Not sure what's up with my seedlings?

[veritas629]

I've been meaning to start a dairy here, but was waiting until I had some progress to show off. Unfortunately, these little ladies are struggling for a reason I can't figure out.

We've got 5/7 fem seeds of Chem1 x Triangle Kush via CSI Humboldt. The soil is my typical living organic soil with good compost, peat, hydroton/rice hulls, and various dry amendments. Reused and reammended each cycle. Pretty sure I've neither under nor overwatered. They lived in about 1L pots for a couple weeks post germination and a few days ago went into the big indoor bed pictured here. They were affected prior to transplant and I thought maybe they had cramped roots. They started showing yellow leaves at the bottom and now the yellow is moving upwards. The lowest and most affected leaves started showing kinda bronze/brown spots. I do have a fair number of Fungus Gnats that I trying to knock back: neem drench in pots, before transplanting. I've also used that biological control bacteria I can't remember the name of now. Could the gnats be doing this much damage? Or do I have a deficiency or overdose maybe? The leaves look a bit droopy and the upper leaves are a pretty dark green. They feel kinda "papery" and "crinkley".

My last grow I thought I had a potassium deficiency. But I thought I had this sorted. Could this be too little K? Seems pretty early to be having deficiency problems...

 

[Gazza]

That’s cal mag deficiency I rekon or your ph is out and you have lockout.

 

[ShellzShuff3]

This is a helpful video I was watching today.

Common Cannabis Nutrient Deficiencies - Youtube

 

[Aye Shroomer]

Gnats suck but they shouldn’t cause a huge problem. It’s the larvae that do most of the damage.

 

[Pikey]

I think Gaz is onto something there, do you know the pH of your soil?

Also, if you have gnats, there is a good chance you are overwatering. What mix did you use for the neem drench and at what ratios?

 

[Old fox]

Overwatered.

 

[Porky]

Overwatered.

Yep overwatering!
Leave em for a week or so or until the pots feel light and they will be fine!!

 

[Mellow oldfark]

Overwatering or under watering is a pre cursor to all the other issues discussed here

 

[veritas629]

Hmmm. I didn't think they were overwatered, but maybe I should dig a small hole all the way down and make sure . The reason I don't think over water, is the initial small pots with the anti spiral vents are hard to over water. The gnats came in with the worm and other compost, so not necessary saturated soil.

But, maybe it's time for a pH test. That could explain a lot. Never had a pH problem before, but there is always a first! I do have crustacean meal and gypsum in there, but maybe they haven't degraded enough to provide Calcium.

 

[Squire]

Looking forward to seeing how these go and what the problem is its good to share

 

[itchybro]

it's cool to do a PH test but if you've over watered that could've changed PH , not saying don't do the test just use it as one part of the cluedo game mr green in the study with a candlestick , more info more info more info

the problem started in the pots before transplanting into the bed ?

you've been doing this for a while now so i would have thought you'd have watering sussed , in saying that we all fuck up from time to time , it can happen to the best of us

all the composts used all home made ? & was it a fresh batch not used before ?

get yourself some yellow mustard seed & coffee grinder , the seed meal should rid you of your gnats as well as promote lots of beneficial bacteria & fungi that will help protect your plant if you happen to have some sort of root bug causing the problem
bit of reading here = take note of the cautions when using mustard seed meal

otherwise do as many checks of as many things as you can to confirm or deny water issues or root bug problems or ????

 

[veritas629]

Yep, the problem started in small pots, before transplant. The small pots had a very nute light mix, so I didn't worry much. Thinking was the richer bed soil would perk them up. Regarding the watering, I just recieved a Blumat system and Bluemat Digital Moisture Meter. The meter will be placed today and we'll find out if I know how to water!

 

[veritas629]

Well, if the Blumat Digital moisture meter is to be believed, seems I have been over watering. I'll just let the bed coast with no watering for a while and see what happens....

 

[Mellow oldfark]

Over watering is common as catshit .now you learn how to treat chlorosis.
Don't worry most do it at some stage.iv been an offender .

 

[Porky]

Well, if the Blumat Digital moisture meter is to be believed, seems I have been over watering. I'll just let the bed coast with no watering for a while and see what happens....

Think the plants were telling ya that before ya got the meter mate!!

 

[Stackr]

Try planting some green cover as well. It will help manage the moisture and increase the microbial activity in the soil.

 

[itchybro]

Well, if the Blumat Digital moisture meter is to be believed, seems I have been over watering. I'll just let the bed coast with no watering for a while and see what happens....

what number did you get once the meter had acclimated to the bed & you took a reading ?

what @Stackr said is not a bad idea , living mulch , a low growing ground cover like dichondra repens grows nice n tight & never grows tall enough to interfere with the plants above , it will have a shallow root system though & will give you most of the same benefits of straw mulch , if you then add a mix of different grasses as well to give you more deeper roots that add to the microbial activity , they don't really interfere with the plants above & are much easier to chop & drop & push below the dichondra
& you can still top dress neem , kelp , malted barley powder , etc etc etc through the dichondra

 

[Kloud9]

Overwatering or under watering is a pre cursor to all the other issues discussed here

Bingo

 

[Indy]

Looks like we're in a similar position, veritas. Though mine is purely heat related. Another week of temps in the mid-30's isn't working in my favour either.

 

[veritas629]

After more investigation, I've determined that I have a vertical gradient of moisture. Mulch and top layer is quite dry and it gets moister as I dig down. Needed more digging than the old finger test. I pushed the Blumat Digital down fully and it is reading around 40mb. Which is too wet. Being that the plants are small, it will probably take a while for the roots to expand and soak up that deeper wetter soil. However, they perked up a bit over the weekend. Still quite green, but the yellowing and spotting has slowed dramatically and the leaves are working their way to a more upwards position. I seem to be on the right track. I'm going to avoid watering for a week and then I'll just add small amounts to keep the surface layer a healthy moisture. I don't want the surface layer to be totally dry for long, because that is where all my fresh compost and amendments are.

I also have the Blumats to install, but I think I'll wait until I've got all soil moisture sorted. Adding a new system right now seems to be asking for trouble. And I'm going to look into green/living mulch too.