I'm a noob, at least when growing from seeds. I grew pepper seeds in an egg carton, a few per cell. I was spraying with water and they were looking pretty healthy to me.
Someone knocked over the egg carton. The soil was pretty dry. The seedlings were all a mess in the soil on the ground.
I had planned on repotting them to little ~3" pots but not this early. But I hastily tried it anyways so that's where they are now, 1 seedling per pot.
I read in previous research to bottom water when repotted, which is what I just did. But I'm rethinking … these things had tiny tiny roots. I don't think they're even reaching the water.
Should I do anything different with watering right now? Should I just leave them and hope for the best? They bottom watered for around 30 mins. I also sprayed the top a bit – which is why it looks wet – just because they were super dusty on top at first. Thank youuuu
by Orphodoop
9 Comments
They’ll be fine.
Just water them like normal plants.
I water from the top and let them sit in the runoff
Just give them a bit to recover from transplanting. You’ll hit some stall, but give it a couple weeks. Watering the bigger containers with a tiny plant with tiny roots can be tricky because it’ll be easier to get root rot and damp off.
They look generally ok. Having more soil per pot means it will hold water longer, especially plastic. You need to resist the urge to keep them waterlogged. Pepper plants can withstand fairly arid conditions and typically desire them intermittently.
Don’t get bogged down in all the minutiae. Focus on wet vs dry for now. Top water for a while until you get the first couple sets of true leaves, then start bottom watering. You’ll see a stall, but it happens. Don’t panic, don’t overthink it, and don’t get discouraged. You got this!
They look fine, but next time don’t start in egg cartons especially the cardboard ones. They’re too small anyways and the cardboard will easily get moldy and kill off your seedlings.
FYI for next time, avoid using egg carton coz it sucks for seed starting. It is too shallow and doesn’t provide enough room for the roots to
grow as your seedlings grow. It’s one of those stupid things that doesn’t actually work but people keep repeating on the internet.
Super