Help!! I think something is wrong with my seedling

Shiann

Member
This plant has done great from day one and has been growing perfect. Well just a day or two ago as her first set of true leaves started getting bigger I noticed that they were drooping a little bit but thought that maybe it was just because they were getting a little bit bigger. Well today I took her off the light for six hours and when I went to go put her back on the light the first true leaves had drooped a lot more but the other leaves that are coming in still look great.146863867380342136635.jpg Can somebody take a look at her picture and tell me what might be wrong?
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Shiann

Member
I will go to the nursery tomorrow and get a soil tester to check the nitrogen. I have been watering once a day. Do you thinnk that is too much? Thank you for your feedback
 

Resinhound

Well-Known Member
I will go to the nursery tomorrow and get a soil tester to check the nitrogen. I have been watering once a day. Do you thinnk that is too much? Thank you for your feedback
Yes once a day is far to much, seedlings don't consume much water.. The soil should remain damp not wet .As long as you can detect some moisture in the soil, don't water them.. It may be 3 days or 5 depends on environment
 

Shiann

Member
Yes once a day is far to much, seedlings don't consume much water.. The soil should remain damp not wet .As long as you can detect some moisture in the soil, don't water them.. It may be 3 days or 5 depends on environment
Thank you I appreciate your help. Also the plant is not in the middle, not sure how it got so far to the side, will this cause any problems with it being on the side of the cup instead of the middle?
 

$bkbbudz$

Well-Known Member
Thank you I appreciate your help. Also the plant is not in the middle, not sure how it got so far to the side, will this cause any problems with it being on the side of the cup instead of the middle?
The roots will grow into the pot not to worry....Personally, I only water seedlings every 3-5 days and than only a shot glass at a time. I like to make the roots stretch out and seek moisture.
 

Shiann

Member
The roots will grow into the pot not to worry....Personally, I only water seedlings every 3-5 days and than only a shot glass at a time. I like to make the roots stretch out and seek moisture.
Ok great! I will wait a few days to water and hopefully she will start looking better
 

Shiann

Member
Okay so I have cut back on the watering but I don't think that's the problem because her leaves are still drooping sometimes. I have noticed in the past couple of days that they have been drooping when I take her off for her 6 hours without light and when I go to put her back on, her leaves are drooping over quite a bit and then after she has been back under the light for a while they get better. Isn't it good to take them off for six hours a day so they have time to rest? Does anyone have any idea why something like this would happen when she gets taken off light? And is there anything I can do so that she can still get her off time but without her leaves drooping?
 

Resinhound

Well-Known Member
Plants don't sleep or rest, what you are seeing is the plant shutting down due to no availiable light. There's not much you can do about it, it's how plants work. Just make sure Temps remain good even with lights off.
 

Maggs707

Well-Known Member
I will go to the nursery tomorrow and get a soil tester to check the nitrogen. I have been watering once a day. Do you thinnk that is too much? Thank you for your feedback
It looks to me like a definite oberwatering issue. Watering every day is generally too often, especially with a young seedling.

There is a few reasons for this. Roots need to breathe. Water is essential, but too much of it too often causes an anaerobic (without oxygen) environment in your soil. The roots can't breathe, and will start to rot if you do not correct the issue. Also, if you do now allow adequate "dry out" cycles, the young roots will have no reason to venture out into the soil and seek water. You want the roots to grow and seek water, because that means your plant will grow as well!

As a general rule of thumb, always wait until the soil looks dry on top before you even consider watering. There is absolutely nothing wrong with letting your soil dry out to an extent. I would wait until the top 1/2 inch of that pot was dry before I hit it with water. For a seedling that size, watering 2 or 3 times a week should be about what you should expect. Good luck!
 

Maggs707

Well-Known Member
Reain
Plants don't sleep or rest, what you are seeing is the plant shutting down due to no availiable light. There's not much you can do about it, it's how plants work. Just make sure Temps remain good even with lights off.
Resinho is right on the money. If the leaves are only droopy during the dark hours, that's completely normal.
 

Cyrus420

Well-Known Member
^^^

Same. It's just over-watered wait for the soil to be dried out at least a good few inches into the soil before you water again. Roots need oxygen and if they don't breathe they slowly start to die.
 

kiwipaulie

Well-Known Member
I'll also add. Watering once a day is too much. You probably only need to water once a week, wait till it has really dried out and then water till the cup feels full. You don't need huge run off. Ideally there would just be a little bit of water that come out the bottom.

If you keep potting up as it gets bigger, you wont even need any added nutes.
 

Shiann

Member
Thank you for all of the responses. She is doing much better now..
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This is my first time so I'm very new at this but I've done a lot of research. I was told by somebody on another thread that I should use foxfarm ocean Forest so that is what she is currently in but have recently been told by somebody else foxfarm ocean Forest is not good for seedlings because they can get nutrient burn very easy and I should transplant her into something else. Do you guys think that I should transplant her into different soil or just leave her in the foxfarm ocean Forest that she's currently in?
 

Maggs707

Well-Known Member
Thank you for all of the responses. She is doing much better now..
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This is my first time so I'm very new at this but I've done a lot of research. I was told by somebody on another thread that I should use foxfarm ocean Forest so that is what she is currently in but have recently been told by somebody else foxfarm ocean Forest is not good for seedlings because they can get nutrient burn very easy and I should transplant her into something else. Do you guys think that I should transplant her into different soil or just leave her in the foxfarm ocean Forest that she's currently in?
With ocean forest, I definitely would wait a few weeks bofore I fed the plant anything at all. Some people like to flush it out before they plant in it because sometimes it can burn young seedlings (so I've heard). I've never seen it happen first hand though.
 

Shiann

Member
With ocean forest, I definitely would wait a few weeks bofore I fed the plant anything at all. Some people like to flush it out before they plant in it because sometimes it can burn young seedlings (so I've heard). I've never seen it happen first hand though.
I was told on a different post that foxfarm ocean Forest is really bad for seedlings and it will give them nutrient burn and so that I should transplant them into Light Warrior right away but I don't want to shock them by transplanting them because they have already been transplanted once. I definitely am waiting a little while to start giving the nutrients in their water but I'm wondering if maybe instead of transplanting to different soil if I should just flush them to try to get some of the nutrients out and just leave them in the ffof..
 

Maggs707

Well-Known Member
I was told on a different post that foxfarm ocean Forest is really bad for seedlings and it will give them nutrient burn and so that I should transplant them into Light Warrior right away but I don't want to shock them by transplanting them because they have already been transplanted once. I definitely am waiting a little while to start giving the nutrients in their water but I'm wondering if maybe instead of transplanting to different soil if I should just flush them to try to get some of the nutrients out and just leave them in the ffof..
If you keep them in that soil, you coild always flush them really well next time you water.
 
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