Stunted Growth?

[Iknownothing]

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but if anyone can see anything that might help that would be awesome. This is my first time growing so I'm 100% newbie even through I've watched countless hours of youtube videos to learn.

These seedlings don't seem to be growing they seem to be stunted. I germinated 6 seeds in the water towel method about a week ago, after i saw about 10 cms of root I transplanted them to rockwool, 2 have taken off great for the first few days but now they seem to be stuck the other 4 didn't ever sprout and I think might have died. I did a google search on stunted growth and that brought me to this forum where a guy had posted up a picture of his stunded plants with similar looking plants with the 2 first leaves curled down due to possible over watering. But I've checked the rockwool on mine and its almost dry so I'm not sure if I need less or more water

Information,

Age : These are exactly 7 days old from transplanting to rockwool
Media : Rockwool
Light: 2 x T5HO tubes about 2 inches from the plants 20 on 4 off.
Water: started them off on just plain water PH 7.0 ( a touch too high I know) I' dunked the rockwool on day one, then left them for 2 days and dunked them again when they felt dry and just dunked them again today on day 7. On day 2 I added a very mild Root booster nutrient.
Temp between 21 - 27 degrees day - night ( it's hard to control the temp to exactly 24 with how much the temp changes here. Humidity is around 40

I have a very soft fan blowing on them during the day.


Appreciate anyone's suggestions or ideas of why they are so slow.

Also on a side note, the 4 that didn't sprout or grow the roots any longer, would it be safe to say they are dead ? I think they might have dried out in the rockwool

 

[Iknownothing]

 

[AnimaSola]

The rock wool looks really wet, you want it moist but not saturated. When you get it wet pick it up and shake or tap out the excess water so the roots can get some air.

 

[Iknownothing]

I took the pick just after dunking them and giving them a little shake
I've noticed the second set of true leaves just coming out are a little yellow as well, you can see this slightly on the left hand seedling.
There is also like a whiteish dust you can see on the right plant on its starter leave, I'm not sure if this is normal but all the pictures and videos I have looked at their plants seem to be a lot greener

 

[AnimaSola]

As soon as mine pop up I put them in a solo cup of media, it holds water longer and gives the roots a place to grow. You can transfer coco to a net pot if you are doing hydro.

 

[Iknownothing]

My plan is to go to a larger 4inch Rockwall cube and then sit them on a tray with some cooco coil roll, I might just pop them into the larger cubes now and the roots have gone through to the bottom of the smaller cubes.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Did you remember to soak your rockwool in water that had been adjusted to a pH of 5.5 (or 5.0, or 4.5, or whatever it is that they recommend these days) before using it?

 

[Iknownothing]

Yes, I pre soaked them for about an hour,
Do you think that by day 7 the plants have used up all their food from the seed pod and looking for nutrients ? It looks like the largest of the plants is turning the most green, and rockwool obviously has no nutrients at all.


I've just started to germinate 2 more seeds, I think I'll try just soil instead of full hydro if they don't show any signs of improvement as I'm guessing its a lot more forgiving using soil.

This is a better picture of the yellowing

 

[Iknownothing]

These poor guys aren't growing any larger but getting worse I just don't know what to do if they need nutrients or not, everyone says they don't need anything for the first 2 weeks , but this is almost week 2 and they are not using up their starter leaves but just turning yellow

 

[AnimaSola]

Are you feeding them nutrients? I give mine straight tap water until the cotyledons die off then start feeding lightly.

 

[Iknownothing]

I gave them a very mild dose of organic booster about 3 days ago when they started turning yellow cause I thought that is what they were lacking. it was diluted to 330PPM I just dunked the cubes in the nutrient let it drain out.

I think this might have actually made it worse as they haven't improved but gotten worse

 

[Iknownothing]

Still no improvement is it safe to cut off the leaves that are yellow and dead ? Will this help them grow new green ones ?

 

[AnimaSola]

I would just feed them tap water until the cotyledons start to turn yellow

 

[Caconym]

Have you got a dome over your seedlings? I nearly killed three girls with low humidity, their root systems just couldn't get water into the leaves quick enough to replace what was lost through transpiration. I'd try and get your humidity up and see if that helps. I wouldn't remove any damaged leaves just now, wait until you've got some healthy new growth.

 

[Iknownothing]

I do have a hood which I did have on them for the first week, but took it off after they started to turn yellow, Do you think I should put it back on even though they are 2 weeks old ? They just don't want to improve no matter what I do but I want to save them rather than waiting another month for some seeds to arrive .

They don't seem to be drinking either

I've been spraying the leaves about 3 times a day just to try flush anything out

 

[Caconym]

I would definitely put the hood back on for a bit and see if it helps. Plants in veg love humidity so it can't do any harm. They'll take a little while to come round so don't panic if they don't look any better for a couple of days. I don't know much about growing in rockwool unfortunately so I can't really advise on the nutrient side of things but I'd probably go off Luweedgi's advice and use plain pHed water for now.

 

[Iknownothing]

OK cheers I'll put it back on and see how it goes for a few days. My humidity is around the 45 mark during the day and 35-40 at night.

I really hope they come through even though I know they are going to have a hard life from here on in

 

[Caconym]

Fingers crossed for a recovery. If they do come round they'll be fine once they're back up to speed, might just need an extra week or two in veg

 

[Iknownothing]

I've got fingers and arms crossed too lol, these little guys have become like my kids. They are growing very very slowly but at least they are still growing. This is day 14

 

[AnimaSola]

I've been spraying the leaves about 3 times a day

Stop, this causes bacterial growth and damping off. No need for a dome for seedlings, for clones spray the dome only after the first few days to prevent damping off.