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higgsr1

Seedlings slow growing

Higgsr1
12 years ago

My tomatoes seedling that were sowed on 2/17 but they seem to be growing at a slow rate. Also the leaves seem a bit odd or droppy.

Set up is as follows:

3 4' shop lights with 2 6500K lights in each shop light.

temps are between 72 -75

Small fan runnining

Lights are 16 hours on 8 off.

Any help would be appreciated.

Comments (5)

  • digdirt2
    12 years ago

    Most common causes - (1) over-watering or (2) questionable soil mix. So what are you growing them in and can you cut back on your watering?

    Dave

  • Higgsr1
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Im growing them in seed trays with 3 inch square type jiffy pots and using Burpee Eco friendly seed starting mix.

    I also got a temp of 60 when I put the thermo in the seed tray. Are roots too cold? Are the 6500k helping the roots develop due to its spectrum but to the leaves?

    I also bottom watered for the first time but left them in the tray and didn't put them on any thing to left wAter drain out. Right now soil is dry in the top inch of pot. My plan was to let them dry out till bottom inch is only wet them use a turkey baster to water from top. Any ideas would be helpful. Thanks

  • mandolls
    12 years ago

    You write "they seem to be growing at a slow rate". That is not very specific. Have you grown them before and these are slower? It is possible that they are doing just fine and you just need to be a little more patient. For comparison - this is a pic of mine at two weeks old last year.
    {{gwi:229082}}

  • calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
    12 years ago

    Your soil temp would be better at 75. We never start tomatoes in seed starting mix, but right in our potting mix, which drains better and has more air spaces. How far are the lights from the foliage? Al

  • Higgsr1
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Lights are about 1 - 2 inches. Also I am usuing 3 shoplights thats 6 total Ge 6500k with about 3050 lumens each bulb. Seed trays are side by side not end to end so I can fit 4 under the 3 4' shoplights.

    Side note: After picking a bunch of them up out of the seed tray I just notice that a bunch of them had roots coming out the bottoms of the jiffy pots. On 1 of them the roots were 6 inch long out of the pots. Pots are square 2.5 - 3 inch jiffys. I repoted any with roots sticking out of the bottoms. But plants are only 1.5 inches tall with no first set of true leaves yet.