New Grower Think Different Growing Very Slowly

[Cannaficiando]

Hi guys...I could do with a little advice. The plants in the photo are just short of two weeks old. They have been at 10cm (4ins) for almost a week, very slowly putting out new leaves. It doesn't look like any TD grow I've seen before.

Some background: tropical grow, indoor under about 80W of CFLs and about 8 hours outdoors in full light. Soil is proprietary garden centre stuff, mixed with some worm casings and coco coir. Temps are around 30C (86F), but the ladies are either outdoors where it's breezy or in front of a fan indoors. Although this is my first autofem grow, I've used this same setup for other grows with no problems.

I've checked the pH using a rudimentary testing kit that came with my water filter and the runoff water seems slightly alkaline. At first I thought the setup may be on the acidic side, maybe acidic enough to interfere with the uptake of Nitrogen (the plants are a little pale and the cotyledons are yellowing), but that doesn't seem to be the case. Then I thought the root system may require more room in the pot, so I'm transplanting them to a 17L pot this evening.

Can anyone shed some light on this (or maybe I just worry too much and all is well). Ta very much.

 

[Peptheblue]

The pH should be slightly acidic in soil. Alkaline is never a good thing as you're way out of range!

Also, they're looking a little stretched, try bringing your CFLs a little closer, see if that has any affect.

Mine and yours TD's are about the same age, check it out! Good luck

 

[Cannaficiando]

Thanks for the reply, Peptheblue.

Yes, both plants stretched badly in the first few days. By day three, they were unable to support the weight of the cotyledons and I had to put supports in.

I realise that alkaline is not a good thing, so I added some peat to the mix in the large pots. My pH testing may not be very accurate, but it's all I have (I live on an island in Asia).

Let's see how they look after the transplants. Good luck with your own grow.

 

[Peptheblue]

Cheers mate,

30 Celsius is also pushing the boundaries of what your little ladies like.
It's probably a little hot for your young plants!

Be worth investing in a decent pH meter to check your run off!
I'm not good with soil though, I do everything hydro!

 

[Cannaficiando]

Update after two weeks:

Growth started after transplanting to a different soil mix and then flushing with vinegar (two tablespoons per gallon of water). After another week of seemingly doing nothing, the stronger of the two plants turned a darker green and added two new nodes, about 1 inch apart, within another week. It looked very healthy (although no sign of pre-flowering as yet) until a couple of days ago when new growth started to look like cabbage.



There is no sign of any pests. I have been watering about twice a week with water acidified with lemon juice (letting the soil dry first). Light is 24/0 - 10 hours outdoors and 14 under CFLs. Runoff shows soil is slightly acidic. Some light nutes were added about a week ago (a teaspoon of 10-10-10 all purpose pellets dissolved in water).

Can anyone help? TIA.

 

[Cannaficiando]

Day 44: Still having problems with this, although she seems to be growing through it. I flushed her with plain water a couple of times, then flushed again (at weekly intervals) with Epsom salts. The height is the same, 8in, but all the effort seems to have been in establishing bud sites, where the new growth looks quite healthy. There is a flower showing at one of the bud sites, but no pre-fliowers (?). Just have to see how this one goes.

I started a backup grow three weeks ago, using different soil. Crikey, what a difference! Both the plants in the picture are Think Different, yet the larger one is less than half the age of the smaller (21 days). I also have a couple other stunted/sickly plants growing, also in the same soil as the older plant. Just goes to show how important getting the soil right is. Use the wrong soil and it's an uphill battle all the way.

 

[The Dude]

I was gonna say(I never seen this thread) that it looks like it grew with too much darkness and PH may have been off early on.Got real leggy.I heard(Dunno for sure) that moving autos from House to oudoors can shook,kill,stunt them since they can be a bit picky sometimes as a rule.Big diff. right!?! LOL!Good sized pot,decent soil with right PH or close with drainage and your battle is almost half way through once you get her off to a solid start n shes reaching long and good.Im looking forward to growing My Think Different too brother.Happy Harvest Buddy!!

 

[Cannaficiando]

Thanks for the reply, The Dude. Yeah, lesson learned regarding the soil. And letting her stretch at the beginning was a big mistake. Still, the new grow has gone so well (so far), maybe I've got the hang of it.

Good luck with your own grow, bro.