somebody help my plants! first time grow and dying =[

[thedankplatypus]

my plants are currently about 3 inches tall and beggining to spread out at the top they cant support there own weight and i dont know how to save there lives the whole plant just cant keep itself upwright and i dont know why it gets sun all day to

thedankplatypus Reviewed by thedankplatypus on 06-21-2012. somebody help my plants! first time grow and dying =[ my plants are currently about 3 inches tall and beggining to spread out at the top they cant support there own weight and i dont know how to save there lives the whole plant just cant keep itself upwright and i dont know why it gets sun all day to Rating: 5

[Bloomin Idiot]

Hungry...

[thedankplatypus]

fertilizer?

[Smokey4Mc2Pot0420]

my plants are currently about 3 inches tall and beggining to spread out at the top they cant support there own weight and i dont know how to save there lives the whole plant just cant keep itself upwright and i dont know why it gets sun all day to

it might be because u didnt make the hole deep enough when u planted the seed. next time u grow, dont germinate your seed. make a hole about and inch deep and put the seed in it and cover it up. once it sprouts the root will be really thick and will hold its own weight for sure. but if u didnt germinate ur seed and u did what i said, then u probably didnt make the hole deep enough. post pics maybe?

[Kalidank1]

OK well u didn't say how old they are and add more soil at the base to keep it up right also how often do u water. Are u feeding it with any nutrients or fertilizers? All important things to know post some pics so we can see the damage

[Smokey4Mc2Pot0420]

you should deffinitly post sum pics. it will help us to help u.

[Skihigh]

Bury them all the way to the bottom leaves with some good soil and give them a sprinkling of water...That'll keep them from falling over.

[thedankplatypus]

I added more soil at the base of the plant and one of them is now staying upright and looks healthy while the other is still drooping down but it was 95 and sunny today which I hope cheers them up there about 10 days old

[Powernoob]

I added more soil at the base of the plant and one of them is now staying upright and looks healthy while the other is still drooping down but it was 95 and sunny today which I hope cheers them up there about 10 days old

Mine did same thing - I put it down to keeping them in the dark too long but might not be that.

Anyway I supported them by (carefully) piling up some earth around them to support them, and now they've grown into beasts.

Actually one of them even kinked over due to me being too indelicate with the earth and I thought it was a gonner for sure. But I piled some more up to support it to above the kink and now that one's the biggest of them all! (3ft)

I don't know that seedlings really need fertilisers.

[silent leprechaun]

Hey,

So ok, there are basically 3 things you need to change in your set-up..

Firstly you need to get yourself a 12 inch fan that can blow on the seedlings, not too hard or too long... Just enough to shake them a little. Keep the fan on 15 minutes every hour or two.
You really don't need too much blowing around to train the stem to become stronger. It's like a person doing weights, you lift for a bit, stretching muscle fibres, and then you rest and heal. Same thing for a plants stem. So start the weight training. Sometimes the outdoors just doesn't train them enough, especially when the days are without wind.

Secondly you need to get a powerful light/lights, or at least half decent lights. Very often the reason the stem stretches is simply because the light source is too weak and the plant thinks it is too far away from, or being shaded from the energy source. The plant then begins to stretch toward the light to pass out the other plants, it believes, is stealing the light. This is an inbuilt genetic thing. The very same thing happens with plants on a forest floor. They are constantly in competition with each other for the light. The plant that grows tallest and strongest gets the majority of the light. That's why plants grow so fast at a young age... So, to stop your plants looking thin, tall, weak and spindly you need to get a good light and find the correct distance to the seedling. Watch how your plant reacts to the light, if it's too far away it will begin to stretch, too close and it can burn or bleach. When the light is just right and the plant is satisfied with the intensity it has no reason to fight for it. It sits back and focuses on growing light-catching leaves.

Thirdly, as I mentioned, when the seedling sprouts and the light is too far away it stretches. When you re-pot, plant the seedling in soil up to the first 'baby' set of leaves. You know the ones that first emerge from the seed ? You can replant and pack the soil up to that level, just below the set of leaves. At the moment you will need to re-pot, when the time is right, and bury them to these leaves. The problem in this grow is that you can't reverse a stretch, you can only bury it

But hey, at least you know for next time. You can check out my current grow, the link is in my signature. In there, grow 2, I talk about keeping plants tight and bushy, you can see how I keep my nodes very short, (3cm).

So I hope this helps.

Take Care

S.L.