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Growing from Seed

I need help, tons of baby seedlings not doing well!

14 years ago

I started a large batch of petunia, Sweet alyssum, and verbascum about 4 1/2 weeks ago. They sprouted quickly and looked fine, but they are still about 1/2 inch tall with only about 2-4 VERY small leaves. I'm not really sure what is wrong, they get between 8-10 hours of light a day and good water supply. Do you think there is any way to save these babies??

Also, can I post pictures of the seedlings?

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Comments (8)

taz6122
14 years ago
They need more like 14-16 hours of light and you could be keeping them too wet. Post pictures by downloading pics to a hosting website and copy the HTML code and paste it in your follow-up.
jonhughes
14 years ago
Hi,

If you will save your pics over at "photobucket,com"
once you save them you will see this little box to the left of each picture you have opened , the Third box down has your HTML link, copy and paste that into your message... VIOLA ...give it a try ;-)

{{gwi:42370}}
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digdirt2
14 years ago
Have you fed them anything?

Most common cause is too wet. It cause root rot and slow, stunted growth. And I agree that more light is needed. Light is what triggers photosynthesis and that is what leads to growth.

Dave
gardener_z5
Original Author
14 years ago
Ok, here is a picture of a few of them

Sweet Alyssum
{{gwi:238047}}

Verbascum
{{gwi:238049}}

Petunia
{{gwi:238051}}

What should I do? Thanks for the advice!
keriann_lakegeneva
14 years ago
WAY TOO much water.

Get a fan on them and try to translpant them into moist (well rung out) soil and get them under lights that are 1-3" away from them.

Do not water again until the top 3/4 of the soil is dry. It will be hard to regulate the water in peat pots, so I would transplant them into plastic containers.

As Taz and Dave said: I would suggest keeping them under shop lights for 12-14 hours.

Keriann~
sleepy33
14 years ago
While I agree that the soil does look wet, the seedlings themselves look healthy to me; not leggy (ok the petunia maybe a bit), not yellowing, not drooping leaves. I'd wager more light and possibly a weak dose of ferts and these guys will get going. Can I hazard a guess that you have these in a windowsill or some other form of lights than fluorescent?
oilpainter
14 years ago
I agree with sleepy. The plants look healthy they just need more light. I also agree that with that amount of light they must be on a window sill.
gardener_z5
Original Author
14 years ago
I put a fan on them, and I will put them under shop lights for 12+ hours and see how they do!

Thank you so much for all of the advice, it may just save my seedlings!

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