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East Sussex, UK

Would anyone care to hazard a guess at why my 1215 Young kicked the bucket once it had germinated and started to emerge from the soil? See the most recent post in my diary.

4/30/2021 8:56:35 AM

Syracuse, NY

I'll have nothing to say but 'Sorry' but how did the roots look? I am almost defaulting to literally SOAKING (two glasses with H2O2 3% between, 4-6 hours, for the best submergence) all other growers' seeds as they are few and precious and to see fizzing and bubbles confirms to ME that they needed it; I may revise this comment if it becomes false. Else, something simply 'got' your seedling's root(s) that was unexpected. The pic is of the 7XX-something, but, I gotcha---eg

4/30/2021 9:36:09 PM

East Sussex, UK

Somehow my post was not published. Now the photo is there. There were no roots.

5/1/2021 2:40:32 AM

Bethlehem CT

This has happened to me before. In my case I believe it was due to too much moisture in combination with other cultural factors. Like too high temperature or too low temperature etc. I often start my seeds in a mist propagation bed that I know isn't sterile and often it is a bit on the wet side. This year I had a few seeds rot on me, others damped off soon after transplanting. Too me that shows that the soil starting mix had disease in it. (I also had the soil moisture too high and the temperature was too cool.) Some of the plants that did sprout died from damping off right after transplanting.
I believe the transplanting process damaged the roots and stressed the plant just enough to allow the disease to start. Others of them rotted after sprouting just like in your case. You could consider changing your starting mix or try to help out your current mix with a product like root shield.
On a positive note it looks like you got most of your other seeds to sprout and grow, that shows you are doing most everything right. It's hard to be perfect and that seems especially true in gardening.

5/1/2021 7:44:24 AM

South Dakota

damping off will cause that to happen. Too much moisture and the fungi grow around the collar of the plant and it just rots off at ground level.

5/1/2021 8:36:45 AM

Colorado

I had one do exactly like that this year in a batch of 10.The other nine were fine.As mentioned it can be the seed, the soil of your incubator.I was having a lot of rotting issues three years ago and solved the problem by bleaching the surfaces of my incubator.

5/1/2021 10:16:42 AM

Colorado

" or" your incubator

5/1/2021 10:17:54 AM

Upa Creek, Mo

I'm with Big Moon. If you do 1000 trial and errors, you'll see the ones that rot have too damp of soil. It is so easy to do in the germination stage, I almost keep the medium at a minimum and let it take an extra day or two to avoid rot.

Certain seeds seem to be more vulnerable. Coincidentally, I went through this a week ago with a few field pumpkins sent to me by Big Moon. All 5 other sets of seeds germinated without a problem, but his 97 FP kept rotting. I cut back on moisture and was able to get a few to germinate.

5/1/2021 10:33:21 AM

Grittyville, WA

If it wasnt overwatering or rot/dampening then it looks like it may have been a poorly developed seed to start with. The cots... I can see one is shorter than the other.

5/1/2021 1:30:27 PM

Western PA

Fertilizer in your seed starting mixture can do that. Don't ask me how I know, lol.

5/1/2021 5:18:11 PM

East Sussex, UK

Thanks guys for the feedback.

5/3/2021 4:21:41 AM

Bethlehem CT

Luke, I am impressed, that is a tough one to germinate.(plus now it is about 8 years old) It is weird because the seeds look filled out enough but the germination has still always been piss poor.

5/3/2021 7:14:40 AM

Upa Creek, Mo

You sent me at least 25 and I’d say I have 5 solid ones, and 3 that the seedlings are looking pretty rough. Curious to see what it grows since it was 81 Wolf x open. I still have more for back up too.

5/3/2021 9:01:40 AM

Bethlehem CT

You have motivated me to give it a shot. I will see if I can get some to grow. I never found out what that seed would produce. The 81 Wolf seed was a standout field pumpkin seed.

5/4/2021 8:43:55 AM