[Riala]

What advice can you give me if my seedlings go leggy?

[kezlou]

apparently putting silver foil behind them helps them become less leggy. The light is supposed to reflect allowing them to grow thicker and stronger.

I did this last year with tomatoes and it worked a treat.

HTH Kez

[Trillium]

You also need to pinch top growth once you get a few sets of 'true' leaves (not the intial sprouting leaves). This will help bush out the plant better.

[DD.]

apparently putting silver foil behind them helps them become less leggy. The light is supposed to reflect allowing them to grow thicker and stronger.

I did this last year with tomatoes and it worked a treat.

HTH Kez

What do you mean "supposed"? I can't afford silver foil, but I find aluminium works well!

What seedlings are we talking about specifically & when do you intend starting them?

[Riala]

Anything that I grow on my windowsill.

At the moment, it is my herbs that I planted (Coriander, Basil, Parsley) They are all really leggy, and can you remember my pics from before of my veg?

*Runs off to find the pic*


Found it, remember this post?

[DD.]

Too warm, too soon spring to mind! I'll start mine in a just warm greenhouse in a few months.

[peterjf]

TOO MUCH DAY LIGHT , THE PLANTS ARE GROWING TO THE DAY LIGHT, TAKE THEM OFF THE WINDOW SILL AND PLACE THEM ON THE FLOOR , STILL BE WARM , BUT NOT GROWING TOO FAST

[Jodie A]

Ensure your pots are properly filled with soil, ie right up to the brim.  If the soil settles they will spend the first couple of cm's trying to reach the light and will get off to a leggy start in life.

[DD.]

TOO MUCH DAY LIGHT , THE PLANTS ARE GROWING TO THE DAY LIGHT, TAKE THEM OFF THE WINDOW SILL AND PLACE THEM ON THE FLOOR , STILL BE WARM , BUT NOT GROWING TOO FAST

I cannot agree with that. Take them away from the light & they'll get even more leggy trying to get to it - you see this with chitting spuds in low light.

(Caps lock stuck AGAIN, Peter?)

[Riala]

TOO MUCH DAY LIGHT , THE PLANTS ARE GROWING TO THE DAY LIGHT, TAKE THEM OFF THE WINDOW SILL AND PLACE THEM ON THE FLOOR , STILL BE WARM , BUT NOT GROWING TOO FAST

I could not possibly put them on the floor with a 2 year old running free!! Besides, won't that make them even leggier (is that a word) as they try to reach the daylight?

Ensure your pots are properly filled with soil, ie right up to the brim.  If the soil settles they will spend the first couple of cm's trying to reach the light and will get off to a leggy start in life.

As you can see from the picture, they are in seed trays/propogators, the soil is filled to the top so not entirely sure how else I can change that.

Even seeds that I start in my Paperpots (thank you richyrich7) they still go leggy.

[Jodie A]

Ensure your pots are properly filled with soil, ie right up to the brim.  If the soil settles they will spend the first couple of cm's trying to reach the light and will get off to a leggy start in life.

As you can see from the picture, they are in seed trays/propogators, the soil is filled to the top so not entirely sure how else I can change that.

Ah ha - seeing that link, I wouldn't normally think of transplanting radishes, I'd do either direct sowings outside during the summer months, or under cover in their sowing to harvesting position for later crops.  But the above is true, especially for tomatoes.

[DD.]

TOO MUCH DAY LIGHT , THE PLANTS ARE GROWING TO THE DAY LIGHT, TAKE THEM OFF THE WINDOW SILL AND PLACE THEM ON THE FLOOR , STILL BE WARM , BUT NOT GROWING TOO FAST

I could not possibly put them on the floor with a 2 year old running free!! Besides, won't that make them even leggier (is that a word) as they try to reach the daylight?

My thoughts & posting exactly!

[jb]

TOO MUCH DAY LIGHT , THE PLANTS ARE GROWING TO THE DAY LIGHT, TAKE THEM OFF THE WINDOW SILL AND PLACE THEM ON THE FLOOR , STILL BE WARM , BUT NOT GROWING TOO FAST

I cannot agree with that. Take them away from the light & they'll get even more leggy trying to get to it - you see this with chitting spuds in low light.

Plant growth can have multiple influences as I found out to my endless frustration during my ten or so years working on plant development on mouse ear cress  :x .  Seedling legginess has two main environmental causes, either too little light so the plants grow long to try and reach the light (think beansprouts germinated in the dark) or too much heat (that causes overproduction of a plant hormone called auxin that causes elongation in the hypocotyl hence leggines). As for which of these is the culprit over to the army of people with substantially more experience than me of real plants lke your radishes.
Jon
PS Sorry to DD and peterjf if the quote isn't done well in this post, I haven't susssed how to do it properly :oops: .

[DD.]

Nearly Jon! I've tweaked it a little, but not bad for starters!

BTW, with only a two character user name, you won't be able to find any of your posts, that's why I'm "DD."! Perhaps you'll have a think about this.

[pushrod]

What advice can you give me if my seedlings go leggy?

Improve the natural light and don't overcrowd (which reduces the light) Planting when natural daylength is too short will also not help.
Artifical light is not much use as it does not have the right frequency wavelengths. Gently brushing the seedlings with your hand a couple of times a day will also inhibit height growth a bit so long as light is good.