First time doing tomatoes & herbs from seeds. I planted these 6 weeks ago. Had grow lights on them for a couple weeks but they just never got big. Then went brown, tried to water but then they got brown and mushy. I didn’t fertilize. Any tips for next time? The front right tomatoes are still alive but barely. Is there any hope for them?
by Motor-Ocelot3628
7 Comments
You didn’t accidentally put the ice cube tray back in the freezer did you?
Don’t feel bad almost every gardener kills seedlings at some point. Seed starting has a bigger learning curve than people expect.
From the photo and description, this mostly looks like a combination of:
• not enough strong light
• overwatering after the seedlings were already stressed
• possibly poor airflow/high humidity causing damping off
Those long thin stems are a classic sign they were stretching for stronger light. Then once seedlings get weak, wet soil can make them collapse and turn mushy pretty fast.
For next time:
• keep grow lights very close (usually 2–4 inches above seedlings)
• run the lights 14–16 hours a day
• use a small fan for airflow
• keep soil moist, not soaked
• bottom watering helps a lot
• pot up tomatoes once they get true leaves
The surviving tomato might still recover, but honestly I’d probably restart if your season timing still allows it. Tomatoes grow surprisingly fast once conditions are right.
And don’t worry about fertilizer too much at this stage weak light and moisture issues were likely the bigger problem here.
Dude, even if that tomato is alive, just put it out of its misery.
Whatever you did, you did. Maybe you over watered them. Regardless, you need to start new seeds or buy the fruits of someone else’s labour.
They probably dried out. Use plastic with holes for drainage. I save yogurt cups.
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fstill-holding-off-on-planting-as-it-was-33-f-last-night-but-v0-k3zs2896u5zg1.jpeg%3Fwidth%3D4080%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D4e7be07876342c0ebe6029a248f26426ed68d61a
Paper. Pots.
Aww, sorry to hear that.
Is that an ice cube tray and does it have drainage holes?
What soil did you use?
How often did you water?
How close was the light source?
Those paper pots are a recipe for failure every time. I swear they’re the biggest scam ever played on gardeners.