In anywhere from 3-10 days you’ll start to see your seeds germinating. These first sets of leaves are known as cotyledons and they rarely look like the seeds of the plant you are actually growing. For me this is such an exciting time and a reminder how fascinating it is that so much potential is store within such a tiny thing.
I’ll be keeping you up to date at least weekly with the progress my plants have made. I will also be sharing important tips and tricks to help keep your plants happy and healthy. These weekly check ins will be great to reflect on how much plants change even in just a week. If you have questions along the way, feel free to go and leave a comment on the weekly post since we will all be on different timelines. Let’s get into the tips.
Keep your humidity dome on until about 50-75% of your seeds have sprouted. At about 25% of seedling germination you can crack the dome a bit to allow some air in, my domes have vents so I just open those. Once the dome is fully removed, turn on your fans, whether that’s specific fans you have dedicated for your seedlings or an overhead fan in the room set to a low setting.
With the humidity domes off and fans on you should notice your soil drying out much quicker. Right now I’m watering daily compared to every two days when under the humidity domes. I’d say in the first weeks following germination it can be smart for you to check soil moisture at least twice a day. I check morning and night. A visual check helps but also using a wooden skewer or chopstick inserted into the soil will give you a good indication about soil moisture at all levels of soil. I recommend you continue with your daily watering regardless of your moisture check just change the amount of water you give your plants.
The biggest threat at this point in time is something called dampening off. With dampening off the seed will germinate and start to grow, it will look normal then it will wilt and die, at the base of the soil the stem will almost look squeezed. You may even notice a white looking mold at the soil surface. Dampening off is caused by soil borne fungi or molds that that thrive in damp and cool conditions. The good news is that while it’s a soil borne problem there are a number of ways to prevent it. The first is having moist but not soggy soil, another is having warmer growing conditions such as using a seed heating mat, another is air circulation (removing the humidity dome and turning on fans).
In addition to these crucial elements, there’s a home remedy that will help, Chamomile Tea. The anti-fungal properties of Chamomile will kill or reduce the fungi and molds that may cause dampening off. You can utilize it through a soil spray or adding some to the water you use when watering. Just make a batch of chamomile tea, I did 2 cups of boiling water and one tea bag. Steep for the recommended time on the label and let it cool to room temp. Then put in a sprayer and use as a preventative treatment or spot treatment if you notice any sort of fungus growing on the soil.
This is also a good time to make sure our lights are set at the proper height (4-6 inches above the tallest seedling, you can set them even closer, 2-3 inches if using LED lights that don’t create any heat) and keep raising them up as the seedlings grow. They should continue to get 14-16 hours per day of light.
A good sign that your seedlings are not receiving adequate light is if they are looking “leggy”. Better described as tall and stretched out but not strong enough to support themselves so they flop over. If you notice this you can move your lights down closer to the seedlings and they should recover.
About 7-14 days in you’ll hopefully notice the first true leaves forming on your plants. In general, these more closely look like the ones your used to seeing on the plant. Once they have their first true leaves they no longer need the energy from the cotyledons and instead create energy through photosynthesis from the first true leaves. It’s very normal for the cotyledons to turn yellow and then die and fall off, don’t be alarmed, just take them and discard the leaves.
See you next week.