Seedling first leaves dying...normal?

Ok a couple days ago I asked about the slow growth of my seedlings. There was also a problem in which the leaves were standing straight up. I got a couple of responses saying to be patient and everything was fine. Now on both plants, ONE of the original leaves has turned yellow and died, but the new set's of leaves are coming in fresh. but as you can see on one of the plants, the leaves are drooping big time. I thought maybe from overwater but I cut down on water it's been a whole day without a serious water and no change. I have 5 more feminized seeds waiting to sprout and would like to avoid this in case it's not just bad genetics.

Some more info. They are a week and 3 days old. They are outside all day and a few more hours under 2 CFL's 6500k. They are just growing verry slow and of course the drying up of those original leaves concerns me. The soil brand is EVERGREEN. says to be derived from pine tree needles, hardwood ash, and some other type of tree also the soil in these pots were topped with a potting soil and manure compost mix at .05-.05-.05. The PH of the tap water is at about 7. I water when I feel it needs it. The top of the soil dries out super fast so it's hard to tell. I'm using a mist bottle to water it so when I water I'm not exactly sure if it's enough or too much or what. I never see excess water drain from the bottom...should I be? Idk I'm thinking a ton of things but I need to pin point the problem if there is one...or is this normal at this stage?

I appreciate any input at all hope someone can help me out. this is my first real attempt at growing and thanks for reading!

Did you plant in mulch? That soil is baaaad

nah it's not mulch. Idk it's labeled as potting soil...

7.1 ph is high

http://www.growing-life.com/shop/pH_and_Nutrient_Availability_chart.html

Noted...come on my plant won't talk to me so I need someone to try lol

Your true leaves look fine. It's your cotyledons that are withering, which is normal once your first sets of trues have formed.

Water once every 2-3 days. Ph is a bit high so either get rain water or ph down. Apart from that just sit back, relax and dont do anything stupid .

Timewasmoney1 said:

Did you plant in mulch? That soil is baaaad

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I find with a lot of potting soils the mulch always lines the surface making it look worse than it actually is. Although it probably isnt the best potting soil it should be fine.

EZmooover said:

Your true leaves look fine. It's your cotyledons that are withering, which is normal once your first sets of trues have formed.

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What he said. They feed your plant for the first week or two then its up to you to feed them

thanks for the responses guys! feeling much more at ease! woohooo. Ill collect some rain waters =)

dammit man! I saw the small white stem popping up last night on the darkstar before I went to sleep and I woke up and it was gone...so I took a tiny stick and removed some soil and sure enough it's dead...and Idk what from....Now I have 3 seeds germinated and don't know if I should risk putting them in this soil/compost mix or if I didn't water enough or what. I had the pots under a ziplock bag trying to trap humidity but this morning the top was dry as fuck so maybe I just let it dry out?? Aghhh what do yall think

When you saw the white stem did you in anyway poke around it? I did that to a sour cream sprout that had the u hook poping up and i messed around with it disturbed the root and it died

nope I didn't touch it at all. but I noticed it was verrry thin and white

also I put it in the pot when it was really small. Like had just shown tap root...less than 1/8 inch probably. but I thought this was fine?

Sounds like it didn't get enough water. When I water my seedlings I'll top water real slow, until I get good run through the pot, then I'll empty the catch tray, with the size of your pot I would expect it to take 3 days before the next watering.

ph is best in soil @ 6.5
direct sunlight can kill young seedlings also, mostly through fast evaporation of the medium, but harsh direct sun can just plain and simple suck the life out of a seedling, it just doesn't have the leaf surface yet to cool itself.

Edit. I find it best to not germ the seed and then play with it. Just place it in the soil horizontal, water and wait 4 days. It's that easy.

thanks for the reply wattsaver. I was thinking the same about the sun/water defficiency. I mean it was there JUST last night. So I took the other one waiting to sprout inside (hopefully it's not already dead, because the top of soil in that one was dry too) and I just put 2 more seeds in pots. I misted the soil lightly, dropped the seedlings in sprinkled some more soil on top and misted that also. Keeping them inside until they sprout. Should I keep one of the CFL's on them?

More important than light when sprouting seeds is the temp. 75 to 80 is the sweet spot. I use a halogen for sprouting, it's a horrid grow light but is easy to maintain temps under it.

When starting seeds soak the medium to run-off and then let sit and acclimate till the soil is 70 to 80 then plant seed, and your good to go.

thanks again man =)