Seedlings dying

[El Timbo]

- Plant them a 1/4 inch deep, pointed side down

The great pointy end up or down debate! I'm a pointy end up planter if I even bother looking.

 

[Janborrego]

The great pointy end up or down debate! I'm a pointy end up planter if I even bother looking.

I germ in a paper towel after soaking for 24 hours in water with H2O2. The long tail goes in the dirt. Then cover with soil about 1/4 inch. Just my opinon

 

[Mr. J]

Nah you're all wrong. In nature they land on their side and figure it out on their own. In reality they figure it out, tip down or tip up or whatever. Paper towels are a waste of time and an extra step. Either they pop or they don't. Just stick them straight in the media, dirt/coco/rockwool or whatever after an overnight soak in plain water and keep them under a dome to stay moist until they pop then take them out. Simple and easy.

Oh and the seedlings in the original post look like they're starving to death. I would just feed them something balanced.

 

[mountainoutlaw]

1. Get better medium and know what is in it. Something light and fluffy, drains well, but stays moist
2. Get a better light for seedlings

3. Correct your watering, use spray bottle for seedlings, damp not wet

4. Invest in good quality seeds.

5. Practice

 

[TanzanianMagic]

The great pointy end up or down debate! I'm a pointy end up planter if I even bother looking.

It took me a long time to figure this out.

The root tip comes out of the pointy end, and can immediately use gravity to go down, instead of having to wrap around the seed first.

Also, the only reason to bury them 1/4 inch or 0.5-0.8 cm down, is to keep them from drying out, not to give them resistance.

Just lightly cover the seeds with soil or coir with a sideways movement, and don't pat it down. Don't compact it, it will automatically compact from watering and the expansion of the root system.

 

[El Timbo]

Nah you're all wrong. In nature they land on their side and figure it out on their own. In reality they figure it out, tip down or tip up or whatever. Paper towels are a waste of time and an extra step. Either they pop or they don't. Just stick them straight in the media, dirt/coco/rockwool or whatever after an overnight soak in plain water and keep them under a dome to stay moist until they pop then take them out. Simple and easy.

I agree although I'd add that in nature they would be more likely to land pointy end up than down....

 

[Ca++]

I have found orienting the seed to help it (by pointing in down) might gain me a day, but leads to more above ground elongation, that I wanted within the ground.
I put them on their side. This keeps the whole thing in the nice moist environment, while establishing just that little bit more tail before putting the cotyledon up into the drier air.
I would rather not point up, as that is just that little bit more work for the seed to do, with energy it's mother gave it. A limited reserve, best used to get ahead in life.

This advice comes a bit late for this thread.

 

[TanzanianMagic]

In nature they land on their side and figure it out on their own. In reality they figure it out, tip down or tip up or whatever.

In nature...

- a lot of the seeds are wasted/become fertilizer for mycorrhizal fungi and the plants that make it.

- they fall on the ground, among other vegetation, and may be covered with leaves and dying vegetation for the winter. This can keep them from drying out when spring comes, however it could also bury them too deep or leave them too exposed.

When you have a $10,- seed, you don't want to take chances.

What I've found, is that if you bury them pointed side down and about half a centimeter deep, you both prevent them from keeping wrapping around the seed, and prevent them from drying out. And give them enough space to separate from the seed shell.

If you sprout them to where where they have a long root before planting, that's not an issue.

However I like to let nature take it's course as much as possible, and burying this way is consistently the most successful way of sprouting them by planting the seed.

Also, if you first soak them in 1% H202, some raw sugar and R/O water for upto 12 hours and until they sink, with a heatmat/room temperature, you should see germination activity within 2 days.

 

[Ca++]

1. Get better medium and know what is in it. Something light and fluffy, drains well, but stays moist
2. Get a better light for seedlings

3. Correct your watering, use spray bottle for seedlings, damp not wet

4. Invest in good quality seeds.

5. Practice

I think better medium is the writing on the wall for this thread.
I would avoid spraying the soil. It's very easy to keep the top wet, while the roots gone down and dried the bottom to a crisp. The sprayers light even application of water, makes it the perfect tool for this mistake. Making you able to dampen the top, just enough to keep up with evaporation losses. While never getting any penetration into the increasingly hydrophobic soil below.

If you are using cutting& seed compost, in a seed tray, you really can't give too much water. The cutting&seed compost is light, finely ground, peat free medium. For good contact, and good drainage. Most will be very low in food, and certainly won't contain slow release amendments.
You can skip over the cutting&seed compost, straight to a potting variety. However not one with slow release chems. Seen as claims it will last 3 months, or such. These claims are basically saying it's not soil. It's some organic matter, that probably can't work alone. So is chemically loaded, and as such, is part soil, part salts. Months of salts. After which, we will see if it can actually be fed reasonably.
Today in the UK, there is little peat based left, and this is the last year we can buy it. Peats job is basically water retention, thus seedling composts have non. Replacing it in other composts (we don't really buy soil) is proving difficult though. If only we hadn't been using too much, then adding perlite for drainage. If only we had just used less peat, we would still have some. Now we are scratching around in the bottom of bio reactors for scraps. Rotting down tree bark from logging. Finding our cat never came back. They are sticking in everything. We ourselves are not off the menu, as long as it's not for food crops.

I suggest coco. At least with coco, the old shoes are not so well hidden. Even if you can't find the guy that was wearing them.

 

[foomar]

Quality of consumer compost products has really declined in the last decade , only a couple of peat based available locally and their composition varies from pallet to pallet.
Fresh bag of Jacks is nothing like last years and is no longer fit for purpose in small containers.

Best found currently is Plant Magic soil plus , good crumb size and no sticks , shredded plastic or lumps of dessicated dog poo.
With a little more perlite it works really well to harvest , add sharp sand and more perlite for a good seed starter , has not burnt any yet

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[SunnyListon]

Buddy, you got to check your ph.
Its like driving a car without brakes, nobody does it.

So check you ph, correct your water and see the difference
Its easy, but it has to be done

 

[I Care]

What are you doing for water?
If you have some good food like TarzanianMagic is saying then you could flood the bigger ones with a whole liter or two of water. That will override the soil discrepancy.

How many lumens is your bulb?
If it’s too much ligh, I see bleaching between the veins on growth, at the heart. If it’s too little light, I see them get yellow and curl all around.

 

[I Care]

Buddy, you got to check your ph.
Its like driving a car without brakes, nobody does it.

So check you ph, correct your water and see the difference
Its easy, but it has to be done

Yess to this make sure it’s less than 7 greater than 6 and flood the bigger ones like you’re doing an exorcism on the edit:questionable soil.