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3 week seedlings not growing anymore

10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago

I transplanted my tomato seedlings about 3 weeks ago, they were about 8" tall and had grown the first few sets of leaves. I've had a couple issues with curling & minor issues with aphids, of which I've gotten taken care of. However, I've noticed that even though they are seemingly healthy, hardened for about 2 weeks prior to transplant, about a week ago they have stopped growing. There's been no new foliage growth & no growth in height. I have been making sure they're fertilized & properly watered however no growth? Is this because of root establishment? If so, how long will it be before they begin to start growing again?

This is my first attempt at planting tomatoes so I'm not entirely sure as to what is or isn't normal, aside from what I have read & learned online, however the feedback can get overwhelming & contradicting. I live in region 9, the weather has been a bit unpredictable with a recent heatwave & now much cooler temps. The days are full of sun, temps are at 75-90+ during the day, at night, temps drop due to the coastal fog coming inland. Night time temps can get down into the upper 50s. There's also periods in where the winds pick up but they're not constant. Any advice would be great. Thank you.

Comments (10)

  • 10 years ago

    I just updated the post with more info. I transplanted them to my raised beds outdoors. I previously prepared my beds with fertilizer, organic soil that I ordered & had shipped to my house. The native soil here is really poor, filled with clay & rock. Even with the organic soil I added, I still had to mix in a bit of peat moss in order to help drainage, as well as nitrogen/sulfur mix due to the very high PH balance. Prior to planting, I had my the soil tested, soil was as close to ideal as possible, fertility levels were good. I planted them all the way up to their top set of leaves. PH was at 6.5 to 6.7 compared to over 9 before. My apologies for not providing more info, just not entirely certain as to what is helpful information.

  • 10 years ago

    Specifically what fertilizer did you apply? Compost isn't fertilizer, and a new raised bed full of just organic material probably is nutrient-poor. But if you had the soil tested, and the test showed that all important soil constituents were there (minerals, N, P, K, etc.) then you should be good to go. At those temps, your tomatoes should be flying.

    Not sure I understand. You transplanted them 3 weeks ago but they stopped growing 1 week ago? As in, they were growing for 2 weeks? Things will go slow for a week or two after transplant as roots are established and the plants shake off transplant shock.

  • 10 years ago

    Initially, I worked in chicken manure into the soil. At time of transplant from indoors to the raised beds, I added wood ashes & tomato tone organic fertilizer down with the root ball. After completing transplants I added a heavily diluted mixture of fish emulsion into the root zones & onto the foliage, in the early morning before the sun was up high. The seedlings had new growth consistently for the first 2 weeks after transplant but stopped producing just less than a week ago. There's been no growth in height or foliage since. They is no discoloration, they're still a deep green in color, leaves are all looking healthy & strong, stems look great. I did have a temporary issue with minor leaf curling but I found the culprit causing that, there was white flying aphids that were feasting on them as the sun was setting after the temps cooled, they're still recovering a bit from that. I used neem oil & that has seemingly taken care of the problem. I purchased them as small seedlings from my nursery, took some time to harden them prior to putting them in the ground. So in all I've had them for about 5.5 weeks, transplanted them about 3 weeks ago & noticed the stunt in growth almost a week ago.

  • 10 years ago

    I'd just chill. Sounds like you're not doing anything wrong. Sometimes plants spend energy briefly beefing up stalks and not necessarily growing in height or increasing number of leaves.

    User thanked daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
  • 10 years ago

    Got it, thank you

  • 10 years ago

    "Initially, I worked in chicken manure into the soil. At time of transplant from indoors to the raised beds, I added wood ashes & tomato tone organic fertilizer down with the root ball. After completing transplants I added a heavily diluted mixture of fish emulsion into the root zones & onto the foliage,"

    Too many variables. If just one goes wrong, .... Next time, keep it simple.

  • 10 years ago

    I should say, looking back at your preparations, you managed to get a highly alkaline soil down to a reasonable pH. But then you added wood ash. Be aware that wood ash is highly alkaline. I have alkaline soil myself, though not terminally alkaline, and as a result I consider wood ash to be essentially toxic waste for my beds. It's great stuff to improve soil structure, but it's really not constructive to add to soil that you're trying to acidify.

  • 10 years ago

    After reading the comments regarding the ash & alkalinity it introduces I did another PH soIL test. The PH in my soil within my raised beds have in fact been elevated. The soil is now testing at almost 7, which from what I understand is near neutral. And it is the soil within the root zones of my tomato seedlings. Everywhere else it has remained on the acidic side at 6.5-6.6. The only thing that I think could've caused an increase like this in such a focused area, I'm assuming it's the wood ash. Is this something that I can safely begin to correct? Can I bring down the PH even though the seedlings have been in the beds for weeks now?

  • 10 years ago

    pH of 6-8 is fine. Don't sweat it, unless you're trying to grow something that is VERY pH sensitive. Not many vegetables are. Potatoes like acidic soil.

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