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seeds Seedlings dropping dead

jessxcr

jessxcr

Ok so this is my first year growing pretty much anything and I started some Bhut jolokia and some Trinidad scorpions in a starting tray with a heat mat. I have had about 10 sprout up and about 5 of them are now dead after about a week. The problem to me is all the reading I have done in dampening off I may have got gun shy and let them get too dry. I have them under a fluorescent light right now and spray them down with a spray bottle when I leave for work in the morning. I do this every day and by the time I get home the soil seems pretty dry. Because the flat they are in is pretty shallow I am having a hard time figuring how much water to give them. The 5 I have now, I am half tempted to try and pull them out and put in their own pots even though they only have the starter leaves. Would this be too early to do? I don't want to kill the remaining ones. I still do have about 20 waiting to sprout. I just don't wanna continue on in this fashion
having them die off.
 
I would recommend bottom watering. Basically take the flat, pot or whatever you have them in and set that in a shallow dish of water. How long really depends on several factors, but basically through a little trial and error you will be able to feel the difference in a properly watered tray.

When using a spray bottle I think it is easy to not water enough. Also the water you do add can evaporate more quickly before the rest of the growing medium can moisten. (If you can take a couple pictures of your soil and seedlings)

I have moved seedlings as you described before with no trouble. Is it optimal? I have no idea but you shouldn't have any problems if you are careful.
 
As long as you are gentle when you repot them it should be OK. I transplant at all stages from just germinated through to fully grown with no problems. The older they are the less careful you have to be. If you are worried about damping off make a cup of chamomile tea and dilute it X10 and spray that on your seedlings as a preventative every couple of days. That and a super weak seaweed mix. Dilute the usual seaweed mix by 10X as well for cotlydon stage seedlings, it helps to boost their immune system.
Once you get daming off it is usually too late for that particular seedling so preventative actions are better safe than sorry.
Just like anything too much is not better, Little(weak solutions) and often is better.
I use a weak seaweed solution with all my transplants to help with any possible transplant shock and I am transplanting here in pretty hot weather and not losing much at all.
 
I'm new too and tried the spray bottle first. Everythng I've read and the advice I've gotten is like Josh said bottom water. There are several threads here on bottom watering.

If you use the Solo cups, make sure you bore/drill a hole in the bottom, about 1/2" diameter is what I did and it works great. You can fit 11 of them on a 9x11 disposable cake pan, Walmart score, 3 for 2 bucks! I would recommend you bottom water them, just pour the water in the cake pan and let the grow mix suck it up. I normally pour about 3/8 an inch of water in the pans. After 10 minutes or so if its not all gone, carefully remove the excess.



Pasted from <http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/15038-shanes-2010-grow-log-and-photos/page__hl__%2Bemergency+%2Bblanket>
 
Compared to an "adult" plant, I have found that seedlings need to be "over watered" .. or what you would think is over watering. You have to keep in mind how tiny the little soil pots are and how quickly that will evaporate. Also, if you water them after you declair them dead sometimes they pop back up

Good luck
xo
 
Jiffy Pots

They dont dry out as quick (thats what i have found). Put 6 in a chinese food container (plastic flat type) then a little water in the bottom - about half a CM.

Wet on the bottom, nice and damp on the top where the seedlings are. When the seedlings are old enough, you then just chuck the whole jiffy in the ground and watch the plant grow over the next weeks. Alot easier than the way I used to do it.
 
Like it's been stated, don't spray them to water them. Sure, it feels good to the little bastards. But that is most likely why they are dying. They are getting water at the top, but not the bottom. You need to bottom-water to get the roots to stretch out and help the plant grow bigger and healthier. I just wait until the plant starts to wilt a little, bottom water until the soil is soaked, then leave it alone until it does it again. Hey, it works for ME...
 
You should be able to transplant seedlings at any stage. Just be sure to be gentle with them and keep the soil somewhat loose.
 
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