seeds Mutant Pepper Seedlings ... experts, please help!

[PepperJam]

I started putting seeds in the tray about late january, and anytime seeds germinated, i added them to the tray. I'm using Gardener's Supply Germinating Mix. The seedlings aren't doing so hot. They are currently under flourscents (4 1900 lumen GE aquarium and plant lights). A week ago I tried giving them the PHC seedling fertilizer but that didn't help. They seem stunted. A few days ago i gave them GH flora grow/micro/bloom nutes at 1tsp/gal into the water trays and they seemed to grow a little better. I have a fan that blows 3 times a day for 30 min every 8 hours.

Here's the overall mutant seedling map.

Problem A: Habanero: leaf is curled, has this translucent look to the leaf and has this ugly brown tinge to it at the ends.
Problem B: Thai Birds Eye Pepper: leaf has been white for weeks not a over water issue as i removed cap mat

Problem C: Bhut Jolokias
C1: malformed leaf
C2: Same brown tinge like habanero
C3: Ugly malformed starter leaves
C4: Yellow, ugly with brown spots on leaves. I think it maybe because i dropped some PHC nutes on the leaf. oops

Problem D: 7Pot - malformed leaf, tips of leaf are brown

I just started another tray a week back and added new seedlings.

Problem E: Bhut Jolokia - brown tinge to the leaves

Its not all bad news, i moved the super chilli plants to dixie plastic cups:

I bought botanicare cal-mag today from hydro store, and botanicare grow, karma, bloom from ebay (should get it sat).

Experts, please diagnose. I spent alot of time and care with these seedlings. Any advice would be great.

 

[Flakes]

The gray "burnt" edges look like fertilizer burn (too much fert), the brown spots in the middle of the leaves look like overwatering plus there's the green stuff that's growing everywhere, the curling might be due to calcium deficiency (try adding some eggshells to the soil)...

I wouldn't really worry about the "malformed" leaves, sometimes they just come out like that.

 

[Sandgroper]

I'm not much of an indoor/under lights grower but the first thing I noticed was the green lawn beneath your seedlings. That seems to be an algae or fungal type of growth which i am sure would not be helping. These types of growths quite often limit the O2 intake of the soil. It will also cause the mixture to become waterlogged. A nice spell in sunlight would help immensely but a fresh light soil mixture without the green slime will help a lot too.

 

[Avon Barksdale]

You said it wasn't an over watering issue, but I'm not sure how you get that degree of algae growth without the soil being far too damp. I get a little algae in the mini greenhouses after a few weeks but I've never seen anything like that. What do you mean by "cap mat"? Are you talking about a plastic dome?

If I were you I would repot all of them in some fresh potting mix and give them a weak dose of fertilizer...

 

[PepperJam]

You said it wasn't an over watering issue, but I'm not sure how you get that degree of algae growth without the soil being far too damp. I get a little algae in the mini greenhouses after a few weeks but I've never seen anything like that. What do you mean by "cap mat"? Are you talking about a plastic dome?

If I were you I would repot all of them in some fresh potting mix and give them a weak dose of fertilizer...

cap mat = capillary mat. Its placed on a tray with water underneath. it wicks the water and the seed tray lays on top of it. The seed tray has holes on the bottom, so it wicks the water from the cap mat.

I took away the cap mat and left it to dry, but the algae stayed. maybe i should have removed it.

 

[Burning Colon]

i think you have to put things into perspective, your plants are less than a month old and for plants that are less than a month old, i think you have some pretty decent growth.
like the flakester says, sometimes leaves just turn out yuky, it happens, the brown shit on the end of the leaves is classic fert burn, the light colour leaves are more than likely your lights being too close to the plant.

so, are the empty cells for watering? i see you have a tray under the cells, if you are going to fertilize your plants you may want to fertilize from the bottom and not the top.

 

[PepperJam]

i think you have to put things into perspective, your plants are less than a month old and for plants that are less than a month old, i think you have some pretty decent growth.
like the flakester says, sometimes leaves just turn out yuky, it happens, the brown shit on the end of the leaves is classic fert burn, the light colour leaves are more than likely your lights being too close to the plant.

so, are the empty cells for watering? i see you have a tray under the cells, if you are going to fertilize your plants you may want to fertilize from the bottom and not the top.

The empty cells were where the super chillis came from, i moved them into cups. I took them out and they left a empty space

 

[Avon Barksdale]

cap mat = capillary mat. Its placed on a tray with water underneath. it wicks the water and the seed tray lays on top of it. The seed tray has holes on the bottom, so it wicks the water from the cap mat.

I took away the cap mat and left it to dry, but the algae stayed. maybe i should have removed it.

Ok gotcha. IMO, you really shouldn't get any algae unless you have a humidity dome. If you're getting algae without a dome then your soil must be far, far too wet. The only time I've ever gotten any aglae at all is with a humidity dome. Especially when bottom watering, the top of the soil should stay pretty dry. Does the cap mat get emptied when you water? They aren't sitting in standing water are they? I just place my trays in a water tray for about 30 minutes about once per week and then take them out of it. If you put a fan on them the algae should dry up very quickly. If algae can grow like that so can mold...

 

[PepperJam]

Ok gotcha. IMO, you really shouldn't get any algae unless you have a humidity dome. If you're getting algae without a dome then your soil must be far, far too wet. The only time I've ever gotten any aglae at all is with a humidity dome. Especially when bottom watering, the top of the soil should stay pretty dry. Does the cap mat get emptied when you water? They aren't sitting in standing water are they? I just place my trays in a water tray for about 30 minutes about once per week and then take them out of it. If you put a fan on them the algae should dry up very quickly. If algae can grow like that so can mold...

Ok thanks, i'll remove the water trays/cap mat and let the seedling trays dry out. I'll scrape off the algae too. I'm getting botanicare nutes / cal-mag, once i make the nute concoction, do i put the seedling tray for into the nute water tray for 30 mins and let it soak it up? How often should i do that, or does that just depend if the soil is dry?

thanks,

 

[Avon Barksdale]

Ok thanks, i'll remove the water trays/cap mat and let the seedling trays dry out. I'll scrape off the algae too. I'm getting botanicare nutes / cal-mag, once i make the nute concoction, do i put the seedling tray for into the nute water tray for 30 mins and let it soak it up? How often should i do that, or does that just depend if the soil is dry?

thanks,

Yeah I just mix up the nutrient solution in the watering tray and let them soak it up. I let them soak long enough for them to take up enough water. up to near the top of the soil.

Just water as often as they need it, you can usually get a good idea by the weight of the tray. If they're decent size you can start to let them wilt slightly before you water them if you want.

 

[PepperJam]

Good to know, thanks a a lot. I'll update this post when i see something.

 

[logchief]

PJ, I'm using the same trays you have from Gardener's only the larger cells. I had the same problem with the growth on mine and it was because of too much water. Take the tray off the mat and water container until you can barely feel any moisture in the hole in the bottom. The top will completely dry out and then lightly with a toothpick stir up the very top soil. That got rid of my algae and things are looking fine. This is my first time starting from seed and I thought those trays looked like a good thing, but I'm sure they get way too much water leaving the tray on that wet mat all the time.

Take a look at the pics in this thread, you'll see the same mold and the after shots when they dried out.

http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/20071-tango-uniform-jalmundo/page__p__421006#entry421006

Thanks to input from some of good folks here.

Those super peppers are looking good. I'm about ready to start taking some of the plants out and pot them up.