The most likely explanation damp-off from being too long under the humidity dome. And yes it can easily affect some and not others. This is a common problem often discussed over on the Growing from Seed forum here. As soon as the first few seedlings begin to break the soil surface and you see a hint of green stem showing the lid needs to come off or at the very least propped open. If you wait for all or even most of them to come up or for most of them to be standing upright then it is too late. Once the first few show, the rest will follow even without the dome on. Keep in mind that humidity domes are not required for germination. They are just a "tool" and they often create more problems so many don't use them at all. So no you definitely didn't want them under longer. A set of T8 bulbs puts our minimal heat and the light intensity isn't too much for them so no the light wasn't the problem. The next most likely cause is over-watering and root rot of some of the plants and yes, it too can affect some but not all. Hope this helps. Dave

I will comment on Striped Panther's fragrance is it decides to flower this year. I only brought it out of hibernation a week or so ago. As for Wal-Mart. I am in south central Ontario. Home of Wayne Gretzky (hockey for those of us less sports minded). We get orchids and other potted plants at Home Depot, Lowe's just came to town, all the gorcery stores, unpotted bulbs come in at Canadian Tire (auto and home store). I went yesterday to see if I could get some homeless hips but everything was gone. We are currently sitting at -12 today. Beautiful sunny day but the wind chill makes it about -20. Typical January blahs!! That's why I bought a house with a south facing large living room window. To enjoy the sun on a cold day to enjoy the flowers. The babies live in the spare room that is also south facing. I have a humidifier in the room to help with the Brugmansia's, bay leaf, avocado, and flowering maple trees too. It is hard to see but there are actually 4 4foot flourescent lights in the nursery. Two up, two down. I could add two more in a top layer above the current babies, but I have 6 lights in the basement for the other seedlings I start for the garden.

Fruit splitting of Meyers is normally due to not enough water, or uneven watering... too dry, too wet, too dry. A deficiency of Calcium can also contribute to the problem. In addition to dropping leaves due to significant light changes, a Meyer will also drop leaves if you let it get too dry and then water it. I would suspect with the setup you have that there is a definite lack of humidity. Misting a couple of times per day would help; and pictures always help to get a better answer.

Each bulb is supposed to be 20W at 720 lumens is this enough for growing my seedlings. Also i bought GE Plant bulbs so i dont know if it is supposed to be less bright than normal?