Topic: Spindly Seedlings

[Justy]

Can anyone tell me why my marigolds and tomato seedlings look so spindly.  They have very long stalks.  They are on south facing windowsill and I turn them each day.

Anything I can do to make them sturdier?

[robsa]

What temperature have you got them at? If the room is too hot then they will tend to go spindly or leggy.

I have found that anything above about 15-17degC is too hot for most things. Tomatoes and peppers seem to be happy around 18degC. I ended up turning off the radiator in the room where I was raising seedlings and now put them in a mini greenhouse outside.

Hope this helps,

Robsa

[Justy]

radiator not on in that room but I suppose it is quite warm as they are on a south windowsill.  I have a mini greenhouse which again faces south so I may put the next lot straight in there.

[Mrs Ava]

My marigolds, once germinated, went into the greenhouse from the conservatory to try and keep them butch!    It is amazing how hot a south facing windowsill can be - on a hot day last week, my south facing conservatory hit the mid 80's.

[tim]

Light, light & light!!

[RSJK]

Think I would be tempted to re-pot them and to bury them down in the compost just below there leaves.  Done this myself when seedlings have grown a bit spindly and it seems to have worked ok.