[rainie]

How do I know if a seedling is leggy? (thinking ahead)

[DD.]

Put "leggy seedlings" into Google & hit "Images".

Over-heated house of horrors.

[Becci W]

Here you go:

[rainie]

Wow thank you. Didnt know i could do that on google 

[rainie]

So, what is wrong with a leggy seedling?  Is it a weak stem to start with? What are disadvantages please.

How do i know when a seedling is getting leggy if i am unsure of the seedlings healthy looks. I looked at the googled pics and think its lighter stems and slimmer. But waht else?
Thanks.

[Lardman]

So, what is wrong with a leggy seedling?  Is it a weak stem to start with? What are disadvantages please.

I really depends on what it is...

Some plants it doesn't really matter about, thing like pepper and tomato plants can burried up to their necks in soil and roots will grow from the stems. Other will simply rot off (cukes).

After you've been growing a few years and seen how the seedlings develop at different times of the year its very easy to tell if the seedling is getting leggy.

[rainie]

Thanks Lardman.

If i can get my act together and take pictures maybe weekly of mine, and put on my diary, will people chuck some of DD's bricks at me if my seeds are looking ill?

This wilt thing worries me too as i dont know much about that either, apart from I lost some stuff last year due to it (i think).

[Kristen]

I looked at the Google images and not many of them were what I would call "leggy"

To me leggy seedlings are ones which are, or are about to be, on the point of falling over.

Even planting them deep is not really a cure - if you put 2.5" of extra stem in a 3" pot you have put the original roots so low down they don't have much pot to grow down into - yes the stem will form roots, but not "overnight", and I don't know to what extent roots grow upwards [in preference to downwards].

If you still have insufficient light, after pricking out, the plants will continue to grow leggy - greater length between each leaf joint - and whilst you can plant Tomatoes deep most plants won't tolerate being buried above their original seed leaves.

And when you pot-on a Tomato, say, you increase the pot size by an inch, or 1.5 inches ... that probably provides you with 1/2" more depth - its not much space to bury the plant, and again you are siting the roots right at the bottom of the new pot.

My sense is that the plant making greater distance between each leaf node means that the stem has more thickening up to do (per unit of energy) in order to be strong and sturdy, and thus is at a disadvantage - not necessarily fatal of course.

And, for many plants, by the time you get to potting on we are well into March and there is plenty of light, and the problem was only transient.

But short, stocky, plants are stronger, healthier and less likely to be a problem later, so worth trying to prevent leggy plants.

[Lardman]

If you want to see leggy plants take some time to watch "Claires allotment" on you tube.

Most of what she plants Id have put in the bin - especially the brassicas.