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ballplayer10123

Please help me get my tomato seeds off to a good start

ballplayer10123
13 years ago

Hi all. I am having serious trouble getting ANY of my tomato seedlings off to a good start. I have killed probably 100 tomato seedlings over the past 2 months.

I am attempting to grow them indoors. I have two separate grow areas. One area is 4x4 and has 2 400 W MH lights, circulation fans, and 265 cfm exhaust fan for air exchange. The other area is about 2x5 and has a 4 ft 4 bulb HO T5 fixture, circulation fans, and 265 cfm exhaust.

I am attempting to grow small Sungold tomatoes because my parents love them. I would like nothing more than to bring some Sungolds fresh from the indoor setup over to them.

I have tried literally everything I can think of to be successful at growing tomatoes indoors. (I actually was successful in growing a monster cherry tomato indoors this past winter, but I believe it was more luck than anything). I am ot the point of wondering if I am getting some toxic gases, herbicide leaching sabotaging my indoor gardens via my sump pump. Is that possible?

I have tried starting my tomato seedlings in every medium you could possibly think of. Sunshine Mix, prepared Rockwool, Fox Farm Light Warrior (plain seed starting mix), and Rapid Rooter plugs. I have accurate pH and EC meters at my disposal. I have tried starting the seeds at varying distances from my light bulbs. I have started seeds anywhere from 1.5 to 5 feet below my 400 W lights, and at every increment of 6" in between. Under the T5 lights I have started the seeds as far away as 15" and as close as 3 or 4".

I currently have about 15 tomato seedlings growing, NONE of which I would consider vibrant and healthy. The crazy thing is the ones I have in Rapid Rooters have INCREDIBLE healthy, hairy root growth.

The thing that really ticks me off is that symptoms are the SAME every single time I fail. Quite depressing. The seedlings emerge, cotyledon leaves appear to have decent health. However, the first true leaves become slow to emerge. They are typically smaller than they should be. The true leaves are light green, not yellow, but not even close to vibrant green like they should be. The cotyledons develop purple undersides, which spreads to the true leaves. The true leaves are small, an odd yellow green color, with red veins and lack any sort of vigor. They occasionally get random yellow streaks on the top of the leaves. I could share some pictures if that would help.

I see pictures of Phosphorus deficiency, and the problems look similar to mine. However, I cannot see how P could be my problem. My grow mediums are watered with lukewarm water. My grow areas are plenty warm enough to avoid P deficiency (typically 76-81 during day and 69-71 at night).

I have tried using General Hydroponics 3 part to cure the problems. I have tried Botanicare Pure Blend Pro Grow, and Bloom formulas to correct the problem. I have tried Earth Juice Microblast to try to figure out if is a micronutrient deficiency. I have tried using only plain water all the way through the seedling stage. I am using a mixture of calcium rich tapwater and RO water to achieve a starting EC of 0.1-0.2. I have tried high pH (6.8-6.9), low pH (5.8-6.0) and everything in between. I have tried waterng my mediums until 10-15 % runoff every irrigation. I have tried only watering the minimum with a friggin shot glass. I've tried fertilizing with each irrigation (0.5-1.1 EC). I've tried using only water for the first 1-2 weeks. I've done the water-feed-water-feed alternating schedule with EC strength of 0.5-1.1 and everywhere in between. Nothing seems to work.

Ladies and Guys I am at my wits end. I cannot believe a living things as resilient as plants can be so difficult to get correct. If someone would be willing to hold my hand through this process, and I provide pictures I would really be grateful.

I have tried anything and everything, that's what makes me think I may be having problems due to my sump pump being within a semi close proximity to my garden areas (within 15-20 ft).

All help will be very appreciated.

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