This is a picture of my broccoli sprouts. They came up about a week ago, and now they seem to be headed back into the soil again. My cucumber and tomato sprouts are doing the same thing. I have never started seeds before, so I have no idea if they are supposed to do this, or if I'm totally messing up. Thanks.
2 things come to mind after seeing your picture:
1.) Your soil and the peat pots look very dry. The "pots" appear to be sucking the moisture out of the soil (the soil is shrinking away from the sides), so you'll need to give them more water, as it looks like the seedlings are wilting.
2.) I think your seedlings need a lot more light. They appear to be stretching out towards whatever light source you've given them.
Thanks. I had been spritzing them with water bottles several times a day, but maybe that's not enough to penetrate the top layers. As far as light goes, they are in front of a huge sliding glass door that gets tons of light, so I don't know what else I could do in that regard. I'll go water them better right now. Do you think they'll revive themselves?
Make sure to water them so that the container is wet too. You are probably only getting the top wet and not the rest of the soil. also, you will want to rotate the container often so that they dont lean to one side. I rotate mine as soon as they start to grow towards the light.
good luck
Seedlings need more light than you might think--a bright window may not enough. Typically you to want to have a light no more than a couple inches above the tops of the seedlings, and leave it on for 14-16 hrs a day. A lot of people use plain old fluorescent shop lights and things like that--you don't need special grow lights or anything.
lotsofkids this is my first time also starting seeds. it started as an experiment to another experiment, so i know i have tomato seeds in the black cont. and tomatoes, flowers mixed in the clay pots. i bought these totes at walmart and put water. i punched holes in bottom of black plastic. i have to add water about every week and a half, here is a pic of how they are doing, all i have is window light and the furnace in the mid to lower 60's. also i probably should've not put osmocote with the seeds but hey it's an experiment!lol
I wonder if maybe you can just add water to your black container and let the jiffy pots soak it up. Don't fill to top, just halfway or less.
WOW It was totally a water issue. Once I gave them a good watering, they perked right up. Len, yours look great. Thanks for the tips, everyone...you saved their lives! Happy Easter!
great! I've been told mine are too wet, but it's whatever water they soak up. so far no mold or disease issues.
Lotsofkids: Ecrane is right in saying that seedlings need lots of light. If they don't get enough you will end up with leggy stalks. The plants will have a hard time supporting the developing leaves, and they will flop over. Trust me I had to learn from experience. They will grow, however. Just won't be tall and straight.
Speaking of osmocote...... when is it a good time to start feeding seedlings?
I have never ever used lights of any kind to start my seeds and been doing so for more years than I care to remember, but the way I have to do it is to rotate the seed trays or pots daily, as for feeding the seedlings, that's a no no as far as I am concerned, they need to naturally build up roots and foliage to support any feeding that is needed later on in their life, so I dont start any feeding till the seedlings are ready to be either put out into the garden or when I first spot a tiny flower bud appear, if you use good quality seed compost, then there is enough nutrients in it to grow the seedlings for a couple of months anyway, but have no idea if just using garden soil, I am sure others have different methods, so use any info you can and then adapt it to suit you, we just all learn from our own experiences and what will do one grower will be no use to another, also I like to water my seeds from the bottom so have an old shallow container that I sit the trays pots into till the soil turns darker, that tells me the soil id wet enough, let the excess drain off and place them back into the natural light, rotating each day, hope this helps a bit, good luck. Weenel.
I started seeds last year, and ended up starting them too soon and they didn't make it. This is because I didn't have adequate light in my house and didn't use any grow lights. They got EXTREMELY leggy and eventually died. So, I decided to try again, and I was afraid it was too late to start them, but I did anyway. by that time, it was starting to get nice out, but still got pretty cold at night. So, what I did was get plastic cups, poke holes in the bottom and put in trays that I watered like Len did. Then, I just stuck them outside in full sun a brought them in at night. It worked very nicely and I didn't have to worry about hardening them off. I think you could probably also start seeds directly in the garden and then cover them with something like a milk jug....kinda like making your own greenhouse. I may be wrong, but it seems like that would be just like wintersowing, minus having to transplant them later. As far as feeding, I've read that you can do it once the first set of true leaves show up, which is usually the second set. But, if weenel says to wait, that's probably a good choice as well. Good luck with your seedlings!
Kristie
