7 Solutions For Stunted Seedlings

IN THIS VIDEO

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro
00:35 - Bad Seeds
01:08 - Not Thinning
01:47 - Over Watering
03:10 - The Right Location
04:07 - Overgrown Seedling
06:07 - Seed Starting Soil
09:20 - Outro

DISCLAIMER

[GR-bozt]

40 years ago my grandma had the same hat Jacques is sporting these days. In fact, I have a gorgeous photo of her looking stately in her VERY EPIC garden (posing in front of dahlias). Every time I see that hat, I think of her!

[spiritmatrix]

00:35 Bad or incorrectly stored seeds
01:48 Overwatering
03:11 Placement of seedlings in elements
04:08 Leaving them too long in starting pot
06:07 Seed-starting soil not having enough nutrients 920% worm castings) has big objects to screen out
09:20 Add fertilizer 2 weeks
10:22 Extra tips

[nickernator]

I get my trays from local nurseries. They usually have stacks and stacks just going to the dump. Sometimes i have to dig through to find a full tray of undamaged cells but it's free and worth it. And, sometimes they have discarded plants you can take too. I came back with a truck load of 10gal pots, 1gal pots, 4in pots, and a few trays of 6 ans 4 cell trays. I also found a 155 cell tray that they used for their incoming tissue culture, which works really well for seedlings (especially onions) but needed transplanted very fast. I like the fast dry out time, to help strong growth and keep down mold/fungus.
The nursery i went to had just began hiring and planning for the upcoming spring season, and they are in a high end area, which means they were throwing out anything that didn't look perfect. Came home with 2 dozen 1 gallon pots with purple sages, various lavenders, a few augastaches, and a whole bunch of others. Then i decided to apply for their wholesale position just for the spring and was able to bring home flats and flats of discarded plants. I brought home so many pepper plants that my own seedlings are still in their 6 packs lol. It's only 13.50/hr but i lost 20lbs in 2 months and I'm happier than ever exchanging corporate life for one that i get to say good morning to a 100 foot greenhouse of blooming violas every day.

[gonzo]

I tend to use my own seed starting mix consisting of 2 cups shredded/blended dry leaves, 1 cup perlite, 1/2 cup of ground soil, 2tbsp bone meal, 2tbsp dried, crushed banana peels.The seedlings always do fine for about a month or so without needing extra feeding.

[Jessekuuh]

I’ve learned more from your videos than I have from two years of botany classes in college.. thank you so much for sharing your knowledge! ☀️

[elsmooth]

Great video, Kevin! With regards to the comment on over-watering, this is spot on. I read a great quote from a greenhouse research specialist on watering..."The job isn’t 'to water’—the job is to dry the plants out so you can water." Understanding this and applying it in your seed propagation can go a long way to having success. Another quote, “Fish grow in water, roots grow in air.”

Keep up the epic work!

[simangelemariemkhize]

It's the 30 March 2024 and I am about to go out to start seedlings. This video and the other Epic Gardening gem "Don’t Make THESE Seedling Mistakes" have given me so much useful information to keep in mind and practice when planting that I cannot wait to see the results. Thank you for sharing these tips & ideas.

[metasamsara]

No matter how many weed growing channels I check out, when it comes to general gardening tips, nothing beats your channel, thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge and wisdom with us! Especially that soil composition depending on time of the year and water evaporation is really useful and makes a lot of sense to unlock further understanding of the plant science itself! I'm training with weed, but the plan is to become self sufficient on food production too, so it's pointless to learn about weed growing in a vacuum haha especially with all the bro science out there.

[laceesandberg]

This explains A LOT about why my seedling failed this year. Can't wait to implement these tips into my fall harvest

[mchangmi]

this is my first year ever to garden vegetables for food and I'm learning as I go along thanks so much for your channel there is so much to learn southern California greetings

[Midnight_Rein]

I live up in Ohio, and I'm consistently frustrated with how my seedlings start off indoors, mostly because I wasn't ever really taught how to *care* about my seeds. My dad'd start tomato seeds in a big 50 count tray with peat disks, one seed per disk, and that's the way he taught me to do it, so in my tiny apartment starting seeds 1-by-1 in a tiny little 8-count tray has been frustrating as heck.
But I've been learning a lot since I started watching regularly, and I think I know what I'm getting myself for Christmas.

[sandyk]

Those wood peices in my store-bought potting mix did exactly what is stated here. It blocked a few of my seeds from being able to grow. I figured that out a little too late and had to start over. I make my own mix now. I do like the screen idea. I'll do that with the potting mix I stopped using.

[williamreely]

One of the reasons I find that seedlings become stunted is due to potting mix which is too loose. Lots of people say you should use something loose like coconut coir to start seeds because "their weak seedling roots can't break through dirt". Which is utter nonsense. Most if not all seedling roots are well-equipped to penetrate through plain dirt - if they were not, they'd never survive or propogate in the wild. Coconut coir is actually subpar for root entrainment since it's TOO loose; seedling roots can't get ahold of it very well and can fail to establish, and risk of root damage is greater when transplanting.

I've never had luck starting seeds in coir or similar. As long as the mix you're using is free of clumps and large bits of organic matter, it will work fine.

[lvurbanfarming]

Hi kevin, moved and bought a house in Vegas last year. I now have a permaculture cottage garden. 35 plus fruit trees. 4 chickens/vege patch and herb patch. And 300 plus species of flowering plants. Thanks for the video 😊

[domesti-city]

I'm waiting on the 4-cell pots because I strongly dislike up-potting from the smaller seed starting trays. I also sift my potting soil to use for starts, and I like to put vermiculite on top of the soil to help prevent damping off (but vermiculite seems to have disappeared from garden center shelves recently). I'm looking forward to trying out your trays with the design you have. I like the side slits for root development.

[MegaGingahNinja]

KEVIN! I just wanna say two things; 1) great information as usual, I certainly appreciate it. 2) The anime transitions/animations! Need these to remain. You did some Naruto ones the other day, and this one had what looked like a DBZ animation with Jacques. Perfect. Thank you

[vlong]

Loving the transitions/summoning effects when Jacques appears in EG videos!

[icouldjustscream]

Loved the six cells. I started everything in them, even corn! I had to up-pot the corn pretty quickly though. The four cells will be great for those fast growing seedlings than need a bit more room.

[amberbennett]

Makes so much sense. Not only about seeds being kept freash. Love your little set up amazing. I appreciate you admitting a pro like you have suffered aswell from stunted seedlings and giving hope .Thanks for another amazing job

[lukaslambs]

Leggy seedlings are always more my problem than stunted. I know how to prevent it, it’s just hard with my property’s sub light and my area’s soil. I’m trying though and of course still have had some epic harvests (just starting from seeds is kind of hard).