First time grow set backs. Please Help!!!!!!

If you have the time. Run to a store and pick up a Jiffy Pellet. I planted 12 seeds on the 6th of this month and now have 8 seedlings roughly 2 to 2 1/2 inches tall. The jiffy packages are cheap. I got mine for $2 for 12 pellets http://www.ferry-morse.com/seed_starting.asp?type=greenhouses&search_string=&folder=seedstarting

The tap root grew so fast threw the bottom of the pellet (in about 2 days it was threw) (I have my flow system heated under it) that I had to transplant. I decided to toss them in a jiffy transplant kit http://www.ferry-morse.com/seed_starting.asp?type=transplants&search_string=&folder=seedstarting

I used RODI water with zero tds ppm. The plants are now under a 400W MH and seem to be growing at a crazy rate. Every day I go an check on them they are bigger and bigger.

Are you pushing the seed down to far in the rock wool? Every video I have ever seen when people use that stuff it's almost like they lay the seed just barely under the surface. Like 1/8 of an inch down. If the seed is down too far it will not be able to fight it way out and die. These pellets were as easy 1, 2, 3. Walk away and you have seedlings in a couple of days.

Stickyicky, I planted my seeds in the AG without soaking, in rock wool (which I also forgot to soak) and they all sprouted - the seedlings had a little leaf damage maybe from not soaking the rock wool, but they all came up and are already huge - my first grow (last time) I soaked the seeds about 16 hours, but my germ was not as good and I had stragglers where these came up pretty much all at once - same two sets of seeds planted about two months apart. From these results I decided NOT to soak the seeds next time I sprout in the AeroGarden. Good luck!

I changed my germination method and i have had over 90% germ rate. I believe that when i was using the seedling heating mat i was getting them too hot and i was killing the seeds as well as i was over soaking them. The method i found that works for me is that i soak the sees for 12 hrs in a cup of distilled water. Then i fold 2 pieces of paper towel 3 times into a square. I soak the paper towel with 4 cap fulls of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and then soak it the rest of the way with distilled water. I fold the seeds in the paper towel and put it in a small ceramic bowel with a lid on it. I set the bowel on top of my satellite receiver and check it every 12 hrs. Most if not all of the seeds crack within 24 hrs. Once the seeds have cracked and have a root a little over a 1/4" i take them out and plant them into the Aerogarden Deluxe. In 24-48 hrs most of them will have sprouted. I tried this method first with bag seed before i used my good seeds and it worked great. I used my good seeds and have had great results. The only problem i have ran into now is that after they sprout and grow into the top of the small domes, i remove the dome and they wilt because of the heat from the light.This happens even with a small fan blowing on them. Luckily i found this out with bag seed sprouts first. I think i will remove the domes in the dark cycle and move the light up one notch for a while. I just hope they don't stretch too much.

Stickyick, As I said, I didn't soak and got 100 % on seeds that had given me lower with soaking before putting in the AG, but I just planted them after about 4 weeks and a few days. If you want to see how much they stretched, take a look at my first grow journal (if you can call it that) https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/52804-fromage-bleu-s-noobie-grow.html

I have gotten past the wilting problem by removing the domes near the end of the light cycle and moving up the light a notch for a few days until the sprouts toughen up a bit and then lowering the light back down after that point. I have 7 sprouts all doing very well. They have been fed distilled water with a pH of 5.5 and one drop of Superthrive per gallon of distilled water.

By the time they had grown 4 weeks, my AG starts were pretty huge (had just been transplanted in my grow journal photos) and the root tangle was rather a problem - I hated to tear any roots at all, but had to. I don't know how much trouble that is. I used superthrive on planting them in my ebb and flow. But I found I had to take the domes off practically later the same day they sprouted to keep them from bending over. I had my light on 24/7 with a couple hour break a day most days. They seemed to do fine. Used incredible amounts of water the last few weeks, and my AG stopped telling me when it was out of water. I used the low level AG nutes with the gardener's kit. I used filtered water - pH about 6.0. By the time they were ready to transplant, I had the lights at the top and they had stretched more than I wanted, but the tallest had stretched up far enough that I had to keep raising it. I did manage to keep the tops of all seven in the light.

I am not being good about testing my pH and TDS regularly, which I know isn't good (in my bucket and ebb and flow). My health issues make it tough, and lately asthma makes it hard to move at all (the toking sure helps that for a couple hours at a time).

Good luck. Good to hear about your experience as I am just barely ahead of you.

I started my seedlings with 1/4 strength FoxFarm nutes and Liquid Carma and SubCulture last Friday with a pH of 5.8 and they are all doing Very Well. I am going to 1/2 strength this Friday. Now that my germination method has been perfected i have 8 small plants vegging.

use a paper towel and zip lock bag to germinate it works the best then put into the 1inch cubes under floro lights or something that isn't as intense. shouldn't have any problems