Noob needs help!

[icanthinkofanid]

First time grower, I'm kinda freaking out here. Maybe for nothing. Ok here whats up.

3 seedlings started leaning, 2 of them started in the last 24 hours. The biggest has been leaning for 48 now. Also the biggest has developed a purple stem, about the same time it started leaning. Check the pictures.

They are growing under 20 on 4 off. Miracle grow organic soil. I have fed them a very diluted feeding of Big Bloom. Plain distilled until then.

It was a stable 80ish degrees in the cabinet till today with about 60% humid until last night when our temps here went down a good amount. It got down to 40% humid and 59 degrees.

Anyone have some advice as to how to stop the leaning? Is it cold related for the smaller 2? Whats up with the purple stem?


Dont mind # 5 on the right, that little one sprouted days after I gave up on it. I thought the little girl was dead.

 

[Smurf]

Don't freak icanthinkofanid, your seedlings are healthy but top heavy,, the stems have stretched due to them being placed too far from the light source. Simply move your light closer. You can try propping them up with skewers or make your own mini stakes like in this pic. There are hundreds of ways to do the same job, you choose whats easiest for you.

You can get annealed copper from most hardware stores or a garden centre with bonsai supplies... aluminium wire or a coat hanger also work good. You can even use a straw with 1 side spliced.

If you plan on repotting your plants just place the root ball lower than usual into the next size pot & cover with your medium, new roots will grow from the now submerged stem.

Plenty of fresh air gently blowing over seedlings will also help strengthen stems.

happy gardening

 

[GMT]

Hey, just like smurf said, dont panic. Personaly, I dont like to stake up plants, and if they fall over, they get back up again without support. On the other hand though, I wouldn't be feeding them either, they are way too young for that sort of thing.

 

[moses224]

Also dont be afraid to add soil daily until top of plant is secure....it will stablize and give it roots it needs thus quitting the stretch...of courser unless yor light is rediculously far away

 

[icanthinkofanid]

Thanks for the quick responses, I added a little bit of soil and I'm going to put them all inside some clear plastic cups to help raise the humidity a bit. Freak weather has left me at 15% humidity.... I also put them right up under the lights, they were about 6 inchs away to start.

Any idea about the purple stem on the left plant?

I kinda thought i had over watered it and let it dry out 18 hrs later it completely fell over. The stem turned purple and it began leaning before I ever fed it. That was my main reason behind feeding it, I read something about purple stem being caused by nitrogen lvls being to low. Also I was thinking the initial lean on that plant was caused by over watering.

 

[etncrew]

purple stems are 100% natural for seedlings man, especially at the age yours are at.

 

[xOOx]

yo mon..

don't use peat pots if u dont have 2, they aren't the greatest, they also lose water VERY quickly.. bone dry soil in 1 day..and after a couple weeks they break apart and get all soggy ...just junk. if u were planning on just potting the entire peat pot into a larger pot i would advise against that cause i've seen plants get rootbound and not able to break thru the decaying peat in time..

and as already said.. light a bit closer....maybe 4-6 inches above.

replant ^ & bury the stem halfway deeper....

xoox

 

[icanthinkofanid]

You are right, I'm forced to add aqua way to often with these pots.

 

[LJB]

What is the distance from the lamp to the plants?

Plants stretch for two reasons - not enough light intensity and too much heat.

Directing a fan at the stem in order to strengthen it is a myth.

Sure it will strengthen the stem, but it does so at the expense of growth in general, directing energy away from forming new shoots, etc.

Plants don't need to be bowled over by a strong breeze. They need for the air around them to be exchanged at a fairly constant rate. They need fresh oxygen and co2. If the environment is good, your stems will grow strong and in proportion with the rest of the plant.

*******

Have a look at this study:

Wind-induced plant motion immediately increases cytosolic calcium

Wind is one of the most unusual and more dramatic of the environmental signals to modify plant development. Wind-stimulated crops are also known to experience considerable reductions in growth and subsequent yield. There is at present no experimental data to suggest how wind signals are perceived and transduced by plant cells. We have genetically transformed Nicotiana plumbaginifolia to express aequorin and thus produced luminous plants that directly report cytosolic calcium by emitting blue light. With these plants we have found wind stimulation to cause immediate increases in cytosolic calcium and our evidence, based on the use of specific inhibitors, suggests that this calcium is mobilized from organelle sources. Our data further suggest that wind-induced movement of tissues, by mechanically stimulating and stressing constituent plant cells, is responsible for the immediate elevation of cytosolic calcium; increases occur only when the plant tissue is actually in motion. Repeated wind stimulation renders the cells refractory to further calcium signaling but responsiveness is rapidly recovered when stimulation is subsequently diminished. Our data suggest that mechanoperception in plant cells may possibly be transduced through intracellular calcium. Since mechanoperception and transduction are considered crucial to plant morphogenesis, our observations suggest that calcium could be central in the control and generation of plant form.

*****

I can no longer find this one on the internet:

"Studies of the effect of artificial wind on growth and transpiration in Helianthus annulu”

E. V. MARTIN AND F. E. CLEMENTS

It says in part that the depressing effects of wind have long been known. Lemon trees shielded from the wind had an increase in yield of from 5 to 7 times, and an increase in tree size by a factor of 3.

*****

An excerpt from a lecture delivered at St. John's University - Biology Dept.

Plant Positioning Responses (or Guidance Systems)

http://employees.csbsju.edu/ssaupe/biol327/Lecture/positioning.htm

VII. Thigmomorphogenesis
Plant growth response to a mechanical stimulation such as rubbing, wind, raindrops, etc. The termed was first coined by M. Jaffee. Seismomorphogenesis is specifically the response to shaking.

Compared to unstimulated plants, mechanically-stimulated plants: (a) grow more slowly; (b) increase more in diameter. In essence, they are shorter and fatter. This response makes "sense" to minimize the risk of breaking which is especially true for plants in the mountains. As an example, compare plants grown in indoors (houseplants, greenhouse) with those grown outdoors.

This phenomenon is due to ethylene (the triple response) for the following reasons: (a) ethylene concentrations increase in response to mechanical stimulation; and (b) ethylene treatment mimics these effects, i.e., inhibits shoot elongation and induce stem swelling.

mRNA synthesis is stimulated shortly after mechanical stimulation. Four or five genes are activated, one of which is the gene for calmodulin.