HELP All seedlings die every time! INDOOR grow

[sami44]

Hi,

I’ve tried to grow tomatoes, peppers and cucumber many times , and I fail every time. I always reach the stage of the seedling has first or second true leaves.
I have tried may soil mix including Hydrponics but every time it’s the same.
The peppers some time live and grow to maturity

Attached are pics of my setup.
Temp is always between 21 – 25C
Light CFL 3x 32W
RH 45+
Water , RO PH 6.3~6.9
Seeds are from parkseed.

What am I doing wrong????

[Capsid]

It looks like the heat from the lamp is burning the leaves. How close is it to the plants? Have you tried a propagator which will maintain humidity? Or no lamp at all? Or grow outside in a mini greenhouse?

[rustylady]

The leaves look scorched round the edges. Maybe your lights are too close and too hot.

[Incy]

Welcome to the vine sami44. Whereabouts are you? I would not expect lights to be necessary at this time of year if you are in the UK.

[Bigmallly]

Welcome to the vine sami, I was also thinking the lights maybe throwing out too much heat.

[Two_Sheds]

I agree with the others:

- they look scorched
- they don't need to be indoors, or have artificial light, in the summertime

[sami44]

Thank for the reply,
I live in a flat , so my only choice is indoors.
The only reason I got the light that close is because they look like they stopped growing, they are 2 weeks old.
the light are about an inch from the seedlings.
Im growing some more in the mini-greenhouse, I'll replant in a day or two, I'll make sure the light are at lease 3 or 4 inches away.

lets hope this time it works

Thanks...

[Bigmallly]

Thank for the reply,
I live in a flat , so my only choice is indoors.
The only reason I got the light that close is because they look like they stopped growing, they are 2 weeks old.
the light are about an inch from the seedlings.
Im growing some more in the mini-greenhouse, I'll replant in a day or two, I'll make sure the light are at lease 3 or 4 inches away.

lets hope this time it works

Thanks...

Make it 3 or 4 feet sami, you shouldn't need them.

[rustylady]

Don't you have any windowsills you could grow them on? Then you won't need the lights.

[sami44]

That fare, wont they stretch?

[Capsid]

Yes, they will stretch (etiolate) but won't you be potting them on to bigger pots and putting them outside? You won't get much indoors.

[sami44]

I'll give it a try, Thanks.

[woody21]

are you giving just plain RO water or have you added feed too?
i would just use straight tap water or if you must use ro water mix with 50% tap water to buffer the PH.

Whats the EC and PH of your water out of the tap?

make sure your getting accurate ph readings if you are measuring and adjusting, digital meters need regular calibration and cheap ones are a waste of time.

when using cfl or flourescent tubes you want them as close as possible, like 2-4 inches from the tops of the plants as they dont throw the light far. Leaves need to touch the light to burn.
also bulbs should be replaced every 12 or so months as they really lose intensity and colour spectrum will change as they age.

if these plants will never be going out into the garden and seeing real sunlight you need to consider more light as the 3 bulbs you have are only suitable for seedlings and wont provide enough light for an established plant, well maybe one small chilli plant.

[Two_Sheds]

I live in a flat , so my only choice is indoors.

Do you have no "outside" at all? The only houseplants that do really well indoors (for me) are the ones that naturally like dry, shady conditions: you'll really struggle to grow fruiting plants indoors

[esbo]

I grew mine indoors no probs without lights, started them on a shady window sill and moved them to a sunny one when they got going. DO you have a sunny window sill?

Also I think most plants appear to 'stop growing' early on, I think they put down roots for a while
and then start growing more green. I use Wilkinsons compost for mine to start with, had no trouble with it.