JBP seedlings always dying, what can I do to prevent?

[Delight]

I’ve bought 2 kits from Bunnings so far of JBP seedlings, both of them have taken and sprouted, they start our strong but sooner or later they die, first batch would have been earlier this year in about winter, the second one and most recent was in about mid/late autumn, it was going well but they eventually starting dying off, I potted the last remaining one a few days ago and now it has died too.

I’m not the best with seedlings as I don’t have the time to move them during the day and make sure they aren’t getting too hot etc. so I am thinking of just buying one that is already established, I’m just a bit worried because the only nursery near me that has them has very big ones that are quite expensive.

It is worth it to me if it will stay alive but I am a little hesitant, has anyone had experience with them in QLD? How are they with the heat and how hands on do you need to be? I’ve not had an issue with any of my other trees just JBPs, but if it’s gonna be more trouble than it’s worth I will opt for something else.

 

[Firstflush]

What is happening to them? Did you evaluate for damping off?

 

[Delight]

I

What is happening to them? Did you evaluate for damping off?

I believe they are just drying out in the sun maybe? They just turn brown and shrivel, they were in seedlings trays before and admittedly I didn’t water then everyday. After I potted this one however I have made sure to water every day and still it has died so I’m not entirely sure to tell you the truth.

 

[Firstflush]

You are just coming into mid spring there right, so my first guess would not being fried by the sun. Letting them completely dry out even without heavy sun may still be detrimental.
They are just going brown and dying in a day or so? No slow wilting with yellowing?

 

[Potawatomi13]

Get tree other than JBP.

 

[Delight]

You are just coming into mid spring there right, so my first guess would not being fried by the sun. Letting them completely dry out even without heavy sun may still be detrimental.
They are just going brown and dying in a day or so? No slow wilting with yellowing?

Basically yeah, like maybe one or two little shoots will die and turn brown and then it will hold on for a bit and then the next day all brown

 

[Delight]

Get tree other than JBP.

Definitely seems like the best idea at this point

 

[Wulfskaar]

I grew some last year and this year... I was terrified of "damping off" so I wasn't watering enough. Early on, they need some water. I was also not keeping them in direct sun.

After moving to direct sun and watering, they sprang back to life.

Some of them, however, have since died in a similar manner as yours. I felt that they got dried out when we had very warm, dry winds + scorching sunlight over several days.

 

[sorce]

Sounds like bad timing so I wouldn't give up!

Welcome to Crazy!

But I probably wouldn't invest in any more "kits", you can probably get a thousand seeds for the price of a kit.

Sorce

 

[Shibui]

you can probably get a thousand seeds for the price of a kit.

Not here in Australia. All pine products, including seed, are banned imports unless there is a phytosanitary certificate so JBP seed is really hard to get now.

There is not really enough info here to do a proper diagnosis. Photos would help a lot so we can see what is actually going on. Experienced growers will often pick up some clues that the inexperienced grower has not even noticed and photos can help remove some of the ambiguity form the words used to describe.

Down here I have no problem growing JBP seedlings. I pricked out the first 30 from a seed tray with around 100 seedlings and all are still going well.
My gut feeling is your seedlings probably died form dehydration. Everyone is so worried about over watering that they go too far the other way. Trees die far quicker from not enough water than too much.

Happy to try to help with the current issues if you can give more info. I also still have some small JBP seedlings from last year and a few a year or 2 older. I regularly post trees to Brisbane and sometimes even further.