Could use some advice on my 14 day old seedlings that don’t seem to be growing anymore and showing signs of wilting leaves/yellow coloring.
I know I messed up already in how I was watering my seedling (just spraying the top soil 3x a day and didn’t water the roots well). But someone had told me to lower my lights and now I’m wondering if I’ve been burning them? Or if I should just start all over with new seeds and take the lessons I’ve learned.
Here’s a latest pic…any hope these can survive after
I have them in my grow tent running 450w LED’s (Vipar Spectra) (on 24hrs) at 30" above. I was following the LED guide and had it up higher for the Seedling stage but someone here said to lower them more. My B/W/R is at 60, 60, 30
Environment is usually around 75F, my humidity is low though (about 30% as my tent is in a cold/dry basement) I have a small oscillating fan on all the time
Shes fine. Make sure you dont overwater. She looks over wet. Give the soil some time to dry out on the surface.
Remember she doesn’t have a root structure yet and her tap root just needs to stay moist. Too much water will drown her.
The main risk for overwater is damping off. It’s a bacterial infection that cuts the stalk off and kills younger plants.
The first two leaves are cotyledons and she has lost hers so you need to start feeding a very light seedling nutrient mix. Or maybe not, it depends on the soil
@basementstealth@Drinkslinger
I appreciate the quick comments! Been getting some different replies on this topic…so my watering technique switched from just misting the top 3x a day to deeper watering as someone stressed I wasn’t watering the roots this way. And that you can’t overwater if you have holes in the cup and I don’t let it sit in the standing water.
I let them dry out really well (2 days) and had just watered them last night slowly pouring in filtered water by the roots until just a bit of water started to come out the bottom… hence the pic show’s them a bit damp. I have Mother Earth Coco Plus Perlite Mix by the way.
I’m concerned in the progression of the leaves just dropping more over the last 3 days but again I know I’ve made mistakes…what do you all think about the height of the lights?
Sorry you received that information. That’s not true. Your seedlings aren’t going to have much of a root system. The plant doesn’t have enough roots yet to take up the water so the water just sits in the soil. The plant is going to absorb moisture through the leaves. This is why you place a clear dome over the seedling to keep humidity high. Spray the dome and top soil once or twice a day.
The height of your lights is fine. If the lights are too close the seedling will be very short and in extreme cases you’ll cook the seedling.
If the light was too far or too dim then your seedling will stretch
You dont have either problem.
Lol being new to growing is like being a first time parent. Everything is new and exciting and scary. And you seem to be doing well. Breathe and relax. This is a marathon - just wait until you get to flower. Theres nothing like it
Whoever told you this is completely wrong: there ARE no roots for at least the first week and the seedlings collect ALL of their moisture from the air. Misting the inside of a dome placed over the seedling is all they need and if you water the soil you will cause damping off issues.
Well thank you all for the advice, looks like clear consensus this time! Can I use a plastic ziplock bag as a “dome” I’ve seen that setup with others before. If so, would I need to ever let them breathe/remove the bag? I have a small fan going all the time if that would help.
Water your seedlings in an imaginary circle created by the distance the leaves spread out. This will keep the roots stretching outward, and also keep you from rotting the stem by keeping it too wet.
@WonderBread at the size your plant looks in the photo, I would be giving it about 5mL of water each day.
@Nobama1 if you are worried about the yellowing of those “curved” leaves (called cotelydons) don’t be - they essentially contain the food the plant needs at the beginning and they will yellow as the plant consumes them.
Yeah looks like over watering. If you are going to do the flood/drought method (full watering) with seedlings (not popular around here because newbs keep over-watering), it’s very important to wait for the drought part before watering again, the cup should feel almost empty, the soil should feel dry, no water weight before watering again. I do it this way, always have, always will, and raised thousands of plants over the years without issue, without domes, without spraying, but you HAVE TO LET IT DRY BEFORE WATERING AGAIN, never water moist soil. If I fully watered a new sprout in a solo cup, in my environment, it would not need watering again until 4-5 days.
Well thank you all for the advice, looks like clear consensus this time! Can I use a plastic ziplock bag as a “dome” I’ve seen that setup with others before. If so, would I need to ever let them breathe/remove the bag? I have a small fan going all the time if that would help.
@basementstealth@BobbyDigital Since I’m moving towards needing nutrients now as the cotyledons are coming off, I’ve had this lined up as my choice since I’m using coco plus perlite mix. Sounds like it’s time for me to start measuring PH now as well?
