Seedlings yellowing and wilting

[PunkRotten]

Hi,

I noticed some of my seedlings are yellowing. And now one of them is wilting. They aren't very big only like 1-2 inches. I don't know what to do. Is it over watering? I let a bunch of days go by to the point where the soil looks dry and today I noticed the wilted plant so I added a tiny bit of water to each tray.

[applestar]

My favorite way to tell when they need to be watered is hefting. Feel for the weight of watered vs. dry.

If you are using peat-based mix, you need to be careful -- the peat will suck the seedlings dry when they start to dry up. But yellowing and wilting is often due to overwatering and damping off.

[rainbowgardener]

Agree with applestar!

When plants are over-watered, they yellow and shrivel a little, unless they get damped off, when the stem pinches in at the base and they just fall over. Then the plant is straight and lies flat on the ground, bent from the base.

When plants wilt from lack of water, they tend to bend over from the top.

But, leaving days go by with out watering tiny seedlings like that sounds like not giving them enough water, unless you really over-filled the tray with water to start with. I water my seedlings usually every morning, just putting a little bit of water in the bottom of the tray. When I check the next day, the water is gone (if not, I don't add more). You want them to stay just damp all the time, not wet and not dry.

Did you moisten the soil well before planting in it? Without doing that, the peat can repel water, like a dry sponge does.

[PunkRotten]

I noticed them yellowing for awhile. So I stopped watering cause I suspected overwatering. So I let it dry up a little and when I checked the plants in the morning one of the tomato plants was wilted. So I watered everything a tiny bit. Today I actually up potted everything. I think it was the right choice. I must have mixed too much peat cause the soil was tough. Whether the Tomato plants survives or not I don't know. I also have too many plants to go under my light. I have 18 spots and have like 24 pots.