Seedlings always dying

Ok so i have grown nice plants before and then stopped for a long time. Ive started trying again and this is like 6/6 seedlings that have died. All different seeds from different companies. Soil has been 3 in regular organic soil from home depot, and other 3 in mendo mix, all same results.

All seeds germinate in a paper towel, then when i plant them in the soil, they start to pop out of the soil and then look like they instantly dry out within a day. The soil is moist, i just dont have a clue whats going on, ive not changed anything from my previous grows.

Thanks for any help.

Any major changes in your water supply?

NanoGadget said:

Any major changes in your water supply?

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not that i know of, i have had problems with high pH water in the past, my tap water is around 8.6

perhaps should i try some distilled water?

Quit using paper towels and plant directly to moist soil. Not drenched. Put in warm place and let be. No domes and no extra watering's.

Stop germinating in a paper towel and just place the seed in a rapid rooter and you will get almost 100% germination rate. I place the rapid rooter in the soil so there is no extra handling and the root grows directly into your medium. Rapid rooters have the perfect environment to germ seeds and start growth.

MickFoster said:

Stop germinating in a paper towel and just place the seed in a rapid rooter and you will get almost 100% germination rate. I place the rapid rooter in the soil so there is no extra handling and the root grows directly into your medium. Rapid rooters have the perfect environment to germ seeds and start growth.

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I can not agree more. Once I got the feel for rapid rooter style plugs I decided I was never going back to paper towels. The reliability and the ability to transplant to your medium with pretty much no disruption of or contact with the roots makes it a great choice.

ebcrew said:

not that i know of, i have had problems with high pH water in the past, my tap water is around 8.6

perhaps should i try some distilled water?

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When I germ in rapid rooter I use RO water. I know some people like to add a little kelp or root accelerator, but I haven't found it necessary so far.

What he said!

I see you have some good advise here. My two cents...I tried the paper towel method with shit results for more than a few runs unfortunetly. Eventually I ended up just tossing in shot glass over night and then into solos whether popped or not and under a few pigtails, and have 99.5% success for last 8 years or so. I also spray my sprouts 1-2 times a day with a mist of tap water to keep top layer and cotyledons from drying out.

This is just a seat of the pants comment based on our pH 8+ well water. I've come to believe that seedlings are very sensitive to pH, more so than plants a couple of weeks old. I don't like the commercial pH Down solutions. Look for some plain old food grade citric acid. A coupla pounds would keep you busy for years. A decent pH meter is $100 or so, but without one you're flying blind. If you get a meter, plan on calibrating every once in a while with calibration solution. For your purposes single-step calibration is probably good enough.

Before popping seeds, put some water in a pitcher and pH it down to right around 7. Let it set until it reaches room temp. Don't shock seeds with cold water right from the tap, gently moisten them from your pitcher.

Are you sure the soils you're using aren't too hot for youngsters?

ebcrew said:

not that i know of, i have had problems with high pH water in the past, my tap water is around 8.6

perhaps should i try some distilled water?

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ph between 6 and 7 is best in soil. That's whats probably killing your seedlings.

Rapid rooters for the win pop hundreds that way always put point down soak rapid rooters in 5.5 water with mycos WP or your favorite innoculant and then once soaked shake once put into your tray cover with dome and walk away lol 48 hours later turn on lights and have fun leave top on don't need to water till you see them turn light brown and then just pH water then once roots popping nice put into soil.

Mellodrama said:

A decent pH meter is $100 or so, but without one you're flying blind. If you get a meter, plan on calibrating every once in a while with calibration solution.

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You don't need a pH meter. Just use the GH pH drops. I have been using the drops for 10 years or more and they are never wrong. But I found that the colors on the bottle are a bit off so I use this.

I soak my seeds in a cup of water, day or two later they crack open, same day I put them in a moist rapid rooter. When roots appear rooter goes to promix, I dont recall my
last dead sprout. my water ph is 7 from the spring, seedlings see no food until about 3 inches tall.
you could try bottled water

MickFoster is right of course. You don't need a pH meter. The reagent/color wheel method is much cheaper, and you don't have to mess with calibration. If your water supply pH is unwavering, you might find you need the tester at first but not so much once you get a feel for it. For instance, I've tested enuf to know that about 20 granules of citric acid in a half gallon gets me somewhere in the 6.5 - 7 range.

I forgot to mention that tap water could have anything in it. Depending where you are on a utility's water lines, you might be getting a stronger slug of chlorine and chlorine by-products than the average customer. If your utility offers the service you might be able to bring them a sample and have them test. If you wanted, chlorine testers that use a color wheel and reagents, like Mick's pH tester above, are readily available. Some growers claim that there's not enough treatment by-products in tap water to affect plants, but I don't go along with that view.

Mellodrama said:

This is just a seat of the pants comment based on our pH 8+ well water. I've come to believe that seedlings are very sensitive to pH, more so than plants a couple of weeks old. I don't like the commercial pH Down solutions. Look for some plain old food grade citric acid. A coupla pounds would keep you busy for years. A decent pH meter is $100 or so, but without one you're flying blind. If you get a meter, plan on calibrating every once in a while with calibration solution. For your purposes single-step calibration is probably good enough.

Before popping seeds, put some water in a pitcher and pH it down to right around 7. Let it set until it reaches room temp. Don't shock seeds with cold water right from the tap, gently moisten them from your pitcher.

Are you sure the soils you're using aren't too hot for youngsters?

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I have a pH meter, a decent one it was around 80 bucks. However, i have not calibrated it in over 2 years. Is there any home method to calibrate it or do i have to get the solution? Hydro store is pretty far from my house. Meter is reading distilled water at 7.8, dont know if thats correct or wrong.

Im out of mendo mix and my good soil is on the way. Even still i couldnt wait and picked up some Dr. Earth soil and started 2 more by just putting them in moist soil. Ive heard some good and some negative about DR. Earth but its only to start in solo cup until i can transplant into better soil. Also im going to try out distilled water and see how that goes.

So far i have 4 seedlings going, 2 have popped out the soil, so im crossing my fingers. The other 2 were just dropped in soil yesterday.

pro mix & tap water in peat pots on a seedling heat mat......

Distilled water that I usually test is around 6 pH due to Carbonic acid formation in the water from absorbing CO2.

You need the solution to calibrate the pH pen.

ebcrew said:

I have a pH meter, a decent one it was around 80 bucks. However, i have not calibrated it in over 2 years. Is there any home method to calibrate it or do i have to get the solution? Hydro store is pretty far from my house. Meter is reading distilled water at 7.8, dont know if thats correct or wrong.

Im out of mendo mix and my good soil is on the way. Even still i couldnt wait and picked up some Dr. Earth soil and started 2 more by just putting them in moist soil. Ive heard some good and some negative about DR. Earth but its only to start in solo cup until i can transplant into better soil. Also im going to try out distilled water and see how that goes.

So far i have 4 seedlings going, 2 have popped out the soil, so im crossing my fingers. The other 2 were just dropped in soil yesterday.

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distilled water is usualy around .02 ppms, I had some realy bad well water, it was crap even with a softener, I purchased water from the groceri store for 2 bucks for 2.5 gallons, than I tested my dads well water it came out at 5 ppm so I started bringing 30 gallons home at a time from his house when ever I visited!

If you have bad well water, you need to get a 55 gallon drum, add water, add nutes, ph it and put air stones in it, it will probably go up and down for a week or so, test it every day untill it stops hopping up and down, once you get your ph and ppm's to stay where they are supposed to than use your own water, It worked out great for me, I by passed the water softener to get my 55 gal drum filled, I use pro mix and just water my plants the old fashion way, I put a pitcher in it and water my plants as needed!

I hope this helps!

Best of luck!

Peace

edit= sorry distilled water is usualy around 6 ph, I like my ph between 6 and 7, I use the drops and color chart! never failed me!

MickFoster said:

You don't need a pH meter. Just use the GH pH drops. I have been using the drops for 10 years or more and they are never wrong. But I found that the colors on the bottle are a bit off so I use this.

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Amazon has electronic pH meter I use for 6.99$ to your door lol bright yellow