Are both trays in peat pots? I can't tell from the top picture. That alone can make a difference as they require very different watering.

And you say you have not fed them anything? Can I ask why or if you plan to? Jiffy Mix can be inconsistent as many suppliers stockpile old bags of it to sell the next year. It works ok for germination but I have never tried using it for growing on as it has no nutrient value.

Dave

Am I correct in thinking that the first seeds were planted (or transplanted) into plastic cell packs and the 2nd planted into peat pots? It looks that way to me. I stopped using peat pots a decade ago because I always had problems with them.

I've concluded that peat pots encourage fungal and watering problems. Some people love them, but I've never had any luck with them...

A perfect example of why I hate peat pots.

Dave

The top tray is a 72 cell plastic flat but I have another 48 cell plastic tray that looks as bad as the peat pots. In fact a couple of plants have died. I have not fertilized yet but plan to. What would you transplant into? I have some big bags of mg potting mix that says feeds plants up to three months.

This is another flat-48cell plastic
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yardenman

I plant all my seeds in a container with jiffy-mix then transplant when a week old or so. I plan on transplanting again with mg. Maybe I should forget the first transplant.

Maybe I water too much but I wait until dry and then soak pretty good, maybe every two days. I still think it could be the Jiffy-Mix since the first tray is doing ok even though I have not fertilized yet. They have all been treated the same.

Thanks for your replies. I really like this forum. I was content to grow 4-5 different varieties until I discovered this site and read Carolyn Male's book. Now I have about 60 different varieties if I can keep them alive.

Then I'd transplant them into new containers with fresh, new potting mix - something with some food in it. Most any brand you can get is likly ok as long as its soil-less mix and not potting soil.

Or, if you want to do a learning experiment ;) and have the time, feed the peat pot tray ones with a dilute (1/4 strength) liquid Miracle Grow or something similar and transplant the ones from the bad plastic cell packs into the MG potting soil or something similar. That way you have 3 trays to compare results and see which works best for you. I think you'll discover the peat pots will have the worst performance - not that the plants won't be ok - just not as good. If you keep them be sure to remove as much if not all of the pot as possible before planting in the ground. Learned that the hard way years back. ;)

Like I said, Jiffy Mix does get mixed reviews. I've never had any personal bad experiences with it but I don't use it all that much and always buy new and make sure it's fresh stuff.

Good luck!

Dave

I was gonna' say it was a peat pot problem too. Plastic has always done better for me(when not using Jiffy pellets), but after seeing the other plastic tray with a similar problem, that kind of rules that out. Judging from the last pic, it doesn't look like they've been overwatered... Although, those peat pots stay soggy for a looong time and are great for breeding fungus. From my very limited knowledge I'd say they might need a shot of the blue stuff(MG).