Whats wrong with my Tomato Seedlings!!!

10 years ago

Hi everybody, I need help! This is my first year growing under lights and I am having a huge issue.

My tomato Seedlings that are about 5 weeks old are curling down and inward and yellowing and drying out at the tips! Im not sure whether its the air in my house, my watering, over/under, the soil I have, or my fertilization (or lack thereof at the point) I will post pics below.

However the pepper plants that were started alongside with the tomatoes seem to be doing just fine, with all the same conditions.

My soil was homemade with about twenty percent vermiculite, twenty percent perlite, fifty percent Coco coir and about ten percent worm castings.

I tend to water only when the pots are super light and usually bottom water, but sometimes top water. The air temperature is around 65 degrees up to about 70 degrees.

They are under lights for an average of 15 hours and then off for 9

I have a feeling that maybe I need to fertilize, that the ten percent worm castings isn't enough, but then why are my peppers fine?

Also if I do need fertilize, what to use? I am growing without the use of synthetics products, so any suggestions in the organic realm would be greatly appreciated.

Featured Answer

Josh S
Original Author

10 years ago

here are my Pepper Seedlings, and in terms of fertilizer, I was wondering if the Worm Castings (about 15% of mix) would be enough?

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Comments (6)

Yuan Gong Hamilton ON CANADA 6b
10 years ago
omfg. Water daily.
aruzinsky
10 years ago
"or my fertilization (or lack thereof at the point)"

That is a sufficient cause of your misery.

"why are my peppers fine?"

Post pics of your peppers and let us judge how fine.

" I am growing without the use of synthetics products, so any suggestions in the organic realm would be greatly appreciated."

Abhorrence to chemical fertilizers causes unnecessary chaos, because, when something goes wrong with an organic fertilizer, the symptoms are difficult to diagnose and then people plague these fora with avoidable questions about what went wrong.

Of the lesser organic evils, you might try a tea made from dehydrated cow manure. Unfortunately, good quality dehydrated cow manure is difficult to find and expensive. About 40 years ago, every hardware store and garden center sold it cheap.
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Yuan Gong Hamilton ON CANADA 6b
10 years ago
peppers too leggy. outdoors or led asap
theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Those tomatoes are severely stressed. They look leggy from the lights being too far away, the purpling on the undersides of the leaves is not supposed to be there, and they should be much farther along at 5 weeks old. You cannot rely on worm castings to supply potted plants with the nutrients they need. They need fertilized, preferably with one that is water soluble as it'll be quicker acting.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/tomato

I suggest you post over on the Growing Tomatoes Forum. Lots of knowledgeable folks over there that can help.

Rodney

P.S. Your peppers do look leggy as well.
aruzinsky
10 years ago
I don't know what is wrong. I suggest that you apply a soluble chemical fertilizer to one of your seedlings just to see what happens and then throw the plant away (to maintain organic purity). If you see an improvement, then you know that there is something wrong with your worm castings.