Leaves are not Growing, but the Stem is
by John
(Glasgow, Scotland)
My seeds are popping and look healthy, but the leaves don't.
Answer: John- the most common problem with young seedlings is over watering. This can cause seedlings to stretch, and can also cause the new leaves to be an unhealthy yellow or pale green color. Without more specific information, this kind of fits your description of the problem. Of course, seedlings will also stretch when the fluorescent light is kept too far away from them (new seedlings can be kept about 3 inches from the bulbs). However, this probably would not account for the lack of leaf growth or unhealthy looking leaves.
If the temperature around your new seedlings drops to 65 degrees F or lower, this could be stressing out your seedlings and stunting the growth of the leaves. Have a thermometer set next to the seed flat and make sure your temperature stays between 68 and 75 degrees both day and night. Low temperature can also encourage wilt and powdery mildew, which could be making your seedlings sick (but which would have probably killed them in just a few days).
New seedlings (first 10 days) should only be fertilized with 1/4 or 1/3 strength nutrient solution. If you have NOT fertilized your new seedlings, the leaves may not be growing due to lack of Nitrogen. If you HAVE fertilized your seedlings, make sure you did not over-fertilize them. Fertilizer should only be applied when the seedlings truly need the water.
Finally, if you have started your seedlings in straight peat moss, the pH of the medium is probably too acidic for the new seedlings. Straight peat moss also retains too much water, making over-watering more of a possible suspect. Next time, mix your peat 50/50 with perilite or vermiculite and make sure it is pH adjusted. Better yet, start your seeds in straight, pre-moistened vermiculite. The mixture is the right moisture when you squeeze a fist full tightly and only get a few drops of water to come out. I hope this helps you out John, and Happy Growing!
AffordableGarden Design&Setup
Hi everyone, Jason from Jason's Indoor Guide here. When I got started with hydroponic gardening more than 24 years ago, my first garden used rockwool cubes and B.C. Nutrients....and I remember thinking to myself yeah, sure, there may be a lot of advantages to gardening with hydroponics, for example there are very few pest problems, therefore very little pest control, no weeding, no plowing or tilling the soil, no soil testing or having to add things into the garden soil, no watering the garden....but for someone who just wants to grow their own vegetables and have more control over their food supply and the quality of the food that they eat, the cost of constantly having to buy grow media and hydroponic nutrients makes this an expensive hobby for most people...
Epic Nutrient Change
I suppose when you take into consideration how much money you save NOT
having to buy food at the grocery store, it is surely cheaper to grow
your own food hydroponically even with the cost of high quality
nutrients. Nevertheless, I didn't have a whole lot of money to work with
and I needed to make my efforts as affordable and effective as
possible....and in the last 24 years I HAVE learned a thing or two!
As you browse through Jason's Indoor Guide, you will notice all of the
systems that I use personally are homemade systems. As I got 3 or 4
years of experience under my belt, I quickly adopted a preference to
standing water systems and systems that use expanded clay pellets or
lava rock, because the media is re-usable and it eliminates a huge
operating expense. So once a hydroponic system is built, garden
maintenance is minimal- check and adjust the nutrient solution daily,
and to change it completely every 2 weeks....and the biggest operating
cost is the hydroponic nutrients. (and the electric bill, lol)...
Homemade Cloner
And, regarding the cost of the nutrients....I experimented for about 3 years with making different compost teas and nutrient teas, but there is still a lot of expense $$$ associated with making high quality nutrient teas....like kelp meal, liquid seaweed, rock dust, bat guano, un-Sulfured molasses, worm castings. You can eliminate a lot of this expense by becoming an expert at making high-quality colloidal humus compost, and use your properly made compost as the basis of your hydroponic nutrient solution.
Unfortunately, I have been gardening for over 24 years and I have only
just recently mastered this difficult skill....and even then, only
because I happened to find a very easy to follow, high quality technique
and decided to follow the instructions to the letter. I produced more
high quality compost in just one week than I was able to use in a whole
year! If you can master the technique, I highly recommend it. It is one of the top 3 things you can do to
increase the productivity of your food production efforts, while at the
same time decreasing the amount of effort required to grow all of your
own food, and decreasing the total cost of operating your food
production system.
And when I say decrease operating costs, I mean decrease them to almost
ZERO, especially if you are producing your own nutrients...
High Efficiency
Hydroponics
The ultimate solution to eliminate the cost of your hydroponic nutrients: Imagine a hydroponic system that does not require you to buy any nutrients, does not require you to make your own compost, and does not require you to brew your own nutrient tea. Seriously! No cost and no effort as far as providing nutrients to your plants! Plus, at the end of the gardening cycle you harvest all of your garden vegetables, PLUS YOU HARVEST FISH from the system--->
Aquaponics
This solution is aquaponics. If you are serious about producing all of your own food and being self-sufficient, this is the ultimate solution for reducing expenses (as much as possible), reducing the total amount of work required, and maximizing the productivity of your gardening efforts. I have been gardening for over 24 years, and it is the perfect food production solution in my opinion.
Besides mastering how to make high quality compost, learning aquaponics is one of the top 3 things you can do to increase your garden productivity, reduce your total costs, and reduce your total work. The product that I learned from is called Aquaponics4you. With all of my hydroponic gardening experience, the first time I came across the Aquaponics4you product I knew immediately that it was something very special! Place an aquaponics system outdoors and use the sun instead of grow lights, and you have reduced every garden expense to nearly ZERO!
The Same System/ 10 Weeks Later!
