Your seedlings look parchedand etiolated. . What is the medium they're growing in? It looks very coarse and very dry. Are you taking them from indoors and placing them outside in full sun?

Most of your pots/trays look awfully dry. If they're as dry as they look the seedlings could have died from lack of water perhaps.

:)

Dee

What kind of potting medium are you using? It looks really dry, especially in the first pic. To the point that there's a gap between the mix and the wall of the container.

When I start my seedlings, I spray the surface with water sometimes a few times a day to make sure the top stays moist. Once the seedlings emerge, I start watering with a small can.

Rule #1: They dry, they die.

@floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK @diggerdee zone 6 CT @JoJo (Nevada 9A) @mxk3 z5b_MI

Hi, thank you for the prompt replies! The soil is a combination of triple mix and vermiculite. I became very hesitant to water too much after a really bad experience initially with overwatering, which caused many seedlings to dampen off indoors. I barely sprayed them once a day indoors and they were already dying...

After they started getting leggy, I knew that they weren't getting enough sunlight, so I started to bring them outdoors into diffused sunlight instead. I made sure to use a spray bottle to spray the surface whenever it browned, but maybe it just wasn't enough. There aren't really any guides online about exactly how much to top water and how often, so I'm just lost on that front.

That type of mix dries fast, and surface misting isn't enough to get down to to the roots. As long as the drainage is good, you can water often but best to check if the soil needs it.

Watering from the bottom rather than the top ensures good uptake through the entirety of the mix. When that stuff dries out it can be hard to re-moisten thoroughly -- water will just run past the dry spots, either through moist areas or down and out the sides of the pot (you think you're watering thoroughly but you may not be -- surface gets wets but runs down the sides and out instead of down into the mix). All you have to do is put the water in the bottom of the tray and let the pots soak it up through wicking action.

@mxk3 z5b_MI

Oh, I wasn't aware that the soil worked like that. So you're saying that the overall issue is that the soil's getting too dry from the exposure to the sun, and needs a lot more water than I am giving it currently.

Should I make sure that the soil is always fully saturated? So pure black instead of brown soil?

Thanks!!

Yes, my money is on they dried so they fried.

No, don't use "black" soil, which I'm taking to mean topsoil. The mix is fine -- you're just not watering enough. Seedlings need daily attention when they are small -- not saying they necessarily need watering daily; they might or might not but at the very least they need to be checked on. And keep them out of the sun until they're larger and on their way to being well established. Bright shade is fine, but not direct sun.

And fill the seed trays or plugs fully. There looks to be barely enough soil mix in them to encourage any but the tiniest seed to grow and they will dry out faster the less soil mix they contain.

@mxk3 z5b_MI

Oh, I see

I'm not exactly sure when to bring them outside; I don't have a proper indoor area to grow them so a few trays ended up really leggy and begging for sunlight, so I had to bring them outside from that point on. I'm aware about sunburn, so I keep them in a shaded sunlight area for now.

I'll be sure to water a lot more from now on, once the seeds are germinated indoors.

@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

Okay, will do! I thought it was a bit too little soil too, but I'll remember it for next time