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Phytolater

My seedlings are shrinking!

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Hi, I joined The Corroboree a few weeks ago but there has been a lot of reading to do before taking the plunge and trying my hand at raising some Bolivian Torch so this is my first post.

During the Scorpio Moon of 28th September I set some Bolivian Torch seeds over a mixture of coarse sand, cactus mix and perlite in egg cartons, and placed the lot in a humidifier dome at a west-facing window to get the afternoon sun. The first seeds germinated on 9th October. Every day I put them outside and removed the lid for a while to let them get some real sun, though in retrospect I might have let them get too much. Anyway, after a few cool, overcast days I purchased a grow tent, fluorescent lights and heat mat, and they continued to do well in the tent (still under the humidifier dome) and a couple more seedlings appeared. Everything seemed fine for a while, but recently they all seem to be shrinking, though I spray them regularly.. or maybe not often enough? Or could the soil be too acid/alkaline (I would need to buy a PH tester)? I haven’t been able to find any info on shrinkage of seedlings and hope someone here might be able to offer some advice?

Edited by Phytolater

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Pics?

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Definitely need to see pictures! As it could be multiple things...

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The soil mix sounds fine, and for future reference you needn't bother with perlite and sand for seedlings. They might have suffered damage when you gave them too much sun though. Also, I personally wouldn't recommend egg cartons as they turn to mush with too much water and can grow mold and such.

Do you have any seeds left? I would recommend using plastic containers or seedling cells in the humidifier under the fluoro lights you have (16 hours is good), or just the good ol' takeaway tek without the humidifier. Takeaway tek is easier and you don't need to worry about humidity as you leave the container closed. If it's cold, use the heat mat. If you're in Australia it won't be necessary at this time of year.

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No, I didn't save any seeds for another try, I didn't discover that idea till they were germinating, duh! :)

I probably shouldn't have referred to the container as a humidifier. Maybe a humidity dome, or a covered, vented seedling tray might have been more apt, but I'm still learning and still trying to get my head around everything. So I mist with a spray bottle and the domed lid keeps the environment humid. I like to open the vents in the lid each day (sometimes remove the entire lid) to deter mold, then spray again and re-close the vents. A thermometer is in with the seedlings to allow temperature checks (on 2 separate occasions it soared to about 33 C with vents closed and heat mat on). Sixteen seems like a lot of light hours. I've only been giving them 12, but if that is what works I'll definitely try 16 hours of light.

Yes, I live in Oz. Nights here in ACT are just beginning to get warm enough not to need the heat mat. (Before I got it, I was warming the entire room, an expensive way to go, lol!) Anyhow, thanks for the responses and I'll try and take some photos tomorrow.

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I would guess since it's in an egg cart it's evaporating the water off too fast and drying up. The seedlings are probably dehydrated since their substrate can't retain water for long. But like everyone else said pictures are needed for sure.

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I have the lights at about 30cm above the seedlings, and the interior of the tent is made of reflective material.

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They look ok. 30cm seems a bit far... how many watts pet meter square?

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They don't look too bad. Just keep an eye on them. 30cm is a bit high, but they don't look like they are stretching. If you'd like some more seeds to experiment with PM me your address and I'll send some out for you :).

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True, Explorer, they are not stretching, but seem to be shrinking, lol. But I have adjusted the lights now to 15cm from soil level (and only 2 or 3 cms from top of dome). Thanks for the seeds offer, might take you up on it, I'm preparing to plant some loph seeds, so need to make sure there will be room in the tent for the seed trays :)

And hi evil penguin, I have 2 x 30 watt lights, tubes are 50cm long. Tent dimensions are approx length 75cm, height 60cm, width 51cm. Yes, they seem to look okay in the photos, but every day they are more difficult to find, and the little round ball one is only about 2mm high. I don't know if this is normal, I've never grown cacti from seed before, lol.

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Using the heat mats I had problems with my seedlings. They were more prone to root rot, etiolation, and other problems. I decided to only heat them until they started sprouting and they did a lot better.

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Hi all, thanks for the advice. Now, how do I know when a cactus goes into dormancy? They are still not growing, though their spines seem to be growing. Last year I had moved them into jiffy pots.. not much better than the egg carton I know, but it was all I had at the time. They did okay at first. Last year they looked green, had shorter spines. Today they are still tiny, but now brown, with long spines :( From photos, can anyone figure out what I need to do? They spent the summer months out of the grow tent at a West facing window but didn't get too much sun as the neighbour's house gets in the way late afternoon and it was often cloudy.

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