Need seedling help, please?

I'm trying to grow from seed for the first time and am ... struggling a little.

I have 10 SCS PowerNap in the first row, 10 SCS White Nightmare in the 3rd row, and 2 freebies (Hex on top, Applejack on 3rd) in a hydrodome with rockwool starters and a heating mat.

This is day six so I'm guessing everything that's going to germinate has already done so. My problem is that the ones that germinated are very long and stringy and can't support their own weight. This morning I took the dome off and have moved the starts under a half-lit t5 with the lights very far away from the seedlings. Also, so far, they've only been fed RO'd water - no nutes of any kind yet.

Did I do this wrong? And, assuming yes, is there anything I can do to fix it at this stage?

Any suggestions are welcome, and thanks in advance!

TiRx
(1st, 2nd, 3rd pic taken on day 2; 4th pic taken today)

Pics 2 & 3 look real yellow, not sure what would cause that in newly sprouted seed. I plant in soil not rockwool. Theoretically the cotyledons have enough food in them to keep the seedling green and growing for a few days.

Pic 4 shows extreme stretching from not enough light and/or light way too far away.

They look pretty bad but you might get some to pull through. Read this

https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/429767-replant-those-long-stretchy-stems.html

AimAim said:

Pics 2 & 3 look real yellow, not sure what would cause that in newly sprouted seed. I plant in soil not rockwool. Theoretically the cotyledons have enough food in them to keep the seedling green and growing for a few days.

Pic 4 shows extreme stretching from not enough light and/or light way too far away.

They look pretty bad but you might get some to pull through. Read this

https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/429767-replant-those-long-stretchy-stems.html

Click to expand...

Listen to this guy ^

With T5 you should have your light closer and they wont stretch, I sprout my seeds in rockwool cubes and as soon as they sprout I give them a minute amt of nutes, ( I mix 1'2 strength then cut in half again with water ), your plants need food, they're hungry, there's no nutrient in rockwool, also did you soak you cubes in 5.8 ph'd water for 2 to 3 hrs before planting seeds? that's how I do it and never had a problem.

I would put my money on the poor lighting
They are stretching because they are trying to get to the light.
I would take the above advice on 'burying the stems' if you want to save them. You will sacrifice a little pot depth, but the buried stem will eventually turn into root zone. Just be super gentle with the stems when burying, dont crease them, SUPER GENTLE!

As for nutes and germination, Id use an extremely dilute seaweed liquid product (rockwool or soil)
It is a great root stimulator, fight pathogens and has vitamins and minerals to get them thriving
2ml per gal, no more

90% of people will tell you not to use any kind of nutrients or additives for germinating because 'I use plain water and they germinate fine' and 'seedlings have enough nutrients to survive on their own for weeks'
They tell you this because if you use the wrong nutrient or it is too strong, the seedling tap root comes out and BANG BURN DEAD! It's safer to say to use nothing than you mix something too powerful and kill them

Yes seedlings do have enough to be self sufficient for a week or two. They are designed like this in nature so that if a seed germinates in a less desirable or harsh environment, it at least has a fighting chance of surviving it's first days of life. If any kind of pathogens attack the seedling in it's first stage, it uses it's own energy to try and develop AND try and fight the pathogen which lowers it's chance of germination survival.
So when a seedling first roots, why not give it the tools to germinate faster and fight off any pathogens so it doesn't exhaust itself using up its own energy stores?
Why leave it to fend for itself? It is in the biggest fight of it's life, so throw it a spear =)
Look into seaweed and you will see why it is fantastic in so many ways

Good luck!
Cheers Jimmy.

Thanks, all of you, for the help!! I'm going to try to rebury them as suggested, and then give a 1/10th strength seaweed dose. I'll report back with survival rates if anyone's interested. Thanks again!

-TiRx

Thanks for the advice! (+rep)

AimAim said:

Pics 2 & 3 look real yellow, not sure what would cause that in newly sprouted seed. I plant in soil not rockwool. Theoretically the cotyledons have enough food in them to keep the seedling green and growing for a few days.

Pic 4 shows extreme stretching from not enough light and/or light way too far away.

They look pretty bad but you might get some to pull through. Read this

https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/429767-replant-those-long-stretchy-stems.html

Click to expand...

Personally I would try to just stack some soil around the stems for a bit, until your stems get a few more days under the belt, and move your light to full strength and closer.
Use some bamboo shish ka bob skewers and twist ties from the vegetable dept to support them.

When growing CFL, I've got one bulb an inch away from each plant (within a sandwich bag for humidity). This way, the heat keeps them happy and the light keeps them from stretching. My point being, don't be scared to get fluorescent close! Use the back of your hand to measure the amount of heat stress put upon your plants.

very ambitious for first grow! good luck hope you learn a lot.

Ok, so based on suggestions and insights provided largely by the folks in this thread, we're ... trying this.

These are going into an RDWC hydro setup so I didn't come up with many good options for re-burying them, instead we did a little seedling surgery (or hack-job) and approached differently. We rigged up a shoddy little support scaffolding made out of a shrimp skewer and two light-weight zip ties for each, and gently propped up the stalks. They were still in 1" rockwool cubes and the roots had all grown out the bottom so I grabbed the next size up of cubes and soaked them in a ph'd bath of liquid seaweed, H&G Root Excelurator, and AN Sensi Grow A&B, all at 1/4 strength. I also turned on the second half of the t5 and dropped the hood down to about 8" away from the plants.

I'll give an update again in a couple days to share the survival rate. At worst case, I just lost a few hundred dollars worth of genetics and learned a good deal about how to do this better the next time; best case, some of these will survive, be female, and grow to harvest in a grow journal instead of a "Oh @$%^ halp meee!" post...

Either way, thanks everyone for your insights!!

At least my soil tents are still going strong, just a few more weeks til harvest...

-TiRx

Post Surgery Pic:

If they are propped up nicely and the lights are bought down, they can survive and eventually the stems will thicken up like it never happened
I have seen this done before, and used to do it when I started out and was in the exact same place as you
Just make sure the light distance is spot on, too much they burn, too little and they will just stretch again too far to ever recover.
If they survive and thicken up, your worst case scenario is a gap at the bottom of the plant to the first node... which is nothing =D
Good luck!

Cheers Jimmy.

You could always change plans and for cheap get yourself some small soil planters and do a screen setup with them and replant them deep I replanted some long stems in hydroton and made sure they weren't all stretchy in my bubbler buckets. Haven't got pictures yet but did it yesterday, turned out great.

Good luck with your grow!!