Dirt BONE DRY - Please Help!

Germinated with the paper towel method. All five seeds popped and tap root emerged within 48hrs.

I planted the 5 seeds in jiffy pots and watered well. Put them under cfls and turned on the fan. When I came home today after school the soil was bone dry, and the soil was pulled away from the edge of the pots. I watered them again very well, and put a few dishes of water out to increase room humidity.

Do you think they will pull through, or did I just waste $30 at the seed bank??? Should I start germinating the other 5 in preparation?

should be ok as long as you havent over-watered, its quite a resilient breed of plant to they can cope with some trouble

You don't need a fan on them. It will only dry them out.

Sorry I should have provided more info, fan is an exhaust fan on the closet grow box, and yes I have overwatered now, I can tell... I'll pour out the water in the little saucers the the pots sit in and keep my fingers crossed.

Another piece of info is that they have not come out of the soil yet.

just a little bump

they might be fine, or they might be dead. give it time, its too early to tell what one it is at this point most likely unless their is some critical info you have forgotten to tell us. the fan on them is a good idea, it strengthens the stems. you should use bigger pots if its drying out too fast and dont forget that just cuz the top layer looks dry it doesnt mean the soil is completely dry, deeper down it could be wet still(in the bigger pots, the same thing applies to the smaller pots your using now but they dry out quicker and are easier to tell. the pickup and compare watering method works good.

Thanks for the (at least kinda positive) responses guys! I have always used the weight of the pots/soil to determine how dry the plants really is.

My grandfather originally grew up in Poland as a farmer before being invaded by the Russians during WWII... they sent him and his family to Siberia to work on collective farms. He taught me lots about growing tomatoes and produce during my childhood before he passed, I just wish I had paid more attention! He always grew from seed.

I know patience is one of the most important attributes of the chron grower, and I'll do my best to ride it out.

Once again thanks all for your responses.

WHEW! 4 out of five have come out of the soil so far. I found the jiffy pots/soil are drying faster than a loogie on a sidewalk in Mexico. So I took some sandwich bags, cut off the bottoms and put them around the pots. It seems to help a little. I am constantly around 35% RH, I've already put dishes of water in the closet, they only raise it by about 1-2%. Temps are 70 - 74.6 F. Lights on 24/0 until I have sealed the box for light better. Any tips for increasing humidity on a tight budget?