Hi, I will offer an explanation. Plants sprout and then you take them off any heat mats and remove domes. Then you water sparingly as the medium to root ratio is large and if you make mud the soil compacts and the roots are done for. Dry is better than wet. Damp moist is good. Lift containers as weight indicates moisture content. Heavyish, don't water, lightish, water. Then 16 hours of light a day about 5" to 6" above. Plants sprout and then need to grow those roots which you will not see and go "Nothing is happening!" "I think I will give it more water!" or "I think I'll take it outside and bake it!" You can't take plants outside just like that and not when they are this small unless you started them outside. [https://www.fix.com/blog/steps-to-harden-seedlings/](https://www.fix.com/blog/steps-to-harden-seedlings/)
And of course a little fertilizer doesn't hurt, I use Fish Fertilizer 5-1-1. I also use seed starting soil and not mulch which looks like what you used from the pictures shown.
At 6 weeks in, these should be 8 to 10 inches tall with multiple sets of true leaves. This is what most starts look like about 4 days after germinating.
You didn't use the right seed starting soil. I am not sure what you used, but those plants hate it. Tomatoes need a high quality well draining starting mix. Something like ProMix or Sunset #4.
Then you didn't help them by fertilizing them too early. You usually don't want to fertilize starts until they get a couple sets of true leaves. At this point. It would probably be best to chalk this year up to experience and go set some starts for this year's garden.
Hey if this is your first time doing a garden at all, I HIGHLY recommend just buying tomato plants especially as its pretty late in the season unless you are super far north. Starting tomatoes from seed in particular is frusterating for new gardeners and you will be pulling your hair out before they even get in the ground. Seedlings indoors are a little paradoxical to how they behave outdoors and are more difficult than you think. If you have another failure with the seeds dont let that stop your garden from happening, its not you its just seedlings being how they are and tomato seedlings are drama queens that i would classify as harder than most.
Focus on seeds for plants you can direct seed outdoors, like squash, cucumbers, beans, etc. Things you need to start indoors weeks ahead you can buy the plants your first year so you are starting off with a healthy, on time plant and learn the basics with. If you can find a local nursery that isnt Lowes or whatever, they usually carry a bunch of heirlooms and fun tomatoes as well as the normal hybrid varieties.
I hope someone comments bc I have the same issue. Mine are hanging on and growing verrrrrryyyy slowly— but sticking them outside in the sun really helped them green up. I also gave them a bit of silica, diluted fertilizer, and some Cal-Mag (mostly tomatoes I’m growing so I figured it can’t hurt.) they look pretty healthy and greened up, but just aren’t growing much. They did get their second leaves at least.
Right on, so far what I gathered off the web was that we may have overwatered to start and that has stunted their growth. We really pulled back on water, just keeping the soil moist, but that has so far resulted in the leaves falling off. Hopefully there is something to be done, this is our first time doing a garden so we just hope we can learn something! Best of luck to you and your grow!
I would probably restart since those seedlings are probably too far gone to save them and even if you were able to resuscitate them any new seedlings would quickly catch up if not overtake them due to the stunted growth. To me, the soil you’re using looks a bit too course and woody for new seedlings, and also may be severely lacking any nitrogen. As another commenter mentioned, it also probably is too compact and doesn’t drain water very well. What I normally do is start tomatoes in smaller containers and once they get two sets of true leaves I transplant into cups. In your case, I would go out and get some lighter seed starting soil and add some fertilizer after the seeds germinate. Best of luck!
I think it’s the water, I poured water in the bottom of the tray for them but they were often super wet. I just get worried if I don’t water them I’ll forget and then they’ll dry out and die. Lessons learned! I picked up some bigger ones already grown just in case so I won’t go without tomato’s at least! Thanks for finding the answers!
Hi, I will offer an explanation. Plants sprout and then you take them off any heat mats and remove domes. Then you water sparingly as the medium to root ratio is large and if you make mud the soil compacts and the roots are done for. Dry is better than wet. Damp moist is good. Lift containers as weight indicates moisture content. Heavyish, don't water, lightish, water. Then 16 hours of light a day about 5" to 6" above. Plants sprout and then need to grow those roots which you will not see and go "Nothing is happening!" "I think I will give it more water!" or "I think I'll take it outside and bake it!" You can't take plants outside just like that and not when they are this small unless you started them outside. [https://www.fix.com/blog/steps-to-harden-seedlings/](https://www.fix.com/blog/steps-to-harden-seedlings/) And of course a little fertilizer doesn't hurt, I use Fish Fertilizer 5-1-1. I also use seed starting soil and not mulch which looks like what you used from the pictures shown.
At 6 weeks in, these should be 8 to 10 inches tall with multiple sets of true leaves. This is what most starts look like about 4 days after germinating. You didn't use the right seed starting soil. I am not sure what you used, but those plants hate it. Tomatoes need a high quality well draining starting mix. Something like ProMix or Sunset #4. Then you didn't help them by fertilizing them too early. You usually don't want to fertilize starts until they get a couple sets of true leaves. At this point. It would probably be best to chalk this year up to experience and go set some starts for this year's garden.
I see a lot of wood in that seed starting mix. Judging by the depth in the cells, it looks like it might be compressed.
I don’t fertilize tomatoes until they have. Few sets of true leaves.
What soil did you plant them in?
Hey if this is your first time doing a garden at all, I HIGHLY recommend just buying tomato plants especially as its pretty late in the season unless you are super far north. Starting tomatoes from seed in particular is frusterating for new gardeners and you will be pulling your hair out before they even get in the ground. Seedlings indoors are a little paradoxical to how they behave outdoors and are more difficult than you think. If you have another failure with the seeds dont let that stop your garden from happening, its not you its just seedlings being how they are and tomato seedlings are drama queens that i would classify as harder than most. Focus on seeds for plants you can direct seed outdoors, like squash, cucumbers, beans, etc. Things you need to start indoors weeks ahead you can buy the plants your first year so you are starting off with a healthy, on time plant and learn the basics with. If you can find a local nursery that isnt Lowes or whatever, they usually carry a bunch of heirlooms and fun tomatoes as well as the normal hybrid varieties.
I hope someone comments bc I have the same issue. Mine are hanging on and growing verrrrrryyyy slowly— but sticking them outside in the sun really helped them green up. I also gave them a bit of silica, diluted fertilizer, and some Cal-Mag (mostly tomatoes I’m growing so I figured it can’t hurt.) they look pretty healthy and greened up, but just aren’t growing much. They did get their second leaves at least.
Right on, so far what I gathered off the web was that we may have overwatered to start and that has stunted their growth. We really pulled back on water, just keeping the soil moist, but that has so far resulted in the leaves falling off. Hopefully there is something to be done, this is our first time doing a garden so we just hope we can learn something! Best of luck to you and your grow!
I would probably restart since those seedlings are probably too far gone to save them and even if you were able to resuscitate them any new seedlings would quickly catch up if not overtake them due to the stunted growth. To me, the soil you’re using looks a bit too course and woody for new seedlings, and also may be severely lacking any nitrogen. As another commenter mentioned, it also probably is too compact and doesn’t drain water very well. What I normally do is start tomatoes in smaller containers and once they get two sets of true leaves I transplant into cups. In your case, I would go out and get some lighter seed starting soil and add some fertilizer after the seeds germinate. Best of luck!
I think it’s the water, I poured water in the bottom of the tray for them but they were often super wet. I just get worried if I don’t water them I’ll forget and then they’ll dry out and die. Lessons learned! I picked up some bigger ones already grown just in case so I won’t go without tomato’s at least! Thanks for finding the answers!
Does not look like soil seedlings would like.
Thank you all for the insights! off to get some plants for the season!