Why are my seedlings so small?!

[Father'sDaughter]

Based on what I've read so far, I would go with too warm and not enough light. In your first post you say they are 3" tall and the picture with the sharpie sort of confirms that.

I grow mine in cooler temperatures (low to mid 60's) with shop lights barely an 1" above the top leaves, and I end up with shorter, but much stockier and leafy seedlings.

From the picture they don't look unhealthy to me, just in need of a little food and a bit more light.

[Father'sDaughter]

For comparison, here are my three week old re-seeds in an egg carton. The tallest of the bunch is about 1 1/2"

[ARgardener]

Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter

Based on what I've read so far, I would go with too warm and not enough light. In your first post you say they are 3" tall and the picture with the sharpie sort of confirms that.

I grow mine in cooler temperatures (low to mid 60's) with shop lights barely an 1" above the top leaves, and I end up with shorter, but much stockier and leafy seedlings.

From the picture they don't look unhealthy to me, just in need of a little food and a bit more light.

Thanks, FD. I think the heat has something to do with it.. I raised the lights up a bit, now about 2" or so up. Did this mostly because of temperature reasons- very well may undo this.

I've got the temps down so they range from around 73-77... Still higher than yours, but much lower than 90 if you ask me!

I definitely don't over water; I'm wondering if it's possible that I'm under watering? just thinking out loud.

[Farmette]

Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter

For comparison, here are my three week old re-seeds in an egg carton. The tallest of the bunch is about 1 1/2"

FD, are you saying your lights are 1" or 2" above the seedlings.

[Father'sDaughter]

Originally Posted by Farmette

FD, are you saying your lights are 1" or 2" above the seedlings.

I keep them about 1" above. I moved them to where the light is higher for their photo op.

[dmforcier]

AR, What lights are you using?

Bottom heat?

[MissS]

I also vote that you need a new mix. I would re-pot them into a new mix and then give them a light feeding. At this point when you re-pot them, I would give them each their own 4" pot to allow them to grow until you are ready to plant them out.

[ARgardener]

Originally Posted by dmforcier

AR, What lights are you using?

Bottom heat?

5500k T8's, not bottom heat.

[dmforcier]

How many T8s?

[ARgardener]

Originally Posted by dmforcier

How many T8s?

2, 2 bulbs per shelf. Total of 8 for the 2 trays.

[ARgardener]

Is it possible that under watering could be playing a role? When I say I let things dry out, I mean I REALLY let things dry out

[Gerardo]

Feed them, warm them, juice 'em up with something like
Trinity (http://www.aurorainnovations.org/trinity.html I got a sample and it does work),
give 'em a cutoff date for response and have no mercy if they languish.

Start additional trays, neither seeds nor starter mix are precious metals, time is.

[ARgardener]

For those of you have told me to change the soil, how would I go about doing this? Thinking about changing the soil in these little plants makes me nervous

[ARgardener]

Also, hypothetically, if the seedlings werent to grow much more and I went ahead and put them in the ground how would they do? Would they grow and catch up just fine? I'm located in central Arkansas, zone 7B.
I'm just asking because I really don't have the time resources or space to start an entire new tray with all new seeds.

[loulac]

Originally Posted by ARgardener

For those of you have told me to change the soil, how would I go about doing this? Thinking about changing the soil in these little plants makes me nervous

Just take out the seedling out of its pot. If roots can be seen just plant the whole mass without disturbing it, bury one half of the stem.

If no roots are visible (unlikely) break the mass lightly betwwen your fingers before transplanting.

Add water. Wait till the mix is nearly dry before watering again, the seedling might rot.