WHY can't I keep these alive?? WHAT am I doing wrong??

r.a.i.n.b.o.w

Purple Sprouting Broccoli (early and summer)
Cabbage (Savoy)
Cauliflower (mini and cheddar)
Osteospermum Ecklonis

All the above have failed to thrive, from ALL sowings. Been trying since March and it's really annoying! I sow them all in modules, indoors. I've tried leaving them in the modules, transplanting them to bigger pots etc, but they won't stay alive...

The seedlings come through, look healthy, have 2 baby leaves. Just as they start to develop a set of true leaves, the plant just withers and dies!

What the heck am I doing wrong? All my toms, carrots, parsnips, spring onions, babycorn, beetroot, beans, peas etc are happy and growing, I just can't get these four to keep going!

Sambucus_Nigra

Too wet and warm probably.

Try sowing outside, in a cold greenhouse or a coldframe. Sow in a tray with enough space so that you don't have to !!!!! out. Then, once they have 4 real leaves [so 6 leaves including the seed leaves, put into their final positions, firm in, water, add your usual slug protection, cover with a fine netting and they should be fine.

r.a.i.n.b.o.w

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

Too wet and warm probably.

Try sowing outside, in a cold greenhouse or a coldframe. Sow in a tray with enough space so that you don't have to !!!!! out. Then, once they have 4 real leaves [so 6 leaves including the seed leaves, put into their final positions, firm in, water, add your usual slug protection, cover with a fine netting and they should be fine.

Thanks for that. I'll have a try!

Would it help to refridgerate the seeds overnight before sowing?

Sambucus_Nigra

Not really.....Just make sure to keep the compost on the dry side of damp rather than the wet side! You have germinated them fine, so it's not the seeds.

[Deleted User]

mine are thriving at all sowings and I sow a succession of cabbages etc every week. This is what I do:

damp compost mixed with a little vermiculite in a plant pot, sprinkle a few seeds on top of soil, sprinkle some vertmiculite on top then give a light spray to damp the vermiculite. Either just leave ouside or (easier) pop into a poly bag and leave in the shade or inside away from a warm window

When germinated then put outside in the shade. Plick out sooner rather than later and always water by standing in some water for a couple of minutes. If it is very hot and they wilt then make sure they are in shade and spray with a water mist

valk_scot

I sow my brassicas in a seed bed outside, round about now. (I'm in central Scotland.) I make sure they're thinned out properly but otherwise they need very little care till they get transplanted out into their final growing spot at the end of May. It's far easier than sowing them in modules/pots and there's no hardening off required.

Primrose

Quite possibly it's a case of "damping off" which causes a fungus around the roots when the compost is kept too wet. Also, bringing them on too quickly in too high a temperature is also the cause of problems as the plant grows too quickly and becomes weak, when it's more liable to surcumb to fungal infections.

Lotus-eater

valk_scot wrote: »

I sow my brassicas in a seed bed outside, round about now. (I'm in central Scotland.) I make sure they're thinned out properly but otherwise they need very little care till they get transplanted out into their final growing spot at the end of May. It's far easier than sowing them in modules/pots and there's no hardening off required.

It is, but only if the slugs let them get to that stage

I'm having some problems this year tbh with my PSB, a couple are just falling over, like they need to be earthed up, they are healthy enough, just don't seem to have strong enough stalks for some reason.
One day fine, next day falling over.

valk_scot

Lotus-eater wrote: »

It is, but only if the slugs let them get to that stage

Never been a problem tbh, not in 14 years of allotmenting. I must just be lucky but I never have much slug damage.

r.a.i.n.b.o.w

Nope, they're going again. This time the seed leaves have gone yellow, curled and died, and the first true leaves are going the same way. Different death, same end.

Lotus-eater

Tell us exactly what you are doing.