Thanks for all the replies everyone, I actually went out and bought distilled water that i let sit out to come to room temp before i watered, but from what others have said, basically everytime i watered (which was like daily) i activiated the nutes in the soil, building up to a toxic level till i killed the poor guys. i've gotten lots of advice, and tomorrow i'm going out to buy some potting soil, organic if i can find it, with good stuff like peat moss and vermiculite and organic ferts if i cant find anything w/o the ferts. there's a nursery nearby that carries "professional potting soil", metro mix 360 potting soil, etc so i'm gonna get one of those, as well as some organic ferts. any suggestions on brands of soil or ferts nute concentrations? why are jiffy pots bad? I can easily use clear plastic cups so i can see the roots growing, just wondering why not jiffy pots.