These several days I've been preoccupied with the attempts to save the lives of my tomato seedlings! Since my last blogging I noticed that some of the cotyledon of my nearly-4-week tomato seedlings were turning yellowish. I was frantic but at the same time feeling perplexed. What had I done that was wrong?
After some assessment I was convinced that it's overwatering. I was inexperienced and had no idea of how much water is enough for my seedlings, so all I tried to do was keeping the vermiculite moist but I might have watered it too often that one time I noticed that the water in the container was brimming over since my container doesn't have holes at the bottom, so I had to pour the water excess out.
At the beginning, it was only started with one or two leaves turning yellow but then I noticed that more leaves were affected. The first thought that crossed my mind was they were going to die! And honestly that made me grief! My love has grown for them and that thinking had really made my heart sunk.
The other possible factor was because they grew too close to each other. I was a novice gardener, so I impulsively emptied the whole packet of seeds into one container! I had no idea that all of the seeds had decided to germinate altogether! So, crowding they were in that little container.
I'd been impatient to move them into bigger or perhaps individual containers but the instruction said I have to wait until at least they had reached 10 cm tall, but upon encountering this I had decided it was my only way and chance to give them an emergency CPR! So I rushed and mixed the soil with some compost and replanted them. I had also decided to place them out in the open space of my rooftop against the wall facing the west, and above it there's a small-rectangular iron-sheeting shade, so they won't be directly under the scorching tropical sun at noon. Well, honestly I wasn't thinking of how direct exposure to sunlight might affect them or whether it would stress the plants out. I simply hoped that with the new soil, access to sunlight and wise watering they would have a second chance to live.
I waited restlessly, and observed if they managed to survive. And though the yellowish cotyledon stayed the same, I began to see new life thriving! I started to see that new shoots were coming and branching out! Hallelujah!!
It's been four or five days, and they are growing healthier now, though size-wise I think they're pretty small or growing slowly, but I am very happy with their condition now. It's as if that they have managed to pass their critical moment and I am wishing that they will continue growing into big and healthy tomato plants that will bear multiple fruit in the near future! Amen to that! Ha...
Meanwhile, my Basil seedlings continues growing healthily.
