My plants keep dying when very young - please help diagnose!

Hi all,

I keep having plants die on me, and it almost always starts after my first watering. The plant will be doing fine during germination, and will start growing once I put it in moist soil. After I water the first time, however, the leaves start to turn yellow, and often curl downwards. This time, I made absolutely sure not to overwater - I waited about 8 days before watering, and only put a small amount of water in, but it seems to be having the same problem, although this time the leaves aren't curling nearly as much.

I'm using steamed/distilled water in gallon jugs bought from the local supermarket. The soil is Foxfarm seed starter, and I have the lights on for 18 hours, under a 6500k CFL bulb.

Is it possible that the bulb is too hot? I know CFL's are supposed to be cool, but it does actually feel pretty warm to the touch.

Please help! I'm running out of seeds!

Thanks in advance

are u using nutes?

No, I am not using any nutes - should I?

distilled water? ...

"Natural water usually contains a number of microscopic contaminants, along with dissolved minerals such as calcium and iron. One way to remove these elements from water is to boil it until it changes to steam, a process known as distillation. When this steam is allowed to cool down and condense into liquid form again, the result is a purified form called distilled water. Distilled water should ideally be nothing but hydrogen and oxygen molecules, with a PH level of 7 and no additional gases, minerals or contaminants." Google

Try using tap water. Probably you have no nutes in your soil, and with nothing in the water to feed the plant, she dies. Otherwise I don't know...

no there two young, do u know the ph of the soil?

Do your cups have proper drainage. Add just enough domolite lime to bring your water to 6.5ph. Lime is very strong so scale and test in one gallon. This will add a few things that aren't in your system that are essential for proper plant growth. Test and balance soil before planting. Sterilize the soil with heat to ensure there isn't any microbes that can harm your plants.

I don't have a pH tester but will pick one up (with some domolite lime) tonight and give it a shot. Thanks.

merc1286 said:

Hi all,

I keep having plants die on me, and it almost always starts after my first watering. The plant will be doing fine during germination, and will start growing once I put it in moist soil. After I water the first time, however, the leaves start to turn yellow, and often curl downwards. This time, I made absolutely sure not to overwater - I waited about 8 days before watering, and only put a small amount of water in, but it seems to be having the same problem, although this time the leaves aren't curling nearly as much.

I'm using steamed/distilled water in gallon jugs bought from the local supermarket. The soil is Foxfarm seed starter, and I have the lights on for 18 hours, under a 6500k CFL bulb.

Is it possible that the bulb is too hot? I know CFL's are supposed to be cool, but it does actually feel pretty warm to the touch.

Please help! I'm running out of seeds!

Thanks in advance

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ph is out ,get a good meter and get it to 6.And cfls will not burn plants

That plant is too young to need any nutrients. After considering this, and giving it some more thought, I'm willing to blame the seed source, seed genetics.

I'm guessing it's the water too. Just because it's clean doesn't mean the PH is going to be right. Check it and adjust as necessary.

Ya, I know this is an old/ancient post, however I have had the same issues. Seems my light 150 watt CFL was too close, (18/6 on/off) temps were around 88, using Fox Farm (ff) "ocean forest", worm castings, ff seed starter, 30% perlite. Possibly too much nitrogen in the soil, as the yellowish tips looks like nute burn

WTF...resurrecting a dead thread..i didn't notice till i typed all this,,so it stays..

Go to your town/city's website, go to the water dept. and see if they post water quality reports. It will have a list of what's in your local water and avg PPMs of different minerals/metals/contaminates. Add up all the PPM's and it'll give you a close idea of whats in your water, anything under 200ppm should be fine. Look to see if they use chlorine or chloramine to disinfect your water. You can grow with chlorine, either use it right out of the tap or let it sit for 24hrs to off gas the chlorine. If it's chloramine that stuff isn't good for plants and there is no easy way to remove it from water.

The way the leaves are clawing it looks almost like too much heat and/or overwatering. I can't see it being a N deficiency this early..Do you know what the seed starter N-P-K was? Most seed starting soil is good on nutes for the first couple weeks. I have read the fox farm stuff can be too hot.. How many watts is the CFL you're using? How much/how often are you watering? I use popsicle sticks sometime as moisture indicators I had a box of 5000 from old crafts projects when i was a kid...5000!! wtf..anyway..I just stick it halfway in the dirt and wait 5-10 minutes and pull it out..if it's moist..the dirt is fine..if it is dry I'd water..it's not perfect or too technical, but worked for me.