Some general help with seedlings please

Hi all

Need a bit of a teaching moment!

Some seeds I've sown, such as the nasturtium, have grown away happily, to a point where I've felt confident to plant them out. I did nothing special, just watered them.

Others, like the cosmos (pictured) grew will enough to start with, got pricked out into modules but now just seem to have stopped getting any bigger.



Others, like the basil and the salad leaves, germinated a while ago (maybe a week, possibly longer) but just haven't really put on any size at all since. I pricked out the salad leaves today into these modules hoping they will be happier. They had a decent root on them.



The basil got to this size and just stopped! I sowed 2 pots like this which have sat right next to each other, the other one is completely bare!




I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, if it's the weather, or if this is just normal behaviour?

Any advice at all is most appreciated!

 

My guess would be the compost, I've had seedlings stall this year, it just stays wet and you cant get any liquid feed in because of that.
Obviously the weather is not helping, really in a normal year I would expect plants like those to have been planted out and growing away now.

 

I agree with Pete. What compost are you growing them in?

 

I've read several reports, forums, Facebook etc that that can happen with peat free compost. One is told that seed compost shouldn't be rich in nutrients. I never use seed compost. When I pot plants on I mix some organic fertiliser like Blood, fish and bone into the compost. It seams to help.

 

It has been quite cold at night, Basil in particular will not like that.

 

I always sow basil indoors, even at this time of year. It only goes outside during the day once it's big, and it can get watered by the rain rather than me doing it. I only prick out clumps of it to pot on too, never individual seedlings - it isn't suited to that.
The lettuce will be fine - some types are quicker anyway. I sow and grow all mine inside until about mid May, and some stays indoors for early meals as cut and come again. I don't sow outdoors until about now, for succession plants if I need them.
Some of the compost now is certainly a bit too rough for small seeds. I use old compost from the previous year's containers for my early sowings. The seedlings can then cope with the rougher stuff later on when they've got a decent root system. If you don't have old compost, you need to sieve some of the new stuff for small seeds. I don't feed anything until it goes into the final position or pot.
Nasturtiums are fine, as they can manage with pretty much anything. I don't really have them under cover when I grow them, just some basic protection, but I don't sow them until about April as I use the windowsills or the gr'house for things needing more help.

 

Thanks all for the replies! I got busy last night and didn't come back to look

So I did check the thermometer. I can't believe how cold it's getting at night, I think I reset this about a week ago



I'll try bringing the basil in and see if that helps.

If there's also a compost issue, how do I deal with that? Is it just a lack of nutrients? Should I maybe pot the cosmos on into 3" pots with some garden compost? Or just give them a seaweed feed?

 

@fairygirl I'm curious about where you grow your lettuce indoors as cut and come again? Do you basically treat them like a houseplant on a windowsill?

 

I'd wait for it all to dry out a bit then a feed with miracle grow.

 

There are many composts available, personal preference this year, which has proved effective with all of the 660 litres used to date, is the Westland Gro-sure which is available nationally. Its cost -effective, contains "reduced peat 0-30 %", and I use it for seeding and potting. Maybe best to sieve for fine seeds but I dont. Just a few chunks/twigs, which are picked out/ignored. My cosmos enjoyed it, were planted out when 300mm tall and have been flowering last 2 weeks.All my plants receive seaweed extract in rain water, no additional feeding .

 

My bet is on temperature. Even down here in Cornwall seedlings have been slow. Runner beans have not got away fast enough to beat the slugs.

 

If you have used seed compost as a base there is not much nutrition in seed compost.

 

I use low fertility, sieved seed compost for germinating plants but once the first pair of true leaves is thru I get them pricked out into compost with some nutrients in it. I do all this in the polytunnel except for tomatoes, chillies and squashes which get started on heat mats indoors.

Even so, growth has been generally slow this year across the whole spectrum of seeds sown. I'm planning to sow some more veggies and ornamentals next week - unless we finally get a heatwave and I have to wait till late summer.

 

I do the same with my compost as B-L or add manure on a ratio of 5:1 if I have any left after manuring my roses.