Did I stunt them?

[Arnis&Weed]

Ok so this is my first time growing with coco coir. I’ve done plenty of research. Most people say to water seedlings everyday, but auto pots tell me not to water so the roots will grow downward. I have been spraying the top every other day with a very little amount of water.
Yesterday I noticed some yellowing. I decided to get them a light dose of cal-mag. This morning there was more yellowing and droopy leaves.

My coco is mixed with perlite and earthworm castings. My light ( MARS TSL 2000 ) is set at 30% and 8 inches above the seedlings. The coco didn’t dry up at all last night

I can only assume the yellowing is from under watering due to the auto pot suggestion.

I’m a bit lost as to what to do. I don’t want to pull them and hoping for recovery.
All in all I e never had seeds grow so slowly, nor can I remember ever seeing this with seedlings.

Any advice would be helpful and appreciated

 

[Entombed]

Just leave em to grow. That seedling is like brand new so you won't see much for a few days while it puts down some roots. Just be patient and keep the environment stable. Should be warm and humid. If it's dry where you are put a clear cup over it to increase the humidity.

 

[Arnis&Weed]

Just leave em to grow. That seedling is like brand new so you won't see much for a few days while it puts down some roots. Just be patient and keep the environment stable. Should be warm and humid. If it's dry where you are put a clear cup over it to increase the humidity.

My temp is at 75-80* and Rah is 70 VPD is bouncing from .97 all the way to 1.23 they are on day 5 since they popped up

A question though is should I be watering? As auto pots says not to I’m a bit lost on that one

 

[Entombed]

I like to pre-soak my coco and then leave it for a week or so initially to dry back. I'll hand water a couple times when I see the top layer of coco drying. After that it's at least once a day but with the autopots I don't know when you should turn them on.

If your coco is wet all the way down I wouldn't worry about watering. If not, I would water once and then leave it for a few days.

But with coco never just plain water. Always water with fertilizer. pH is very important too.

 

[Arnis&Weed]

I like to pre-soak my coco and then leave it for a week or so initially to dry back. I'll hand water a couple times when I see the top layer of coco drying. After that it's at least once a day but with the autopots I don't know when you should turn them on.

If your coco is wet all the way down I wouldn't worry about watering. If not, I would water once and then leave it for a few days.

But with coco never just plain water. Always water with fertilizer. pH is very important too.

Thanks for the info. I presoaked it but didn’t dry back. I’ll have to remember that. My coco seams to be wet enough. Plus I believe the humidity must be giving them water.

I’m doing Ph the old way with paper strips. I’m pretty religious about Ph

Auto pots says to turn it on at 10-14 days. From my research I heard it said that starting from seed that it takes longer

Hope to see some new growth

 

[BII]

If the media "seems to be wet," it definitely is wet enough for a very young plant (that likely doesn't need to be watered at all). Keep in mind it's even wetter in spots, such at the bottom, where you can't check/test. And the plant needs to have motivation to grow roots throughout the pot. If the media on the top dries, that's OK with bottom feeding/AutoPots and not where you want roots to grow.

When I used AutoPots, I never top-feed/watered, including no spraying, before starting the bottom feeding at about 10 days. I pre-charged with 1/4 dose base nutes.

If you are "religious about pH," why have the mixed coco-organics (worm castings) media? What pH do you target? Do you treat the media as coco or living soil?

 

[MIAutomatic]

What coco did you use? Check the bag because a lot of coco has no nutrients added. Most brands are buffered now, which wasn’t always the case, but that’s it.

You said you did some research, but I think you need to read up on coco a bit more. It’s different than most other soilless mediums. It uses lots of calmag and typically requires pretty regular fertigation, making auto pots not the best choice for a coco grow.

Like others mentioned sometimes seedlings just slow roll it, but they also might need just a little nitrogen soon. Those worm castings won’t help out much until there’s more of a root system so giving them a mild dose of water soluble N is probably a good idea.

Coco also holds about half as much water as peat, and since you said you added 30% perlite the medium should be plenty well aerated to give them a little water every day without worrying about dampening off.

good luck!

 

[Arnis&Weed]

If the media "seems to be wet," it definitely is wet enough for a very young plant (that likely doesn't need to be watered at all). Keep in mind it's even wetter in spots, such at the bottom, where you can't check/test. And the plant needs to have motivation to grow roots throughout the pot. If the media on the top dries, that's OK with bottom feeding/AutoPots and not where you want roots to grow.

When I used AutoPots, I never top-feed/watered, including no spraying, before starting the bottom feeding at about 10 days. I pre-charged with 1/4 dose base nutes.

If you are "religious about pH," why have the mixed coco-organics (worm castings) media? What pH do you target? Do you treat the media as coco or living soil?

I don’t know how to answer the Ph question. I Ph my water to 5.8 to 6.0. I don’t have any run off to test yet. I added the earthworm castings just because I wanted some nutrients in the coir.

 

[Arnis&Weed]

What coco did you use? Check the bag because a lot of coco has no nutrients added. Most brands are buffered now, which wasn’t always the case, but that’s it.

You said you did some research, but I think you need to read up on coco a bit more. It’s different than most other soilless mediums. It uses lots of calmag and typically requires pretty regular fertigation, making auto pots not the best choice for a coco grow.

Like others mentioned sometimes seedlings just slow roll it, but they also might need just a little nitrogen soon. Those worm castings won’t help out much until there’s more of a root system so giving them a mild dose of water soluble N is probably a good idea.

Coco also holds about half as much water as peat, and since you said you added 30% perlite the medium should be plenty well aerated to give them a little water every day without worrying about dampening off.

good luck!

I ended up getting Rx Green Technology I planned on canna coco, but they were out of stock at the store
Nitrogen was my first thought, and thought I had some and didn’t. I will get them some today

 

[DoobieGrows]

Thanks for the info. I presoaked it but didn’t dry back. I’ll have to remember that. My coco seams to be wet enough. Plus I believe the humidity must be giving them water.

I’m doing Ph the old way with paper strips. I’m pretty religious about Ph

Auto pots says to turn it on at 10-14 days. From my research I heard it said that starting from seed that it takes longer

Hope to see some new growth

I would let them go for atleast a day or two. Let the coco dry out until the top layer gets dry Sometimes you gotta stick your fingers in and get dirty to dee how wet your coco is. I would not use a dome personally because you can have them dampen off. 70 RH is plenty enough i would not risk it.

Also how big are your pots?