seeds Newbie.... Half of my seedlings sprout and wither and die immediately... Oh No!!

[sicman]

Welcome

 

[Matthew_293]

pure peat is shitty for any seed mix. its hydrophobic and like you say, entirely too acidic.
 
i think hes referring to a peat based seedling mix like promix stuff. its a good choice but more expensive.

I'm saying use pure peat to start the seeds and wet it once and keep the dome on it and it will stay wet, if it dries out completely it will be a bitch to soak it again. Then just take them after they are big enough and put them in a more suitable mix.

 

[Rairdog]

I don't have a problem with MG....it's the MG with moisture control that I've heard many people have bad results.

 

[Phil]

interesting. i wonder what the issue is.
 
i dont see how a single cfl could heat that dome such that its going to kill anything.

 
Come to think of it, neither do I. Not intense enough, heat wise. And if it were the dome/light, it would probably be 100% kill ratio, or closer to it, rather than 50% since they're all in the same conditions. Hmmm. Now I'm rethinking it. I wonder.... viral?

 

[mpicante]

Hello and welcome.50% seems awfully high to me.Why don't you try coffee filter filter method in a deli container or plastic condiment container place on top of your fridge When you see coty's transplant and place under lights.Sit back and watch them grow....

 

[Gotrox]

AeroGarden with the starter kit.
Plain water first fill, mix a gallon of fert and top up with that when low.
Stick seeds in pre-soaked sponge till just covered.
24 hr light till first true leaves and no domes.
Small fan on them after sprouting, till transplant.
 
On sale now, or used on Ebay for a pittance.
 
Damned near foolproof.
 
I use mine every season because I am lazy.

 

[CAPCOM]

It looks like the seeds were planted too shallow in loose starting mix and came up helmet head. the hulls were left on too long before removal and the would be cotys rotted. It looks like nothing else I have seen either from too hot a grow mix, a dome on too long or even light too close.

 

[moruga welder]

by looking at all the moisture in that dome , that to me is a possible reason as to whats going on . me i remove the dome as soon as i see the back of the hook , then right under the lights , and fan .  

 

[Charx]

I don't have a problem with MG....it's the MG with moisture control that I've heard many people have bad results.

Ah Ha!  This MG with Moisture Control...... I'm changing to something like Happy Frog.

AeroGarden with the starter kit.
Plain water first fill, mix a gallon of fert and top up with that when low.
Stick seeds in pre-soaked sponge till just covered.
24 hr light till first true leaves and no domes.
Small fan on them after sprouting, till transplant.
 
On sale now, or used on Ebay for a pittance.
 
Damned near foolproof.
 
I use mine every season because I am lazy.

How many seedlings can you have going in one of these units, Gotrox?  It sounds interesting.... not because i'm lazy but because I work a lot out of town and convenience is a big plus for me.  Thanks.

the ONLY time ive had a seedling look like that was when im tearing off the stuck seed coatings and i rip off the cots.
 
that seriously looks like a 'fertilizer' burn to me.
 
what do the cots do when they open up? are they scorching? or the cots even forming at all?

The cots are tiny, as soon as they straighten up they drop.....

the ONLY time ive had a seedling look like that was when im tearing off the stuck seed coatings and i rip off the cots.
 
that seriously looks like a 'fertilizer' burn to me.
 
what do the cots do when they open up? are they scorching? or the cots even forming at all?

The stem uncurls, the cots are tiny an then they drop as soon as the stem straightens fully.

 

[SL3]

Let's keep it simple.
Ditch the MG/sand combo.
Go to Grange Co Op and buy Fox Farm Light Warrior seed starter.
Also, buy a bag of Fox Farm Happy Frog potting soil.
These are both very commonly used with great success.
When you first see signs of a sprout/hook, get it out of the dome, put it in a Solo cup with the Happy Frog, and get it under light.

Welcome, and check out the Pacific Northwest GLOG 2015.

Great advice. Pretty much what I do, except mine stay in Light Warrior in Solo Cups until potted up. Probably a little cheaper to use the Happy Frog soil in your solo cups, and you'll water a little less. Either way you will be much happier . 

 

[moruga welder]

interesting. i wonder what the issue is.
 
i dont see how a single cfl could heat that dome such that its going to kill anything.

i don't think it is , but the heat mat and him watering , with no fresh air around its causing them to rot . usually happens at the base but not in this case . got to get them out as soon as they hook and under lights .fan and water very lightly outer edge of cup . 

 

[Charx]

well this potting soil DOES have some CRF added to the mix, but not insane amounts.
 
i do suspect you are getting "fertilizer burn", or more likely, ammonium or urea toxicity from the controlled release prills in this fertilizer. young plants are more susceptible to ammonium/urea toxicity than mature plants, sometimes much more susceptible.
 
why are some doing ok and others are not? could be down to the heterogeneity of these controlled release fertilizers.
the fertilizer is in these little bb's... its possible that your now dead plants had more of these bb's than the surviving plants. why dont you pull out the cells containing dead plants and count the number of fertilizer prills. 
 
then compare this with a cell containing a stil living plant. see whats going on... im genuinly curious on this one because folks almost ALWAYS mistak fert burn for something else. its rare to actually find a real fert burn case seing as how conservative folks are with chemical fertilizers.
 
id suggest that you put this mix aside for now, and look for a totally inert seedling mix. you want something without any fertilizers... something light and fluffy and free draining.
 
come back to this soil when you are potting these up.

 
 

^^^that's my 1st guess. MG and germination trays not good bed fellows.

IMO, peat is far superior to cocoa core. I would never use straight core for germination anyway, but then again I wont use core again for anything in any capacity. Peppers do good in an acidic media, mine are in a mixture when made into a slurry throws about 6.4pH with RO water.
 
n your case, I would worry more about high nitrogen than I would high acidity.

 
 

Let's keep it simple.
Ditch the MG/sand combo.
Go to Grange Co Op and buy Fox Farm Light Warrior seed starter.
Also, buy a bag of Fox Farm Happy Frog potting soil.
These are both very commonly used with great success.
When you first see signs of a sprout/hook, get it out of the dome, put it in a Solo cup with the Happy Frog, and get it under light.

Welcome, and check out the Pacific Northwest GLOG 2015.

 
 

 
It's not the soil at all. People are giving you recommendations on what their preferred soil is, and there's nothing wrong with any of those recommendations. I've been sprouting and growing in MG for a while now with zero problems.
 
Some folks tend to prefer something that's more organic. Others don't mind the fertilizer mixed in the soil, like me. But the fact that you used MG has nothing to do with your plants shriveling and dying like that.
 
I'd be more willing to bet that you're cooking them in the dome. I've done it before. The thing that looks different about yours is that it's just the cots that are dying. When I cooked mine, the whole plant, stem and all laid down. Of course, I cooked mine in the sun, yours is just with a light. Could be just enough to damage the cots, but not the stem. Try sowing again and remove the dome after they sprout. I have 15 bucks that says the cots won't shrivel and die with the dome off.

 
 

I don't have a problem with MG....it's the MG with moisture control that I've heard many people have bad results.

 
 

It looks like the seeds were planted too shallow in loose starting mix and came up helmet head. the hulls were left on too long before removal and the would be cotys rotted. It looks like nothing else I have seen either from too hot a grow mix, a dome on too long or even light too close.

 
 

by looking at all the moisture in that dome , that to me is a possible reason as to whats going on . me i remove the dome as soon as i see the back of the hook , then right under the lights , and fan .  

 
 

Great advice. Pretty much what I do, except mine stay in Light Warrior in Solo Cups until potted up. Probably a little cheaper to use the Happy Frog soil in your solo cups, and you'll water a little less. Either way you will be much happier . 

 
 
OK..... I have looked at all of your great posts.  Wow.... this is such a great forum!  Thank you.....!!
 
So here's what I have learned.  1) The dome has to come off.  2) I need to get a fan on a timer 3) I need to change the soil.... my Grange has the Happy Frog so I'm going with that 4) I'm planting the seeds a bit deeper and looser (5/8 inch?) 5) Overwatering is a no-no 6) I'm translating to Solo Cups after a couple sets of true leaves.
 
I've got more seeds so I will try to get them going again.  The Carolina Reapers suffered the most from this little problem.... which is odd.  
 
And now I'm going to check out the Pacific Northwest GLOG..... but I'm in Southern Oregon which is just out of the rain belt -- we only get 18 in/yr here and it's hotter  --  so the Northern California GLOG (if there is one) might be better.   

 

[moruga welder]

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
OK..... I have looked at all of your great posts.  Wow.... this is such a great forum!  Thank you.....!!
 
So here's what I have learned.  1) The dome has to come off.  2) I need to get a fan on a timer 3) I need to change the soil.... my Grange has the Happy Frog so I'm going with that 4) I'm planting the seeds a bit deeper and looser (5/8 inch?) 5) Overwatering is a no-no 6) I'm translating to Solo Cups after a couple sets of true leaves.
 
I've got more seeds so I will try to get them going again.  The Carolina Reapers suffered the most from this little problem.... which is odd.  
 
And now I'm going to check out the Pacific Northwest GLOG..... but I'm in Southern Oregon which is just out of the rain belt -- we only get 18 in/yr here and it's hotter  --  so the Northern California GLOG (if there is one) might be better.   

i put the seeds 1/4 "  just  soil on top lightly       

 

[juanitos]

Fan with dome off once u see sprouts come up will solve the issue I think. Don't change everything at once.

 

[Gotrox]

66 starts in the aerogarden 7,  36 in a 6, make your own out of a styrofoam cooler lid for cheap.
But $22 (currently) with the sponges isn't bad, and mine is on it's 3rd season and just had to buy sponges the last 2.

 

[resili626]

I start my seeds nowadays in a 50/50 perlite to vermiculite mix. I like my planting soilless and you can be quite sure that a perlite/vermiculite mix doesn't have much, if any pathogens in it. I give it a nice deep watering (they dry and aerate very well) with diluted fertlizer that are 25% of the recommended strength and put the seeds in an inch deep. Then I wait. I have a very good germination rate with this method. 

 

[Coup]

I start my seeds nowadays in a 50/50 perlite to vermiculite mix. I like my planting soilless and you can be quite sure that a perlite/vermiculite mix doesn't have much, if any pathogens in it. I give it a nice deep watering (they dry and aerate very well) with diluted fertlizer that are 25% of the recommended strength and put the seeds in an inch deep. Then I wait. I have a very good germination rate with this method. 

 
lol about a year late there, Resili

 

[austin87]

by looking at all the moisture in that dome , that to me is a possible reason as to whats going on . me i remove the dome as soon as i see the back of the hook , then right under the lights , and fan .  

This

 

[AJ Drew]

One year, I thought I would be bright by moving plug trays with the clear cover into an area with HPS and MH lighting.  Results looked very much like that.  I -think- the clear plastic or maybe the high humidity inside the thing made a lens and cooked the tops off.  Did the same thing, same distance to light, without the plastic cover and all was fine.

 

[mrgrowguy]

Not that I disagree with anyone before me in this thread, because they are probably right. But I like to think of other possibilities, and one thing that could be happening is some kind mold or fungus that is causing those soft new leaves to die off completely. This could be from something in the soil as much as it could be something on the seed casing. If this is the case, and since it doesn't really hurt anything to do this preventative measure anyways... try spraying the new seedlings with a water/h2o2 mix (I use 1 tbsp per 1 liter sprayer). The peroxide acts as an antiseptic which goes a long way to prevent things like rot, algae, fungus, etc.
 
 
Just a thought.
 
 
 
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