Are my seedlings doomed?

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PurpleHaze777

Member
Hi,

I am a newbie—this is my 1st grow ever.
I bought some Northern Lights Autos from Nirvana and started germinating them ~3 days ago.
I germinated them in a wet paper towel. Once the tap root showed up, I moved the seedlings to peat plugs. I didn’t have tweezers, so I wasn’t necessarily able to insert all the seedlings with their tap root facing down.

One of the seedlings has sprouted through the plug today. It has what looks like white fuzzy mold on it. The seed “head” is still inside the soil, and it has what looks like root arching out of the opening and into the plug.

Did I screw up? Will the plant adjust okay?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Also, what’s that fuzzy white mold-looking stuff?

Thank you!

FBC337A8-6A07-4D77-ABC0-0B0DF3DA4368.jpegA4A42CB6-517F-44CE-BBA3-4F1F78EDE039.jpeg93FF7BBF-F643-4BB5-BE85-AEBA5C010D59.jpeg
 
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PurpleHaze777

Member
Okay, I was freaking out, so I carefully cracked the top of the plug in half and removed the seedling with its root tail. I then re-inserted it the right way: lodged the tail into the plug and left the “head” resting on the surface. I don’t think I tore anything, and I don’t think the root was fused to the plug yet. What are the chances it will be okay? :(
 
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RangiSTaxi

Well-Known Member
PurpleHaze777 said:
Can I save them somehow? :(
Click to expand...
yeah of-course you can, the poor little roots are just having a hard time penetrating your hard growing media.

pick them up carefully, poke a hole in the growing media and carefully put the root in, like planting them.

be really gentle, and carefully firm the growing media around them. meaning the root.

The green part is the top and the fuzzy white stuff is normal its the seedlings roots surface area.

Normal seed germination, its just growing media was too hard for the little root to penetrate or you didn't make a hole and plant them properly or deep enough after the paper towel germination..

they are fine. plant them carefully.

The fuzzy white stuff is its roots seriously its fine. its a healthy as germination you just need to plant them, make sure your peat plug is damp , wetish, next time just sow the seed in the peat plug and forget the paper towel method, the plant knows whats its doing more than you..

yeah after your work give them light they will be fine, and long as you didn't damage them in the transplant

A better method in the future is to soak a seed in a glass of water for 12 hours and then plant the seed 4-5 mm deep.

Dont use the Paper towel method
 
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Amaximus

Amaximus

Well-Known Member
Paper Towel method is fine. Give advice not opinion and preference.
The main issue this grower had was that he put the taproots upside down after the seeds cracked.
Had he put them in correctly I'm sure they would've been fine.
What we see in the photos is the root growing up.
 
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RangiSTaxi

Well-Known Member
Amaximus said:
Paper Towel method is fine. Give advice not opinion and preference.
The main issue this grower had was that he put the taproots upside down after the seeds cracked.
Had he put them in correctly I'm sure they would've been fine.
What we see in the photos is the root growing up.
Click to expand...
No his main mistake was not planting them once the the seed was cracking, he waited till there was a tap root.

No the paper towel method is not a good method by any stretch of the imagination. Coming from a person in the industry specializing in nursery production. Can it work yes, but often you end up with these problems like this guy has had. Also he didn't plant them upside down, as the tap root grew it pushed the seedling to the surface.

The Paper towels method is more prone to seed rot due to too much moisture or drying out, also there's the chance of damage when pricking out, i.e transplanting the seedling, which would be avoided if you just put the seed in the growing media in the first place after pre soaking it.
 
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PurpleHaze777

Member
Here are my baby girls today:

This one is the one I took out and repositioned yesterday. till has a shell stuck to it. Should I help it and peel it off gently? Is the brownish tip normal?

D27CD20B-42F7-454A-B66D-17D60147A324.jpeg6C266089-73E5-4DCB-A1AB-E74D877DB0DE.jpeg024B5D65-299D-47AA-89D9-857C9344F7B7.jpeg
6100E52D-4134-496A-B9CF-89AC79C338F7.jpeg25DC7362-C448-4ACF-AE87-D1430D6CA17E.jpeg

DDB51661-137C-42D1-94B6-C5506F289814.jpeg

The last photo above (the top seedling of the two in the photo): I cracked the medium and helped its head out a little bit. Its head is smaller than other girls, and first I thought that it broke off, but it was just an empty shell next to it inside the plug.

Thank you for responding, guys! I was so depressed yesterday: I have put a lot of effort in preparing for this and obtaining the seeds. Any continued advice is truly appreciated.
 
P

PurpleHaze777

Member
RangiSTaxi said:
yeah of-course you can, the poor little roots are just having a hard time penetrating your hard growing media.

pick them up carefully, poke a hole in the growing media and carefully put the root in, like planting them.

be really gentle, and carefully firm the growing media around them. meaning the root.

The green part is the top and the fuzzy white stuff is normal its the seedlings roots surface area.

Normal seed germination, its just growing media was too hard for the little root to penetrate or you didn't make a hole and plant them properly or deep enough after the paper towel germination..

they are fine. plant them carefully.

The fuzzy white stuff is its roots seriously its fine. its a healthy as germination you just need to plant them, make sure your peat plug is damp , wetish, next time just sow the seed in the peat plug and forget the paper towel method, the plant knows whats its doing more than you..

yeah after your work give them light they will be fine, and long as you didn't damage them in the transplant

A better method in the future is to soak a seed in a glass of water for 12 hours and then plant the seed 4-5 mm deep.

Dont use the Paper towel method
Click to expand...
Thank you for your response!
The plugs came with holes pre-punctured. Before planting the girls, I have further widened/cleared the openings with a q tip. Was that insufficient? Do you mean that I should have created a hole that would go through the plug and open on the other side?

Should I stay from these plugs in the future?
They were sufficiently wet by the way. If anything, I think I overwatered them a little bit. Surprisingly retentive with moisture.

I have my last seed that I have started germinating 2 days ago because I was afraid that the other ones might not make it because until the last moment they were all staying closed except for one. Turned out my room just wasn’t warm enough for them (~75). I cranked up the heat to 80s, and they all sprouted. Now I need to go and buy a plug for the 5th girl (I was only planning on growing 4 originally):




CD277305-12CE-446B-A06A-A0133AA50F08.jpeg
 
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Omkarananda

Well-Known Member
Looks like they’re ok. Maybe looks from the pic like the plugs are a little dry. I would probably transfer them to solo cups with starter soil...or hydro setup. Keep a propagation dome over them for humidity and don’t put too powerful light on them for a week or so.
 
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Omkarananda

Well-Known Member
PurpleHaze777 said:
Thank you for your response!
The plugs came with holes pre-punctured. Before planting the girls, I have further widened/cleared the openings with a q tip. Was that insufficient? Do you mean that I should have created a hole that would go through the plug and open on the other side?

Should I stay from these plugs in the future?
They were sufficiently wet by the way. If anything, I think I overwatered them a little bit. Surprisingly retentive with moisture.

I have my last seed that I have started germinating 2 days ago because I was afraid that the other ones might not make it because until the last moment they were all staying closed except for one. Turned out my room just wasn’t warm enough for them (~75). I cranked up the heat to 80s, and they all sprouted. Now I need to go and buy a plug for the 5th girl (I was only planning on growing 4 originally):




View attachment 4498225
Click to expand...
You can put that one straight into starter soil. You don’t need a plug if your doing paper towel to germinate.
 
P

PurpleHaze777

Member
Omkarananda said:
Looks like they’re ok. Maybe looks from the pic like the plugs are a little dry. I would probably transfer them to solo cups with starter soil...or hydro setup. Keep a propagation dome over them for humidity and don’t put too powerful light on them for a week or so.
Click to expand...
Do the plugs need to be soaking wet?
I was afraid to overwater them because I read it was a common beginner mistake that impaired root growth.

How do I tell if they are sufficiently wet or if they are overwatered?
 
Corso312

Corso312

Well-Known Member
PurpleHaze777 said:
Do the plugs need to be soaking wet?
I was afraid to overwater them because I read it was a common beginner mistake that impaired root growth.

How do I tell if they are sufficiently wet or if they are overwatered?
Click to expand...
The plug needs to be wet, not saturated but wet.
 
P

PurpleHaze777

Member
Omkarananda said:
You can put that one straight into starter soil. You don’t need a plug if your doing paper towel to germinate.
Click to expand...
I don’t have soil. I was going to do indoor DWC (bubble bucket) because I was afraid of bug infestation: I read that soil is very often infected with pest eggs and is a major vector of disease transmission. I am growing indoor, and I didn’t want to deal with bugs.
 
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Omkarananda

Well-Known Member
You want the plugs to be wet but not soaking. I would go ahead and plant them into cups and water them in now, since they’re started.
 
TheDifferenceX

TheDifferenceX

Well-Known Member
Keep your head up!

As mentioned, ditch the plugs. Once they pop a taproot on the paper towel, but them directly into a solo cup with soil. Leave them in the solo cup for 2 weeks, then transplant to your final pot.
 
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Omkarananda

Well-Known Member
PurpleHaze777 said:
I don’t have soil. I was going to do indoor DWC (bubble bucket) because I was afraid of bug infestation: I read that soil is very often infected with pest eggs and is a major vector of disease transmission. I am growing indoor, and I didn’t want to deal with bugs.
Click to expand...
Oh ok... I’d still put them into the dwc. Ps... I grow indoors w soil and it’s pretty easy. Some soils do come with gnats already. However part of my plants’ schedule is spraying for insects and PM, etc. I wouldn’t neglect preventative spraying even in a hydro setup.
 
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