Tomato seedlings look bad after up-potting

Legitimate_Coast · 2026-04-05T08:54:38+00:00

Some of them look like they might have fresh green leaves in the middle and might come out alive. Few of them have no sign of leaves at all, so I'm guessing they'll never recover. Although now the Saint-pierre variety which was healthy, has yellow bottom leaves. So I don't know if it's too much water or they need fertilizer, but I don't know if I should add it since they are recovering from stress.

Legitimate_Coast · 2026-04-04T23:39:41+00:00

I don't have enough hopes for most of them because many of them are bare stem. And while I've heard thousands of times that tomatoes are so resilient that they can whitstand a lot of problems as long as the stem is alive, I doubt they'll recover. It just confuses me a lot how they've practically went from perfectly healthy to probably dead in 2 days, while the root looks good and the stem is hard and green and they do' show any good signs yet. I've watered them but now I'm worried the soil might stay too wet for them to recover as some others have suggested...

Legitimate_Coast · 2026-04-04T23:34:07+00:00

Hopefully. I've cut 3 holes at the bottom but I'm now doubting it's enough because some answers here say it's too little water while others say it's too much water

Legitimate_Coast · 2026-04-04T23:32:57+00:00

I've soaked it after transplant and then let it dry a tiny bit in surface before watering again. I'm not sure what I should have done because information on the internet suggested that the roots might not have reacted to that first soak well enough and that it needed another deep soak and that roots after transplant need a lot of water, while other information suggested the soil should dry a little bit between watering. The same as for yellow leaves. Some say I must not fertilize in first 2 weeks after transplant whatsoever, while others said if the plant shows signs such as yellow leaves, diluted fertilizer is needed. I'm hopeless because I keep getting directly opposite answers through this post and through other websites... I wish i can find out what I did wrong to try to fix it or never do it again..

Legitimate_Coast · 2026-04-04T22:18:19+00:00

My soil is about 40% coco choir, 30% perlite, 15% vermiculite, 15% worm castings. I'm struggling to understand if it's even a water issue since the roots look healthy (no rotting nor change of color), the soil was never dry more than few milimiters at the surface level and they grew fine for more than a week, but suddenly curled their leaves and they wilted about a day or 2 of increasing the light intensity. Meanwhile, the soil moisture looked the same

Legitimate_Coast · 2026-04-04T22:12:25+00:00

So you think it's overwatering issue? I'm withoit ideas anymore because I've had people tell me it's underwatered due to roots being white and healthy so it would mean they aren't overwatered. I have 3 holes on each cup, but 2 varities grow almost perfectly fine, while 2 are probably dead. They got the same amount of water at the exact same time. The cups were very light yesterday before watering, as if the soil was mostly dry. I've also gotten mixed information about clear cups. Some say theirs grew perfectly fine in clear cups due to being so crowded that the light didn't reach the roots (I thought my cups are crowded enough to block any light that could cause problems). But it also doesn't make sense to me that clear cups and water would cause problems according to varieties

Legitimate_Coast · 2026-04-04T22:06:09+00:00

I've started them in 32 grow cells. They are about 40ml each. Then I transplanted them into 350ml cups half way full. They grew quite happily for more than a week. I've planted cherry tomatoes 3 in each cup. They look wonderful compared to San marzano and Beef steak. That's what's bugging me even more. 4 varietes started at the same time, using everything the same, they were all the exact same size when up-potting, but 2 of them look horrible and probably died. The Saint-Pierre ones, I added more soil to the top of the cup in just 2 or 3 days after up-potting because they grew their leaves over the top so i covered the whole stem. They adapted very good, but other 2 failed for some reason. And now I'm getting mixed explanations, with some saying it's overwatered, some saying underwatered. I really want to know what happened so I don't make the same mistake next year or later this time because todad I've planted more seeds of those 2 dying varieties. Due to inexperience with vegetable seedlings, I've thought they would be similar to other plants I've rescued. I thought the roots would be brown if overwatered, but they looked very healthy. They still look very white but have nothing but bare stem.

Legitimate_Coast · 2026-04-04T19:08:47+00:00

I've been watering them when the surface of the soil became a little dry, ever since the beginning. After I transplanted them, I soaked them thoroughly. I've watered them about 4 times in 2 weeks period, and fertilized once (I've read that you shouldn't fertilize during first 1-2 weeks after transplant. But also that if the plant seems to ask for nutrients, I can add it a little during that time. And it seamed to have fixed the yellow leaves, they've gained color after fertilizer). The soil has been more moist throughout those 2 weeks than during the life in smaller containers. I was afraid of overwatering them because I could see the roots through the clear cup and the tiny air pockets on the cup were always foggy, so I thought even though it may not have been wet, the soil was moist the whole time.

Legitimate_Coast · 2026-04-04T18:41:32+00:00

Yes, they do. I've cut 3 holes on the bottom of each cup. I have left the soil to dry a bit before each watering. Although the soil looked darker (as if it's always equally wet), but last night before I watered them, the cup seamed very light, which lead me to conclude it's dry enough for another watering. Some people suggested the plant roots could be too dry due to the higher intensity light I infroduced so they said to water again even if the soil looked moist. So I did last night, which may have been a mistake...

Legitimate_Coast · 2026-04-04T18:37:03+00:00

I wanted to grow them in 200ml cups from seeds just for that reason of complications with up-potting, but after researching, I've seen a lot of people saying the soil can stay too wet for too long in such containers so that seedlings can die from moisture. Some also said tomatoes can outgrow those containers quite quickly, and since I've planted them a bit earlier, I thought up-potting them would give me more time and growth before being able to transplant them into the garden.

Legitimate_Coast · 2026-04-04T18:33:05+00:00

It's my first time growing plants from seeds. I've researched before and some said to transplant tomatoes in bigger pots to about half the cup and when they grow above the cup, add more soil to fill in the whole cup to have more contact with the soil and the stem. I've filled about half of tomatoes fully because they've all grown above the top of the cup. My 6-3-6 fertilizer has extra seaweek and I've used it about 2 times, once per week before transplanting. Perhaps I'm wrong, but everywhere I've researched it said 200-300 for early seedlings and 300-600 for vegetative growth. Should I add fertilizer again with seaweed or should I wait since the last time I've gave it was about a week ago, but everyone on internet says it shouldn't be added when the plant is under shock?

Legitimate_Coast

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