Baby seedlings flopping over and dying :(

[marilynshipley]

Hi There:

Looks like you all know a whole lot about gardening, so I'm really happy to find you. Hi There-

I'm not new to gardening, but am new to seed starting, and my seedlings are doing terribly. I took pictures of the worst ones, which I killed, but even the ones that seem healthy otherwise won't stand up. Whatever is happening to the ones I took pictures of keeps happening to all of the smallest seedlings I have. They're in a seed starting mix in peat pots under grow lights. The lights are a couple inches away from the plants, and I leave them on 16 hours per day. I water when the soil feels really dry with a spray bottle turned to a fine mist setting. I keep a fan on them because I read that helps them become stronger. I keep it between 60-75 degrees in my house. I'm thinking I'm not watering enough (I was scared of over-watering, maybe I over-corrected), or maybe the fan was a bad idea. I spent a lot of money on materials and lights, built a shelf system, and put a lot of work into this, so I'm so disappointed! I would appreciate any feedback at all. I'm new here but this seems like a very helpful community.

Thanks!

Marilyn

[rainbowgardener]

Welcome to the Forum! Glad you found us. Sorry, it's been disappointing, getting started with seeds. It would have helped along with buying all the equipment, to do a little more reading up first. Please read the seed starting basics Sticky at the top of this section.

Misting is a very bad way to water seedlings. It is very difficult to get the soil moistened all the way through that way. The peat based potting soil tends to repel water, especially if it is dry. What you want to do is bottom water. That is, you put your pots or cells or whatever they are in, in a tray and then you just add water to the tray, so the soil can wick it up from the bottom, taking what it needs. Always start with moistened soil.

Misting, you may have an odd combination of the soil around the roots is too dry so the plant is not getting enough water, and yet the leaves are too wet. The fan is a good thing, helping to keep the leaves from being wet all the time. But it may be that what you have going on, why the plants are flopping over, is damping off. It is a fungal condition that baby seedlings are very vulnerable to, mainly in conditions of too much moisture and not enough air circulation. Your fan should have taken care of the air circulation, but the misting may still have created humid conditions favorable to it.

Damped off seedlings will usually have stems a little bit pinched in just above the soil surface and maybe a little bit brown there. If they are damped off, they are goners-- it can be prevented, but not cured. But since your seedlings are tiny, you haven't lost a whole lot of time to start over, now that you have learned more. When you do bottom watering, it helps to put just a little cinnamon in the water. It is a natural anti fungal, that helps prevent fungal problems.

On the other hand, you may just have seedlings wilting from being too dry. If that is the case, they should perk up as soon as you be sure the soil is thoroughly moistened.