What is happening to my babies?

[Postmanrings]

Started my heirloom seeds as normal this year with warming pad and all. Seeds seemed very slow to germinate, except strangely the seed I saved from last year! Anyway first leaves are dropping off some and others are looking yellowed. Should I ditch them and start over? I'm running out of time soon! Thanks Mark

[BigVanVader]

Saved seeds normally germinate faster than any others in my experience. Do you still have them on the heat mat? If so I would remove it. It also looks like the soil is very wet. Its ok to mist the top with water till the rest germinate but dont keep it soggy wet or it will cause issues. You could put a fan on them to dry it out a little faster.

[PureHarvest]

Do not ditch them.
New growth can replace the yellow old growth.

They look like plants that got too dry before you watered them.
Or, did you fertilize with a strong liquid feed when they were dry perhaps?

Also wondering about your light and temperatures.

[twillis2252]

Agree on the fertilizer issue. I used just a pinch of MG in my spray bottle and had some of the same issues. Ditched that for pure H20 Mountain Spring Water...condition improved after several days.

[oakley]

I'm not so sure. If that happened to me i would start a new tray asap.
And why i start three tomato trays for insurance. One way early, #2 two weeks later and #3 when i should start them.

I would have run out and picked up one of these, soak the pellets, rip off the netting then use the soil mixed with my starter mix....(i have back-up trays that i got at a pharmacy at the end of last season for a buck). I need the security to start new right away...
Way too stressful for me if i see that. I agree to not give up but not if it is my only starts. I lost one tomato seedling and a few peppers that had that stress and a few days later they were lying down and dead. Not trays, just single seedlings.

I don't care for the compressed peat containers. Horrid in my cool damp basement. They seem to absorb bad air, lol. Or maybe how they are made preserves bad spores from the processing materials and the place they are made.

[Cole_Robbie]

I'm guessing they have been over-watered. The media needs to maintain a minimum level of oxygen, enough to foster the aerobic bacteria that help nutrient uptake. Being too wet drops the oxygen level, and you grow the wrong bacteria. Mixing more perlite into your grow mix would help as well.

[Postmanrings]

Thinking about what I have done different I come up with first buying loose seed starter and putting in the degradable pods. They seem to dry out faster and when I check in a couple days. I also added a little of an African Violet fertilizer my wife had stored upstairs were I have them set up under grow lights. I am suspecting that is probably the answer. Not going to stress over another batch, so if they all die, I'll just do nursery plants this year. Thanks for all the help!