Seeds, Soil and Lumens

I started to germinate seeds between wet paper towels. I put them on a plate covered plastic wrap and put the plate in a desk drawer. Then I started doing research online about growing this wonderful plant. I planted the first couple of seeds when one-inch-long white roots started to grow. I let the others continue to sprout and planted them as they showed white roots. I had forgotten about the rest of the seeds that were still germinating.

I started to germinate seeds between wet paper towels. I put them on a plate covered plastic wrap and put the plate in a desk drawer. Then I started doing research online about growing this wonderful plant. I planted the first couple of seeds when one-inch-long white roots started to grow. I let the others continue to sprout and planted them as they showed white roots. I had forgotten about the rest of the seeds that were still germinating. When I lifted the paper towels, there were three seeds that had roots about 3 inches long and they had tiny leaves starting to grow where the seed shell was. I immediately planted them with the little leaves sticking out. Are my plants going to survive?

I'm using two 75w blue grow bulbs 12 cm above plants, 24 hours a day. The first seeds that I planted sprouted, but they haven't grown since. The soil dries fast after watering and gets kind of crusty. Some kind of moss is growing in some of the containers too.

Rodney

Germinating seeds is not the problem it is the preparation and grow room goods that are stifling growth. Planning is paramount for successful indoor gardens. Prepared growers have everything they need before starting to grow. Yes, you did wait too long to plant the seeds and leaving them to develop leaflets could stifle development. But, the biggest problems you have are the soil and lighting. The soil becomes crusty because it is full of clay. My guess is that you dug it up in the back yard rather than purchasing light fluffy potting soil. Backyard soil is most often poorly suited for indoor cultivation in pots because it has too much clay, is too acidic or alkaline and controlling moisture and fertilizers in it is very difficult. The crusty clay cap is formed when the clay washes to the surface. This is similar to the way a fine cap of the fine particles in concrete come to the surface when it is poured. This cap is as hard as a rock and very difficult for seedlings to penetrate. Furthermore, the soil is difficult to penetrate for roots and drainage is so poor that little air is held in the soil. Roots require oxygen in order to take in nutrients in the soil or those provided by fertilizers. Outdoor soils are also full of insect eggs, fungus spores, bacteria and moss. Using the soil invites all of these maladies to attack your wonderful plants.

Two 75w blue grow bulbs 12 cm above plants probably compounds the crust on the soil by drying it out quickly. Change lighting to compact fluorescents or a single HID. Compact fluorescents are less expensive. You can buy 65w compact fluorescent floodlights at a discount store for about 25€. Or you could buy a 175w metal halide for less than 120€. Both lamps are much more efficient than the blue incandescent grow bulbs. Efficiency is measured by the amount of lumens produced per watt of electricity used. For example a 75w incandescent lamp yields about 17 lumens per watt and a 175w metal halide produces 80 LPW. After the initial investment of buying the lamp, you could use the same amount of electricity and produce 14,000 lumens with the metal halide and only 2,550 lumens (not enough to grow descent bud) with the incandescent grow bulbs.