is it too hot?

[whydoyoucare]

i live in cali and this is my first grow. i have about 10 small plants and this is the second one that i found fallen over w/ its stem drying up. i can only check on them a couple times a day and im giving them a bit more water. im just wondering if maybe there's something else i can do to help them. theyre about 4 inches tall and get 10-12 hours of sun a day. any help to make them stronger would be much appreciated.

whydoyoucare Reviewed by whydoyoucare on 06-25-2007. is it too hot? i live in cali and this is my first grow. i have about 10 small plants and this is the second one that i found fallen over w/ its stem drying up. i can only check on them a couple times a day and im giving them a bit more water. im just wondering if maybe there's something else i can do to help them. theyre about 4 inches tall and get 10-12 hours of sun a day. any help to make them stronger would be much appreciated. Rating: 5

[.:Karma:. o.O]

humm dont sound like its too hot maybe ask some experts here theyll be goood help my frend ;p...

[BobBong]

Read up on "damping off"

It's a fungal disease that affects seedlings... causes the stem to become very weak and the plant falls over.

As for the heat..If it's outdoors there's not much you can do to control the temperature.

[stinkyattic]

lol BB beat me to it.
To prevent damping off, there are a couple tricks that you can try in the future.

Start your seedlings in small pots not much more than 2 inches deep. Now, when you water them, you can actually stand them in a tray of water and let it be absorbed from the bottom, keeping the soil SURFACE much much drier. Excess moisture really contributes to that type of wilt- pythium, I believe- and it is DEADLY to seedlings.
Another thing to remember is that your seedling starting soil should be clean. Reusing soil may be okay for older plants but for seedlings it pays to pamper them.