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Should I be worried or amazed?

M

MackBusk

Hey all! 

In case you found your way into this thread: Thanks for taking your time! Appriciated!

See, I am really new to growing stuff. And I decided to attempt growing and cultivating my own Chili Cayennes. Nothing special, seeds bought in flower-store.

So, here's the deal: 

I put four seeds in each small pot, and a total of six small pots.
I keep them in a plastic, sorry excuse of a greenhouse that came along with a starter-kit for something else completely.
I spray-water them daily.
I have disinfected eggshells with heat and ground them to eggshell-sand which I poured into the holes before sowing the seeds.
I keep them outside during the day. Take them inside every evening.
I live in Sweden. The weather is really flaky here, but right now we have quite the hot summer going on for us. Around 22-30 celsius during day, and down to 15-20 during night.

And among the small green seedlings I find this little fellow:
7RdqVwu.jpg


Instead of green leaves and a red stem it has got white leaves and a purple stem!

What's going on here? 
 
WOW! That's really neat. Not sure what will come of it, maybe you have some weird variegated genome. Hopefully you'll see some green or I'm not sure it will survive without the chlorophyll. At this stage, you're very close to not needing to keep them so moist so be careful not to over wet them or you could cause them to dampen off. Good luck and keep us updated!
 
You might consider watering less. Chile plants tend to prefer somewhat dry conditions. Also, very moist soil attracts fungus and algae so allowing the soil to dry out a little between waterings helps inhibit such growth.
 
Wow! Thanks for all responses guys!

So watering less, and hanging in there. Basically.
At what point should I consider replanting them in larger pots?
 

As for the little guy...

How did it even become this ''large'' without the chlorophyll?
Is there some roundabout way I can keep it alive despite its lack of chlorophyll?

I'll definitely keep you posted.
 
A bunch of us including myself have had white seedlings, unfortunately it will die within a couple weeks. If it was larger or you were some sort of micro surgeon lol, you could graft it onto another green plant, but it may not even survive the grafting process.
 
The seedlings can be moved to larger pots at any time, but it will be easiest while the roots are still small and have not yet become tangled. Just be gentle when you move them and dig a larger hole than it seems they need. As to your question about the plant size without chlorophyl, right now the plant has cotyledons rather than true leaves. Cotyledons carry the nutrients a plan needs until leaves develop. They don't start the process of photosynthesis until the leaves form, so the chlorophyl is not yet needed. 
 
MackBusk said:
Wow! Thanks for all responses guys!
So watering less, and hanging in there. Basically.
At what point should I consider replanting them in larger pots?
 

As for the little guy...
How did it even become this ''large'' without the chlorophyll?
Is there some roundabout way I can keep it alive despite its lack of chlorophyll?
I'll definitely keep you posted.
Click to expand...
Not much point transplanting yet. Roots are not developed enough to warrant it and soil will just fall off of what little has developed. I would let them go considerably longer. See below. I am just transplanting this one from its germination cup,



20160512_190419.jpg
 
Alright. Well, nature has its course. Right? A real shame though...

I see. So it's easier to change pots when the rooting system is small, but there's not much point in doing so due to stability. Also, I accidently ripped out a root from a pumpkin plant as I was replanting it too early(only had one larger root) and it took a massive blow in growth compared to its siblings. As for my chilis, I think I'll just wait a bit more so that I won't hurt it when ''re-potting''.

Is it OK to bring the dirt from the previous pot with the plant as you re-pot/re-plant/Transplant it in a larger pot? Mixing the used dirt with the unused dirt? Also, is there a special kind of dirt Chili-plants prefer?

And if you guys don't mind, what tips n tricks are there to help out with nourishment deficiencies in Chili-plants if you wanna go full-blown eco? Like me using egg-shells to prevent calcium deficiency.


Bombarding you guys with questions like this, haha! Sorry, I am just hyped about the fact that there's so much knowledge here that can help me out keeping my plants OK.
 
haiku said:
The seedlings can be moved to larger pots at any time, but it will be easiest while the roots are still small and have not yet become tangled. Just be gentle when you move them and dig a larger hole than it seems they need. As to your question about the plant size without chlorophyl, right now the plant has cotyledons rather than true leaves. Cotyledons carry the nutrients a plan needs until leaves develop. They don't start the process of photosynthesis until the leaves form, so the chlorophyl is not yet needed. 
Click to expand...
 
Minor argument:
Pepper Cotys DO photosynthesize.  They wouldn't invest the resources to make chlorophyll (an 'expensive' molecule!) if they weren't going to make use of it.
 
But, yea.  The OP's little pale fellow is a mutant and a gonner.   :(
 
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