Seedling Falling Over?

I have a 12 day old seedling. The leaf growth is good and she seems healthy except for the fact she keeps growing to one side instead of straight up.

Almost like she's falling over? I added more soil but it didnt really work....

I put a bamboo skewer to help support her but I don't know what I'm doing wrong that could be causing this? Can someone please help?

Please help, someone!

it sounds like your plant is stretching...how far is it from the lights? u might want to move the lights closer..pics would help

The bamboo skewer will be fine (sometimes I use a rubber band to attach the plant stem to the stake, but might not be absolutely necessary). Having a fan blowing gently on the plant will strengthen the stem/trunk of the plant as it grows...if you don't attach the stalk to the stake too tightly (give it a little "wiggle room"), then the air blowing on the plant will move it a little (good for strengthening) without knocking it over. In a week or two, you should be able to remove the stake and your plant will be strong enough to stand on its own.

Oh, and as eokay says ^^^^, if your light is too far away, that could cause it to grow a spindly stalk, so def make sure your plant doesn't have to stretch too much to receive the light it needs.

yes if you are growing indoors you need this for your seedling. you need enough light (make sure you have enough lumens per plant) make sure you have a fan blowing on them to strengthen up the stalk and make sure the light is close enough so they dont stretch. if your using cfls. you want two 42 watt and one 23 watt cfl per plant. thats actaul wattage not equivelent wattage. and you want the lights about 3 inches from the plant. that will keep them from stretching. i find it a common practice to add an inch maybe two to the seedlings if they get top heavy

Right now I have a 26 watt CFL 6500k on her, about 2-3" away.
I have an oscillating fan blowing on her too. Should I be adding more light?

Thank you so much for all the help guys!

the more light the better u can never have 2 many lights but if its falling over just cover the stretched out part with soil up 2 the first baby leavs then after a while your stalk will start growing roots and anchor itself down

Sounds like the seedling is trying to avoid the light or the heat it gives off, i don't put my flourescents 2/3inches close to the plant, move it back a few inches more and allow air circulation via a small fan. Yes more light would be better here too because the seedling sounds like it is ready for it but again not too close and allow air movement to dissapate heat around the seedling and light. Listen to what the plant tells you.

Please see my other thread, the light fell on her and I'm afraid she might not make it!

Post link here for the other thread please. Thanks

Why did you bury it in soil? A simple horticultural tape or just securing and staking to that bamboo skewer would have done. In time the seedling will recover or die depending on wether it was able to fix the damage. What exactly happened when the light fell on it, did the stem break or bend? I see it totally pointless to bury it in soil. Light is too close too the seedling and again too close to the soil if that is how it still is.

The stem didn't break at all, just bent. I didn't bury it, I just added a little more soil to try and help support it. I didn't realize that was such a horrible thing to do. I'll move the light further away from her though, thank you for all your help and advice!

A bend is nothing, a break would havebeen worse. It is proably just mending itself at the moment. Remove soil, make sure it is properly supported, raise lights a little and don't touch it except to water and thats if it needs it! Plants heal quick but if it wasn't gona heal or damaged too badly leaves would start to wilt and death would ensue. Good luck and carefull when removing the soil.

notlaura said:

Right now I have a 26 watt CFL 6500k on her, about 2-3" away.
I have an oscillating fan blowing on her too. Should I be adding more light?

Thank you so much for all the help guys!

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one 26 watt cfl isnt enough you want two lights with 6500k and one light with 2700k you definately need more light

jgrows4u said:

the more light the better u can never have 2 many lights but if its falling over just cover the stretched out part with soil up 2 the first baby leavs then after a while your stalk will start growing roots and anchor itself down

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this is the best thing to do besides increasing your lights which you need to do also

Kingrow1 said:

Sounds like the seedling is trying to avoid the light or the heat it gives off, i don't put my flourescents 2/3inches close to the plant, move it back a few inches more and allow air circulation via a small fan. Yes more light would be better here too because the seedling sounds like it is ready for it but again not too close and allow air movement to dissapate heat around the seedling and light. Listen to what the plant tells you.

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you want your cfls 3 inches from the plant. you can touch the light bulb when its on it doesnt get as hot as an incandescent or mh or hps.

heathaa said:

this is the best thing to do besides increasing your lights which you need to do also

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Sorry but i disagree, the stem is quite thick and basically you are asking him to root this! This is potentially gona lead to damp problems on the covered main stem as it sits in damp soil. If you are recomending he cover the stem of the plant up to the cotyledon roots with fresh soil then at least give him a fighting chance and recomend some rooting hormone so that at least it might actuall root before it rots.

I am sorry to disagree but fixing a break or bend involves little human intervention except to support it in place whilst the plant mends itself, severe breaks may require horticultural tape but nothing more. This is crazy advice and when a plant dose have a severe accident in its life it reduces growing in aid of fixing itself and can stand reduce light levels, in his case the light levels are already reduced.

It is up to the grower which advice he listen too but no way in hell would i bury a break in soil!

Thank you everyone! And I'm a girl, BTW lol.

I think I'm just going to let her be for now and see how she responds.

heathaa said:

you want your cfls 3 inches from the plant. you can touch the light bulb when its on it doesnt get as hot as an incandescent or mh or hps.

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Um not if its trying to grow away from it you don't, plants can grow three inches away but if a plant is trying to avoid a light source what does that tell you, i'm not gona get into an argument since you think covering a snap on a seedling with soil is a good idea. This my friend is not the way i learnt to garden and not the way a lot of people garden. Good luck with rooting the stem up to the leaves, i'm sure eventually it will be ok.