I’ve transplanted most of these 3 times (started in small seed starters, then my biodegradable pots molded so I had to pot into these cups)
I’m sure they’re stressed from that but some are doing better than others.
My rebel star fighters seem to be doing the worst.
They have Sansi and FEIT full spectrum lights (though I can’t figure out the settings), and are warm (65-72). I have not been watering consistently and a few had unfortunately really dried out. The soil looked wet but was actually just dark.
I’m using a mix of burpee and back to roots organic seed starting mix.
Do they need to be fed? Do I need to just leave them alone?
by KatietheeRose
6 Comments
Zero nutrients in this soil mix. They will not grow without food.
They need to be watered, don’t let the soil dry out
I would suggest, before watering again, to put some heat on them- I had weak seedlings that appeared watered correctly but weren’t doing anything, I put a space heater in the room and ran it to raise the room temp quite a bit (like 10 degrees F from 65 to 75) and they perked up.
I do think you will lose some of these, and could cull the noncompliant ones after a couple days of seeing a response to the heat intervention.
I have my own theory that after they sprout above soil, tomatoes need more heat than peppers do. Here’s my peppers that have really not been above 66F. In the Sam environment my tomatoes are like meh.
https://preview.redd.it/mmqijqj2zxvg1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf6a71642d57d564cb917fa8d815c28e64471f8f
Pictures 4 and 5 have too dry of soil.
Pictures 2 and 3 look ok
Picture 1 is strange, it could be inconsistent watering (e.g. was dry and now moist but not enough time to recover) but it’s hard to tell
Next time you plant into solo cups, I’d suggest planting into clear cups and then placing it in the red cup. This method allows you to check the soil moisture as it grows and the red cup will protect the roots and soil from the light.
Do these cups have drainage holes? Plants really don’t like to have their roots drowning, look into the double cup method to prevent standing water from rotting the roots.
Some of those look like they should bounce back ok, some might be write offs.