leggy seedlings

Hi all, being new to the forum I thought that I might ask some advice. I have planted some seeds that have come up well, perhaps too well, and they seem to have gone a bit leggy. Any suggestions as to where I may have gone wrong? My main problem seems to be with my cucumbers that I have sown inside and will be grown on in the greenhouse. They are very pale and about 3 inches tall. If I were to repot them in a deeper pot and close to the leaves would this help at all?

 

You could try it, being very careful not to squish the stem - but the most important thing is to increase the light. The reasons seedlings go leggy is that they are reaching for the light.

Can you resow some again - that might be the best option.

 

I agree with Fran. They need more light. Because the temperature is quite high, they think the season is well advanced and that the light is low because they are under the foliage of another plant, so they are trying to grow above the foliage. The light and heat need to be in balance. If you reduced the temperature, whilst they would grow at a slower rate they would not get so leggy as the light and temperature would be more in balance.

I was recently reading that at this time of year, not only does the average temperature increase over a period of a couple of months, but also the average light level will increase by a factor of six times. We tend not to notice it as our eyes automatically adjust to compensate.

Can you put them in the greenhouse in a propagator. The double insulation of both greenhouse and propagator might keep them warm enough. Though I don't know what temperature cucumber seedlings need.

 

Thanks for the advice. I will try repotting and if that doesn't work I can resow the seeds. Unfortunately, I do not have a propagator so cannot put them in the greenhouse as yet. I suspect that it may be too warm in the room where they are currently.

 

Hmm it's hard not to end up with leggy seedlings at this time of year because of the light, I think they may recover though when the light improves, mine have gone a bit that way too, I think they should thicken out in time unless they are really bad. My sweet peas have gone that way, but I sowed them really early as I just couldn't wait any longer to sow something!!!
Some people buy special lights to propegate them with and that stops the leggy effect apparantly