Help! Severely twisted and shriveled new growth

Hello Everyone,

I’m hoping someone can help solve a problem I am having with new growth on 4 out of my 5 22 day old cannabis plants. For some reason the new growth is developing shriveled and severely twisted. In some cases you can see that the leaf finger has actual split because of the abnormal development. First off here are some answers to the basic questions:

What type of medium; Soil
What brand and type of soil? Miracle Grow Seed Starter (.03 - .03 - .03)
Indoors or outdoors? Indoors, 4x4x6.5ft grow tent
What strain? 2 Purple Kush, 3 Green Crack (Femanized Crop King Seeds)
How old are the plants? 22 days from poking head through soil
What type of lights and how many watts? 600W HM HID air cooled reflector
How far from the lights? 3 feet
What is your watering frequency and source of water? Distilled water, only watering once pot feels dry. Approximately once every 5 days
What, how much and when was it fed? NPK? Using Fox Farms nutrients. Have only fed once at 25% strength on September 1st. Sticking to feeding every other watering
What is the medium/runoff pH and PPM if in hydro? Medium runoff PH ~7.2
What are the temps / humidity in the room? 25C / 40% Humidity lights on, 18C 35% Humidity lights off
What size pots? Still in 4 inch plastic starter pots
Any bugs? Look real close. No signs of bugs / mildew / mold
Any other pertinent info? Recently reduced my HID ballast to 75% (450W) as I had read that too intense of light could cause corkscrewing. I’ve got an oscillating tower fan lightly blowing on them while the lights are on. Currently using a 4x4 mylar grow tent with 6” carbon filter / inline fan also being used to cool the HID bulb / reflector.

I have only fed these plants once using Fox Farm liquid nutrients at 25% strength when I noticed that the initial single-finger leaves were starting to discolor and turn yellow w/ brown spots. That feeding immediately stopped the discoloration. At first I thought the culprit for this deformation might be the Miracle Grow soil that everyone seems to hate but I only purchased it because of the very low fertilizer levels (.03 - .03 - .03). I will be transplanting into 2 Gallon smart pots using Pro Mix HP growing medium once I start to see root development reaching the bottom of the pot. I’ve been watering using straight distilled water for now and as stated above, runoff is hovering around the 7.2 PH mark.

I’ve scoured the forums for answers to this problem but I’m absolutely stumped. As you can see in the attached photos, one of the plants seems to be prospering quite well and they have all received the same water / feedings and live in the same environment. Ironically enough, the plant doing the best started out the worst as it initially poked through the soil with a single cotyledon leaf. It was very slow to develop as a result.

I would GREATLY appreciate any input you guys may have. Please ask any further questions and I will respond ASAP.

Thanks in advance,

Root bound? Too much water? I don't think it has anything todo with seedling mix.

I see something about too much light and 7.2 PH.

Have you tested that distilled waters PH?

I wish I had your Humidity....maybe too low for seedlings?

Uberknot said:

Root bound? Too much water? I don't think it has anything todo with seedling mix.

I see something about too much light and 7.2 PH.

Have you tested that distilled waters PH?

I wish I had your Humidity....maybe too low for seedlings?

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I don't think they'd be root bound as of yet as I'm just starting to see traces of roots through the drainage holes at the bottom of the pot. Overwatering perhaps, although I had only watered when the soil was completely dry after approximately 5 days since the last watering.

The 7.2 PH was my runoff from the last watering (Sept 6) and I have tested the distilled water at a neutral PH of 7.0. I have multiple PH meters which I had calibrated before this grow. I thought it might be something to do with my PH being a little high but this leaf deformation seems pretty intense for a slight deviation from best possible scenario (6.0 - 7.0).

These plants are about 2 - 3 days away from their second feeding so I might try to adjust the PH down to 6.0 to bring the overall soil PH down a little bit.

I'm thinking the MH HID light might be a bit too intense so as of last night I dimmed my ballast to 75% now delivering approximately 430 Watts.

Thanks for the response Uber

too much nutes and shite soil

trippytrappy said:

too much nutes and shite soil

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very informative.

It's the nutrients in the Miracle Gro that does that! Miracle Gro isn't compatible with the pot plant! You want dirt with no nutrients in it ! like sun shine mix 4 or Light Warrior from fox farm for seeds. Then after a month of that you go to fox farm ocean forest!

Ok......they should have been transplanted by now that's what I think.

It looks like half filled short pots.....they have long tap roots.

DannyBlaze2 said:

It's the nutrients in the Miracle Gro that does that! Miracle Gro isn't compatible with the pot plant! You want dirt with no nutrients in it ! like sun shine mix 4 or Light Warrior from fox farm for seeds. Then after a month of that you go to fox farm ocean forest!

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Miracle Grow is crap soil. Also do not use their liquids on any baby plants. Find organic soil.

Babies like that work fine in good soil and good water. They do not really need nutes.

If you want store bought nutes - Dr. Earth or Jack's by JR Peters. This is stuff ladies and gents use for their gardens and it is fine. Schultz stuff is okay but stay away from Miracle Grow.

Dankzilla85 said:

I don't think they'd be root bound as of yet as I'm just starting to see traces of roots through the drainage holes at the bottom of the pot. Overwatering perhaps, although I had only watered when the soil was completely dry after approximately 5 days since the last watering.

The 7.2 PH was my runoff from the last watering (Sept 6) and I have tested the distilled water at a neutral PH of 7.0. I have multiple PH meters which I had calibrated before this grow. I thought it might be something to do with my PH being a little high but this leaf deformation seems pretty intense for a slight deviation from best possible scenario (6.0 - 7.0).

These plants are about 2 - 3 days away from their second feeding so I might try to adjust the PH down to 6.0 to bring the overall soil PH down a little bit.

I'm thinking the MH HID light might be a bit too intense so as of last night I dimmed my ballast to 75% now delivering approximately 430 Watts.

Thanks for the response Uber

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WTF! Miracle Grow and HIDs on babies! Go to Wal Mart or Lowes and get a two bulb T8. $10.97 at Wal Mart and 2 6500 K T8 bulbs. It will cost you less than $18. At Lowes it is a little more.

Some dumb hippy taught me growing and suggested babies out of the clone box under HIDs at a distance. I quickly learned how stupid that idea was. You might as well put them in a microwave because that is what an Metal Halide HID lamp will do to these babies. They are delicate.

MG soil....

MG

MG

MG

It's not the MG for sure. I wouldn't want to use the regular MG potting soil, but the seedling soil works fine. I have used it in the past with no problems. Ubernot's plants are a testament to the fact that you can grow healthy plants in MG. They won't be organic, but they will produce a nice crop if all other needs are met.

MG

cindysid said:

It's not the MG for sure. I wouldn't want to use the regular MG potting soil, but the seedling soil works fine. I have used it in the past with no problems. Ubernot's plants are a testament to the fact that you can grow healthy plants in MG. They won't be organic, but they will produce a nice crop if all other needs are met.

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These are lots of other peoples plants and more are coming later today....got to do some stuff. o/

MG grow ferts......organic soil.....seedling soil....

it's not the MG.


People are starting to sound like used car salesman in here.....

DannyBlaze2 said:

It's the Miracle Gro Soil I wouldn't use it. I start my in Sun Shine Mix 4. You may as well trash this.

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If you knew anything about growing, you wouldn't say that. MG is not the best soil you can buy, but it will work and if you knew anything about cannabis plants in general you would know that plants can recover and turn around quickly. There is no reason to trash them. That's how beginners learn...by making mistakes and learning to correct them. I have also found that most problems are either too much fertilizer or too much water.

Looks like pH is outta whack and over watered to me... There is a such thing as over loving your gals, especially when they are young and vulnerable. For all those that claim it's just the Miracle Grow are seriously under experienced with it. Plants this young didn't need any extra feeding just a nice drying out.