think that caused some serious Nute lock.

And now today there is a new problem the center leaves are starting to turn purple around the outside and even the stem is purple.

Does anyone know what this could be, I personally think it was a magnesium deficiency because of the high ph locking out the nutes.

Also I would like to add that I have flushed it with some proper water ph'ed to 6.5 and from now on the water will be exactly 6.5 ph before watering.
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Re: Please help 16 day old seedling is dying.

Get a thermometer with a little wired probe from any big store or online. You could splurge and get ones with wireless sensors but its not necessary. You want to be at under 80 if possible. My temps range from 75-85. I wish it was a bit lower but I live in the tropics. If you're hitting 90 that's too high.

I am using the same exact vigoro organics dirt as you are. I found that it retains way too much moisture and that it needed to be mixed with a generous amount of perlite. You dont need the big huge green bag. Get a small bag with no nutes at a nursery. Don't get the Miracle Grow perlite bag!

One bag of the vigoro dirt came complete with fungus gnat larvae that caused me a world of hurt and set my grow back for a couple of months. The bugs SUCK. Now I bake any new dirt in the oven in big turkey pans at 190 for half an hour. I use a candy thermometer to make sure that all the dirt got to at least 180f. Stinks up the house but my bug problem is now history.

In the vigoro dirt aim for 6.5 on your PH. For some reason I was stupid and was watering at 5.5 for a while and that was "not good".

See my grow link in my signature for details, panicking and general confusion. Maybe you can avoid some of my first-grow mistakes. =)
 
Re: Please help 16 day old seedling is dying.

Ok I didn't think I would have time to run out tonight but I managed to get a Humidity / Thermometer tool and I just measured the Grow room at 55% humidity and 80 degrees Fahrenheit at the hottest point, So I think those are pretty good.

I also picked up some Perlite pure with no added nutes just plain old perlite. I pulled back up my plant very carefully (used spoon to pull soil around the plant) managing not to touch the root ball and transferred it into a fresh made 30% Perlite 70% fresh organic soil lightly watered with 6.5 ph'ed water. The good news is when I transplanted into the better soil I saw some new root growth that was not there before.

I have not yet had a chance to get temps with the lights off but I will report back as soon as possible.

Also @sativacat I just read your whole grow report, and I'm sorry you had so much trouble in the beginning but they look amazing now and hopefully things stay great from now on. Thank You for the advice about the Perlite the soil drains much better now and hopefully won't retain moisture as long.
 
Re: Please help 16 day old seedling is dying.

Haha yes it is. I just hope things get better from here on out I planted a new germinated seed into some soil yesterday and I am going to be taking care of this one with every ounce of care I have in my body, Its Auto NYC Diesel.

Also Im not sure if maybe the root of mine and your problems this whole time has been the Vigoro Organic soil.
 
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