My tomato seedlings

brian1269 · April 3, 2015

Just a followup to my thread in the introduction section.

After none of my tomatoes germinated, I replanted everything using a heat mat and, as you can see, pretty much everything came up (in 3-4 days) and are now under the grow light. I'm not sure how well they are doing though as some of them look pretty spindly and the cotyledons are purple and closed. Anyone know what's going on here (the bigger plants are peppers)?

Patihum · April 3, 2015

The purple is more than likely from cool temperatures. As far as being spindly - do you have them under lights? If not they're reaching for the light. If you do it needs to be almost on top of them no farther away than an inch or so.

Father'sDaughter · April 3, 2015

How long ago did they sprout? To me they just look like all my newly sprouted seedlings. It often takes them a little while to stretch out their cotyledons. And yes, light should be nice and close or they will just keep stretching out looking for more.

rwsacto · April 3, 2015

They look fine to me. Keep the light very close. After they grow regular leaves, you can pot them up and bury a lot of the leggy stem to form more roots.

brian1269 · April 3, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by rwsacto

They look fine to me. Keep the light very close. After they grow regular leaves, you can pot them up and bury a lot of the leggy stem to form more roots.

OK thanks. I was planning on burying them deeper in the same pot and adding a little more mix.

JamesL · April 4, 2015

Nice job with the restart. Agree with the rest of the gang, they look normal!

joseph · April 4, 2015

brian1269 : Did you happen to take the photo at night? After the plants has been in the dark for a while? I've noticed that some varieties of tomatoes fold their leaves together at night. I figure that in my climate it helps them to avoid radiant cooling.

bower · April 4, 2015

Joseph I'll go you one better, and say that my seedlings all fold their seed leaves up together at night (peppers especially and more than tomatoes), and they do so at 'bed time' whether the lights are turned off or not!

Many's the evening I looked in on the seedlings and found them all hands up, say sorry guys, and turn the light off for them.
The leaves are flat open in the morning before I get up.

Night length is more important than day length, I believe all these peps and toms need a solid 8 hours of darkness. Maybe 'leafs together' is a way of going dark?

brian1269 · April 4, 2015

Yes it was after the grow light was out I believe. Light is on 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. So that explains it, thanks.

brian1269 · April 4, 2015

And this was taken during the day today and the ones that were closed are open.

April 3, 2015	#2
Patihum Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Southeast Kansas Posts: 878	The purple is more than likely from cool temperatures. As far as being spindly - do you have them under lights? If not they're reaching for the light. If you do it needs to be almost on top of them no farther away than an inch or so.

April 3, 2015	#3
Father'sDaughter Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: MA/NH Border Posts: 4,919	How long ago did they sprout? To me they just look like all my newly sprouted seedlings. It often takes them a little while to stretch out their cotyledons. And yes, light should be nice and close or they will just keep stretching out looking for more.

April 3, 2015	#4
rwsacto Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Sacramento CA Posts: 288	They look fine to me. Keep the light very close. After they grow regular leaves, you can pot them up and bury a lot of the leggy stem to form more roots.

April 4, 2015	#6
JamesL Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 1,992	Nice job with the restart. Agree with the rest of the gang, they look normal!

April 4, 2015	#7
joseph Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: Cache Valley, N/E of The Great Salt Lake Posts: 1,244	brian1269 : Did you happen to take the photo at night? After the plants has been in the dark for a while? I've noticed that some varieties of tomatoes fold their leaves together at night. I figure that in my climate it helps them to avoid radiant cooling.

April 4, 2015	#8
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	Joseph I'll go you one better, and say that my seedlings all fold their seed leaves up together at night (peppers especially and more than tomatoes), and they do so at 'bed time' whether the lights are turned off or not! Many's the evening I looked in on the seedlings and found them all hands up, say sorry guys, and turn the light off for them. The leaves are flat open in the morning before I get up. Night length is more important than day length, I believe all these peps and toms need a solid 8 hours of darkness. Maybe 'leafs together' is a way of going dark?

April 4, 2015	#9
brian1269 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Northeast TN (7a) Posts: 26	Yes it was after the grow light was out I believe. Light is on 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. So that explains it, thanks.