Blackening Roots / Bubbly Leaf Appearance

T

thelapua

Hello, 
 
I have been growing my reapers and habaneros for a little over a month now, and I noticed that some of the root tips are turning brown / black from the bottom of the solo cup. Would this be early stages of root rot? Please see picture below: If so, what should I do to fix this? 
 

 
Also, I have noticed that some of the leaves have this weird bubbly look to them. Is this a sign of over watering? 
 

 
I am afraid that I have over watered them and I am afraid they will get root rot and die. Should I re-pot in new drier soil? They seem a little short for being a month old. Could this be a nutrient or calcium deficiency? Any advice would be helpful. 
 
Thank you. 
 
 
They look fine to me.  Puckered leaves usually indicate a need for calcium, so yours might have the tiniest bit of a calcium deficiency starting.  My advice is to water them when they are dry and otherwise leave them alone.  If the leaf pucker gets worse, mix up some Cal-Mag or its equivalent and give them some.  Maybe hit them with a light fertilizer every couple of weeks.
 
Do you have any recommendations on a good calcium only source? I looked at cal-mag and it is a 2-0-0. I am using a fertilizer and don't want to add any additional nitrogen. 
 
thelapua said:
Do you have any recommendations on a good calcium only source? I looked at cal-mag and it is a 2-0-0. I am using a fertilizer and don't want to add any additional nitrogen. 
Click to expand...
 
Not offhand, but I am sure others do.  I've always used Cal-Mag for a calcium supplement.  The extra N is minimal and should only be a problem if you are using a fertilizer that has a lot of N in it.  Remember that you can always water your regular fertilizer down to half on the occasions that you are adding the Cal-Mag.
 
I think I over watered them. I let them dry up a few days. My habaneros seem to be doing well, but my carolina reapers leaves are looking not good. Im getting dried yellow edges on some and weird black veiny leaves on others. See below: 

They have been growing indoors under an LED fixture. What could be going on? I removed one from the pot and it doesn't appear to be root rot. 
 
You're correct, allow the soil to dry out and let the plant wilt slightly prior to the next watering
When you repot them add more drainage / aeration into the mix, around 40% of the total mix can be aeration
 
They appear to have dried up. They wilted slightly and I watered last night. The photos I took were this afternoon. I'm worried that the blackening is some sort of fungus or disease. Could that be the case?
 
I have some cal-mag coming in the mail. I have only been giving them water. Should I give them some water soluble all purpose fertilizer? Also one other thing. Its been really hot around here. Not sure if thats whats causing the color change. The habaneros look fine leading me to think the temperature isn't the issue. 
 
how much light, fixture height and wattage? I see you are using LEDs which can lead to "too much light" if you don't have experience with them. the more intensive the light, the darker the stems get.. it's fine for the stem to darken, but be sure to check you have proper distance from LED.
 
It was a 600 watt light. It was a cheap Chinese LED fixture. I since have returned it. I bought a much nicer 600 watt LED light with bloom and vegetation switches. I only have the vegetation switch on right now. I followed the height recommendation that came with the fixture. I can't remember off the top of my head, but I think the manual said somewhere around 2.5-3 feet. With the vegetation switch on, the light is much less intense in brightness. 
 
I am getting good side shoots, but the stem doesn't appear to be growing up very fast. Could this be due to too much light? I was using both the veg and bloom switches, but started using only the veg switch a few days ago. Maybe with the reduction in light, it will start to grow upward more. 
 
Is this a 600W equivalent LED fixture or 600W draw? If it's 600W draw with continuous spectrum, your plants probably think they are siting in some nice mid-morning direct sunlight. No joke, at 2.5 ft with LEDs that powerful, total daily PAR (photosynthetically active radiation)  is probably approaching 50% of real sunlight.  They are staying short because the cost/benefit is better putting growth into leaf development than stem development. This is what most growers prefer anyway. Short bushy plants typically produce more fruit (or at least are more stable once planted outside when they need to survive wind and rain). You can seldom have too much light if you are using a high quality fixture with the right spectrum and height.
 
Based on your pictures, they look pretty healthy, maybe just a touch of "light burn" (the purplish pigmentation - it's nothing to be too worried about) and over-watering symptoms. I would say, leave it with just the veg switch for now, and get a nice 14-16 hours on/10-8 hours off cycle for them.
 
Good luck!
 
It is a 600W equivalent. I am growing them in a 3x3' tent and the fixture manual said a 600W equivalent was correct for that size tent. By now, I have pruned a lot of the larger leaves that have the purple vein appearance. The shoots with smaller new leaves are growing in really fast and look nice and healthy. I'll post some photos when I get a chance.
 
I have them in solo cups with drain holes cut in the bottom. There are roots coming out of the bottom already. Would this mean that it would be time to replant into a bigger pot? 
 
This is the first time I have ever grown any plant in my life. Thanks for the help. 
 
thelapua said:
It is a 600W equivalent. I am growing them in a 3x3' tent and the fixture manual said a 600W equivalent was correct for that size tent. By now, I have pruned a lot of the larger leaves that have the purple vein appearance. The shoots with smaller new leaves are growing in really fast and look nice and healthy. I'll post some photos when I get a chance.
 
I have them in solo cups with drain holes cut in the bottom. There are roots coming out of the bottom already. Would this mean that it would be time to replant into a bigger pot? 
 
This is the first time I have ever grown any plant in my life. Thanks for the help. 
Click to expand...
 
If you have excess space, you could transfer them to larger pots. What is the final pot size you are planning for? Or will you be planting in the ground?
 
It won't really hurt the plant to keep it in the solo cup for longer. Root growth will slow and stem/leaf growth will increase. It's better to minimize transplants than to try and constantly keep container size optimal. 
 
Right now, I have 9 plants in total (5 habaneros and 4 reapers). My end goal is to have 2 reapers and 2 habaneros in 5 gallon buckets. I will pick 2 of the strongest reapers and 2 of the habaneros and plant them in a 5 gallon bucket. A 3x3' tent should hold (4) 5 gallon buckets. 
 
 
 
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