Long seedlings

cazsophieq2019

Hi everyone 

I hope you're all well and looking forward to spring 😊 

Posting here as I need help with these long seedlings.

One's a sweetpea and the others are broccoli.

The broccoli are already thinned out but haven't got their true leaves yet so hesitant to touch and transplant. They re also in degradable pots so wondering do I need to plant them as they are in to a larger pot, thin more also concerned about their leggings.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts 😊 

Carol

Fairygirl

They're very etiolated which is what happens when they don't have adequate light.
I don't grow broccoli, but I'd say that's the problem with them too.
Sowing too early is often the problem. 

fidgetbones

Too warm, not enough light.

Fairygirl

Yes - and sweet peas certainly don't need extra heat of any kind.
I've just sown some [yesterday] and they're in the growhouse.
I did some a couple of weeks ago as an experiment, which are also in the growhouse. They haven't yet germinated which is what I would expect sowing at that time of year here.
Ideally they would take around 2 to 4 weeks to germinate. 

cazsophieq2019

Thanks for your responses, is there anything I can do to correct the situation?  

Fairygirl

When you plant the sweet peas out, you can bury them a bit further. Other than that, you can nip the tops out to make them bushier, but I think it might be too late to do that by the time they're well enough grown. You'd probably delay flowering a good bit.
You could also sow more just now. 

I can't comment re the broccoli though.

Jenny_Aster

In the past I've had some success with deeply transplanting them almost up to their leaves. Don't touch the stem at all, just hold the seedling gently by it's leaf and ease the seedling out of its soil and into a new pot using a plastic plant label. Don't overwater as they can soon be killed off by fungus. You've got nothing to lose, but can gain.

B3

If you've got some seeds left in the packet, I'd try again in another few weeks. I think you were a bit too early.

Blue Onion

I agree with B3.  Scrap those ones, get some fresh compost, and start again in a few weeks.  I know each one is precious.. but it's really the best thing.  

Fairygirl

That's what I would do as well tbh, which is why I also suggested another sowing. Sowing many seeds any earlier than this month is what creates the problem if you aren't careful with temps and light.
In mid March the light is better, and it's easier to get them germinated, and then moved into a cooler spot to carry on growing - ie outside in a cold frame or cold greenhouse, depending on the plant. Sweet peas are hardy, so can go out in that way in April no problem, when they're of a reasonable size 

Also - trying to prick out seedlings when they only have seed leaves there is a mistake. You need to wait until they have at least a couple of sets of true leaves, one set if you're careful.
Sweet peas can just be planted out as a clump. No need to separate them.

debs64

Sorry to hijack this thread but @Fairygirl you mentioned sweet peas in big pots planning to try that this year, popping out for soil later what’s did you recommend? I foolishly forgot to keep the thread with your advice. Thanks