Leggy growth is an indication of insufficient light.

What is your lights system /set up ? How far up/away are the light source from the seedling ? How many hours the light are on ??/24 ?

What are the room temperatures ?

Have you been fertilizing the seedlings ?

Sey

Along with what Seysonn mentions, when you refer to 'pellets', do you mean peat? If so, the first of the potential problems with pellets - did you remove the netting?

Thank you for your reply.

Not sure what light system exactly. It is a grow light/flourescent bulb setup. The light is fairly far away from the plants (at least 12 inches). The lights are on the plants about 10 hours a day. I have fertilized the seedlings 2x so far. The room temperature is usually in the 60's.

This is my first true attempt to grow indoors, and so far, not so good.

I'm thinking that maybe I would be better off just starting over again. These plants are super leggy.

Might try and take a picture later and share.

Thanks again for your input. :)

rgreen48:

I did not remove the netting. Perhaps that is the problem?

Wow, there sure is a learning curve to growing 'right'. LOL.

The roots look miserable, and I don't know how well they will transplant with poorly developed roots...

Sounds to me like overwatering, and not enough light. If you used the Jiffy peat pellets they tend to cause more problems then they will solve. Either way yellow seedlings, and lack of root growth show overwatering 99 times out of 100.

Thank you centexan254!

Ok, I was thinking it was a water issue also. Guess I am overwatering them. Growing indoors is trickier than I expected it to be! Maybe I will just purchase the already established seedlings again. I have had success with growth from seed (but they were grown outdoors). Should I try to 'save' these seedlings? Or is it too late?

Lower the light much closer to the plants so it's a few inches away at most and keep the lights on for around 14 hours. Hold off on watering to allow the soil to dry out a bit. Then fertilize at half strength. When you transplant them be sure to bury a lot of the stem.

Rodney

Thank you Rodney, and rgreen for your helpful words.

I suppose that I will keep these going, since they are already here, but will most likely start new ones and buy seedlings (within the next month). I was so eager to get a start on Spring that I sowed these too early, and now i'm waiting to transplant.

Disappointed about the pellets. Very misleading/complicated to use them, it seems.

If others are sowing indoors and not using the pellets...what growing medium IS used?

I also have multiple seedlings per container. I know the directions said to keep the strong one and remove the others, but I didn't want to 'kill' any of the plants (but now I see why that is advised).

My garden bed is already somewhat prepped/tilled, but nothing planted, I do have a separate space that I was going to use for flowers, but I may plant these tomato plants there instead.

The idea of killing the plants bothers me, so I would prefer to 'save' them if I can.

So, I lowered the light and I will refrain from watering for awhile in hopes that they can somewhat balance out again.

Thanks again everyone for your helpful words and advice. Happy growing!! :)

Oh, and yes, I meant peat pellets (the Jiffy brand). I'll keep trying. I don't give up too easily! Thanks so much for the words of wisdom and encouragement!

"I have fertilized the seedlings 2x so far. The room temperature is usually in the 60's"

You are not giving sufficient detail. Fertilized with what exactly? What is the average temperature for the dark period (Td) and the average temperature light period (Tl) ?

The light green suggests a nitrogen deficiency. All else equal, internode distance increases with ( Tl - Td ). Most people don't know that you can make plants extra stocky by making Td > Tl because this is the opposite of what happens in nature and therefore they have no experience with Td > Tl. Irrespective of Td, Tl should be between 75 and 80 to maximize photosynthesis.

Oh, sorry aruzinsky, I forgot to mention what I fertilized with.

The first time, it was fish fertilizer, diluted (not sure what amount, but minimal) the second time, I used miracle grow all purpose plant food, diluted, also.

Somewhat new still to the gardening world, so pardon me for not knowing all the terminology yet.

Perhaps what I fed them, was just too diluted (but I also didn't want to give them too much so I was erring on the side of caution)??

I adjusted the light closer to the plants (2 in) and have been keeping it on for at least 14 hours a day. The room temp doesn't vary too much, usually in the 60's. I would say the temperature changes little, but I haven't actually used a thermometer to gauge it. The room is a main room in my house (so controlled, somewhat).

At this point I am just going to let them be and see how they do in the next few weeks. Most likely will plant them where I planned on planting flowers, and save my raised bed for nursery bought seedlings.

I am slightly discouraged by this indoor gardening experience, but I won't let it prevent me from trying again.

Thanks again everyone for your insight/input! Happy gardening! :)

Garden Lover, you asked:

"If others are sowing indoors and not using the pellets...what growing medium IS used?"

Well, that's a question with many answers. I use what is called 'Seed Starter'. There are a number of brands, each with its own blend. Most often it's a mix of light weight, moisture retaining, soilless ingredients such as peat, coir, vermiculite, etc...

There are also many types and sizes of containers to hold the mix. I use cell trays. And... lol... there are quite a few configurations of those.

So, do some reading, then after you have an idea of what may appeal, and might work for your conditions, you can ask pointed questions about why each of us has chosen our configurations. Just to drive the point home... many gardeners even use different mixes and container configurations for different types of seeds.

Thanks again rgreen48!

I am still a newbie with gardening, that's for sure (still love it tho!)

So, I was doing some reading about what could be going wrong with my seedlings and stumbled across a post asking what types of 'soil' people use for their seedlings. This got me scratching my head, and I went outside to see what I used, only to discover that I was using the wrong mix!

I repotted the seedlings into potting SOIL not mix!!

So, that would explain a LOT (I think?)

The plants poor root development, the pale color etc.....

Now I am trying to figure out a way of salvaging this mistake.

Is it too late?

Should I just 'give up' on these seedlings and sow over again?

This is frustrating and disappointing, but at least I am learning what NOT to do. LOL.

I appreciate the help and insight and posts available on this forum, as it has been a wealth of information for me to learn from.

*IF* I do start over again, I will be using seed starting MIX and follow the instructions, step-by-step.

Thanks all!

Don't give up on those plants. Use the good advice given. Tomatoes are tough plants. They should recover fine.

At first, years ago, i could not get my starts to look like those in the garden centers...so i would go ahead and buy some starts and found that mine, once the soil warmed up, did just as well and often better than purchased plants.

They use all sorts of tricks to get those squat thick stemmed plants so they travel well and look good sitting on big box store shelves for a long time.

Thanks so much sleevendog, for the kind words!

It can be so discouraging, especially when you *think* you are doing this right, just to figure out that you have made mistakes along the way.

The seedlings at the store look so good! Mine look pathetic, in comparison. LOL.

I think that if these little guys continue to grow and I don't disrupt them too much, they should be ok when the soil warms up. Seems like the good soil/hot sun always does wonders!

Thanks again, and Happy growing!!

Garden Lover - have you checked out all the FAQs and tip discussions over on the Growing from Seed forum here? They cover most all the basics and then some.

Dave

Thanks Dave,

I realized, after the fact, and have checked recently. LOL.

There are a lot of good tips in there, for sure.

Going to keep checking for more info!

Thanks so much!

I'll throw in a plug here for wintersowing. I use old gallon jugs and 2L soda bottles, put in 3 inches of soil, sow the seeds, put the tops on and just put them outside starting in late Feb. or early March. Because it's been so mild here I've already got tomato sprouts (usually don't get them till April). It's not a head start, but it's easy and the plants do just fine in the garden. Little or no watering, no worrying about light, etc. It's basically a variation on what happens in nature with volunteers, only more controlled. More info at wintersown.org.

Thank you for that interesting info, caryltoo!

Might have to try that!

As for my 'leggy seedlings' they seem to be doing mostly better. The deeper green color seems to be appearing on the top, which is good. I've let the soil dry and do not plan on watering them again until it's absolutely necessary.

The only thing that is strange is that some of the lower leaves are falling off the plant. I touched one of the leaves with my pointer finger and it just fell off the plant!

Is that something I should be worried about? It seems unusual for that to be happening to my seedlings this early on...

Also, I am germinating new seeds (2 varieties of tomatoes) and hope that they fare better than this last batch has, so far.

Worst case scenario, I purchase store-bought plants and try to sow again outdoors as the weather gets warmer.

Thanks everyone for your help and insight! Happy growing!