Having issues with young plants

Hello, I’m new to growing and have run into some problems. The stain is Trainwreck from Crop King Seed. They germinated nicely in a moist paper towel in a dark area. Once the tap root was out I planted in 42mm jiffy pear discs. I only watered when they were pretty much completely dry and used a few drops of FF BB at half strength. I currently have them in FFOF soil medium. I had them under T5 6500k, 2000 x2 lumen bulbs. They just started getting yellowish tips and one plant even had twisted over leaves. My pH runoff is about 6. My tap water is 125 ppm and with BB at half strength the ppm reaches 285. Any and all help is appreciated. Thanks.

Stop the FF, you are nute burning her. Water with plain PH’ed water til round leaves shrivel up and drop off.

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Hello tacoma34 to start ffof is a very hot soil doesn’t need any nutes for approximately 3 months it’s almost to hot for seedlings I’ve had trouble in the past with it try seeds in happy frog or promix soil next time for seeds and clones don’t over water young ladies let the roots stretch out looking for water also that leaf twist are you too warm above 80f or too close to lights?

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Thank you, Garden_gnome. I forgot to mention I did cut th FFOF with sphagnum peat moss, 70/30 with a little added perlite. I just put them under 400 watt MH at about 30 inches away and surprisingly they perked up a bit. I’ll keep an eye them and may transplant. Thanks for your help!

Ok; this is just my take on the case. First, I wouldn’t let them go completely dry. Allowing them to have a natural wet-dry cycle is good, but slowing them to become completely dry can be just as bad as habitually over watering. Get a feel for the medium when saturated and almost dry going off of weight. That’s the best advice I can give for hand watering, because it gives you the ability in the long run to run your plants how you see fit once you get it down a bit better.
In my experience FFOF is pretty nutrient rich for seedlings and smaller plants FFHF (happy frog) is a better potting soil/starting soil for me. I’ve had all kinds of strange things happen to a seedling that is in too nutrient rich soil. Everything from stunting, to leaf mutation/deformation has happened to me in that situation, but with proper watering 9 times out of 10 they bounce back after a few more nodes grow out.
Long story short, you may be experiencing some ph fluctuations from inconsistent watering and the “hotter” soil may just compound the issue more.
I’d cut the big bloom till they get back on track and adjust your water to 6.5 and try to not let them go completely dry. You mentioned you’re using tap water as well. Have you been declorinating the water? (Allowing it to sit for at least 24hra to let chlorine evaporate off) if not, that may as well be having an effect.
Just my 2cents, and good luck!

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Hello, Thelaughingwolf. I haven’t dechlorinated the water. I will now though. My primary water is bottled spring water with a pH of 6.8-7.4. I read that adding trace amounts apple cider vinegar is a good way to lower the pH. When I do use tap water I run it through my ZeroWater filtration pitcher. Thanks for your time and info. I just ordered a 12 qt. bag of FFHF. Thanks again!

Absolutely, ocean forest is great bagged soil and so is the happy frog. Having both definitely gives you options!

Do you think I should cut it 50/50 or straight HF for now? The bag is supposed to arrive Tuesday

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You could do a 50/50 mix if you’d like. If you have any extra perlite you could 40/40/20 with perlite being the 20. That would cut down the amount of FFOF a bit, but still have it in the mix, and the perlite will have some additional aeration benefits.

Your ph is low too. In soil I think its supposed to be between 6.3 and 6.8. Good luck. Also, you can put a layer of the ffhf on top, then the bottom half put the ffof, that way when the roots reach the hot soil, you won’t need to add nutes for a month or so

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Okay, thanks. I checked with my pH meter and that reads 6.5-7. I checked with a chemical test kit and it’s reading between slightly acidic. I’ll put about an inch or so of FFOF on the bottom and the rest FFHF. I may even add a little sphagnum to it as well. I transplanted last night into straight sphagnum with added perlite. Back under x2 6500k t5 2k lumens and a 100 watt led full spec and a 50 watt led full spec. I’ll put them back under the mh once they’re in the good soil. Thanks for your input!

Your pH test reads between 6.5-7? That doesn’t sound like a very precise reading. What is the exact reading?

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I thought the same! I was unaware of a between with a ph meter :confused: maybe the OP means its been fluctuating between 6.5/7? Im not sure but what i do know is 6.5 is the sweet spot for soil :slight_smile:

My digital is reading 6.8 atm

And thats going in yes? If so its a tad high, 6.5 is sweet for soil :slight_smile:

You will notice on this chart that 6.5=perfect

Nice, thanks Wildwest. I bought sulfur to lower the pH. I read that FF soils are pH adjusted. The plants are in straight sphagnum with added perlite atm. The water I am using is filtered and mixed with Apple cider vinegar. My pH pen is reading 5.8. I think straight sphagnum is around 7. They’re coming around since I took them out of the FFOF. Thanks for your help.

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Hey no worries i always help out where i can :slight_smile: im going to tag someone in that is using FF from soil to nutes so maybe he can chip in aswell to help things along :ok_hand: @Whodat66

We are all one big happy growimg family :slight_smile:

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Also, when you add nutrients, it takes much more solution (usually ph-up) to adjust your water. If you pay attention, you can see about how much it takes to raise it (like ‘x’ milliliters to raise it 0.1) you can dial it in really close to precision (or a darn good guess).

Also, if you have a cheapo pH meter and need to see if it’s accurate, find a solution with a known pH (like a calibration solution that is 4.0, or 7.0) and just poke your meter in to check what it reads.

I’m pretty sure distilled water should be 7.0 (neutral)

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Which brands and models of ph soil meters is recommended? I see a lot that are the same with a different name on them.