Seedlings Toppling Over :(

[nebulius]

I just made the switch from cuttings to seed and am having good luck germinating seeds but after about 5-7 days the seedlings topple over. I'm thinking I may have had them too far away from the light but just want to check with the experts here.

Soil Growers:
1. Are you growing from seed or clones? seed
2. How old are your plants? 5-7 days
3. How tall are your plants? 3.5"
4. What size containers are they planted in? 4"round plastic pot w/humidity dome and seeding mat
5. What is your soil mix? rinsed coco w/30%perlite
6. How often do you water and what type of water do you use? only watered once before planting dampened coco with bottled water (15 ppm)
7. What is the pH of your water? naturally 7, i didn't adjust ph (didn't want to add chem)
8. What kind of fertilizer do you use and what is its NPK ratio? 5 drops FF microbe brew(1-0.2-0.03) and 1 drop super thrive.
9. Do you foliar feed or spray your plants with anything? no
10. What kind of lights do you use and how many watts combined? (HPS, MH, fluorescent, halogen, incandescent "plant lights") 1-4' 2-lamp t8 with 32w 6500k bulb.
11. How close are your lights to the plants? was 12" now 2"
12. What size is your grow space in square feet? 40' (10x4x8)
13. What is the temperature and humidity in your grow space? 78 deg., 90%RH- that's a guess have humidity dome over seedling.
14. What is the pH of the soil? don't know. rinsed the coco with ph 7 water.
15. Have you noticed any insect activity in your grow space? no
16. How much experience do you have growing? Just a Padawan......hoping to someday be a Jedi.

Sorry no photos, my camera battery is dead. hopefully the info is good enough.
right now i have the seedling propped up with pipe cleaner that i bent into a hoop with a stake (looks like a basketball hoop and pole) to support seedling.

 

[outwest]

Now that they are popped and in soil, you can remove the dome and heat mat. That's my guess. I'm pretty sure I made the same mistake.

outwest

 

[Mississip Hip]

all mine do that it seems...

I just make a support for them.

zip tie and a piece of garden wire

 

[pRiMo303]

Are they toppling from stretching, or is there brown around the bend right at or above the ground level? Hopefully outwest and mississipp hip are right and it isnt damping off..hard to say wo pic.

 

[caregiverken]

I have this happen sometimes too...I have no idea what causes it.o_O

.It does seem to save some when I prop them up..gotta be careful though

I use a pipecleaners...and add loose soil around the weak stem

 

[Mississip Hip]

I always attributed it (guessing here!!) to the funky hybrid genetics..

I mean ...every OG I ever grew.....grew like pole beans....lol...spaghetti with popcorn.

They cant hold up their own veg weight....much less flower.

 

[caregiverken]

Yeah I think you may be right Hip. Those ewoks above probably didn't need support.
But I was worried about em..;)

it seems that strong strains that have some "Lanrace" Never keel over like some of these "Hybrids"

 

[cannarado]

If youre rocking t5's or something like that just slam them down onto those plants. 6" max from the tops with a little fan oscillating across them and theyll be short and stout with many leaf sets

 

[dirk d]

first off seedlings are not clones. take off the humidity dome and get rid of the heat mat. 2nd use soil, i use happy frog, not coco. actually not sure about the coco but im thinking thats part of the problem. Seedlings should not fall over, if they do you are doing something wrong. and 2" seems too close for such young babies.

 

[Capulator]

just replant them a little deeper so that the leafset is 1/2" above the soil/coco level. Then they will be fine.

 

[purpleberry]

The easyest thing to do is only fill your pots half way with soil when you plant them, then after they stretch fill up the pot to support the stem. Most plants you dont want to bury the stem, but seedlings seem to take it fine.

 

[NebulasINbloom]

Definitely not getting adequate light if they're toppling over. This usually happens when your plants stretch... Ditch the mat and dome too! Mama nature doesn't provide these things, you don't need to either.

 

[paulycali]

Keeps germinating seeds and seedlings under a humidity dome with light placed directly on top of the dome. Using a 10" dome that is. You want temps around 80-85 degrees with high humidity. Once they pop through and have been growing for a few days then take off the dome or cover and bring in a small fan to help circulate the air as well as help thicken the stem. Seeds popped in a quality soil with the light at proper distance which is as close as possible will have proper growing seedlings never topping over. Don't over water as this will make a droopy plant as well. Little bit of water here and there from a spray container for sure. You can also use some of the soil to place around the base of the stem to help stabilize it or make something to help hold them up. Good luck and hope this helps :)

 

[nebulius]

sorry my camera sucks. close ups get real blurry so this is the best i could do.

 

[paulycali]

I also would not reccomend germinating seeds in coco :(

 

[Carl Sagan]

it looks like they're actually PUSHING themselves out of the coco in addition to being weak in the stem.

the coco might be too tightly packed in your pot in addition to the seedlings needing more vertical room already. like others said, fill it up and put it closer to the light.

I also would not reccomend germinating seeds in coco :(

i've had success right AFTER germination droppin' em right into coco once the root pops out, no humidity dome needed. I really dig planting clones/seeds directly into the medium in which they will finish in.

 

[nebulius]

Are they toppling from stretching, or is there brown around the bend right at or above the ground level? Hopefully outwest and mississipp hip are right and it isnt damping off..hard to say wo pic.

Yea appears to be brown where it bent, but is also stretching quite a bit.

I think it's a combo of light too far and leaving heat mat on and humidity dome. I think it's making the stem mushy from humidity and stretch is making it topple.

corrections: removed heat mat and humidity dome, added more coco to bury stem a bit more, got small fan running.

 

[nebulius]

I also would not reccomend germinating seeds in coco :(

I want to grow in coco, so what should i start them with?

 

[Carl Sagan]

I want to grow in coco, so what should i start them with?

ever do a paper towel/cheese cloth/shot glass/whatever germination method?

do that until the taproot pops out of the seed (2-3 days) then just drop it in coco that's been dampened with water pH'd @ 6 1cm below the surface and it should take off from there

 

[nebulius]

Just reading that seedling grow best at 65-70% RH. I think I was way above that with the humidity dome, which contributed to my problem.