Seedlings and 'true leaves'

I've planted some Rudbekia 'Cherry Brandy' and Antirrinhums in 2 seed trays in my house.   They have both germinated and I have placed them on a table by a window.

They are now getting a bit 'leggy' and, although they've been there about 3 weeks,  they have yet to grow their 'true leaves'.

Can anybody tell me when they should appear ?  or have I made a grievous error !

Thanks    Chris

It is the poor light-the only error is possibly starting too early-when you come to prick them out bury the stems deeper than normal-as to when the true leaves will appear-that is a waiting game-but they will

I also have a problem with leggy seedlings and have also read recently to re-pot deep than normal - good luck. 

Weather is set to be so foul this weekend I was hoping to get into the garden!  however, will satisfy myself with sowing some cerinthe, leeks and early lettuces into modules and repotting some small geraniums taken from cuttings last year.

Mine were leggy so though small I planted them deep and on the whole the true leaves have come through. I have now got them in the GH inside a plastic GH cloche on tray sto keep them off the ground and covered in fleece. Sounds complicated but seems to be working - touch wood.

 Sorry not very clear, I also have window sills covered in seed trays, most of which I pricked out when they became leggy.

Thanks all,  sounds like thats the thing to do.

Will start tomorrow !

i ve grown some delphinums on the window sill, and echineas at first the seed leaves appeared, but it seems for ages waiting for the true leaves, phoned father inlaw who sowed the same , he is a amazing gardener, he said his are the same, but wait. Iam very impatient which doesnt go well with gardening, but i waited and now with a few warm days everything seems to be going well and looking healthy.

Have just been browsing my seedlings with my electron microscope and have spotted the beginning of the true leaves !

Yippeee !!!!

Will keep the faith for another few days before I prick them out ... who knows more may appear !

Love the fact your using your microscope, they will all appear soon.

this year,when my seedlings get leggy without their true leaves, I have potted them on before the true leaves fully opened, as last year they got very leggy and snapped before the true leaves appeared. This new tactic has been more successful with my marigolds and cosmos growing well! 

Well,  I have a disaster on my hands ,   my 'leggy' antirrinhums have collapsed.  I conducted a forensic examination on some of them and found that the root development on them was not very good ie.  About a qusrter of an inch of root and 1 inch of stalk.

I did not use seed compost ... could this be the problem ?

It depends what you did use! I sow several hundred seeds every year and have never bothered with "seed compost". I always use multi-purpose compost and just make sure there aren't any lumps.

I stumbled across this, it's a video by Alys Fowler on how to make a light reflecting box for seedlings grown in poor light levels. Watch out for the teabag tip, I'll be using that for sure.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardenersworld/video/alys_thrifty/lightbox.shtml

Was the soil too wet? That's usually the major factor when seedlings collaspe. My first sowings of snapdragons failed completely in Jan due to having no heat and damp soil.

I think the compost was too dry if anything !

Compost was last years

Will try and build the lightbox to help.

Thanks