Cabbage and lettuce seedlings - too tall and floppy?
 

I'm fairly new to veg growing. sowed some lettuce and some cabbage in seed
trays, then pricked them out into individual 3" pots. and placed on a
reasonably sunny south-east facing window sill and have kept the compost
moist. Now the seedlings are about 3" tall. I use the word "tall" loosely,
because they are all flopped-over, due the stems being too thin near the
base. There is a 2.5" splindly stem with a couple of leaves at the top.
What am I doing wrong?

Thanks...

Jim

Cabbage and lettuce seedlings - too tall and floppy?
 

On 16 Mar 2012 16:41:19 GMT, Jim xzy wrote:


I'm fairly new to veg growing. sowed some lettuce and some cabbage in seed
trays, then pricked them out into individual 3" pots. and placed on a
reasonably sunny south-east facing window sill and have kept the compost
moist. Now the seedlings are about 3" tall. I use the word "tall" loosely,
because they are all flopped-over, due the stems being too thin near the
base. There is a 2.5" splindly stem with a couple of leaves at the top.
What am I doing wrong?

Thanks...

Jim

There could be a number of causes:

1) If there's been a very sunny day, the sun's heat may have been
amplified by the glass and the seedlings got toasted - if I have
things growing on a window sill (most of mine face east or west) I
shade the east facing trays with some newspaper in the morning and the
west facing ones in the afternoon. It's also important to turn the
trays round - I work on a quarter turn each day - as otherwise the
seedlings always lean towards the light and, after a while, will keel
over.
2) At some point in their career the seedlings may have been starved
of light and have grown thin and straggly - sweet peas are notorious
for this for example - rather than more short and stumpy as it were
and the stems just can't support the weight of what's above them.
3) If they've keeled over at compost level then you might have damping
off disease (this has been covered recently in another thread). IME
it's never hit after potting on but AFAIK it can happen There's no
cure for this unfortunately. The only available treatment I know of
now is Bayer Fruit and Vegetable Disease Control but you need to water
the seedlings with this as a preventive measure before the fungus
hits. Of the possible causes of damping off disease, if that's what
you've got I'd guess that it may be due to over-watering. Whilst
plants are in compost (pots or trays) I work on the basis of watering
from underneath and then waiting for the compost to become dry - even
for the plantlets to start to show signs of wilting just a bit from
thirst - before watering again.

From your description of long thin stems with leaves at the top, I'd
suggest that (2) is the most likely cause though I'm sure others will
disagree. Just a "couple of leaves" indicates to me that what you've
got are still the seed leaves (cotyledons) rather than the leaves that
will actually develop into the lettuces and cabbages and so they
didn't get enough light whilst in the seed trays.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling happily from the dryer end of Swansea Bay.

Cabbage and lettuce seedlings - too tall and floppy?
 

Jake wrote in
:


From your description of long thin stems with leaves at the top, I'd
suggest that (2) is the most likely cause though I'm sure others will
disagree. Just a "couple of leaves" indicates to me that what you've
got are still the seed leaves (cotyledons) rather than the leaves that
will actually develop into the lettuces and cabbages and so they
didn't get enough light whilst in the seed trays.

Cheers, Jake


Thanks Jake - I think you've hit the nail on the head there. I will sow a
fresh lot.

Jim

Cabbage and lettuce seedlings - too tall and floppy?
 

"Jim xzy" wrote in message
. 4.11...
Jake wrote in
:


From your description of long thin stems with leaves at the top, I'd
suggest that (2) is the most likely cause though I'm sure others will
disagree. Just a "couple of leaves" indicates to me that what you've
got are still the seed leaves (cotyledons) rather than the leaves that
will actually develop into the lettuces and cabbages and so they
didn't get enough light whilst in the seed trays.

Cheers, Jake


Thanks Jake - I think you've hit the nail on the head there. I will sow a
fresh lot.

Jim

Check back with the group when it comes to planting out time

Bill