Recently had an occurrence I've never had before. Planted pre germinated tomato and Swiss chard seeds in soil purchased from Costco ("Premium Mix"). The seedlings did not advance beyond the 2 leaf stage. Just kept 2 tiny first leaves and even those leaves didn't grow bigger. Pumpkin seedlings in the same soil began to grow and then developed white crisp patches and began to look pale. One of the pumpkins is trying to produce buds so must think it is dieing! I have since repotted them all in new soil but wonder if anyone could suggest what might be wrong!
Are these indoors or planted out? What is the light, temperature and moisture situation? If they are outside and not covered, it's still too cold for those plants. Just time to plant Swiss chard now. Tomatoes should be growing indoors or under cover still.
All indoors! All in a sunroom where I have started plants for years with no problems! Also forgot to mention that some morning glory seedlings planted at the same time seem to be growing normally.
Well, maybe the soil is not sterile. Are the seedlings damping off? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damping_off
No, they aren't. They just didn't grow. Stayed stunted at the early two leaf stage. The stems are fine. The pumpkin leaves are looking kind of burned but the light level wasn't altered so I think it is some characteristic of the soil. Strangely the morning glory, planted at the same time, seem to be alright although maybe a bit slow. Thanks for your interest. If I knew how to post a picture, I'd could show you.
Hmmn. I don't know. Well, I guess you can try some more seed with different soil. I usually use a sterile seed starting mix. I seem to have less problems with that.
All we can see so far is that something in the growing situation - of which the soil is only one component - is not suiting them.
