Good morning! My little girls are 2 weeks old. They just don’t look very good. These pics were taken right after watering, but they still look this way when dry.
I have a Mars Hydro TS 1000
And a Spider Farmer SF2000
Both are 22” away from lights
For soil I mixed
Kelloggs organic raised bed & potting soil
Kelloggs organic garden soil
This is a basic growing area, so I have a small fan but nothing else.
Any suggestions? Thank you in advance 
Maybe too much D.E.?
Good morning @Kris! Sorry to hear you are having troubles. Are the lights both on full strength? Might be too much for them at this stage? Or maybe the fan is blowing too much/too directly on your plants? I wouldn’t have thought the DE did it, but possibly.
Looks like over watering to me. DE can increase water retention in soil if you use a lot. Are you letting them dry out before waterings?
Stick your finger in the top soil before watering and make sure it is dry passed your first knuckle before watering again.
What are you using to water them? Type of water, ppm, ph, any nutrients at this point?
Thank you for your response! Lights are at almost 60% of their strength. Fan could be too much on the Strawberry cough in the red solo cups, but it’s too small to get to the WW in the buckets.
I so appreciate the community here!!
They seem to dry out pretty quickly. I usually water once a day and only if I put my finger in 1” and it feels dry.
Thank you for your response
I’m using distilled water. No nutrients because I’ve read in this forum to not add any until they are around 2 months old. I’m pretty basic, I don’t know about ppm or ph…
Thank you for your response!
Probably over watered, met them go dry for a full day before you water again. Cannabis likes it a touch dry, and specific strains like it very dry. I use the Wet to dry method. You water to the point of runoff, and then let it go completely dry before watering again.
Thank you…I’ve been trying to do that…but a couple times I did water twice in one day when they felt dry.
I assume your using promix/coco/soil. It will feel dry on the top, maybe even top 1/2 inch, but it retains moisture towards the middle, especially if you have soil/compost mixed in it. Let them go a full day before you water again. I’d let them start to droop/wilt, then water. That way you can get a feel for approximately how long between waterings.
@Kris every day is a bit much especially for seedlings. I’d personally only water every 2 to 3 days and mist the seedlings between waterings.
I can see under your SOLO cups the water pooling. Over watering…For small plants like this, you do not need to water so much that there is runoff
Unless your temps are too high and drying things out. That is alot of light for plants this young. If you started all of them in Solo cups, they would fit under 1 light, use the lesser / smaller light to get things going.
No nutes for 2 months is a fallacy. When you start breaking 3 nodes, it time to begin light feeding.
And back off the DE unless you have signs already of gnats or trips
I have a TS1000. I start mine about 34" away on full. Too much light and water for the little gals it would seem.
Thank you again. I’m so glad I’ve got this community to come to for help. Your response as well as others point to too much watering. I am using a medium I am totally not familiar with, Kelloggs organic. Looks like I have a bit more to learn then I thought LOL. I will do as you suggest
This ‘little grasshopper’ is learning LOL. I appreciate your answer, I will go easier on the watering :). Thank you again.
Great observation! Yes, the water did run out the bottom. Your response has certainly agreed with the others that I am watering too much. I’ve read that autoflower doesn’t do well with transplanting, those started out in the buckets. Thanks for the info on when to add nutrients. I do have a bunch of little black flies, the fly strips are catching quite a few. Thanks again for so much information
Wow on the distance…but I have mine around 55-60% so I’m hoping 22” is okay. Yeah…I have been totally off on the water it seems. Thank you for your response
If you are having problems gauging when to water then a good tip to see if your plants are dry enough for watering is to fill a solo cup with dry soil and compare weights. They should feel similar. You will soon be able to tell without having to compare.
When they are this small I just give a circle of water about an inch around the plant to make the roots search. I would rather give lighter more frequent waterings to tease the roots and build a strong rootball. Don’t allow them to sit in runoff and makes sure you have adequate drainage.
Increasing amount of water as they grow.
Of course this is only for veg. Flower we want to keep our ladies a bit moister so our watering frequency increases and we never let them run as dry.
Got ya! I had remembered reading in another conversation about someone watering twice a day and I was shocked. Obviously I didn’t remember the part that it was a mature plant. 
. I like your idea of getting a feel for the weight. That makes sense. I’m kind of known as the ‘plant lady’ to a lot of my friends. I’ve got lots…but this new soil medium as well as probably freaking out because these are the first seeds I’ve ever paid for has made me probably ‘mother’ my plants a bit more then necessary. Thank you !
