Mix up some low strength fertilizer in your watering can and water it in. I start out seedlings on 1/8 tsp per gallon of water. To water the tiny plants without disturbing them use a small narrow spouted watering can, like I have advocated about a thousand times, or make sure your regular watering can is completely full, so that the stream of water is very gentle. If you have seedlings in a container without drainage, then use a baster to remove excess water. Your seedlings most likely are starving. It is possible the coir is not completely free of salt, which may inhibit the absorbtion of fertilizer, so keep feeding your seedlings at weekly intervals and watch for greening up of the youngest leaves (a good sign). Gesnerias generally do well in enclosures. Your species is native to Puerto Rico.

Jon

Thanks Jon, but they haven't needed watering since the last time, several weeks ago. Do it anyway and sop up the excess?

For some reason I've never (this is my third attempt) had great success germinating Gesneriad seeds; it's frustrating, because I'm very good at vegetative propogation. Grr. Argh.

Also, I have a squeeze bottle with a fine tip for the very little guys; works great.

Korina (sigh)

Yes! That is exactly the problem with watering terrariums, and seedlings enclosed in baggies. They don't need watering but are getting pale. So, I like to think of this as "changing the water". You could even leach out the pots if you thought build-up was a problem (probably not).

That is the magic of the humble baster. You can water a terrarium until there is standing water in the bottom, which is really a bad thing, and then baste it out. Get all the standing water out and the soil again has air pockets. But, this time you have moist soil that is fertile too. I like to call it my "dedicated baster", as I must make sure it stays away from the kitchen where someone else might use it.

Jon

I like the magic of my humble squeeze bottle; like a baster but *BIGGER*! ;-D

kORINA

Completely unchanged. Teeny yellow seedlings. Too much light? My impatience?

(sigh)

Korina

How about the pH? I have the impression that coir has a different pH level than peat, but I haven't tested it. I've been experimenting with coir and have not always been as happy as I'd hoped--recently occurred to me I should check it (but my daughter and grandkids are visiting and they're actually even more important than my plants!)

Larry, I belive the coir runs around 6 to 6.5. And anyway all my other plants are just fine with it.

(grumblegrumble)

Korina

'It must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays.' -Arthur Dent