Growsponge blues

I planted 4 seedlings on Friday and noticed 1 is about to die, the taproot never found the hole I cut in the bottom and now the seedling is coming out of the sponge all together. Also how soon is it safe to remove the plastic cover? Is there an alternative to the grow sponge that would work in the AG?

you would need something similar to the sponge, you can use kids toys, like those ABC things, i've seen a thread on it, i took the dome off as soon as the seedling was about to touch it

I've used Jiffy Pellets. What I did was soak them in water until they were completely moist, then I squeezed some of the compost out of the top end, being careful not to tear the nylon that it is contained in. Squeeze out about 3/4 of the Jiffy Pellet compost and then shape the remainder of it into the plastic AG pod making sure to keep the bottom of the nylon on the bottom of the pod. Make sure the compost isn't too tight in there and then make a hole using a toothpick or something similar and put your seedling down into it. I have three like that. After I did that, I just put the cover back over the top and put it into the AG. Worked like a charm. Didn't even have a problem with the compost falling into the reservoir. And you don't get that mildew, moldy smell that some sponges get if they aren't the original AG sponges.

Well what is very strange is I took the dying seedling and slid the root back down further into the sponge and amazingly it seems to be bouncing back to life. I thought once the leaves had dried up it was finished but they are replenishing.

HEY its not too late to save it, what i did is i poked up some tweasers through the bottom and gently grabbed the root and pulled it down through