Fix Leggy Seedlings

What can you do to fix leggy seedlings? If you start seedlings indoors, low light levels can cause them to stretch towards the light and have a pale or yellow color. Warm temperatures, high humidity and poor air circulation can also lead to limp, weak plants. In this video I'll try to "fix" these leggy seedlings.

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[CoralVictoriaful]

Oh god... I was so proud of myself that they were growing... badly apparently... 😭

[johnherbert]

"A week of determined neglect" - or a week in my house apparently. Great video.

[divineinpurple]

It's funny that you had to work at getting your seedlings to look as miserable as mine normally do! Thank you for this video, caught my seedlings just in time for this gardening season!

[nancythane]

A special trait with tomatoes is that the "hairs" on the stem actually are roots. If you have a leggy tomato plant, just plant it deeper or lay the stem sideways and then gently stake the top into a normal position. The buried stem roots itself quickly.

[georgealderson]

I have to admit that I am just amazed and grateful when my seeds grow at all, nevermind leggy! Nature is a wonderful manager!

[jungwonsdimple]

ah im kind of sad, i was so proud of my tall seedlings! ill definitely refer to this video in an attempt to save them, thank you so much!

[sulebo]

I never knew the temp should be lowered once germinated! Also the feeding is important and most tutorials don't mention that. One tip about thinning - snip the extra with a small scissors rather than pulling out the extra one by the root - that way you don't disturb the root of the keeper :) Thanks! I just discovered you

[nicholasfrancesca]

I've heard so many gardeners say NOT to fertilize until first TRUE leaves. In my experiences the seeds sprouted in potting mix (with added fertilizer) did WAY better than those in seed mixture (with no fertilizer). I'm so glad I came across this video 😀.

[mashalifevlog]

It's actually a good idea to plant seedlings as deep as possible so more roots will grow from where leaves are located. It will make your tomatoes strong. Grew up in the country and my family grew 80% of our food. If tomatoes are too tall, we would plant them a little bit slanted and they always grew very well. Also, you can make seedlings from new tomato shoots. Just plant them deep and water regularly and you will have more tomato plants.

[scoopy]

An award-winning tomato grower in southern Oregon laid his long stems horizontally under the soil to promote more root growth. I planted close to the South Wall of the house and had 8' h. x 4ft dia. plants. Delicious. Thank you for the tips

[TheBurninator]

Definitely one of the best seedling troubleshooting videos I've seen. This is my first year growing my vegetable garden from seed, and I was looking for videos on when to take off my humidity dome. Now I know that and more! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.

[gregc]

I'm glad you added in the last part about planting it deeper. I was taught to do this on every tomato plant. I usually do it three times per plant. Cut off the bottom branch, bury to almost the top of the plant in a pot. Transplant into the ground with the same process, cut bottom branch, bury to almost the top. A couple of weeks later, cut bottom branch once again and pull dirt up to the plant. I end up with a tomato bush that needs no cage or support that's covered with Great video my friend. Seedlings look really good and you have a nice setup!

[bryanh]

This is my 2nd year to attempt growing some food and most of my tomato seedlings were pretty leggy. I got most of them to recover well enough to transplant, which I did a few days ago. I had to bury them pretty deep and I wouldn't have known to do that if it weren't for this video.

[ericaroberts]

Oh man I did everything wrong! Thank you so much :) I'll try to salvage my poor plants with your tips. Your insights will give me extra-beautiful plants next year!!

[martinakabatova]

This video saved my seedlings last year and I am rewatching it this year again and hopefully won't mess the seedlings up from the start again. Thank you for this video!

[catspaw]

We have had this issue several times & never knew what we were doing wrong or how to save the seedlings. Thank you so much!

[oravakemia]

Thank you for this video! After watching dozens of hours of gardening videos and going through articles this one is hands down one of the most helpful videos I have come across. Like many others have commented, this is what most of my seedlings look like :D Now to the rescue, maybe I can still salvage some of them :)

[erinbsullivan]

Wow. This is the first video I have found that addresses this issue and shows how to fix it! Thank you! This has given me new hope!👍🏼

[melaniehoflich]

As long as your seedlings are still nice and "bendy" you can lay the root plug horizontally right at the bottom of the pot and bend the stem in a U shape so that only the crown and leaves are sticking out of the soil. No need for tall pots! I've even potted rootplugs upside down as long as the stem does not break no problems!

[amyisaferry]

Ah this video is really exactly what I needed. I don't learn from people telling me what to do. I need a video of what CAN go wrong (because let's face it, novice gardeners do more things wrong than right) and how to break those brown thumb habits. I just took my dome off my poor little chamomile seedlings. Thanks so much =)