Some of my seedlings also turn their bottom leaves yellow and then drop them. I suspected the soil may be too sour in pH as I mixed quite a bit of sphagnum moss because I was recycling some soil. But this is just a guess. I don't think it's too much or too little water. It might be lack of fertilizer as the soil is sterile and I added only a little fertilizer.
-
Do you need help identifying a 🌶?
Is your plant suffering from an unknown issue? 🤧
Then ask in Identification and Diagnosis.
seeds My seedling keep losing leaves!
- Thread starter Flakes
- Start date
AlabamaJack
eXtreme
I saw the question asked but did not read an answer...if it has been answered, sorry..
but...when you say the first set of leaves...the first ones on the stem?...the cotyledons?...the first leaves appear are "false leaves"...the cotyledons...they contain the food supply for the plant to get it started growing...the next set of leaves that appear will be the first "true" set of leaves...it is normal for the cotyledons to yellow and fall off after they have done their job of getting the plant started...
I trim them off anyway when the plants get established anyway...
If you are expecting the chinense varieties to grow fast...patience is a virtue...they grow slowly...very slowly as compared to the annuums...so be patient my friend and they will kick it in...
there are mixed thoughts when it comes to feeding...but...mine get a steady diet of Botanicare ProGro and Liquid Karma from the time the hooks pop...everytime they get water, they get food...this works well for me...don't know about others...
but...when you say the first set of leaves...the first ones on the stem?...the cotyledons?...the first leaves appear are "false leaves"...the cotyledons...they contain the food supply for the plant to get it started growing...the next set of leaves that appear will be the first "true" set of leaves...it is normal for the cotyledons to yellow and fall off after they have done their job of getting the plant started...
I trim them off anyway when the plants get established anyway...
If you are expecting the chinense varieties to grow fast...patience is a virtue...they grow slowly...very slowly as compared to the annuums...so be patient my friend and they will kick it in...
there are mixed thoughts when it comes to feeding...but...mine get a steady diet of Botanicare ProGro and Liquid Karma from the time the hooks pop...everytime they get water, they get food...this works well for me...don't know about others...
No, it's the true leaves (asked and answered a couple of posts ago, btw
). I don't mind them growing slowly, it's just that they seem to be having trouble overall - they don't look very heathy. Which is 100% down to my lack of experience, I'm sure, but I'm getting there. They start off very nicely usually up to the second set of true leaves and then the leaves start turning yellow and falling off and they just stagnate. But a couple of aspirins, some very diluted peroxide and a spray of epsom and things seem to be improving. I'll have to wait a week or so to see if I'm just being overly optimistic, but so far so good.
I really have to get some annums to see how they do. Any recommendations? I like them hot, but maybe I'll just get the Jalapenos because of their celebrity status.
Yeah, I was being a bit too optimistic, they're still falling off... I just don't know what else to check, maybe ph of the soil?
It's the strangest thing, it's always one leaf - the one that's the lowest, it just goes all yellow and falls off while the other leaves remain unaffected - until it's their turn at the bottom.
So I've now basically got pretty sturdy looking stems full of "scars" left behind by the dead leaves and a couple of healthy green leaves at the top. What the hell?! 
I mean, this is just getting sad.
It's the strangest thing, it's always one leaf - the one that's the lowest, it just goes all yellow and falls off while the other leaves remain unaffected - until it's their turn at the bottom.
So I've now basically got pretty sturdy looking stems full of "scars" left behind by the dead leaves and a couple of healthy green leaves at the top. What the hell?! I mean, this is just getting sad.
Yes!
Ok, (un)fortunately I don't have one with a yellow leaf right now as the latest one fell off while I was moving the pot to take the picture, but a yellow leaf is a yellow leaf, right? So:
You can see the "scars" left by the leaves that have already fallen off. Now, this might not look all that troubling, but eventually the rate at which leaves die off exceeds the rate at which new leaves grow and I'm left with just the stem (or a stem with single leaf).
EDIT: and you can see that the "oldest" leaf (on the left of the picture) is going to be next to go as it is already a bit more yellow than the rest. The leaf that is near death eventually gets completely yellow (uniformly, no spots or anything like that), right down to the little "stem" that connects it to the main stem. And then it dies. And I cry. Almost.
This was happening to me but I assumed it was a lack or nutrients. I transplanted into some fert rich organic soil and held back on the water as much as possible. Now things are green and sticking well. My plants did the same thing though, you can still see stem scars under the new foliage. Also check for fungus or mold, because my crappy potting soil was growing fuzzy white balls that seemed to kill growth as well.
I've been through a couple of different soils and it makes no difference. Plus, if I'm not mistaken, I'd be able to spot if the leaves showed signs of fertilizer burn - the appearance of "burnt" edges?
No mold/rot as far as I can tell. Hmmm, you think it could be lack of nutrients? It's just that the soil is new and it should have enough fertilizers in it to last for the first month or so... After reading so much about how you should really cut back on fertilizing chilies in the beginning, I would feel really silly if that was the problem. I have tried adding a bit of tomato fert to the water (plus I added magnesium sulfate in case it was magnesium deficiency) without much success.
Maybe it is the ph of the soil - I've read that if it's too low/high it can stop the nutrients from getting to the plant, even though they're present in the soil in sufficient quantities. I'll have o look for one of those test kits, I guess. I'd like to solve this problem pronto, because I've got about 50 seeds in baggies which should begin germinating in about a week - and I don't want to have 50 dead chilies on my conscience.
BTW, what kind of soil are you using? Right now I'm using this one (click) after my failed attempt to grow chilies in potting soil from my local gardening shop.
Well, that soil you linked sure looks top of the line. However, some folks here have posted that certain organic blends were just too 'hot' for the initial seedlings. I definitely would not be adding any additional fert to your blend.
Perhaps you could call that shop in Amsterdam and see what they recommend. Maybe you could add more perlite and some small pine/fir shaving just to cut down the potency.
I'm new at seed starting also, wish I could be of more help. Hopefully someone else will spot that photo and give you another idea.
FWIW, I'm growing my starts in a medium that has almost no nutrients. Mostly pine shaving mix and peat, with perlite/lava rocks. Very little nutrients in there at all, except for a really tiny amount of time release fert. After a month, I've slowly started bottom watering/feeding with about 1/4 strength compost tea and some fish emulsion. Very weak solutions. (As are my answers!)
Perhaps you could call that shop in Amsterdam and see what they recommend. Maybe you could add more perlite and some small pine/fir shaving just to cut down the potency.
I'm new at seed starting also, wish I could be of more help. Hopefully someone else will spot that photo and give you another idea.
FWIW, I'm growing my starts in a medium that has almost no nutrients. Mostly pine shaving mix and peat, with perlite/lava rocks. Very little nutrients in there at all, except for a really tiny amount of time release fert. After a month, I've slowly started bottom watering/feeding with about 1/4 strength compost tea and some fish emulsion. Very weak solutions. (As are my answers!)
Yeah, I know this one is a bit hot, but it's just the latest experiment in my ever growing collection of soil mixes
Hmmm, maybe I should just try what you're doing. Is yours pre-mixed or did you mix it yourself? If so, could you expand on the recipe a bit?
Hmmm, I will try that on a portiion of the seedlings, just to see if there's a noticable difference. However, the water quality where I live is pretty good, so I have my doubts about this being the problem.
It's worth a try and it's cheap. Do you have a water softener that would add salt to the water or anything like that?
No, no, nothing like that. And the other plants seem to be fine with it.
Yeah, I know this one is a bit hot, but it's just the latest experiment in my ever growing collection of soil mixes
Hmmm, maybe I should just try what you're doing. Is yours pre-mixed or did you mix it yourself? If so, could you expand on the recipe a bit?
Warning long post, read at your own risk!
Well, if you've tried "several" instead of a "couple" then I'm with Muskymojo that you could rule out soil. I still maintain if you have a fairly bold mix and also add any additional fertilizer straight to the seedlings via watering, this could be the culprit.
I'm probably the last to ask about mixes, if you see my posts, I'm always picking the brains of the big guns here. The point of my previous post was not to say I've got it right, but to highlight that the seedlings don't need many nutes at the beginning. Some of the best growers here start with a Jiffy Mix product which is basically 50-50 spagnum peat and vermiculite, with some lime to adjust for longer term PH balance. There are no nutes in there, I think. After the plant gets some leaves, they pot up to a richer blend.
My suggestion: start in Jiffy Mix. Later, pot up using your uber-blend, but cut it down by 30-50% by adding Jiffy Mix and perlite. Irrigate with plain water, and I would go with Muskymojo, get some jugs of non-clorinated bottled water or collect some rain water maybe. Or let your tap water sit in a bucket overnight before use. No liquid nutes for 6 weeks considering that blend you have has plenty already.
I'm no expert! But I have read several hundred posts of what others are doing and try to apply some of the methods. There are exceptions! Like AJ who I think bottom waters with a weak nute solution even when the plants are just hooks! How much and what kind, not sure, but it shows procedures are all over the map.
Since you asked, here is my formula that I mainly intended as an overwintering mix. Since I had a bunch of it, I tried variations with my seedling starts. I found this recipe on another forum and tweaked it a bit, as everyone does:
5 parts pine/fir bark fines (also called "soil conditioner" this was 2-cubic feet or 56 liters). 2 parts spag peat potting mix (it was a generic brand sitting around, said it contained perlite and a bit of time release fert). 1 part "rocks" (consisted of perlite, lava rock, quartz gravel. I also sprinkled in a very small amount of Osmocote time release fert (14-14-14). Not very scientific.
I have also experimented by adding Jiffy Mix to the above. Performance has been about the same, even with the seedlings. I'm also trying straight Jiffy Mix, still to be determined. I'm pretty satisfied with my own mix, but it is still experimental.
Since I have few nutes in there, I start bottom watering the seedlings after about a month using a weak solution of compost tea alternating somewhat with weak fish emulsion. Again not very scientific. Formula for the 'tea' is made from "Dr. Earth organic starter fertilizer." (It's a 2-4-2 has some really yummy sounding ingredients) Put 1/4 cup into 1 U.S. gallon let sit a day or two, then strain and use the juice via bottom watering.
Disclaimer! this is experimental for me. It just happens to be working right now. I think you would be better off more mainstream, as they say, with the Jiffy Mix, then amend your existing blend a bit.
Good luck...
I have had the same problem of seedling leaves turning yellow and dropping off. I have a few seedlings which are just stems but some also have new growth sprouting all up the stems. The slightly older seedlings with bigger leaves have less of a problem with this but some do have nute burn around the leaves. So after reading this post it's hit me that the problem is obviously too many nutes, either from the soil or from what I've been watering into them.
I originally potted them with a bag of the cheapest potting mix the hardware store had (yes I know.. big no no) and have been watering in different nutes to try and correct a deficiency they had from variagated yellow and green leaves. I tried lots of things like using tap water left out instead of filtered water. I also used an aquarium bubble stone to aerate the water. I saw positive results from magnesium sulphate and using the bubble stone, but then they got the all over yellowing leaves and leaf drop. I think the bubble stone made all of the nutrients available to the plant (or something like that), which corrected the deficiency but there was too much and it created an excess.
The advice I have seen on this site seems to be overwhelming that seedlings need little to none nutrients. I am prone to overfertilizing so it makes sense that too many nutes are causing this leaf yellow-drop problem. I'll pot up the ones that survive into a neutral mix after rinsing the roots, then feed them a very restricted diet. I'll save the overfertilizing for my basil plants, they take everything they can get and more.
I originally potted them with a bag of the cheapest potting mix the hardware store had (yes I know.. big no no) and have been watering in different nutes to try and correct a deficiency they had from variagated yellow and green leaves. I tried lots of things like using tap water left out instead of filtered water. I also used an aquarium bubble stone to aerate the water. I saw positive results from magnesium sulphate and using the bubble stone, but then they got the all over yellowing leaves and leaf drop. I think the bubble stone made all of the nutrients available to the plant (or something like that), which corrected the deficiency but there was too much and it created an excess.
The advice I have seen on this site seems to be overwhelming that seedlings need little to none nutrients. I am prone to overfertilizing so it makes sense that too many nutes are causing this leaf yellow-drop problem. I'll pot up the ones that survive into a neutral mix after rinsing the roots, then feed them a very restricted diet. I'll save the overfertilizing for my basil plants, they take everything they can get and more.
