Hi Folks
Living in New England (CT), I’ve learned a lot starting vegetable seedlings indoors (mostly tomatoes and peppers) over the last couple of years. I used to have pretty poor luck but got much better results with the addition of a heating mat and a pair of florescent bulbs in a basic shop fixture.
Unfortunately, I’ve been having some issues once again this year, and I’m wondering if it could be at all related to the cooler-than-usual Spring we’ve had. I started my seedlings a couple of weeks earlier this year (mid-March instead of late-March), and the room where I have my sprouting setup is an unheated though fully-covered porch, so evening temperatures certainly have been dipping down into the 40s.
I had excellent germination of my mostly tomato and pepper seeds, but it’s been almost 6 weeks and the tomato seedlings seem “leggy,” and still haven’t grown their first true set of leaves:
As for the pepper seedlings, I had excellent germination rates with them, too, but now they all seem to be drooping and dying, and none of them have gotten their first true set of leaves either:
I turned off the heating mat after everything germinated, although I’ve now wondered if I should have left it on longer, possibly overnight. The lights are hanging a few inches above the seedlings and are on for 16 hours a day. I’ve tried to be mindful of watering them correctly (not too much, not too little), and the seedlings are in a nice coconut husk sprouting medium.
Any thoughts/advice?
Thanks in advance…
Living in New England (CT), I’ve learned a lot starting vegetable seedlings indoors (mostly tomatoes and peppers) over the last couple of years. I used to have pretty poor luck but got much better results with the addition of a heating mat and a pair of florescent bulbs in a basic shop fixture.
Unfortunately, I’ve been having some issues once again this year, and I’m wondering if it could be at all related to the cooler-than-usual Spring we’ve had. I started my seedlings a couple of weeks earlier this year (mid-March instead of late-March), and the room where I have my sprouting setup is an unheated though fully-covered porch, so evening temperatures certainly have been dipping down into the 40s.
I had excellent germination of my mostly tomato and pepper seeds, but it’s been almost 6 weeks and the tomato seedlings seem “leggy,” and still haven’t grown their first true set of leaves:
As for the pepper seedlings, I had excellent germination rates with them, too, but now they all seem to be drooping and dying, and none of them have gotten their first true set of leaves either:
I turned off the heating mat after everything germinated, although I’ve now wondered if I should have left it on longer, possibly overnight. The lights are hanging a few inches above the seedlings and are on for 16 hours a day. I’ve tried to be mindful of watering them correctly (not too much, not too little), and the seedlings are in a nice coconut husk sprouting medium.
Any thoughts/advice?
Thanks in advance…