leggy seedlings

Community Community General Gardening Vegetables leggy seedlings

This topic contains 2 replies, has 2 voices, and was last updated by  Stringfellow 10 years, 12 months ago.

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  • #21593

    charles
    Moderator

     I was sent this photo by Eveline Fleury in Switzerland and she is asking if her pea seedlings are too weak and leggy:

     and she put a matchbox in for scale.

    I have posted this because of the weather and I suspect that there are many leggy plants waiting to go out.

    In fact I would be happy to plant seedlings like this, just a little deeper than usual. Preferably covered with fleece or cloche in view of the cold winds – but peas are hardier than almost any other vegetable, as long as pigeons do not eat them.

     

    #23926

    charles
    Moderator

     Here is a great hint from Dazzarelli, all done with mirrors…

    I saw your post on leggy pea seedlings, including the photo from Eveline Fleury, and thought I’d let you know how I’ve got round the problem. I’ve emailed you so that I could attach some photos.

    My greenhouse is against a South-facing fence and behind the fence is the next door house. I found that seedlings were leaning away from the dark fence and towards the light. Turning them frequently didn’t help much as the seedlings still ended up leggy. I bought a cheap mirror from Ikea and fixed it to the fence side of the greenhouse and this has completely fixed the leaning and leggy seedling problem. Encouraged by this, I started using aluminium foil behind seedlings on window sills and found that if I used enough foil, and positioned it well, then the seedling grew sturdy and straight. I’ve even had some seedlings, usually the ones furthest from the window, bending slightly towards the foil. 

    I’ve attached a photo of the mirror in the greenhouse. If you look carefully then you can see the fence at the top of the picture. Most of the picture is taken up by the mirror which is covering the fence. Also attached is a picture taken from outside a window looking in at my Tomato seedlings with the aluminium foil reflector.

     

     

    #23927

    Stringfellow
    Participant

    Thanks for this great tip Dazzarelli – being limited, at least for the moment, on a warm and light enough place to bring on frost sensitive seedlings, this could really help out until I sort something a touch more permanent and appropriate. Even then, the idea could be beneficial in some form.

    Happy gardening!

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