Failing seedling box?

My seedling box doesn't seem to be doing the trick for these little ones. My windowsill only plant seems to be growing better.




The little ones are about 2 weeks old, shouldn't they be much bigger by now? I'm watering once the top inch or so of soil is dry, maybe not watering enough?

Suggestions appreciated. Thanks in advance.

if thats aluminum foil then thats probably the reason. foil doesnt reflect light efficiently enough . use mylar instead ,white plastic, or flat white paint

really? thats all? Ill get on that. Any other suggestions? How bad is it to have them so close to each other?

oh man, you messed up bad. no offense meant of course but you should never ever have more than 1 plant per container, seperate them asap before the roots get any more tangled than they already are. Thats what the problem is.

grrrr, I had a feeling. I guess its back to beer cups. for cup drainage should I just poke some holes in the bottom? I appreciate the honesty and suggestions. just bought some white paint and going to town on the plastic box. also, how are emergency blankets for reflectivity?

Last I checked emergency blankets are made of mylar, go to town buddy.

damn have fun killing all those plants in transplant unless u plan on keeping them all together

yeah, I'll go ahead and second the opinion that you have too many plants in one planter. In a planter that size I'd be reluctant to put more than two plants. Keep in mind that they will get a lot larger as they grow. They will need at least 8 inches diameter worth of space per plant to grow nicely enough.

Don't just throw those planters away though. Just start your plants in plastic cups and once they get a nice little root ball going just transplant them to the bigger planters. Again I say no more than two plants per planter. You might be able to get away with 3 but I wouldn't suggest it. You will come away with bigger yields from just two plants than you would if you had 3 plants crowded together.

P.S. I may just be a little bit of a worry wart here but using clear cups is a bad thing. Any light that reaches the roots can cause root damage and will make your yields much smaller and your plant may even die. The reason those cheap plastic planters are black is to keep all light from reaching the roots. I've recently heard from a friend that milk jugs, even though semi-clear, are specially designed to keep light out. He says it's to keep the milk from going bad. I'm not sure if he's right or not and I'm not going to try it cause I have some real pots for my plants. But it's an interesting thought. He doesn't seem to have any problems with his plants that are growing out of milk jugs.

I think I slaughtered the little guys transplanting into red solo cups- hopefully a few make it. (although it probably wouldn't hurt germinating and starting fresh again) The one in the clear cup will be put into a small pot tomorrow. How's my lighting in the box? Should I put holes in the solo cups? Thanks again for the replies and correcting my n00bness.

w00t w00t $6 wally world fan!

I wouldnt worry, give them some superthrive and wait, the root systems will recover from the shock and heal themselves given a bit of time. those arent clear cups your using are they? you need something thats a color that doesnt let light through. drainage is extremely important, drainage holes are an absolute must. poking holes in the bottom is the right way, but stab whatever through from the inside of the cup outwards, that way the holes will drain better since they are facing down and not upwards facing the soil. your lighting should be fine for a little while still.

get rid of the foil for a start that soaks up light not reflect it, and get a lid on those seedlings, u need humidity at this early stage to help em thrive.

Foil is gone, replaced with white paint. Cups are the solid red solo cups, with holes poked in the bottom as of...in a few minutes. Will look for superthrive. Gotta figure out how to get a lid on the sucker. Probably just put holes in the lid and string lights through.

hey man now that your seedlings have a fighting chance what is your plan for flowering? The reason I am asking is so you can start planning now. There are many low buck options we can walk you through and the sooner the better as time goes by fast while growing.

As of right now I have two females in flowering under 13 CFLs (see journal entry #1 pics). I'd love to do CFL for flowering, but I think that would be a bitch to do with more than the two I have now. Most likely I will have to bite the bullet and snag a HPS setup. What are some of low cost options that you were suggesting? Also, I couldn't fit that fan inside the box, is that okay?

Cool, what is you living situation? Are you going to be there for a while and is this in a closet? If it is in a closet is it a dedicated closet for your grow or do you share it with clothes/storage? If you must share it I would get a cab as it will be more out of site and by the looks of the amount seedlings you popped you are looking to do this for a minute. We can have you a nice complete cab for well under $100! First off you have to locate a box something like 4x2x4. You can find a old dresser or some utility cab on craigslist pretty cheap if not for free (always check the free section). If you are interested in doing something like this I can walk you through design light set up and ventilation...

btw i am not trying to sell you anything just walk you through it so you can build your own.. lol i tried to help another grower on another forum and got flamed for trying to sell something...

I'm interested. Do tell.

You have a good start on lighting, the first thing you need to do is locate a box check craigslist in the free section then furniture....or you may already have a old one somewhere...

Just like...a big wooden cabinet or just a box in general? Also, should I worry about having a fan in my seedling box right now or should I just let it be and keep the humidity up?

hey i dont know where you are but looking for something like this, I located this in less than 5 minutes searching...http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/zip/1768696425.html do a genral search in your area..