zucchini trouble

these plants are 3 weeks old, about an inch in height, I planted them in a 72 cell tray. I have had good germination but some of the leaves are what apears to be wilting. They dont appear as though they are dying they look healthy. Is it because I am watering too much or less or do i need to transplant these already? please I need your help, first timer with zucchini. thanks

Have never tried zucchini that far ahead of planting time and I will not plant until after the first of April. Most plants of this type need lots of root room when the first true leaves appear. I rarely start and transplant as direct seed plantings do better, but when I have tried, I tranplant when the plant is fully emerged but not developing true leaves. Since You are way ahead of your season, you might try a couple in containers.

weasel...3 weeks old and an inch high? They should be much bigger than that in 3 weeks. Perhaps they've not had enough light/heat for proper growth?

Also...are you including their "age" from the time you sowed the seed? If so, and if they took their merry ol' time germinating, the leave you see "wilting" might be the cotyledons, which would be normal. (Are those leaves rounded on the edges or somewhat serrated?)

I've easily started plants of this nature in cell packs but tend to set them out at around 3 weeks of age. Starting them in 72 cell-size (which is pretty small for zukes) perhaps they haven't developed the root system they need for their age. (Pull one out and see what the roots look like.)

Wow 72 Zucchini Plants? You will have truckloads of Zucchini... it may be better for everyone if some of those die off ;-} You usually only starte zuchinni 6 weeks ahead of planting but in your zone that could be now... Here we had a little snow this morning. I actually learned to start 4 plants every 2 weeks just in case the bugs win one round last year but 4 or 5 summer squash plants are all I can use.

Drew

The cells in a 72-cell tray are way too small for squash. They were probably in serious trouble a day after they came up and needing to be transpanted into something with much more root volume. I start my zucchinis in 1-liter pots, one plant per pot, about 4 weeks before setting them out. I make the one-liter pots from the bottom halves of 2-liter soft drink bottles.

The zucchini plants also need a lot of light and nutrition. I grow them on 24" x 48" wire shelves with four 2-bulb overdriven fluorescent shoplights over each shelf, and feed them with one-half strength urea-free soluble fertilizer. The over-driven fluorescent fixtures put out 50% more light than regular, for the equivalent of 12 T8 bulbs per shelf. Four standard 11" x 22" trays fit per shelf and I fit 10 of the Coke bottle pots in a tray, so I get 40 plants per shelf.

MM