Leggy Seedlings
Sorry about the lack of updates. It won’t happen again. Promise. I was sick with the flu last week, so no work got done on the raised bed other than some small feeble moving-around-of-soil, and I didn’t really get all that much done indoors either. Except sleep. I got a LOT of sleep. And I drank a bunch of gatorade so that I have more recycled planters.
I might not have gotten anything done, but the seedlings sure were growing in the meantime. The annuals I planted in the second batch… some of them got HUGE while I wasn’t looking.
That's some good growing!
But wait… what’s that? Is that the romaine and Kohlrabi? Hmn, they did look a little tall/long in the last one … yes, I’ve propped them up with twist-ties to keep them from bending until they break due to their top-heavy weight. One of them broke off at the base before I did this.
Each seedling is at least four inches tall.
After a little googling around, it turns out I made a newbie error for a first time seed sprouter: I planted seeds in leftover potting mix from last year instead of plunking down the cash on sprouting mix. Oops. I’ll be sure to rectify that for the next tray of seedlings.
The tomatoes don’t seem to be too perturbed by it, and the greenbeans (the REALLY tall ones) are supposed to get tall very quickly anyway. They’re supposed to start producing fruit 55 days from planting and should indeed be one of my first fruiting veggies — I’d planned to transplant them into some larger containers this coming weekend anyway.
In the meantime, according to the internets, I can *try* to save these guys by immediately transplanting them, and planting them *DEEP* into some regular garden soil. I’ve got more than enough of that… but I’m going to be sure to test it to make sure that nitrogen’s within an allowable range before I do. That’ll be a chore for this weekend.
[...] Leggy Seedlings [...]
I don’t think bad soil is the problem here — but lack of light. You can start seeds on a windowsill, but then the seedlings need much more light. Even though a sunny windowsill looks bright to our human eyes, plants need the equivalent of actual, outdoor sunshine in order to not grow leggy. The legginess is the result of your seedlings reaching desperately for more light. No matter what kind of fancy soil you use (or peat pellets) your seedling will look like this unless you give them more light!
Seed starting is best with at least 2 fluo tubes, which you can put within a few inches of your soil surface, then raise gradually as they grow. You can use cheap shop-light fixtures from the hardward store. Not attractive in your fancy, schmancy living room (smile), but tough and inexpensive. If you have your seed starting area near a window, you can use regular fluo tubes (one cool white, one warm white works well) instead of the more expensive full-spectrum or ‘grow-light’ tubes.
Plants need light in the warm end of the spectrum as well as cool (which is what you get from regular fluos), and the daylight coming in through your windows can provide this.
Hope this is helpful
Kathy G in the Oregon desert
Kathy – No, that makes a ton of sense. I was wondering why I was having such problems!
I guess I’m going to start putting my seedlings outside during the day here. I’ll just need to protect them from the wind and birds. It’s above 65 most days right now, so I can just bring them back in at night.
Sure hope I can save some of these! I grew basil and other herbs on the same bright sunny windowsills for years before trying to grow my own seedlings, which I guess is why it didn’t occur to me that I might have some problems when everything started getting “omg” tall!
[...] pots so that I have more space in the seed trays for things that need to be seed. Thanks to a comment from Kathy G, I’ve started putting the entire seed trays outside in a place that gets partial sun. Talk [...]