Those seem to be too small to be under full sun. Even cloudy day should provide enough light for them for a while.

sey

What kind of mix did you plant in? How do you water?

It's hard to tell from a picture, but those look really dry to me. Having them cardboard tubes, in a window with a fan on them, you're probably going to have to water more often than someone who starts them in more conventional plastic seed trays under lights. Especially if you've got more than one seedling per tube. Same questions that janice8bcharlestonsc has from me.

Agree with Humsi. They look very dry.

Exceedingly dry and those peat pots dry out FAST! I grew my seedlings in peat pots for years before I realized that they do much better (for me) in plastic pots or even yoghurt containers (with holes put in the bottom).

Sorry guys, but they are not dry at all. And the fan is no longer there. I water every day to every other day when the soil drys out on top. The cardboard actually makes it easy because u can see on the outside of the container when they are dry/wet. They were doing just fine and suddenly fell sick, and it occurred with the weather. Oh, they were potted in a starting mix. Miracle grow brand I believe

The camera or flash may have made them look dry, but I promise you they are moist... I should also say that it has been more than just cloudy, I'd been rainy and cold with dark storm clouds. I'm sad. I've helped them all I know how!

The "column" of growing mix is tall. Is it possible the seedlings roots haven't made it to the bottom yet, where the water will settle? If so, the seedlings could still be very thirsty.

I find it striking when people ask questions about unhealthy plants, and post pictures that show, well, pretty healthy looking plants. What exactly are we supposed to be seeing in those pictures? I can't see any "sad, wilted leaves and drooping stems". Especially in the absence of enough light, a leggy stem will start to droop without any disease. They just get top-heavy. I say this because "sunny windows" rarely have enough sunlight to grow seedlings well.

"Can cloudy, rainy, chilly weather have this much effect on my indoor seedlings?"

Basic answer - no. Especially as you are providing supplemental light.

So let's try something different. Assuming it is the camera that gives them that dry as a bone appearance keep in mind that over-watering - which is a common problem when you only use the soil surface to go by - can cause the same symptoms because the roots rot.

In paper tubes, just as with peat pots, the water is wicked away from the surface quickly. So the plants look very much in need of water when in fact down at the root level they have plenty. Big problem with using these that the advocates never warn anyone about.

But the grower sees the soil top and waters them anyway. Or the grower mists them thinking that will solve the problem when in fact it only makes the condition worse. Misting is for germination only and needs to be stopped as soon as the seeds sprout or all you do is force the plant to develop very shallow, water dependent roots.

Add to that, it appears you are using big cuts of tube for germination (1.5" tube cuts is the common recommendation) so there is far too much damp soil in them for such tiny plant to cope with. End results - root rot.

So (1) try picking them up and looking at the bottom of the tube (assuming it is open) before any watering, and (2) only water from the bottom. Pour an inch or so of water into the tray and let them suck it up until the soil surface begins to change color and darken. Then dump out any remaining water in the tray. If it is at all possible I would also recommend you shorten those tubes down to 2" max by cutting off the bottoms. Better yet, transplant the surviving plants out of them into something plastic - yogurt cups 1/2 filled, small Dixie cups, etc. with hole in the bottoms.

At this point you have nothing to lose by trying this and hopefully many of them can be saved.

Good luck.

Dave

@dani... if you can zoom in you will see the entire back row has withered. The ones up front are remaining Fairly healthy.

I have only just started the supplemental light right before I posted. The tubes are each half of a toilet paper roll, so they would be about 2.5 inches. I will definitely try the bottom watering method. . And possibly transplant. Thank you for the advice!

Sorry, but I just don't see it. In the bottom picture I can't see the back row at all. In the top picture all the plants I can see look fine. Everybody standing straight up. But I'll agree with Dave that droopy seedlings are more than likely overwatered and if they're drooping because they're leggy and top-heavy, they're just not getting enough light.

Sey: "Those seem to be too small to be under full sun."

In my experince, If it's warm enough for them to grow outside, super young seedlings are not just fine but very happy outdoors under full sun. When I've started seeds late, I pre-germinate on paper towel and then put them in a cup with mix outdoors right away on the roof in full sun as soon as they break the "soil" surface, and they do great, growing extremely vigorously and quickly. Once they grow full-on cotyledons indoors, though, they do need gradual adjustment to the sun, or they'll burn.

Yes, full sun is hard on cotyledon seedlings, but if you don't give them abundant light, as in fluorescent lamp light that doesn't also have the heat they would get from full sun, they will get leggy. Full *lamps* is what they need.

Are they still on your radiator? I never start my seedlings with any heat, and they do fine...sometimes the heat does more bad than good. As others have said, switch to plastic pots next time (I like reusing the cell packs that annuals come in). I would never start seedlings indoors without some sort of grow light system.

Not sure about the top picture, in which I don't even see a first set of leaves on the plant, but in the bottom picture I see what I call "bowed head". Doesn't look like damping off. Damping off is rotting at the base of the stem, so the whole plant falls over. Also doesn't look like poor lighting, in which a leggy plant with big leaves would start to tilt. Looks more like over-watering stress. Once the plants come up, you want the roots to head south, and they won't do that if the top of the soil is always wet. The soil does really look moist in these later pictures.

Although your plants don't look that leggy, they also are pretty young, so they may just not have had a chance to get leggy yet, with poor lighting. It's good you now have decent lights.

Yes, be careful about heat. Do you know the soil temperature? It's best at 70-75F. Overheating would be a major stressor.

I've never had tomato seedlings damp off, but any time I've had damping off in other seedlings, it hasn't always been at the base. To me, the top picture really looks like damping off. But it's hard to see clearly what's going on in photos.

I think the practical definition of damping off is decay of young shoots near the soil line. The pathogens that produce it are certainly in the soil. I've never heard of damping off further up. I can't really make out what's happening in the top picture, but it looks like there are no leaves there, and where there are no leaves looks close to the soil line. So maybe the top picture is damping off, but the droop in the bottom one certainly isn't.

Well it seems that my sowing year is cursed. I brought my seedlings with me to visit my mother for a few days, and my son managed to knock the whole tray over... I managed to save most, but I might just abandon the ones that were wilted anyway...

@Donna, yes they sit on a radiator. Sadly every window in my house has a radiator in front of it. But I put them on the radiator that doesn't really work. It only gets slightly warm to the touch

Most of your seedlings look in decent shape. Get a lamp over them, and put your finger an inch into the soil to see if they need water. That should tell you how often and how much to water. I should add that many of us blow air gently on seedlings with a fan. That strengthens the stems. But note that if you have air blowing across the pots, they will certainly dry out faster. I germinate in a cool garage by putting a tarp over the plants and the lights to hold in t he warmth of the lamps. With no air circulation, it gets pretty humid under the tarp, and the pots almost never dry out. As in, you NEVER have to water. But as soon as you start circulating the air they start to dry.