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Yellowing leaves

Skyjerk

Skyjerk

The leaves on my young plants are yellowing and some are dropping off.

This is happening from the bottom up. The top leaves still seem OK,
but they are not the deep shade of green I'd like to see. They are slightly jaundiced looking.

The ones down near the bottom are much worse though.

I'm watering maybe once a week when they start to dry out.
They are 85 F. and 75% humidity during the day, and 75 F. at night.

They HAD a nitrogen issue (miracle grow potting soil), which I corrected by using seaweed solution at Pam's suggestion and they showed a distinct improvement.

This yellowing and ropping off thing is new.

Plants are indoors in a 4x5 grow room, 400W HPS lamp and 4 fluorescents. Never been outside.
 
Can you post some pictures?

It can be many things.

I have had this happen before because of nitrogen issues myself.

Also can be caused by over watering, do you almost let the plant wilt before watering it again? Or could it still be wet in the core of the pot?

Do you see any bugs on the bottom of the leafs?

Also another thing to think about, is HPS lights give off more yellow / red color spectrums, and not enough blues. Not sure what kind of fluorescents you have with those? Metal Halide lights provide these colors..
 
look under the leaves with a microsop ( dont know if this word is wright in englis :S LOL ) it may have micro spyder or eggs
 
scarecrow said:
Can you post some pictures?

Ok heres a pic.

I'm kinda trading one problem for another. I did have bad curling of leaves, which I seem to have corrected with seaweed solution, but now the good looking leaves are a very pale green insteaf of the nice deep green I'd like and the leaves turning yellow and dropping off from the bottom.

No bugs of any kind visible on the bottoms of the leaves. I checked under very bright light.

I wait to water till the soil is fairly dry when sticking my finger into it, but not bone dry.

To answer another question posed, the fluorescents are around 5000k
and the HPS somewwhere around 2400k roughly.

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First thing I myself would try, even when the top and the bottom of the soil are bone dry, doesn’t always mean its dry in the center. Peppers especially hate over watering. Over watering indoors is very common, and will cause your roots to rot and turn brownish colors.

Even when they start to wilt, you will see bottom leafs wilt first. When this happens take them out of direct light, and if they perk back up, this means there’s still little bit of water in there. Try not to water to much at this stage. Im at about same stage right now, and i water once every 2 weeks. They love that..

Looks to me like these pots are too big for those little seedlings and the roots aren’t reaching all the moist parts of the soil.

Another thing you can do to make the roots nice and happy, is add under a teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide per 1 gallon, NOT TO MUCH!, AND DONT USE RUBBING ALCHOLE! this is bad.. Only hydrogen peroxide! This will provide the roots with oxygen and kill any root rot that may be going on. Use this solution right after you put it in your water. Its only active right when you add it.

I think at this stage you shouldn’t need too much fertilizer, I am sure seaweed is a great start for seedlings though. I use fish emulsions myself. I need to try seaweed thing still.

Hope this helps, this is best advice given to me when I started growing indoors. Its very different situation from growing outside.
 
Personally, I'd only use hydrogen peroxide in a hydroponics setup. It will kill all the beneficial fungi, bacteria etc as well as the bad and since I often use micorizal(sp.) fungi in my soil, it would be a waste but I guess thats just me. I agree that the pots look quite big which is likely holding water too long and therefore creating a lack of oxygen in the roots.
 
POTAWIE said:
Personally, I'd only use hydrogen peroxide in a hydroponics setup. It will kill all the beneficial fungi, bacteria etc as well as the bad and since I often use micorizal(sp.) fungi in my soil, it would be a waste but I guess thats just me.
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yeah everybody says that. But I have personally have had great results using small quantities, like nice white roots. Give it a try sometime. Another good way to replace beneficial organisms is to water with fish tank water. If you have access to that.
 
I usually buy pro-mix with micorhiza already in it, but I've bought beneficials before. SubCulture from general hydroponics contain 9 different beneficial micro-organisms. I haven't tried this particular product yet but I certainly will in the spring.

 
POTAWIE said:
I usually buy pro-mix with micorhiza already in it, but I've bought beneficials before. SubCulture from general hydroponics contain 9 different beneficial micro-organisms. I haven't tried this particular product yet but I certainly will in the spring.
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cool, I will check out my local garden center "Ricks" see if they have some first. thank you. :)
 
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