If you’ve recently bought cannabis seeds, you’re likely invested in making sure they sprout and thrive to become high-quality marijuana plants. However, taking care of seedlings can be tricky, especially when it’s your first time trying to grow a plant.

You may run into a few issues when growing cannabis seedlings, which will affect them well into their life cycle, making it imperative to identify these problems and fix them as quickly as possible. Deformed or yellowed leaves, slow growth, and burnt tips are all symptoms that your cannabis seedlings aren’t thriving as much as you’d hope, but the sooner you act, the more likely you can save your plant.

What a Healthy Seedling Looks Like

To know if there’s an issue with your seedling, you must know the characteristics of a healthy one. Cannabis seedlings have two tiny round leaves known as cotyledons, which have formed inside the seed and will sprout once the seed is successfully germinated. After a few days, the first serrated leaves will peek through, indicating that your weed seeds are starting to grow. These leaves should be bright green.

Common Seedling Issues

Now that you know what a healthy cannabis seedling looks like, it’s time to learn the most common issues plaguing them. Here are some of them:

• Overwatering

It’s easy to be overzealous when caring for a seedling, making you believe that giving them more water is better than not giving enough. However, both can harm the plant. Although weed seeds need water to sprout, they also require enough oxygen to develop correctly. When you give them too much water, you’ll risk drowning them due to the lack of oxygen. Your leaves will start turning yellow, indicating poor drainage or excessive watering.

To solve this, make sure your plants are in containers with proper drainage holes. Mix perlite into the soil, improving oxygenation and drainage. You may also want to create drainage holes at the container’s bottom to give a place for water to drain.

• Underwatering

Underwatering your marijuana seed is just as problematic as overwatering it. It won’t have enough water to sustain itself, so you’ll need to make sure you always give it adequate amounts of water. The roots must always be moist since the plant is losing water through transpiration, requiring more hydration to supply its leaves with water. To address this, ensure the top of the soil is always moist and mix the soil with vermiculite or coco fibre, which will enhance the plant’s water retention.

• Not Giving Enough Nutrients

Like humans, plants can also suffer from a lack of nutrition. They’ll display symptoms of yellow leaves, spots, burnt tips, or slower growth when they aren’t getting the minerals and vitamins they need to thrive. This problem may be caused by giving them nutrients too soon, too many at once, or putting them in pre-amended soils. If you’re using super soil, it is best to give your nutrients when your soil isn’t “hot” or undertaking biological activities that take 30 to 45 days to finish. Be sure to adjust your nutrient dose to match the medium you’re growing your seedlings in and to wait at least ten days before feeding your plants.

Conclusion

Growing cannabis seeds can be a fascinating process, especially if it’s your first time. However, to ensure that they all thrive as intended, it would help to familiarise yourself with the common issues plaguing these plants. That way, you can prevent them and enjoy lush green herbs ready for your enjoyment.

Coffee Shop Seeds offers a vast selection of the best quality cannabis seeds for your home cultivation. Whether you want a beginner growth kit or to expand your mini forest, our selection of weed seeds will meet your every need. Check out our seeds today!