So I have a little seedling less than a week old. One day I wake up and find the temps at 104 cuz of some technical malfunctions. I got a thermostat and have since gotten the temps steady at around 84 and the humidity to 31%. My problem is that my seedling was found one morning almost completely wilted. 2 of the 4 leaves are yellow and withered and halfway down the stem it is about the size of a needle. It cannot stand up on its own and so I had to build up 2 inches of soil almost completely up to the leaves just so it can stand straight up. I have since given it extra watering. My guess is that it got way too hot and the humidity was low and it didn't have enough water. The only thing that gives me hope is that the fan leaves have still been growing and I can see a new seat of leaves just poking out so I still know the plant's still alive if barely at all. While it was extremely hot I noticed the fan leaves were canoeing upwards to try and get less heat. I need advice on how to treat her from now or or if she will even make it at all. Any info/thoughts would be extremely appreciated.
Don't pile dirt up as it could cause stem rot. You could prop it up with a piece of wire. Should pull through. They are tough. Water same as others
Well I would try propping it up, but about half an inch down from the fan leaves the stem becomes thin as a needle. I just see no way of propping it up without snapping the plant Edit: I was able to use a pipe cleaner and prop it up. Below you can see the exposed part of the stem that is thinner than a needle.
stem rot? not likely (stem rot is actually a mold) It will just grow roots from the now covered stem. I do this every time I plant from seed, never experienced stem rot, I will post some pics when I get home of what will really happen.
Would you recommend I keep it propped up or put it back under the soil? I don't have that root growing chemical so I don't want to just let it snap so easily, but what should I do and what should I expect within the next few weeks and eventually later on? Will I be able to LST it still? This is in a pc case so I need to be able to LST it within the next week or 2, is that out of the question?
I would prop it up with dirt. everything under the first set of round leaves will root. (any of the buried stalk will do so also) no rooting compound needed. will you still be able to LTS? Absolutely. What to expect in the coming weeks? every thing that you buried will start to grow roots (about two weeks) and your plant will become a bit more sturdy. you will notice that the stalk above the round leaves will fatten up a bit. I will post pictures in about 6 hrs if you are willing to wait it will be way more detailed and you will better understand what I am talking about.
Do what Mixed recommended. Bury it with soil to prop it up, just the leaves and short stalk sticking up. keep moist. under NO circumstances let her dry out or you are doomed. start another seed as back up. it looks pretty sad! If it lives, LST will be no problem. They are a tuff plant. I snapped the entire top off of a seedling once. I just watered it and it sprouted new leaves and grew fine.
K here you go. so this plant is from seed, when I plant my seeds I leave a bit of room I can actually build up dirt around the little stem in the event it gets lanky as yours did. Everything circled in red at one point was under the dirt, hidden from the light. it caused all the little white nubs to form, if I had kept up with adding dirt around as it grew I could have kept going up to the green arrow where the original round leaves were. They would have just turned to roots like pictured in the red oval. Once my stalk was strong enough to support its self I stopped adding dirt to prop it up. don't worry about stem rot, I do this every time I I have a week stem. Just keep the conditions good and it should pull through. Sorry it took so long, stupid job makign me work.