Started some seeds indoors and they are wilting

[artnastics]

Hi, I started some seeds (brocolli and cauliflower) indoors. My intent for these is to eventually plant them outside, when it gets warm. I hope I'm in the right forum.

I started them with potting mix I bought at lowes made for starting seeds indoors. They do great at first. They germinate and come thru the soil. Then they start to wilt. I have also tried using the little pods of dirt that you just add water and they pop up and you plant seeds in them. Those seeds (brocolli) just grew fast! I lifted the dome (plastic it was part of a set where you get the dome, the part to put the seeds in, divided into 72 squares and a plastic container to put under them). I have watered them and kept the grow light on at least 18 hours a day. It's cold in Maine and my house isn't close to being 75 degrees. I have them growing on a table which is right by the window.

Well my first batch that sprouted up all died. Everyone. They wilted and died. I don't know if it's because it was too hot from the light (it's a sylvania grow light, looks like a flood light, 65 watts, they are specialty bulbs called Sylvania Grow Specialty Bulbs ). They are light blue and make your indoors look like the sun is shining. I even used one in a regular lamp and it surely brightened up my house, but they get hot! And they are supposed to.

I took the dome part way off once the little seeds started coming thru the soil. As they got bigger and bigger I took it all the way off as so many websites, the soil I bought instructions and other media I have read that tells how to grow seeds indoors.

They did fine until out of the blue they start to wilt. I spray them with water. Did no good. I made sure it was lukewarm water.

I'm wondering if the one bulb per tray isn't giving them enough heat? I don't crank my oil heater in the house so it can get to be around 50 degrees inside. Not a big deal, I'm used to wearing a winter coat or several sweatshirts indoors in the winter. Otherwise it would cost a fortune to heat this place!

So could it be they are too cold? If that were the case how did the survive the germination period? I kept lights on them the whole time as it was their source of heat as well.

Should I buy a heating pad and put it underneath? I'm thinking of moving them away from the window and right over the heating vent. If I need too I'll but them on the vent. It's forced air so it comes from the floor.

Am I overheating them? do they need less heat when they are seedlings compared to seeds? I have read everywhere that in Maine we should start our broccoli indoors.

I planted some peppers (sweet banana shaped ones) in another flat and I have yet to see them germinate. My cabbage is doing ok.

Some flats will have only 4 or 5 pots that seeds will grow and that's it. Should I cut these flats into say 4x4 or 2x2 and put them in a plastic bag (I saw one lady who did this).

I'm lost. I don't know if heat killed them, too much light, not enough water, too cold. What? But once they get to a certain size (like 2 inches max) they plop over and wilt and then dead.

Any advise would be great. I'm willing to even experiment. I'll try some with less light and a heating pad, some over the vent, I'll buy some flourescent bulbs if need be and a heating pad which will keep them warm. What do I do? How do I figure this out?

Mom grew hers indoors in the same state and she had a warmer house but never needed a light. I have lights, a lamp for each light that bends, everything and mine are doing awful

The only thing I can't do, unless there is an easier way, is install the long 2 pronged or 3 pronged lights that hang. I'm not an electrician by any means and I would dare to start messing with lights on the ceiling. I plan on buying a fan for the ceiling in the kitchen and livingroom but I'm talking to my neighbor and seeing who he uses as an electrician. I don't know a thing about electricity so I'm not even going there. I can buy just about anything else. I have tried to be clever and think of ways to get those long 2 or 4 foor bulbs to work. The only thing I can think of is to buy cages that a small animal would go in that needs that type of lighting and use those.

Any help would be appreciated and if I posted in the wrong forum I apologize!

[rainbowgardener]

At a guess without seeing them, your seedlings are damping off. Do the stems get real thin right near the soil line, then the seedlings just lay over, bending at that point? Damping off is a fungal condition. Your seedlings get prone to it when there's too much moisture and not enough air circulation. It being so cold will add to the problem. Your seed packages will tell you the soil temperature the seeds like for germination, but lots of things like it warmer than your house (brrr!). I have simple heat pads under my trays, not the fancy ones from the garden catalogs, just from the pharmacy. (Watch out, you don't want auto shut off.)

Different seeds have different requirements. You mentioned cabbage. Cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli are cold weather crops, wouldn't need the heat pads (but the too much moisture, not enough air circulation still applies). The peppers are warm weather guys and definitely will not germinate without heat.

The shop lights, long fluorescent tubes, don't take any special wiring, just have to have something to hang them from and plug them in. They usually are three pronged, but you can get a little converter thing very cheap that has a three pronged input side and two pronged output side.

But it sounds like your plants probably have plenty of light. The damping off works like you said, the plants look like they are doing fine and then the next morning they are laying over and all you can do is give them a decent Christian burial. Very sad. It's easier to kill seedlings with too much moisture than too little and those dome things and the peat pots are killers that way. I start mine in plastic pots no covers.

Hope this helps some ...

[pepper4]

This is my first year at gardening and I also decided to start from seedlings grown in the house. I planted tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers in regular pots and placed them in a window that gets all the afternoon sun. The only heat they get is from the furnace and my heat is set about 70. I give them a few squirts of water a day. They are all doing good. A also planted some peppers in 1 of those trays with all those little individual pots and the plastic lid. I keep a light on them and a heating pad under them. They just aren't doing very well. I see a couple just peeking out now and I planted everything the same day. Hoping the peppers still make it. I was told peppers are alittle slower then some other veggies. I am learning this year is going to be a trial and error experience. You did come to a good site for advice and help. I have learned alot from fellow gardeners.

[thebean]

simply put too much water. After the initial watering to get those peat pots to puff up from there original disk shape. they will require no water until completly brown (Dried out). you may never need to water from the point of germination to outdoor planting. damping is the easyiest way to kill seeds. better luck next time around

[artnastics]

Well before I got a response, I kept seeing more and more wilt. So I took them out of the plastic containers, got some dixie cups, put a few holes in the bottom of them. I felt the dirt and it was dry, very dry. So I replanted the seedlings, added a bunch of water, put them back under the lights and would you know it they are growing beautifully! Aparently the lights shining directly on them 24 hours a day must have dried them out. Even the seedlings I thought were dead popped up. There were a few I had to throw away but now all is good.

They get plenty of heat. Each tray has one flood light type light inside a flexible lamp shining on them within 6 inches of them. I do think they may need more heat and will buy a heating pad as I'm done heating the house for the spring. I may bring out my trusty infared heater to heat them at night. It costs like 9cents an hour to run and heats an entire room.

So I'm hoping I didn't over water them. But they are standing tall so I think I did something right (I hope!).

They don't dry out as fast under the dome, but where the light shines on the part of the dome the most you can see no moisture at the top of the dome while the rest of the dome has moisture. The light that almost killed the last one was 100 watts. (They are flood light type bulbs not the spot light regular size bulb).

I almost gave up! Here's to hoping this works!

Thanks all for your advice. I'll make sure not to over water them, but I do notice that after a bit the dirt is very very dry. I think the lights dry them out quicker then the normal sun would.

[rainbowgardener]

good, I'm glad it wasn't damping off. I don't think I really had the picture of what kind of lights you were using or that they were on all the time. You want your soil to dry out a little - ie not to be wet and not to stay really damp all the time-- but you also don't want to let your seedlings ever completely dry out. And all though they need lots of light, that can be over done also. Running the lights 24/7 (I did try it one year) makes your plants grow too tall and kind of leggy. I keep my lights on 16 hrs a day or so.