Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Your seedlings have spent between a few days in a box, without exposure to UV light, so expect them to arrive a little yellow in color. This is especially true of the "seed" leaves. These are the first leaves that sprout when the seed germinates. A yellow or brown leaf or two can be expected too. To avoid excessive algae our seedlings are not watered with mineral water every day. If your seedlings are completely brown or wilted, please contact us within 48 hours of receipt as this is not normal. We will happily replace, refund or offer a credit for these seedlings (subject to the number of seedlings affected). Please see our terms and conditions for full details.

Seed leaves are the first leaves to appear when a seed germinates. They are usually a different shape, and are generally smooth and simpler in structure than the ‘True’ leaves. The second set of leaves to appear are the ‘True’ leaves, and these look like miniature versions of the leaves on the full size plant. Once the true leaves appear, the seed leaves turn yellow, brown, dry up and fall off. This can alarm newer growers but it's nothing to be alarmed by. It's a normal part of the leaf life.

We include one plant tag per variety with your seedlings.  We do our best to secure them but they can sometimes move around in transit.  If you have any troubles recognizing plants please take a picture of the seedlings and sentthem along with your order number to sales@livingtowers.com and we will identify them for you!

With the exception of lettuce, you can hold your seedlings for weeks without planting them in your Tower Garden/garden. Lettuce gets tougher and bitter as it gets older and this will happen whether it is in the Tower Garden/garden or not. Providing your seedlings are exposed to UV light (minimum of 5 hours) put them in a shallow tray with a 1/4 to 1/2 inch of clean water each morning, use pH balanced nutrient water once a week,they will be fine for weeks (lettuce no more than a week).

No no no! This is a common mistake. Seedlings may be small but they are actually much more resilient than we give them credit for.  All plants require UV light and without it they will grow long and stretch in search of UV light. Once a plants starts to do this there is no turning the clock back.

If it is still very cold put the plants outside in a sunny location during the day and bring them back inside in the evening. If it is very hot, place them outside in a location where they will get about 5 hours of morning sun.  If you are unable to bring them in (many of us have those things called jobs) then ensure you put them in a shallow tray with a 1/4 to 1/2 inch of clean water each morning.

More than likely, no.  Most modern windows in homes have UV filters on them.  These filters filter out the UV light that the plants need.  Your plants will stretch in search of UV light and there is no reversing this once it happens.  There are still some windows out there, and those found in specially designed sunrooms, that do not have UV filters on them and it is ok to put your seedlings by these windows.

Click here to read detailed instructions on how to care for your seedlings after they arrive.

You may use tap water but you MUST filter city water and never use water softened with sodium.  The city water at our farm is heavily chlorinated so we filter the water we use to grow seedlings.  Our seedlings have never been exposed to chlorine/chloramine, so while you may not have filtered city water in the past it is important to do so when growing our seedlings.  Chlorine by itself is generally not a problem.  However, when you add in the stress of shipping, high temperatures, high winds, transplanting etc these stressors compound and can have a detrimental effect on seedlings.

Municipalities add either chlorine or chloramine to disinfect the water.  Many of you are familiar with chlorine as it is the chemical most commonly used to disinfect and kill bacteria in swimming pools.  As you may know, chlorine has to be added often as it dissipates and levels drop. It takes about 24-48 hours for chlorine to dissipate from a bucket of water in full sun.  If your city adds chlorine to their water and you used this to fill your tower garden, the chlorine would have dissipated in approximately 24-48 hours. Many municipalities now use chloramine to disinfect their water.  Chloramine is a mixture of chlorine and ammonia and it doesn't dissipate very quickly at all. This means the city doesn't have to add it as often to keep the levels high enough to kill bacteria.  You can find out if your city adds chlorine or chloramine by calling them or reading their water reports which can usually be found on their website. If your city adds chlorine we recommend using an inexpensive filter likethisto remove chlorine. If your city adds chloramine thenthisfilter will remove chloramine.

No and yes. All of the seedlings we sell require UV light which they will normally absorb from the sun's ray. Most windows have UV filters on them which filter out the sun's UV rays. If you are going to grow the Tower Garden inside you will need to use supplemental lighting. An LED light kit will allow you to grow leafy greens and herbs. When plants flower and produce fruit (like tomatoes, strawberries, beans, peppers, eggplant, squash etc) they require a different color light that the LED lights do not provide. These sodium or metal halide lights are more expensive, heat up considerably more and use much more electricity than LED lights.

Algae is a naturally occurring organism. When the nutrients in the Tower Tonic and sunlight meet, algae is the result.  To reduce algae growth on the rockwool cubes our seedlings are watered once a week with nutrient water. However algae can and will still still grow, especially on those seedlings that take longer to reach a shippable size. Algae does not mean the seedling is unhealthy, contaminated and need to be disposed of.

No, there is no need to remove the rubber band from around the strawberries