Hey there! Congratulations on embarking on the cannabis-growing adventure. If your babies have reached the seedling stage and face problems like slow growth and yellowing leaves, you should understand what problems your seedlings are facing and eliminate them right away.
In this guide, we will discuss some common seedling issues and ways to get them fixed, as you must solve these issues fast to ensure that they don’t have a toll on the yields of your marijuana plants.
But, before we go into them, you must know what a healthy marijuana seedling looks like.
Healthy Marijuana Seedlings
When it germinates, two tiny leaflike structures called cotyledons grow from the marijuana seed. After a few days, the true leaves start appearing. These look like the typical marijuana leaves. At this stage, the leaves should be bright green. If they appear yellow or burnt, you must be cautious about a problem.
Common Issues That Marijuana Seedlings Face
Overwatering
Marijuana plants need both water and oxygen to grow. Overwatering drowns the seedlings, and they don’t get enough oxygen. The leaves start getting droopy and eventually become yellow for lack of oxygen.
If you see these problems:
- Make drainage holes on the bottom of the container.
- Don’t leave the plants in running water.
- Increase oxygenation and drainage by mixing perlite into the soil.
- Use self-watering containers like smart pots.
If you grow your plants in hydroponics, keep one-third of the roots out of water.
This will ensure that the seedlings get oxygen even when they are in the water.
Underwatering
You must ensure that the plant roots are always kept moist as they are losing water constantly through the transpiration process, and they need this water to be replenished. Without sufficient water, the cannabis plants dry out and eventually die.
To prevent this, you must always ensure:
The top part of the soil is always moist.
Mix vermiculite or coco fiber with soil to enhance water retention.
Nutrient Issues
If you see yellow spots, slower growth, or burnt tips, it might be a symptom of a nutrient burn, commonly understood as overfeeding. Giving the seedlings too many nutrients too soon or using pre-mixed soil with too many amendments can create such problems.
If you face such a problem, water your seedling with plain water to wash the nutrients out. Also, check the pH level of the water. If you grow in soil, the water pH level should be 6.0-7.0. For hydroponics, clay pellets, or coco peat, the pH level should be between 5.5 and 6.2.
You must monitor these every day and regulate the numbers if there are any signs of deficiency.
Don’t feed your seedlings for the first two weeks or ten days or give a lesser nutrient dose to avoid overfeeding.
If you are using super organic soil, you need to wait for 30-45 days before using it, so the biological activities in the soil get subsided.
More Than Needed Heat
If you see your plant leaves folding upwards like tacos and getting crispy and dry, these are signs of heat stress. The leaves might also start becoming yellowish-green.
Heat stress happens due to low humidity, excess temperature, and strong fans. This can also be spotted by the soil getting dry and cracked.
You need to ensure that the humidity and temperature level are right. If you feel a lot of heat when you put your hands under your lights, move them further away from the plants. Your fans should not be too strong for the seedlings.
Over Or Under Lighting
New growers often provide too much or too little light in the seedling stage. If you see the stem getting longer, it might be due to insufficient lighting. Too much light or too close to the lighting will make the leaves burn. Adjust the light’s distance to find the distance that works. Using CFLs instead of HPS or LEDs also avoids this sort of issue.
Ways To Ensure A Healthy Seedling.
Let me now share with you how to avoid the above-mentioned cannabis issues. These tips will help you avoid problems, and you will keep them happy and healthy.
Perfect Environment
Temperature and relative humidity affect your seedlings’ growth directly, and you must take care not to make the light too strong but enough for them to grow. The relative humidity must be 70-80%, and the temperature must be 21-23 degrees centigrade.
Intensity Of Light
If the light is stronger than needed, it can cause light burn for your delicate seedlings. Therefore you must adjust the light and dim it down if necessary to avoid stretching a lot. If you see the seedlings stretching, increase the light intensity or place the fixture closer.
Proper Watering
New growers often take time to understand the perfect measure of watering the plant. Both overwatering and under-watering can be fatal for your marijuana baby. To avoid these issues begin watering with 100 ml of pH tested water and increase the amount when the plant grows.
Addressing Common Seedling Issues
Before you take any step to address any problem in your seedling, know that different problems might have similar symptoms. Before you take any drastic measure, be sure of what problem your plant is facing.
Seedling Leaves Turning Yellow
Wrong nutrient types, more nutrients, or lack of nutrients will turn the leaves yellow. You need to adjust the number of nutrients or pause for a few days before adding more nutrients. I would also like to suggest the organic nutrient pack from the top online selling site i49 instead of mixing your nutrients right away. Take time to know what suits your plant best.
Removing The Plastic Covering
The plastic dome helped in faster germination by locking in moisture and must be removed when you see the cotyledons appearing.
Seedling Leaves Curling Down
When your seedlings are exposed to higher temperatures or are overwatered, their leaves curl down. You should maintain a steady temperature of 20-25 ºC and ensure proper watering.
Putting Seedlings Under Light
You need to put your seedlings under light after germination but for the first one or two weeks, use a fluorescent light of 15-20 W. When you see the first pair of leaves developed completely, put an MH or LED lamp over it. It would be best if your cannabis seeds get 18 hours of light.
Ideal Substrate Mix
Of course, the substrate mixes are super important for healthy growth. You can start with a light nutrient mix for the initial weeks and later create your mix with coco fiber and perlite. You should ensure that your substrate mix allows good water retention and oxygenation.
Slow Growth
Slow growth might happen from different factors, and it might be due to lack of adequate nutrients or improper lighting, or extreme humidity or heat. Ensure that you check all these factors if your plant is experiencing slow growth.
Proper Distance Between Light And Seedling
There is no one standard distance between the lights and the seedlings as it depends on the kind of lights you are using. When using an MH or HPS, You should place the light at 25 – 40 cm from the baby plants.
Keep the lights at a distance of 5 – 10 cm from the marijuana seedlings if CFL lamps are installed in your grow room. Use 40% light intensity and place the seedling around 75 cm away if using LED lamps.
Ending Note
Marijuana is a sensitive plant that demands a lot of attention and care. They are delicate and fragile in the seedling stage. It is important to keep your plants healthy at this stage so that when they grow, they become happy, healthy mature plants capable of producing a wonderful harvest.
We would suggest that you always choose the best-quality seeds from i49.net. If you keep these factors in mind, you will produce such amazing plants, I am sure. I hope this guide has been informative. Until next time, have Fun growing!
