Most leggy plants become sturdier once they are growing outside. Hardening off the plants or transplanting them outside may also help with legginess. To avoid overheating, remove the humidity domes from your seedling trays or take them off the heating mats within a couple days of them sprouting. Graper and Moreno both said adding fertilizer to the soil of leggy seedlings will be ineffective. “You want something that’s going to retain the water and not dry out too fast.” Moreno recommends looking for seedling mixes with a combination of perlite, vermiculite and peat moss, or making your own. “You may have to look at what kind of a mix you’re using,” Moreno said. Avoid heavy soil, like garden soil, and use potting soil or seedling starting mix that is formulated to have a loose texture with good drainage. The quality of your seed starting mix may also be impacting the health of your seedlings. “Add a small amount of water, allow them to sit in slightly and let them soak it up.” “A great way to deal with watering and be more consistent is to have a tray where you wick the moisture into the seedlings,” Moreno said. When it comes to addressing hydration, watering from the bottom so that roots will wick up water may also help to make sure the plants are getting sufficient hydration. Stagger seedlings an inch or two apart once they develop the first true leaves so they have plenty of room to soak up the sun.
Make sure your seedlings are not clamoring for space, either. Some gardeners will set up a system where the lights can be raised as the seedlings grow. Moreno said to make sure seedlings are only a couple inches from grow lights. Moreno said you can try moving your plants to a different south-facing window and regularly turning the trays to help tilting seedlings grow straighter, but artificial light is the easiest way to achieve this, especially for northern gardeners with short growing seasons. The first step is to make sure your seedlings have enough light.
“If you have a heat lamp on them and it’s too hot, the stems grow faster than the leaves.” “Too much heat causes a rapid growth spurt,” Moreno said. While warmer temperatures aid germination, most seedlings grow best at a high of 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and nighttime temperatures of 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit at night. Overheating, especially under a germination dome or on a heating mat, can also cause a burst in growth that leads to legginess. In a similar vein, poor soil with improper drainage can stunt growth as seedlings struggle to absorb the necessary water and nutrients. Seedlings may also grow leggy if they are not adequately watered. “If the plants are close together than the shade each other and compete for the light that is available.” “Crowding is related to the light conditions,” Gaper said. Keep phosphorus levels low in greenhouse fertilizers to avoid stretch.Overcrowding in seedling pots will also cause legginess as the seedlings compete for light. Keep plants on the dry side to avoid stretch and avoid overwatering Keep houses cooler in the daytime to reduce stretch. High daytime temperatures and large differences between day and night temperatures.However, shading can be limited by having clear end walls making sure other structures, shrubs and trees do not produce shade and limiting shade from above and around the plants. Overcrowding is hard to avoid with trays tight together. Make sure greenhouse films have high light transmission and replace film more often in transplant houses.
Stretch is greater during cloudy conditions. Trays should be moved from germination areas to growing areas before the cotyledons emerge. Leaving plants in the germination chambers too long.What is desired is a compact plant with a short hypocotyl. Additional stretching of the epicotyl and internodes above the cotyledons can also occur, causing further problems in planting and with plant survival. Gordon Johnson, Extension Vegetable & Fruit Specialist transplants that have an extended hypocotyl, that area of the stem below the cotyledons (seed leaves), can be more susceptible to damage during and after transplanting.
0 kommentar(er)
