Seedlings Dying

I have lost over 30 plants in the Cotyledon to true leaf stage. (very early) on 3 different occasions. Each time in different soil and temp regimens, trying to solve this problem.

I have been growing for 40 years, and have never run into such a problem.
My next experiment will be to use a different water source, as that has been the only constant. I live in the mountains and have spring water, very low PH. I never imagined that it could cause an issue, but I am running out of options.
It is worth mentioning that this is my first grow in this location.
The seedlings that survive (barely) go on to be beautiful, healthy plants.
This is very strange, and I would appreciate your thoughts.

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Are you using a compost/soil suited to seedlings ?

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How low is low?

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I have used composted soil, sterile soil, and a soil-less mix. all in an effort to solve the mystery.

How are you losing them? Damping off? Any pics?

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Strangely, it varies. The well is drilled directly into a spring head.
it varies between 4.5 and 6

I will take pictures. The first leaves that barely emerge start to burn on the edges. They do not damp off. they just stand there and shrivel up. Never in my life have I seen this.

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I live in the mountains and have well water - spring fed. My pH is also low. VERY low - below 5. I went from growing world-class plants when I had municipal water when I lived in a city, to struggling to get my plants to thrive. It took me far too long to figure out that my water, although “pure” (0 ppm’s out of the tap), the pH was too low for the plants, and the copper that was being leached from the pipes was killing the roots.

Fix your water, then figure out the rest. Even if you need to start buying distilled water or have municipal water trucked to you, DO IT!

Edit:

Bingo. If you have copper pipes, that compounds the issue significantly, but with a pH hitting 4.5, that’s a plant killer, especially young plants.

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I had exactly that on one of my autos this run. I think what caused it was high temp and low humidity. The other three did just fine but the one dries right up, singed looking on the leaf edges.

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Great feedback. As I stated in the article, the water has been the only constant, because I could not imagine that such pure water could be causing an issue, even with the low PH. I have a greenhouse that is watered strictly from the well. The water does not seem to have adverse affects on established plants, but may very well be devastating my seedlings.

The water ate holes in the copper pipes in this older home. had to replace them all. No copper pipes.

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The humidity is low here, even though I am on the east coast. The temp as not been exceptionally high. the 80s. I had seeds from 6 varieties that I used in each potting. Strangely, original blueberry and blue dream have been the only survivors.

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I got a chemical injection pump before the pipes were compromised. The house was built in 2001, but the previous owners never used it (they had other homes). I moved in in 2005 and got the chemical injection system in 2007.

Even if you have pex pipes, that low of pH will cause other issues, for example, the enamel on your teeth. You might want to get that addressed. Anyway…I’ve been using RO water ever since I started treating the water and no longer have issues, including starting seeds and rooting clones.

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Thats almost depressing. Such beautiful water and I have to treat it or use another source for seedlings.
Thank you all for the feedback.

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Yeah, I felt the same way, but with copper pipes, I really didn’t have much choice.

Like I mentioned, even my established plants failed to thrive. Was it the leached copper? Was it the low pH? You can always use pH up for your established plants and just buy (or make) distilled water by the gallon for the young ones.

I didn’t see it if you mentioned if the 30 failed seeds were from similar stock. I’ve seen bad seed stock that germinated but didn’t persist beyond a weak seedling stage. If it’s a bunch of different genetics then you can discount this but if it isn’t, try some other genetics.

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6 different varieties, friend. Blue Dream and Blueberry survived, but still suffered in the cotyledon to true leaf stage.
I will be posting an update here when I start the next batch using distilled water.

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Can you get a water sample before it enters the house. Thats some low ph. Mine is more alkaline to the point of needing treatment if I were in hydro growing. You have super low tds as well.

Why not just add a few drops of ph up till you’re at 6.5-7(assuming soil)?

It’s very easy to add hardness and alkalinity to water. Much easier than taking it out.

Calcium hydroxide, calcium chloride, calcium nitrate, etc…

They make a lot of reef products for increasing calcium/alkalinity in water systems.

Traditional calmag at hydro stores will work fine, too. Million options.

Get your pH and alkalinity up past 7.5 with the aforementioned products, and after you add nutrients it should balance near 6.0, adjust as necessary. It isn’t the pH of the water that is the issue, it is the low alkalinity which is susceptible to large swings, usually drops, in pH as it has no resistance to acidity.

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Try buying some bottled water just as a test. If they don’t have issues then you know its the water. Has to be water, soil or environment.