This is my first time ever attempting to garden and need some help/advice. My seedlings sprouted really fast but now they have stopped growing, aren’t producing leaves, or are wilting and dying entirely.
I live in my in-laws basement so I don’t have much natural light so I got some grow lights on them. It’s super dry here and the soil is dry to the touch after about 10-12 hours so I water twice a day.
by Inevitable-Sky-
5 Comments
They don’t have enough light. They need much brighter light than that wand light gives.
Weak grow light for some. The other half are in the dark.
And the light needs to be much closer to them. You don’t have to use grow lights for seedlings, regular lights are fine. Either way, the lights should be max 3 to 4 inches above the top of the plants. Otherwise they will get “leggy” which is tall thin stems that aren’t strong enough. I recommend LED lights but you can use florescent if you have some around. Regular shop lights are good. Depending on the type of light you are using, the light might need to be higher than 3 or 4 inches so they don’t burn the plants. But LED shop lights or grow lights are good at that distance.
https://preview.redd.it/e56iqalp53tg1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0b91e378b67e41415df6cfe6531cf81c72917970
A lot tbh. First, those pots are not good for pepper and tomatoes, maybe for squash or cucumber. How are you watering? They need to be soaked so the pot itself is wet, otherwise they just wick away the moisture from the soil and the soil dries out too fast. Start peppers and tomatoes in small cells and pot up as needed. The smaller the space the roots need to fill, the faster they will grow in containers.
I wouldn’t use those peat pots as they are not that great. I only use them for squash which don’t like their roots disturbed as they don’t break down like they’re supposed to until years later. You’ll have to tear them off too plant them and that will damage the roots. Plastic is best, but if you’re like me trying to move away from using too much plastic, peat pellets and soil blocking are good. You should water from the bottom (clean up the loose dirt from the tray), water deeply and enough to not have to water every day. My seedlings are a couple weeks old and I’m watering the tray every 3rd day.
Light is not enough, and too far away. Also those huge plant identification stakes are going to block light from some plants. If you can move the light closer it will help some. Those extra long tomato plants can be planted deeper but most anything else that gets too leggy should be started again.
You need a fan for air flow. Especially in a basement. This will also give stronger stems.
If you’re using peat or a seedling mixture to plant in, it will lack nutrients. Plant seeds have enough energy to grow their first true leaves and not much else, so when they start growing their true leaves they need to be fertilized with a heavily diluted solution. However, if the plants are in larger dried out containers and growing roots to search for water, they will use up all their seed nutrients before growing true leaves.
Looks like you started peppers and tomatoes at the same time? If so, usually hot peppers are started 12 to 10 weeks before last frost date and tomatoes are started 8 to 6 weeks before last frost date. Sweet peppers somewhere in the middle. Those peppers look ok but I would restart the tomatoes since you probably have time.
Get a few other lights. Put them within 2 inches of the plant. Rotate the lights throughout the day.
Repot the leggy plants, burying them up to the leaves. This helps them develop stronger stems and roots.