Trouble getting going

Hi everybody, male and female...

I am having trouble getting started on my first grow. Can y'all help?

I soak the seeds till germinated, plant them 5cm down, etc. Some come up some don't. The ones that come up die off after several days. When I pull them out, there is only about a 3/4" tap root that dwindles into nothing. What is causing this?

Soil: I think good... 4 parts oranic, 2 parts perlite, 1 part peat.

Water: 6.8ph, room temp. I think I have a tendency to overwater. I do have a moisture meter, but midway, the soil on the moist/wet side. Then I don't know whether I should water or not.

Lighting: dark until sprouted, then a 400MH (all I have) 4 feet above. I have no other lighting at this time, but I do understand they should have CFL's first.

Fan: oscillating over pots

Any ideas?

first, you should plant them about 1/4" deep into the soil (5cm sounds too deep to me) ... also, I think your problem is wet soil ... Im just guessing you have 'damp-off' going there ... thats exactly how my seedlings looked when too wet ... start again, germinate only to where the white 'foot' just barely sticks out of the seed, they're too fragile when they are allowed to lengthen ... place 'foot' down into moist (not wet) soil ... good luck ... P.S. my opinion of water meters is "useless" or worse ,,, judge the water need by observing your plant, and poke a finger into the soil ... :smokin:

Thanks for all your advice, I will try it.

The thing with the water meter is, it can go down a lot further than my little short fingers!

I have now put the seedlings under a CFL to see what they'll do. Maybe this is the crucial thing I am missing in trying to get the seedlings going. I got a 100W CFL plus a 10.5" reflector at Home Depot for $20.