Hey all, hope you are well. I am new to pepper growing so I decided to start small and try to just get a plant to take indoors before I went crazy with larger attempts. I installed a grow light in the water-heater closet and installed a heatpad for bottom-heat for flats. I used the peat pellets for first attempt and BAM......habanero seedlings emerged roughly five days later. I used 2 seeds per pellet and did the plastic covering, removed on emergence and poured the light to them. All was going well, first actual leaves after cotyledons (sp?) came on and all was looking well. I used an oscilatting fan to strengthen stems during all this. Here's where all went wrong. This morning I awoke to all seedlings laid completely over with the stem near the peat pellet almost "pinched" off and brown colored. I searched all over the web and the only thing I found that sounds like my problem is damping off fungus. I kept the same watering routine from the start, but like I said.....I'm a newb so I'm asking......is this my problem? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated so thanks in advance.
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seeds Am I overwatering seedlings?
- Thread starter OldManNinja1912
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My best germinating successes have always been with jiffy pellets - Also my greatest frustrations in the seedling stage.
I use a spray bottle to water the pellets several times a day. They dry out pretty fast and a few spritzes several times daily keeps the seedlings growing and healthy. I almost destoyed an entire batch with bottom watering once, so you must be really careful not to over water that way.
Heat will wilt them very quickly, so it's tempting to give them too much water. If heat is the problem, get them to a cool place and lightly mist the leaves and only spritz the pellets if they are dry, but don't saturate them. Too much heat can wilt and knock them over even if the pellets have water.
Drying out will tilt them over, and sometimes they will look plenty wet, but digging into the pellet can reveal that the inside is actually bone dry.
My 2 cents.
I use a spray bottle to water the pellets several times a day. They dry out pretty fast and a few spritzes several times daily keeps the seedlings growing and healthy. I almost destoyed an entire batch with bottom watering once, so you must be really careful not to over water that way.
Heat will wilt them very quickly, so it's tempting to give them too much water. If heat is the problem, get them to a cool place and lightly mist the leaves and only spritz the pellets if they are dry, but don't saturate them. Too much heat can wilt and knock them over even if the pellets have water.
Drying out will tilt them over, and sometimes they will look plenty wet, but digging into the pellet can reveal that the inside is actually bone dry.
My 2 cents.
Chilliman I was kind of bummed out by the fallen seedlings that I did the bonehead thing.... I removed them without taking pics. I'll be smarter if it happens next time. In hindsight SanSoo, I did resort to more bottom-feeding than at the start and may have gone a bit overboard with it. Sucks cause they were looking very nice until I did em in. Hope I learn this stuff quickly before too many plants have to die lol. Thanks for the replies and I will document my setup and any future attempts with included pics. Any and all comments/critique is greatly appreciated. Thanks again.
Spraying with a dilute (2 tablespoons per 1 quart water) Hydrogen Peroxide solution can help with damping off.
Also, I soak the seeds 24 hrs in a cup of this solution to disinfect and discard any floaters.
Also, I soak the seeds 24 hrs in a cup of this solution to disinfect and discard any floaters.
Thank you oranghero! That's the kind of stuff I haven't been able to find with just general searching online. Mr. HippyseedCo was right about this site.....if you want to learn how to grow chilis......talk to chili growers.
Sound like too much moisture causing dampening off. I believe peat on its own is a terrible growing medium. It has the wrong pH and its difficult to keep peat pellets at the right moisture level. Also the fact that roots get stunted unless the mesh is removed, and removing the mesh just seems like too much work when you can just use small pots or cells with good soil.
I'd forget about using peroxide and buy some "No damp" and some good soil
I'd forget about using peroxide and buy some "No damp" and some good soil
bigt said:
I had that with a few seedlings then I used a weak chammomile tea solution to water plants and had no problems.