Losing 5 plus seedlings a day, I have decided to go ahead and plant them outside, even the starter cells with nothing happening. I don't know what I am doing wrong. I am hoping that I will be able to save some of them by planting them outside. I lost another 5 seedlings this morning, some are getting to and inch before dying, others are 4 inches and dying. I have them under a light, I water them when the top layer of soil is dry. But it is heart breaking to lose so many. I have others that are growing great, I am at a lost, thinking I jumped into this with not a lot of knowledge of what I am doing.

















Forgot to add this. I have notice some white mold, in some of the pots, when I see that I remove it, and the soil around the white mold.

My recommendations for next time would be to sterilize any containers that you use for planting. I generally wash very well in hot, soapy water, rinse and then soak in a weak bleach solution.

Then for potting mix, I take the easy way, and use a bagged mix specifically for seeds. I have used Pro-Mix, Jiffy and Schultz with good results.

I also always water with a water/peroxide mix.

I am sorry you are having so much trouble. It must be discouraging to see your little seedlings die. I hope some tough ones survive

All the seedlings are planted, fingers crossed
Most of them had nice roots, so I am hopeful that most will survive, and since the weather is stI'll nice here most days 80s, like today it is 85. I just could not keep watching them die.

Also check for fungus gnats. I have lost a lot of seedlings in the past because of those little pests.

Sorry to hear this, Catherine.

I lost three seedlings today too, it is just too wet and the air too still here I think (mine are all outside but the weather has been very unusual this year and our usual strong winds haven't happened yet this autumn).

They had all sprouted but then stopped growing and when I decided to investigate they were no longer attached to the seeds so not sure if just rotted off at ground level or whether insect activity is to blame (whitefly are a big part problem here just now, even on outdoor plants).

Difficult to know what to do for the best isn't it.

I hope they do better outside. Fingers crossed and please keep us posted!

I will take some pixs of them in a week or so, after they have grown some. I will add some pixs later of them in the flower bed.
Nikki that's is what was happening to mine, I think it is called crown rot not sure.
I will give them a few days to adjust before watering them, the ground and the soil they were in was pretty moist.

I will make sure all my pots and starter cells are washed before trying this again in a few months. Since they was all new, I did not think to wash them.
Each little hole you see has a seedling in it, before planting them I raked all the straw away, and put down potting soil, peat moss, and raked it in with the dirt, most of my dirt is a deep rich black dirt. Then I put the straw back, and started planting them. I wanted to keep the straw around them, to help with moisture, and give a little shade from direct sun, since they were under a light. Fingers cross they will grow big and healthy.







All those was planted today.




These were planted a few months ago.

So now I have 3/4 of my flower bed planted with seedlings, if all or most survive. I have the other 1/4 left and have some seeds in the frig now for about a week, to plant there.

Call me crazy, woke up this morning to this, most of the seedlings standing tall. Hoping that is a good sign

Yesterday and today, I see a difference


Seedling this morning



Seddlings standing tall




Right after I planted them yesterday

Great news! I hope they continue to thrive

Great news, Catherine.

Hope they continue to do well. I resorted to putting a battery fan by mine outside overnight and luckily we have had strong winds today. Gave the soil a dusting of cinnamon too as an extra precaution.

@scatterbrain
cinnamon? I have some what does it do?

It is supposed to be anti-fungal and it is said to help combat dampening off. Don't know if it works but I thought that it can't hurt to try.

Seedlings looking bad, not sure what to do with them.

Have they stopped rotting off? It is hard to see from the photos what the problems are. Maybe you could describe the problems.

The tops of the leaves are turning brown, and other parts of the leaves are turning, a pale green, yellow, and brown. Was thinking of cutting them back to see if that will help?

I think they may be adjusting to the higher light levels outdoors. If it is sunny, I would try to shade them a bit. I wouldn't cut them, and only remove any leaves that have completely died. It is a big adjustment for a plant to go outdoors, and usually the transition is made gradually. If the rotting off has stopped that is a major plus, and once they adjust to the higher light, they should do OK.

It looks like sun damage. This is why fluorescent lights need to run as close to the plants as possible.

You could probably shade them with something light such as windowscreen, but now that the damage is done, I think the best thing to do would be to let them push new leaves on their own. Make sure none of the scorched leaves are stuck together so that they could restrict any new growth. Otherwise, I'd leave the current leaves alone. What's left of them will help the plants recover. The new leaves will be more compact and naturally sun-resistant.

Thanks Ken and valerie, I will just keep watering them every few days when the ground is dry, and fertilizing them every week or 2, with a weak mix of fertilizer, and hope for the best. Maybe one day, I will know enough about daylilies to help someone else the way this group has helped me.