I had the grow light too far away from the seedlings. The result was tiny four inch stocks with four leaves. Is there any remedy? Will the stocks root like tomatoes?
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Hi Kenneth!
Do you have any pictures? That would be helpful.
Welcome to Homegrown, too!
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Hi Kimberly and thanks for your help. They were falling over the cups so badly I added two inches of soil to prop them up. Most are still leaning under the weight of the newly formed leaves.
!
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Did you get the pics
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Definitely increase the light or decrease the distance to light. Give them time and dont water to close to the stem when watering. You may be able to sit them in a dish of water and water from below. You still may end up having to steak them.
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Also when you feed dont over do it, go real slow like 2-2-2. Adding soil was the right move, they are still young enough they should recover fine. If your gonna transplant again go deeper or add more soil.
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Thank you so much for the advice and encouragement.
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I see them now. I’m going to go with what Rye said, which seems safest.
Only because my ego wants to take a shot: If this were me, I’d move them to 1 gallon pots, following Rye’s direction. You can turn them upside down, gently holding the seedling between your fingers to keep some soil before transplanting. I think it’s the last quarter of the moon, so you should be good. If the soil is water logged, let them sit to spread out and dry out a bit. Did you forget about them?
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No, I didn’t forget about them. I didn’t think they needed to be so close to the lights. Learned my lesson.
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I’m sure they will recover just fine. You aren’t going to give up, right?
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Not at this point, unless there’s no hope.
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I should think they would be alright, maybe take a little longer? Look at me, I have an auto I have no idea what to do with. 
For reference, it took me two years to learn how to make white gravy.
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This is a light deficiency. Put these in direct sunshine in a cardboard box to shelter from the wind. Be very careful about (like don’t do it!) adding nutrients to correct this. A little stake will help support, just be careful not to strangle the little seedling by tying it on. I would look for a twig or branch with a fork to hold up the seedling.
They will make it! Good luck.
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I would NOT put anywhere near the sun, but that is just my opinion. When I have stretch issues like this, I use a dry mulch on top of the soil to support the leggy stems. I usually just crush tree leaves, pretty fine but not powder, and place the plant in a deeper container / cup where the mulch supports the stem. I would use grow light, closer to the tops, to get them to firm up. If you are going into the sun with them, they must be hardened first. I usually transfer at night
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You can rebury them so the leaf sets are only a half inch above the dirt. The stock will reroot and it will give you a better plant and a heavier stock in the long run Just do it gently. All the newly buried stem will Sprout roots and help the plant immensely. Oh yeah and also lower your lights to 20" above plants
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I’m with @dmtscravey on this one. I start seeds in paper towels, then transplant to cups as you did. If I get too much vertical growth, I bury them deeper when transplanting to the final grow pot. Seems to work well - haven’t lost a plant yet in about 3 years of growing.
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You can help them stand up by using some of the rubber green gardening wire and the should be fine. Also Move the closer if possible
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I’ve found that the closer the light, the “less leggy” they become. Seedlings seem to adapt quickly and well when it comes to legginess. Personally I try to “bury” as much of the stem as possible, keeping the first leaves above ground.
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There’s leggy, and there’s tippy. Low light after sprout, and you will get leggy. You can prop them up with a stick, bury it deeper. Tippy happens when it’s leggy, but can also happen if there’s no breeze. The wind, either from the actual wind, or a fan jiggles the sprout which encourages it to grow stiffer. You can also shake it a couple times a day, but a fan is easier. If you have to stake it, you can still hit it with a breeze to help it sturdy up. What you don’t want is for the stem to kink in seedling or it will crush the water vessels and it will die. A mature plant can survive a stem kink, but a seedling can’t.
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! 11 Weeks 
