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Peppers growing slow, starting to yellow and die?

C

Cinderbike

Novice seed grower, so sorry for the amount of questions lately!

Anyway, I have been growing some moruga scorpions. Sowed them first week of march, the sprouted around the 15th of March.

Fast forward a month, and they seem to be growing EXTREMELY slowly - I know superhots are slow growing, but this seems slow even knowing that.

I was told by a friend of mine to hit them with nutes so I hit them with a bit of phosphorous as he said it looked like they needed some (purple stems and a few purple spots on the true leaves that were emerging). That was on Monday.

Yesterday they started yellowing and now some look like they are beginning to wilt/die.

They're on a heating pad with a clear dome under fluorescent lights (cool white x2).

So - what am I doing wrong? Too much light? Water? Nutes? Not enough of each?


Here's some pix, the one with the big leaf is the farthest along of the ~12 or so that germinated and haven't died yet.

Thanks in advance.

pepper3.jpg

Starting to die.

pepper4.jpg

This one is doing the best - still only one true leaf.

pepper5.jpg

Yellowing.
 
do not fertilize seedlings and do not over water them, your loving them to much. sit back and give em some space. oh and get rid of the heating pad I never use a pad oh but I'm in Florida is it cold there?
 
You really shouldnt have the dome on after you have sprouts. You need air moving around. You also shouldn't give the seedlings nutrients until they at least have a couple sets of true leaves. Another thing is overwatering. Your seedlings will tell you when they need water.
 
First, sprouts that young do not need ferts added. Those babies still have their cotyledons, which feed the new plant until they fall off. Even after that, they only need a TINY amount of ferts until they get going. Chinenses typically have purple stems - this is normal for them, NOT a sign of a problem. Yellowing and wilting - could be you burned them with the ferts, though yellowing is typically a sign of overwatering. Peppers like to be moist but not wet.
 
+1 - They are way way too young to need fertilizer. Give them plain water until you get at least 2 sets of true leaves, and then only start at 1/4 strength fertilizers.
 
If it was too much fert will they recover?

Don't think I am overwatering. It is dry and cold (40s) here.

Also, nobody is commenting on growth rate. Not a problem that they're over a month old and barely growing leaves?
 
Cinderbike said:
If it was too much fert will they recover?

Don't think I am overwatering. It is dry and cold (40s) here.

Also, nobody is commenting on growth rate. Not a problem that they're over a month old and barely growing leaves?
Click to expand...

I would flush them with distilled or bottled water to get the fertilizer out! Then make sure they can drain well and let them almost dry out before watering again.

Over fertilizing can cause your plant to lock up and not grow. Especially with MiracleGrow or any other salt based fertilizers.

If you want to get seedlings to grow fast, the secret is having a soil PH around 6-7 and use water that is also around 6-7.
 
my guess is you're pretty close to what I did this year... purple spots and stems can be sunburn and hardening which results from having the light too close and not enough air flow, i then overwatered(caused yellow leaves that dropped). my suggestion is raise up your light and put a little fan on them. And like prehensile said, don't baby them too much; they're pretty resilient plants. the worst that can happen after doing all that is they could get a little leggy. which still isn't bad because seedlings will sprout roots from the main stem as deep as you bury them. i keep a digital thermometer at top leaf level and shoot to keep the temps in the mid 70's. i've found that radiant heat from the lights can easily create a micro climate 10-15 degrees hotter than the rest of the room if unattended
 
Purple stems are normal.

40's is really cold for baby peppers and is probably slowing them down. Those cups look tiny, how deep are they? The seedling concentrates on shooting down a root before it puts out leaves. I mostly bottom water, and once I see the first hint of a root growing through the peat cup I pot them up.
 
Yep. Pretty much got it covered by the gang already: remove dome, get them off the pad, chill out on the fertilizer, reduce watering, and just let them grow. My growth increased bigtime when I moved my plants away from the cold area I originally started them at. Sometimes, they need more things removed than added. Simplicity is always elegant.
 
Seedlings seem to have improved with less water - flushed a couple of them that looked really yellow. A few died, the rest seem okay now - cotyledons fell off most of them but the true leaves are still there.

They still aren't growing though - they all seem to have stalled and stayed the same size the last couple of weeks. I read you should only pot them up after 2 sets of leaves, but I'm wondering if moving them to bigger containers is a good idea yet?

Also, any suggestions on potting mix? I have a bag of 'regular' potting mix that has ferts pre-mixed but worry that'll just burn the rest of the seedlings.
 
sounds like you're on the right track! My seedlings stalled for about a month and a half but one day just decided "hey, I think we should start growing now" and are really taking off. If you could post some pictures i'm sure it would help everyone decide whether or not they should be potted up. also, after being stunted don't expect them to magically take off and grow like weeds if you re-pot; they might need time to spread roots in the new pots first.
edit: if you could take a picture of your bag of soil it would also help, if it's for seedlings it's probably ok
 
PepperWhisperer said:
Others may disagree, but I would pot those up immediately. There isn't enough depth for roots in those little cells. Nothing too big, a 3" or 4" pot should be plenty. At least try one or two and see if they improve vs the others.
Click to expand...

yep - should solve a couple of probs ... the excess water, excess ferts, etc...

cheers
al
 
Don't feritilize, let them dry between waterings, no heating pads, and get them outside as soon as you can.

Chinense varieties grow slowly especially Superhots.
 
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