What happened to these poor seedlings?

[Blusy]

Can anyone advise what has happened to these poor seedlings? They've keeled over and really don't look very happy- as a newbie seed sower I've no idea why. Thanks so much wise MNers!

Have they got too hot and/or dried out?
If they’re in a greenhouse it’s good to keep the doors open in the day.

Too hot, too cold, damping off due to being too wet, too dry. Could be anything.

They did look quite leggy though so maybe not enough sun so they grew tall and couldn't sustain.

What are they and where are you germinating them?

They're in a propagator on my kitchen table by the window, I actually turned the propagator off once I saw some signs of life as the spot they're in as fairly warm and sunny. I've been misting them with water every night as the soil does seem to dry out fairly quickly. They just seem to have given up!

What are they?

Don't worry, growing from seed is often much harder than it looks and most of us learned the hard way.

What were they? It makes a lot of difference to how you treat them.

They look as if they were pretty spindly, and are they in deep root trainers?

Misting is pretty pointless - I know you see it a lot on YouTube but as far as I can see all it does is encourage damping off (fungal disease that kills seedlings) without getting water anywhere it's needed ie the roots. I mostly water seedlings from the bottom (ie stand in a tray of water).

Once they're up I tend to take off the top so they can get maximum light but keep the bottom heat so they stay at an even temperature.

Also I suspect your compost is a bit lumpy for seeds.

Thank you so much for all your replies, they're foxgloves, growing in root trainers. The propagator is sitting on my kitchen table, next to the window.
That's good to know about the misting- right I'll knock that one on the head! I have been watering from the bottom as well, as they seem to be drying out fairly quickly. And the lumpy compost too- I didn't even think about that!

You may know this already but foxgloves are VERY poisonous. If you have young children don’t plant them out somewhere they can touch them.

OK, so foxgloves are hardy, they don’t really need heat to get started, and at seedling stage they don’t really benefit from root trainers as their early roots aren’t deep. they are also tiny seeds so they don’t want much covering them, and they will like a fairly fine compost to start with. And to add to all that, they start best from fresh seed in mid/later summer in my experience. But don’t let that worry you!

Start again. Sieve your compost if you can/if it’s not seed compost (not a kitchen sieve, you can get garden sieves but if you don’t have one don’t worry. I would start them off in a tray, sprinkle them on and then barely cover them - just a very fine sprinkle of compost on top. Firm it down (flat of your hand will do), stand it in a tray of water to make sure it’s nice and damp, then take it out and put them somewhere to germinate. You can put them in the propagator if you want but I’d be saving that for the tomatoes you’re going to grow next . When they germinate take off any lids, make sure they get maximum light, and carry on watering them from underneath when they need it. They do not want to be sodden, just mildly damp and not dried out.

When they are looking nice and sturdy and have a second set of leaves come back here and ask us how to pick them out into bigger pots to grow on.

If you have spare seeds I’d also just sprinkle some out in the garden where you want them to grow and see how they do.

@LadyGardenersQuestionTime thank you so much for taking the time to give such a detailed reply- right, back to the garden centre to get some fresh seeds and attempt a round 2!

For foxgloves, before you buy any seeds, they are biennial so won't flower til next year anyway.

Best thing to do with foxgloves, is either buy a plant and let it seed if you want it, or just wait til you see one later in the season that is going to seed, ask for a few seed pods and sprinkle them where you want them.

They’re a bit leggy but you might be able to save them. I’d hold them vertical and very carefully top up the compost to just below the leaves, water from below, then put them somewhere good and bright. It might help, might not, but all you’ve lost is a bit of compost. I’ve done it a few times and it generally works (I occasionally get impatient and sow too early with reedy light and get leggy seedlings).