What am i messing up for these seedling?

Islandgreen said:

Let me help you out here bro first thing is 600w for a baby is way to much light second buy good bag of soil Believe it or not Miracle grow is perfect for novice growers you can even buy roots organics or Fox farm That already has the perfect PH and nutrients for your plants.They also have perlite and Cocoa core mix in. This would eliminate guessing your ph guessing your nutrients and solve your drainage and moisture problem. The other guys are right it looks like you're overwatering ur plants a good way to check is to put your finger into the soil and feel if it's still moist and thats how you determin if you need to water every plant is different and we'll drink as they please. Happy grow

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600 isn't too much unless Its too close.

I start seeds in the sun all the time. The sun is stronger.

It wouldn't be too much light. It would be the light too close. Infrared would be the culprit from the hps.

L30nPh3lps said:

Sand water-logs too, and u could just end up in a situation where the sand is all at the bottom and is trapping the water into the pot and stopping runoff, might lead to all sorts of problems not the least of which is root rot, perlite may float but if mixed into the soil and not just piled on top its not gonna all float up, also if ur flushing for harvest and not to get rid of a nute buildup in ur soil thats hurting ur plant and u have a visible layer of just water on top when ur flushing thats waaay too much water, just saturate the soil over a little while longer, if ur water is all running right thru the pot its not really flushing just kinda drowning, just feed the plant with plain water the same way uve been feeding it anything else mayb twice a day in the morning and evening.. sorry for the novel hah

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Sand in no way would stop water from running out the pots.

I wouldn't use sea sand. I like local sand from rivers. Good stuff.

I quit using it though. I was having to water too frequent. The pots would actually go from proper amount of moisture to way too dry very quickly. To the point of damaging plants.

With a good mix you will get a little time they will droop and there is still time to water and the plants recover.

I used it in my outdoor veggie garden. The soil is clay here. The first couple years I would add a couple truck loads of composted manure and sand in the fall and spring. It was the only cost effective way to amend such a large area.

I've used it. It actually cause the pots to dry out faster.

maxdaJ420 said:

Good tip L3on, will get a spray bottle today! Your little plant looks very good, hope i can get mine to grow like that at some point too! I think there should be enough perlite in the new soil to prevent me from overwatering again, if not i'll know to buy more perlite!

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How close is the light to them?

Hold your hand right over the top if the plants. Keep it there for a bit. If it is uncomfortable to your hand raise the light.

It does look some heat stress also.

I'm no scientist, but perlite has an enormous surface area, like a fractal.
I've heard something like, that gives lots of spots that nutrients can sit around in... cations, before... the ions quantum tunnel into the multiverse?

I don't know the science but I think there are arguments along those lines out there.
That 'popcorn holds more butter than marbles'

O

GreenLogician said:

I'm no scientist, but perlite has an enormous surface area, like a fractal.
I've heard something like, that gives lots of spots that nutrients can sit around in... cations, before... the ions quantum tunnel into the multiverse?

I don't know the science but I think there are arguments along those lines out there.
That 'popcorn holds more butter than marbles'

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Oh I agree that perlite has some advantage over sand. However if the perlite doesn't stay mixed up with the soil, you lose ALL benefits of perlite because then it is sitting on TOP of the soil and not in it. THAT is the only problem I have with perlite. It's like having a thousand dollar knife on a fishing trip. It works great.... until you drop it overboard and lose it for the rest of the season. Unless you can dive in and get it. With perlite (knife) once it's not where you need it, you lose the plant.

I think that I would rather mix a tad bit on the light side of just right with sand. I am only watering every 3-4 days right now at the most often. It's been dry with brief showers at most, and I still only water my biggest plants @ twice a week.

If I am in a hurry, I can just dump the water in and go. I am using pretty large pots, @ 20-30 gallon size also the pots sit on a slight angle so there's no pool in the bottom of the pot to cause root rot. Plus (something that I just learned) sand contains silica, which is supposed to be good for cannabis?

When I first learned horticulture, perlite was something that was almost unheard of ( yeah, I'm an old fart) and was only found in potting mixes and the gi-normous greenhouses that were HUGE affairs. We HAD TO use sand. I am a Looooong way away from any salt water too, so I don't have to worry about washing the sand either. Ymmv, but for now I am probably better off going with what I know the old school way. I'm still learning.

MadMel said:

O

Oh I agree that perlite has some advantage over sand. However if the perlite doesn't stay mixed up with the soil, you lose ALL benefits of perlite because then it is sitting on TOP of the soil and not in it. THAT is the only problem I have with perlite. It's like having a thousand dollar knife on a fishing trip. It works great.... until you drop it overboard and lose it for the rest of the season. Unless you can dive in and get it. With perlite (knife) once it's not where you need it, you lose the plant.

I think that I would rather mix a tad bit on the light side of just right with sand. I am only watering every 3-4 days right now at the most often. It's been dry with brief showers at most, and I still only water my biggest plants @ twice a week.

If I am in a hurry, I can just dump the water in and go. I am using pretty large pots, @ 20-30 gallon size also the pots sit on a slight angle so there's no pool in the bottom of the pot to cause root rot. Plus (something that I just learned) sand contains silica, which is supposed to be good for cannabis?

When I first learned horticulture, perlite was something that was almost unheard of ( yeah, I'm an old fart) and was only found in potting mixes and the gi-normous greenhouses that were HUGE affairs. We HAD TO use sand. I am a Looooong way away from any salt water too, so I don't have to worry about washing the sand either. Ymmv, but for now I am probably better off going with what I know the old school way. I'm still learning.

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A lot of articles on amending soil recommend sand. Its really the only practical way for large outdoors gardens.

I've noticed faster drainage with sand.

Alright, focusing on perlite floating/sifting to the top
I happened to have a post-harvest pot sitting next to me just now and dissected it, and it seems to have stayed well distributed for me
I'm using a Canna Terra Professional, which is a sort of stringy peat based potting soil, so these results aren't universally applicable.
Have you seen a substantial fraction float to the surface before, checking it's not just the first inch of topsoil getting depleted of perlite?

GreenLogician said:

Alright, focusing on perlite floating/sifting to the top
I happened to have a post-harvest pot sitting next to me just now and dissected it, and it seems to have stayed well distributed for me
I'm using a Canna Terra Professional, which is a sort of stringy peat based potting soil, so these results aren't universally applicable.
Have you seen a substantial fraction float to the surface before, checking it's not just the first inch of topsoil getting depleted of perlite?

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Lol no pictures.

I hadn't really considered that about only the top portion of the soils perlite floating up. It makes sense. Actually it makes a lot of sense, especially with the size pots that I'm using. I know that the organic soil I used as my base soil had perlite in it, and I haven't seen much of it up on top.

I know when I have used the gallon size or smaller, it's been a problem in the past, but perhaps the larger pot size helps prevent that. It is something that I will have to consider. This time, just getting started, sand was a MUCH cheaper choice. $1 /5 gallon bucket. That's cheap as I can find for anything in this category of soil composition.

Maybe next grow, I will give perlite a fair chance to change my mind.