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Vegetable Gardening

Wilting lettuce seedlings

7 years ago

HI folks,

My wife and I have some lettuce seedlings started in coldframes and every day for the past few days we've had a few wilt on us, see attached photo. Some details:

- Entire plants wilt
- Otherwise healthy plants (no yellowing,etc)
- Stem at soil level is very weak (when wilted). Almost like it's been cut.
- Soil dries out on the surface very quickly but retains moisture well below (mossy patches even)

Thanks for any help,

Marc

Featured Answer

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

7 years ago

Are you opening the top when the sun is out? They may just be too hot in there.

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Comments (10)

marcguay
Original Author
7 years ago
We've been opening it during the day, maybe sometimes getting to it a bit late, after the sun has hit it for a little while, but last night they were left open and still again this morning there were a few wilted ones...
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I appreciate all the concern! In fact I did test my well water. It came out fine. I live essentially at the top of the watershed for a large portion of the western US. While not immune to problems I would bet my well water is many times cleaner/healthier than what the majority of the US gets in their municipal tap. Keep in mind aruzinsky that a modern water wall is a closed unit and very far underground, pulling water filtered through many layers of rock and sand. It is not a well like Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water! Suzi I also use the potassium chloride instead of salt now. Seems healthier all around. I will add that my poor neglected house plants all look fine and they have been watered solely with the softened water. But perhaps they are more resilient than a little seedling. I agree it is important to figure out what's killing them but mostly for my sanity! I don't have time to waste with entire flats dying for no known reason. The 6 bulb t-5 lamps do generate a fair amount of heat, I am wondering if that could have anything to do with it. I thought tomatoes could take a decent amount of heat though.
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Likely if you eat tomatoes from the store they are production tomatoes. 1. They won't have the taste like a good gardener hybrid or heirloom tomato (in other word they tastes like cardboard). 2. They are hybrid, when you replant a seed from a hybrid plant, it won't be exactly like the original plant, it will have different characteristic and may not taste as good or have desired traits. I would rather order some seeds online and grow some dwarf tomato instead. If you intend to grow indoor you will need some good lighting and space. Something like this is minimum I would recommend for full size tomato indoor: https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/8256/FC105-S50OD.htm. So as you can see, tomato need lots of light which isn't not going to work in a single room dorm. Not only that, they need lots of soil, at least a 5 gallon container. So it's better off growing something like lettuce or basil indoor, or look for a dwarf or microdwarf tomato variety. Some variety to consider are: Red Robin, Tiny Tim, Silvery Fire Tree. For indoor potting soil, make sure you ask question and find the right potting soil that does not smell and perhaps pasteurized for indoor use, otherwise it will be an unpleasant experience. I don't buy potting soil, but I know "FoxFarm's Potting Soil" have good reputation so you may want to check them out, but I don't know how it'll smell. In my bedrooom I have an "AeroGarden Extra LED" that let me grow vegetable hydroponically, and it's LED light is bright enough to provide light for some extra plants in smaller container next to it. It is full spectrum and would be adequate for small dwarf tomatoes. It have a timer and shuts off after 12-16 hours. It is also very easy to make your own affordable indoor hydroponic setup. However, considering you live in a dorm, I don't know if you may have issues with campus authority who will be concerned with cannabis growing which is quite popular with hydroponic growing (not that I'm trying to give an idea).
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Laura at Rather Square
7 years ago
Sounds like damping off, especially when you say the stem looks like it's been cut. Might be too moist in there if you're growing moss too.
marcguay thanked Laura at Rather Square
marcguay
Original Author
7 years ago
Just did a bit of searching and definitely fits the profile for damping off, is there anything that can be done at this point to save the rest of them?
LoneJack Zn 6a, KC
7 years ago
Were they grown from seed in the cold frame or were they recently transplanted into the cold frame? If transplanted were the seedlings well hardened off? Lettuce takes a few days to establish deep roots when transplanted and needs daily watering until well established.

They look too big to me at this point to be damping off.
marcguay thanked LoneJack Zn 6a, KC
marcguay
Original Author
7 years ago
They were transplanted around April 16th and only started wilting last week during a hot spell...
LoneJack Zn 6a, KC
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
OK we can rule that out. If it is only affecting some of the plants it may be that you have a insect pest that my be doing damage to the plant roots. Possibly even a rodent - vole or ground squirrel digging under the bed.

Do they rebound overnight? You might sacrifice one plant and dig it up to see what the root system looks like.
marcguay
Original Author
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Thanks Jack. There aren't any underground animals to contend with where we are (inner city). Does it help to know that all of the other plants (kale, mache, spinach) in the coldframe are absolutely fine? I'll see if they rebound when the weather cools this evening. I may dig one up and inspect the roots....
BriAnDaren Ottawa, On Zone 5
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
When a whole plant keels over suddenly, it's usually due to cutworm in my garden. Pull one up to confirm if the base of a wilted plant have been severed by cutworms or not. If the problem's cutworm, place stout twigs adjacent to the remaining plants.

Daren
marcguay thanked BriAnDaren Ottawa, On Zone 5
marcguay
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks Daren. I just found one lying there on the ground and when I picked it up it was not connected to the root system anymore. I fished around and there were some roots but nothing seemed significant to me. The reason I don't think it's cutworm however is that it takes a very long time for the plant to go from "nice" to "flat", and we even had one rebound briefly from "wilted" to "nice" and then to "flat".

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