Streched Seedlings - Are they doomed?

Hello everyone,
I am a newbie grower (by necessity, not really by choice) and I started a group of seeds with my other veggies about 3 weeks ago. I have them in closet-type room that goes out onto my second-story porch - I thought that they would get enough lite there (glass patio door from floor to ceiling, north facing). To be honest, I thought that this wouldn't be much different than starting tomatoes, and I have quite a green thumb generally....

That being said, now that 3 weeks have past, my plants are just plain stringy. They are about 4" tall, with only 4 leaves, and many are winding all over the place. They are clearly stretching for light (at least).

I have just spent a few hours reading the FACS and posts of others, and I can see that I need to put more effort into this! (I thought it was a weed!). My question is this - should I just put these sad little seedlings out of their misery and start again, or is there something that can be done with them. Even tho this is my first time, I am really hoping to reap a decent harvest and would rather just try again if I have doomed them from the start. BUT, as I have a gentle spirit, I would like to save them if it is worth it.... I just need to be told what to do from someone more experienced than I.

What else can I tell you? Um, the seeds I started came from several bags I have burned through over the past year, and I don't really know much about them other than that. All the seeds I tried germinated, so they seem good in that respect.

Any help would be SOOO greatly appreciated - I am in quite a bind in that I moved to a new state about 3 years ago, and still haven't met anyone who shares my interests (and I don't get out as much as I used to). So - I am starting my new hobby out of real desperation - I hope that someone here can help!

Thanks in advance!

welcome to the forum hattie. Uhh.... 3 weeks old 4" tall, they aren't stretching much. They are not doomed. You say you planted them with your veggies I hope you mean at the same time. lol You are right it can be as simple as growing tomato plants or as complex as "How to get a Harvest every two weeks. If you live in the midwest ta north facing window would be the worst place for sunlight. In the spring, which I hope is here, the sun is moving from our southern sky to a more east west direction, more over head. It won't shine directly in a north facing window, so you will need some light. I assume you have them in soil now. It would be a good idea to research nutes, not to much, just enough to know how to use them. You will find different ones are used during the vegging (growing roots and leaves usually 18/6 light schedule ) and flowering (growing buds if they are female usually 12/12 light cycle).
You will want to learn about cloning (taking a slip from a plant and rooting it) because it will save you about a month of time if you are going to continue to grow. You should practice this even if your not going to expand now. The part of the plants you will clone from won't be producing any bud any way (bottom branches won't get enough light) so you have nothing to lose and a lot of time to gain.
Soo.. do a little more reading each day, ask questions, read some journals that sound like the kind of space you have. Hope this helps get you started in the right direction.
By the way if you do have those plants in the same pots with your veggies you will want to transplant them immedietly. If you are going to use siol for your entire grow then you will want them to finish in 3 gallon pots. This will give you enough room for the root system that will develope. VV

hattiecat said:

My question is this - should I just put these sad little seedlings out of their misery and start again, or is there something that can be done with them. Even tho this is my first time, I am really hoping to reap a decent harvest and would rather just try again if I have doomed them from the start. BUT, as I have a gentle spirit, I would like to save them if it is worth it.... I just need to be told what to do from someone more experienced than I.

Click to expand...

Hiya hattiecat

Firstly, welcome to the forums, plenty of advice and help here, and thanks for putting a fair amount of information into your question.

It will help you're 'green-thumbed' you'll know more 'instinctively' how to look after your plants rather than perhaps someone like myself who's never grown a thing before these plants and had a vertical learning curve!

Yeah, they are weeds pretty much and should therefore be much easier to grow than they are! The big problem we face as growers is detection, so the majority of growers choose to grow inside under lights and that basically means taking the plants out of their natural habitats and growing them in conditions a little alien to these plants. They come from fairly arid, dry, hot very high light areas of the world, so we stick them in a cupboard and give them low light levels and expect them to grow and adapt!

That's the problem with your little seedlings - they've stretched because of the low light levels they've been grown under - clearly there simply wasn't enough light for them.

It's hard to advise you any more until I know how you're growing the plants - inside under lights or outside.