Issue #122 - Sunday, August 17, 2014

Dear Fellow Grower,

In today's issue...

• Learn how to avoid the most common seedling problems!
• Ready to grow your own seedlings? Learn the secrets of germination!
• Check out an awesome trophy pic featuring two Bubba Kush plants!

Happy Growing!

Nebula Haze & Sirius Fourside (founders of GrowWeedEasy.com)

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life."

~ Steve Jobs

Before we take a look at cannabis seedling problems, let's show you what a healthy cannabis seedling looks like! If your plants look like this, you're golden!

Healthy Cannabis Seedlings Look Like This!

One last thing before we get into seedling problems; let's take a look at what healthy seedlings and young plants look like!

1.) Overwatering - seedling is droopy, growing medium is moist, damping off

When a cannabis plant is "overwatered" it has less to do with the water and more to do with oxygen. Plants can even grow directly in water (hydroponics) but in order to thrive, roots need oxygen. In hydroponics, that's accomplished by dissolving oxygen into the water. But when plants are grown in a container, too much water = not enough oxygen.

When a plant's roots are sitting in water, they quickly use up all the oxygen until the growing medium starts to dry out. Without enough oxygen at the roots, the plant will start showing symptoms. Luckily, there are many steps you can take to prevent overwatering your cannabis plants.

While overwatering can display many different symptoms, most overwatered cannabis plants look droopy, like this...

• Big Pot, Small Seedling
• Small Pot, Big Seedling
• No Drainage (or poor drainage)
• Watering Too Often

2.) Underwatering - seedling is droopy, wilting, or not growing properly, and the growing medium around the seedling isn't moist

While overwatering is the most common seedling symptom, underwatering is also a problem, especially for those who have been warned to avoid giving too much water.

It can be confusing because the symptoms often look similar to each other, which is why it's important to learn good watering practices. 

It's crucially important to make sure that plant roots have access to moisture at all times. Plants are constantly losing water through their leaves (called "transpiration") and this is actually how plants get water up from the roots. As the plants lose water from the leaves, it pulls water up from the ground like a straw. 

When there's not enough water at the roots, many plant processes cease to function. If roots actually dry out, the dried shoots die.

Here's another example of a young cannabis plant that is underwatered, even in a big container (where the problem is usually overwatering). Notice how this cannabis seedling is basically just wilting and falling over, while the potting mix looks completely dry.

3.) Nutrient Problems - leaves are yellow, discolored, crispy or have spots

Healthy cannabis leaves on seedlings should be green! Again, here's what healthy leaves look like...

When the cannabis leaves of young plants stop being green, you need to react. Changes of color (such as yellowing, spots, burnt tips, etc) are usually a sign that there's a problem when it comes to young cannabis plants.

The leaves of young cannabis plants & seedlings should be green!

Some common seedling nutrient problems include...

• Too Much Nutrients
• Not Enough or Wrong Kind of Nutrients
• Other Nutrient Problems

4.) Heat - leaves bend in the middle so they look like canoes or tacos, turning up at the edges, wilting, strange spotting, symptoms usually appear after temperature starts climbing

When the heat gets too high, the edges of the leaves will begin to curl up and the leaves will begin to "cup" or "taco." 

5.) Not enough (or too much) light - burned or crinkled leaves, too much space between nodes, tall seedlings that fall over

Not Enough Light = Stretched, "Leggy," Tall Seedlings

Too Much Light = Burned, Crinkled Leaves

• Too wet - don't drown your seeds! While it's okay to soak seeds for the first 24 hours, after that they should be moist but not soaking.
• Too dry - if seeds are too dry, they won't sprout! If seeds sprout but then are exposed to dryness, they will die.
• Too deep - if you plant seeds too deep in the growing medium, they may have a hard time making it to the surface. An inch deep (just enough to support the seed and cover it) is about as deep as you'll ever need to go.
• Not warm enough - seeds and seedlings like warmer temps (from 80-85 F) and will grow more slowly in cooler environments.
• Wrong starting growing medium - Many growers like to plant their seeds directly in a growing medium, just like in nature. But some growing mediums are better for seeds than others. Learn the pros and cons of different growing mediums for starting seeds 
• Old or improperly stored seeds - any seeds that germinates is a good seeds, but older or improperly stored seeds often take longer to sprout, and may no sprout at all, even if you do everything right.
• Not ripe seeds (pale or translucent) - while any seed that sprouts is a good seed, seeds that are pale, flimsy or translucent have very low germination rates because they're not fully mature.
• Too much humidity - Some growers like to use a humidity dome for new seedlings, but don't leaves these on too long after sprouting, as too much humidity can cause "damping off (seedling sort of folding over and dying, more info below)

Learn more about germinating cannabis seeds!

http://www.growweedeasy.com/germinate

We encourage you to forward this email to a friend in need!

Jump to...

How to germinate cannabis seeds

Where to get cannabis seeds?

Teach me the basics of growing

Start growing today!

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Nothing in this e-mail should be considered personalized Financial, Legal, Medical or any other kind of Advice. The contributors to this magazine grow legally under their local laws. If you cannot legally grow where you live, we DO NOT recommend that you start growing marijuana, as you can be arrested, put in prison, or worse! 

Any decision to grow marijuana should only be made after consulting with an experienced lawyer or other legal adviser. Although our employees may answer your general customer service questions, they are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular investment or legal situation. No communication by our employees to you should be deemed as personalized Financial or Legal Advice. Any investments and steps recommended in this letter should be made only after consulting with your lawyer or other legal or investment adviser. 

Nothing in this e-mail should be considered personalized Health Care or Medical Advice. Although our employees may answer your general customer service questions, they are not licensed health care professionals. No communication by our employees to you should be deemed as personalized Health Care Advice. Any Health Care recommended in this letter should be made only after consulting with your Doctor and licensed Health Care Advisor.