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Embryonic Leaves Yellowing, True Leaves Curling Upwards

Right now I have several plants from ten different varieties at different early stages of development. This is my first foray into growing vegetables and I've come to a hurdle. Look at this comparison picture:
 

 
The plants on the left are Trinidad Scorpion Morugas, on the right are Cayenne Long Slims. The Cayennes are 2-3 weeks older, but they were also my guinea pig plants. They're longer probably because of subpar lighting conditions leading to etiolation (early on when I crowded too much stuff around one bulb), but hopefully also a bit because they're older (or maybe they just grow more like that - though my Carribean Reds and Jalapenos are doing the same thing). Ignore the lighting in the picture; I moved them to the front of my setup for the pic, they'd normally receive equal lighting. The height doesn't concern me as much as the yellowing of the embryonic leaves and the upwards curling of the true leaves (we're talking about the cayennes). One embryonic leaf on a Jalapenos fell off. There's also green algae on some cells (I think I give ample time between bottom waterings, but maybe I saturate it too much and I need to improve the airflow. I have a fan I just set up today, but I'd like to get a timer and a PWM control for it before I use it for more than a few minutes here and there.
 
Sorry, I digress. I'm most concerned about the leaves. It seems to be affecting the oldest, tallest plants the most, but like I said that might be because of newbie mistakes rather than age - I also don't really know what they're supposed to look like. I planted the sprouted seeds mid-January I think. So they're maybe 6 weeks old at this point (the cayennes, the TSMs are maybe 3-4 weeks). I don't know if the embryonic leaves yellow and fall off normally at this point or if that's indicative of a problem. The curling I've read can be over watering or nutrient issues, or both. I've only used nursery soil which has some general nurtients and ferts mixed in, no added ferts/neuts. I was needlessly worried about compaction early on, so I added Miracle Gro perlite to the mix in a 1:2 mix for the earliest peppers (including the cayennes here), then progressively less until I phased out the addition completely - realizing it wasn't needed The MG perlite had some added fert I tried to wash out before adding. I noticed the cells with the most clumps of perlite at the top seem to be hit with the algae the worst.
 
I just realized in writing this out that the excessive perlite might be to blame for the issues. If not the perlite, then the lack of soil when combined. At least that's one theory.
 
Here's a link to my GLog if you're like to see more of my setup, but I'd like to add this picture of the lighting so you can judge whether it's adequate at this stage, or if it may be part of my problem:
 

 
To rehash:
 
- Why might the embryonic leaves be yellowing?
- Why might the true leaves be curling upwards?
- Is the 1:2 perlite-soil mix ratio in the cayenne cell to blame for many of these problems?
- Should I carefully replant these in just the soil mix in the same cell, or move on to something bigger maybe?
- Should I be using any ferts/neuts at this stage (or shortly down the road? help me, I'm clueless)
- Does that lighting look adequate, or should I stick two more 1600 lumen, 6500K bulbs in there?
 
I apologize for so many questions. Hopefully the information I've provided is useful. If I missed anything, please let me know. Thank you for any assistance you might be able to provide. My peppers thank you. 
 
Thanks, hopefully it's that simple. I've been giving it like 4-5 days between watering sometimes, but I guess that's not enough. Maybe it's the ton of extra perlite in those cells that's doing me in.
 
Umbra said:
Thanks, hopefully it's that simple. I've been giving it like 4-5 days between watering sometimes, but I guess that's not enough. Maybe it's the ton of extra perlite in those cells that's doing me in.
  My seedlings are bigger and I water only about once every 10 days. Maybe more
 
SvtCobra said:
  My seedlings are bigger and I water only about once every 10 days. Maybe more
Thanks, that's good to know. I guess with my setup and environment moisture tends to stick around. I repotted the 14 worst looking plants by taking out the subpar 1:2 perlite/soil mix and replacing it with just soil mix. Another issue I had with these first ones is I didn't compact the soil much, so as it was watered it slumped down into the bottom, narrower portion of the cell. It stayed like that until I added some more soil to brace the stems thinking maybe roots would grow out of it, but that wasn't the case. Basically they just grew in probably half the space of the others.
 
I repotted them and I haven't watered them yet. I'm going to let them dry out and see if their condition improves. When I wait between waterings the leaves on the smallest plants tend to droop first and shortly after the whole plant droops. It's apparent I shouldn't be watering all of them at the same rate. If I wait 'til the plant starts showing these signs before watering, would that be a sufficient gauge, or is that too late?
 
Umbra said:
Thanks, that's good to know. I guess with my setup and environment moisture tends to stick around. I repotted the 14 worst looking plants by taking out the subpar 1:2 perlite/soil mix and replacing it with just soil mix. Another issue I had with these first ones is I didn't compact the soil much, so as it was watered it slumped down into the bottom, narrower portion of the cell. It stayed like that until I added some more soil to brace the stems thinking maybe roots would grow out of it, but that wasn't the case. Basically they just grew in probably half the space of the others.
 
I repotted them and I haven't watered them yet. I'm going to let them dry out and see if their condition improves. When I wait between waterings the leaves on the smallest plants tend to droop first and shortly after the whole plant droops. It's apparent I shouldn't be watering all of them at the same rate. If I wait 'til the plant starts showing these signs before watering, would that be a sufficient gauge, or is that too late?
  I allow the leaves to droop a little before watering. My plants all use water at various amounts. Even a bhut the same size of a scorpion will use water at a different rate. So I treat each plant individually rather than all at the same time. I have about 25 plants at this time. The only thing I do at the same time is feed them.
 
SvtCobra said:
I allow the leaves to droop a little before watering. My plants all use water at various amounts. Even a bhut the same size of a scorpion will use water at a different rate. So I treat each plant individually rather than all at the same time. I have about 25 plants at this time. The only thing I do at the same time is feed them.
 
Two questions: what method do you use to water and what are you using for food?
 
It seems like most setups have more light than mine. I dropped the reflector down a few more inches to get the lights closer. The light meter on my S4 is 5K lux at the plants farthest from the bulbs and like 30K+ at the ones directly under them. It might be time to use the Y adapters to add two more bulbs. The bulbs I'm using are 1600 lumen each and I have two, but the area's got to be atleast 2'x2' now. I think the rule of thumb is 3k+ lumens per sq. foot. Is it time to double the lighting?
 
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