A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 How come my seedlings keep drooping?

As most of you know, I started a lot of seeds indoors over the last 2 weeks or so... tomatoes, peppers, snapdraons, lavender, dahlia, lupine, foxglove, bachelor buttons, etc, etc...

Yesterday, I started noticing that some of my sprouts [ a few tomatoes, a few lavenders, and a lot of snapdragons] keep drooping, and tipping over.. I thought it was from lack of water, but it wasn't... there are a few more today...

Anybody know why?

I am watering them with a spray bottle, and Tuesday I started adding a very diluted Miracle-grow fertilizer... I'm thinking i should stop the Miracle-grow, but it seems to be working wonders on my wonder eggs..



--mark--

Maybe it is damping off fungus? This is common in seeds started indoors, and in seeds that are watered from the top-down (like you're doing). I water mine by setting them in a plastic tray full of water and letting the dirt absorb water until the top is glistening...

Sounds like damping off to me as well. Go get some long fibered spagnium moss. Try wetting it well ( a quick soak in warm water in a bowl is enough) and loosely placeing it on top of your next seed starting batch. I've heard it DOES stop damping off, I tried it with basil and it seems to work. Now trying it with sme impatien seeds.

Tom'

Thanks for the info Sarah and Tom!

Another question-- what should I do with the ones that are laying on the ground, drooping-- will they come back, or should I just start over?

Are they getting enough light?

Mark,
When everrr I start anyyyyyyyy seed,
I never water from the top..
I use trays' in the first few weeks of starting them,
fill those with water...
The dirt will suck up what water it needs,
and will also moisten the dried seed..
Then as I see a green nub starting at the top
of soil, I back off of watering alot in the tray..
I just pour a bit it, and watch what the soil sucks up and maybe add a tinnnnnny bit more..
but never from the top..
Besides the damping off, it compacts that soilless mix you used...so, roots don't have
much oxygen/air for themselves...

And a seed, when grown and produced by it's mother plant... contains all the "stuff" it needs to grow the first steps of it's life.. without using or needing any fertilizers...

Only use the fert's after the leaves start producing several leaves...

Thanks weezie-- that helped a lot!

OK. Here is my experience. The watering method depends on the propagation method.
Watering by filling the tray underneath with water and letting the soil soak up this moisture is great when you are using plastic cells (containers). I find it not too helpful when I am using peat pots though because the pots get moldy and the same problem occurs. (Ugh, out of impatience, I am using peat pots this year... good for some things, bad for others.)
When using either method I like to put a layer of sand on the top (ordinary playsand from Home Depot or wherever). I find that this cuts off any prospective fungi (spores)from the organic medium they like best. It especially helps when I have removed the clear plastic domes and I let the top of the soil dry out between waterings. Sand dries out quickly and prospective damp-off just doesn't seem to take hold and cause as many problems.
In short: If you have to water from the top, coat the top of your cells with a buffer layer of sand.