New Grower First-Ever Grow - White Widow Autos - with f-ups, photos, and questions

[Archer]

Total n00b grow here. Picked up some auto White Widow seeds, and got 100% germination using the paper towel method. So far, so good, right? Unfortunately, that's where my diligence stopped and my fuckups began.

I made the mistake of not doing my homework until after germinating the seeds. As you'll see in these photos (apologies for the crappy iPhone pic quality), the sprouts are looking kind of sickly. Curious to know if these are salvageable, and if so, what course of action you'd recommend.

​A lot could have gone wrong here:

1. Not enough light. These are being grown on an apartment balcony in the city. Weather has been kind of overcast and hazy this past week.

2. Tiny containers. Before I knew any better, I figured I'd start the seedlings in these tiny bathroom cups, with the bottoms cut out. Once they'd broken the surface, I was going to just drop the bottomless cups into the soil of some 3-gallon pots. In retrospect, this might have been an unnecessary and harmful first step.

3. Soil too hot. I started these in OF, which I later learned can suffer from pH issues. Have not tested the pH of the soil or the runoff -- waiting on Amazon to deliver a pH testing tool as we speak -- but I suspect this could be an issue.

4. Nutrient lockout and/or overload, due to pH. Related to issue #3.

5. Overwatering. Watered these pretty thoroughly on day I planted them; watered them again two days later. Soil seems pretty saturated, but not overly waterlogged.

Or maybe I'm just being paranoid? The cotyledons are yellowing, and the first set of true leaves appear pretty yellow to the naked eye. But maybe this is fine? I'm concerned because these sprouts don't resemble the greenies I'm used to seeing in the Day 1 photos here.

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[AuxiliaryInput]

It could probably be the pH, as this has happened to me as well. Either you get yourself a quick way to measure the pH in the water (litmus papers, pH pen) or you find out through your water company what pH they have - and then adjust accordingly.

Although, I am also concerned about the soil seeming pretty wet and you growing them in paper cups. They might hold too much moisture. On the other hand, you did say that you cut out the bottom of the cups - so I might be overcatious.

 

[Archer]

Thanks for the quick reply. The cups are bottomless and drain pretty well. But the soil retains moisture pretty well, too, as you can (kind of) see from the photos. My hunch tells me that pH is the culprit here. If that's the case, I'm wondering whether dropping these puppies into bigger pots with a less harsh soil will make a difference, or whether I'll need to do some more drastic intervention to save them.

EDIT: I haven't tested it for certain yet, but I know through my city's info that our local water pH is fairly alkaline. It ranges from 8 to 10.1, and averages 9.1. Contrast this with the OF soil, which can be overly acidic. I'd guess that I'm more likely to have a problem with the OF soil than with my tap water, but I could be wrong.

 

[Bayes]

I think your first problem is not enough light, Second, from your description, it sounds to me that they are too wet. I don't know about your pH but I use soils (and nutes) and have found their pH to be inconsistent. As a precaution and to help stabilize the pH of your 3 gallon's soil, I would mix in about 4 tsps. of pulverized garden lime (NOT hydrated lime). This will either a) solve the pH problem if you have it and/or b) eliminate the possibility of developing a pH problem later on in the grow. There's really no down side to garden lime. Good luck!

 

[Archer]

All good advice. Gracias. Was going to pot them in the bigger pots today, but if it'll save me some headaches down the line, I can hold off a day or two and get some garden lime to mix in.

Light is probably going to be an ongoing issue, and we'll just have to see what the universe has in store for me. I'm at the mercy of my local weather conditions, and of a balcony that gets a little bit of direct sunlight and a lot of indirect sunlight. Suboptimal conditions all around, and I'm not expecting miracles from this grow. At the same time, I'd love to bring these plants to bud and get a semi-decent harvest from them, even if I won't get a bumper crop.

 

[Dazed]

Look overwatered to me bro and most likely because of this the your pH is low. Let them dry out and I'm sure they will be ok.

Good luck and Karma sent your way for the little ones bro.

Also if it gets out of hand you will find this thread invaluable - https://www.autoflower.org/f164/afns-live-help-thread-staff-only-replys-30723.html

Dazed..

 

[F.N.]

As dazed said let those babies dry right out. no more water until light as a feather or there about

 

[Archer]

Thanks, man. Luckily today is looking pretty sunny. So I'm temporarily moving these little girls into a brighter, if less stealthy spot on the balcony. They can soak up some rays and dry out a little before I put them in the bigger pots.

If all goes well, and if I have the time, I might turn this thread into a grow journal. We'll see. Thanks again!

 

[Dazed]

I honestly would not transplant them right now, or ever actually, but they are young and not at full health right now. What size pots are those? They look ok for now and you will be surprised how big they can get in small pots. If stealth is important to you, especially being outdoors, why would you want big pots and monster tall plants? Just sayin'...

D.

 

[Archer]

I wouldn't transplant them, per se. I'd fill some bigger pots with soil, and then place these inside that soil. Because they're bottomless, the taproot can grow out from underneath them and establish the plant in the bigger pot.

It's hard to tell from these photos, but the starter cups are really small. These are those little bathroom Dixie cups you use for mouthwash and such. We're talking maybe 2" tall x 2" in diameter.

It's still possible for me to be stealthy and grow these out in 3-gal pots, due to the way my balcony works. There's plenty of hiding room behind a frosted glass wall/guardrail on the balcony. The tradeoff is that placing the plants behind the wall cuts down on sun exposure. But not too dramatically.

I live in a very liberal city, in a state with legalized medical marijuana and largely decriminalized penalties for possession. So I don't need to be absurdly stealthy or anything. Just stealthy enough that my neighbors won't ask questions or call the cops. I'm well above street level, and the only people who can even see my balcony are the neighbors whose balcony faces out towards mine. Even still, I don't want to go balls to the wall and take too many reckless risks.