Quote:
Originally Posted by loulac
I’m glad to see disaster has been avoided. I can’t help making some comments on the pictures :
I notice different shades of grey in the soil. There can be different kinds of mix or a lighter grey means lack of water. The roots of some seedlings may not have reached the bottom of their compartment and need watering on the surface. Later of course half an inch of water under the flat will solve the problem;
I think the seedlings might need a bit more light. Why not lower the lightning while checking the temperature to avoid roasting the seedlings ?
To catch up lost time it’s always possible to boost them with a lot of strong sunlight, a high temperature, water and fertilizer. The accident will be forgotten.
I suppose you won’t throw away the labels. If you drill a hole at the top you can tie them to each pole. I used to carefully collect mine in alphabetical order at the end of the season to use them again the following year, now I clean them with acetone and a cotton swab, they are as good as new and labeling became much faster.
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Yes, they DO need more light. I'm moving them all out to the garage this week. And YES they do have two kinds of mix. The lighter colored is from Jiffy mix and the darker one is the Jiffy plugs. The plugs are more dense and give that gray-ish appearance.
I place the labels in the growing medium just beside the plant. They don't get re-used and they do fade by the end of the season. They are for the 5 or 6 weeks just after planting out when I'm verifying the plants for "True to Type". I'm also making a firm listing of what variety is where in the garden. This listing goes into an Excel spreadsheet for the current season. It helps me to rotate my crops and make sure I don't use up the nutrients by growing the same thing year after year. It is also why I mark most items of my harvests with the location (i.e. 7-16 on a tomato would indicate row 7 and plant 16). With that info, I can verify correctness by referring to my spreadsheet lists. Also, the little labels are a quick reference to verify "True to Type" in the early stages of growing.
Thank you for your concerns and good advice, but what you see in this year's picture is temporary. I had to dismantle my usual setup which has 11 light units that are down within about 3 inches of the foliage. I know that this year's setup will get the seedlings up and then they get moved to the garage and the process of hardening them off begins immediately.
Bonjour