• Do you need help identifying a 🌶?
    Is your plant suffering from an unknown issue? 🤧
    Then ask in Identification and Diagnosis.

seeds seedling leaves curling and turning yellow

My seeds sprouted a few days ago and I noticed today that some of the cotyledons are turning yellow at the tips and curling. They're all in jiffy pellets inside a rubbermaid lined with tinfoil and have tinfoil laid over the top of the light so it kinda looks like a tinfoil tent. The ends are not covered so they have some air flow. Im using a old aquarium T5 light fixture that's I believe 24" with 2 bulbs. The plants are about 2.5 inches away from the light. They looked great this morning and I decided to mist them, which was the first time I did it and put them back under the light. When I checked them a few hours ago I noticed how the leaves looked different. Ive read a few things saying I could be over watering, but I dont think I am. I only add water to them when I notice the jiffy pellet turns light brown.They're under light almost 24 hours, I only unplug when I go to work and my girlfriend plugs it back in when she gets home a couple hours later. So what do you guys think the problem could be, and what should I do to right it?
 
First thing I do when they sprout, is plant the peat pellet in a cup of soil. The peat pellets are awesome for germinating, but there is virtually no nutrients in them.

The next thing is I suspect it is too warm in there...I have a feeling the seedlings are getting roasted. Do you have a thermometer?

Also, misting them and putting them back under the lights can sunburn them. The water drops can act like light increasing magnifying glasses.
I would just water them at ground level.

One last bit.... I would ditch the tin foil for now....they don't need a ton of light yet, and the airflow might help things a bit :)

Your girlfriend needs to quit her job, kick off her shoes and start knitting.
Ummmmm......Seriously!?? Is there something wrong with you?
I find that most people nowadays respect and honor the women in our lives.
I find that a disturbing # of your posts are disrespectful and dishonorable towards women.

The original poster was asking for gardening advice, not machismo nonsense.
Please do the human race a big favor, and refrain from the sexist remarks.

FYI....Men invented knitting. Men knitted to pass time while tending their flocks of sheep.
So therefore, perhaps, you might need to quit working, kick off your shoes, and knit yourself a sweater that says "I don't hate women"

 
Yeah get that plant planted in a cup and make sure its not dry! If the foil is over it its not getting light. Try Saran wrap! And move the lights up a little foil is a conductor and you could be cooking them. But SERIOUSLY I'd try Saran cause they need light. Pics?
 
First thing I do when they sprout, is plant the peat pellet in a cup of soil. The peat pellets are awesome for germinating, but there is virtually no nutrients in them.

The next thing is I suspect it is too warm in there...I have a feeling the seedlings are getting roasted. Do you have a thermometer?

Also, misting them and putting them back under the lights can sunburn them. The water drops can act like light increasing magnifying glasses.
I would just water them at ground level.

One last bit.... I would ditch the tin foil for now....they don't need a ton of light yet, and the airflow might help things a bit :)

looks like i'l be planting up later on

not sure on the temp, i'll get one later on

I also think the misting had something to do with it cause they were fine before though so maybe the mist and too high temps caused it

Yeah get that plant planted in a cup and make sure its not dry! If the foil is over it its not getting light. Try Saran wrap! And move the lights up a little foil is a conductor and you could be cooking them. But SERIOUSLY I'd try Saran cause they need light. Pics?

The tin foil wasnt over the plants, it goes over the light to try and keep as much light in as possible, i'll try to get pics later on
 
Sounds good....I do think the misting was part of it, but the no soil is an issue too.
As soon as I see a hook popping up, I peel the paper of the pellet, and stick it into a cup of soil....
I get good results that way :)
 
Sounds good....I do think the misting was part of it, but the no soil is an issue too.
As soon as I see a hook popping up, I peel the paper of the pellet, and stick it into a cup of soil....
I get good results that way :)
that's exactly how i do it. Hell i can't wait to get them potted up
 
I think you have to be careful when putting the new sprouts from the pellets immediately into HIGH NUTRIENT soil, such as MG. When I was doing this, many of my seedlings were frying. Maybe it was just my experience, but as soon as I allowed them to establish a little longer in the pellet, or untill the second set of leaves start, this problem went away.
 
I sort of agree...except for that I have around 1100 pepper seedlings/plants, and 400 tomato seedlings/plants that all are doing just fine, and were started in peat pellets, then when they hooked, were put in cups of "Miracle Grow Garden Soil".....It's not even potting soil, but rather an amendment for the soil in your garden.
But it was cheap...LOL
And some of the very best plants I have seen on this site were germed in peat pellets that started out imbedded in cups of Moisture Control Miracle Grow.

I figure it is rather simple, they just need a few basic things to grow.

1) Moisture to germinate.
2) 70-90 degrees warmth to germinate.
3) Soil with some form of Nutrients
4) Light
5) Water
6) Air

Everything else is just "window dressing"

Shoot....I once put a bunch of Thai Pepper seeds into a mixture of 40% used Coffee Grounds....30% potting soil...30% Garden Dirt
Watered once in a while, and they germinated like crazy....
 
Probably just left it a bit too long.....I like to get the soil involved right away, helps stabilize things in the watering/moisture department, and also when the roots poke out of the pellet, they get rught into the soil.
Plus watering gets some of the soil nutrients to leach into the peat as well.
If you need to, you can carefully remove some of the excess peat before getting it into the soil. I do that also pretty often.
 
here is some pics

the first one is a example of what I was saying about the leaves curling and turning yellow and the others are after potting up. Think I need to invest in another light, what do you think?







 
Honestly, they lookpretty good.
They will like their new shoes.
I would have given them a bit more soil though.....fill the cups up to 1/2" from the top....But you can add soil later too....
If they get leggy (stretched out) you can actually bury them to right below the cotyledons :)

Another light can only help. They would probably like that.

I am using 3 cheap 4' two bulb shoplight fixtures...side by side....
And I keep 3 of the germ trays on top for free heating/warmth...lol



Here is some of what is under the lights.... They go right from the germ tray to the lights for a bit, then they go outside on the porch as more germ and get put under the lights....

 
Yea i figured as they get a little taller I can add more soil around them as I dont have much more space for them until they go outside around the middle of may.

What is the cheap lighting you are using. I want to get another one, but not spend allot of money. :surprised:
 
Each 4 foot 2 bulb shoplight cost about $10 at walmart. Then I got 2 "daylight" bulbs for each one. Those are about $8 each. So about $26 & then a little sales tax....
Looking at how many seedlings you have, one of those shoplights would likely be enough.
I have around 80 cups under my 3 fixtures right now.

It won't grow them huge, but it will get them going until you can plant out next month.
 
This is my first time growing peppers and 2 things that I did this year that helped

1) Took advice from DesertChris, I started a grow log and he checked it and gave some great advice, same that he has posted here in this thread. If you get a chance check out my grow log, see what I started with and see where I am at now, thanks to advice from DesertChris and others from this site.

http://thehotpepper.com/topic/37952-decided-to-make-a-glog-for-my-first-pepper-season/

2) when i replanted from the jiffy pucks into soil ( I used miracle grow seed starting mix) I took half of the puck off from the bottom, broke it up into the bottom of the pot I was going to use. I then planted the seedling and remaining puck into the pot with my soil. Figured this would let the roots get to the nutrient rich soil faster, thus alowing them to "take off". They have and are now ready to go into a larger pot as the weather just isnt quite there yet here in central PA.
 
Each 4 foot 2 bulb shoplight cost about $10 at walmart. Then I got 2 "daylight" bulbs for each one. Those are about $8 each. So about $26 & then a little sales tax....
Looking at how many seedlings you have, one of those shoplights would likely be enough.
I have around 80 cups under my 3 fixtures right now.

It won't grow them huge, but it will get them going until you can plant out next month.

Cool Im gonna go see if they have a 2 foot fixture. Thanks for all the help man.

This is my first time growing peppers and 2 things that I did this year that helped

1) Took advice from DesertChris, I started a grow log and he checked it and gave some great advice, same that he has posted here in this thread. If you get a chance check out my grow log, see what I started with and see where I am at now, thanks to advice from DesertChris and others from this site.

http://thehotpepper....-pepper-season/

2) when i replanted from the jiffy pucks into soil ( I used miracle grow seed starting mix) I took half of the puck off from the bottom, broke it up into the bottom of the pot I was going to use. I then planted the seedling and remaining puck into the pot with my soil. Figured this would let the roots get to the nutrient rich soil faster, thus alowing them to "take off". They have and are now ready to go into a larger pot as the weather just isnt quite there yet here in central PA.

Nice glog, I really wish I started one. I also did that with the jiffy pucks to try and expose the roots, I was a bit heavy handed on some and broke the whole thing apart and transplanted just the seedling.
 
Did the same with a few of mine also. The puck broke completely apart, was worried at forst but the more I thought about it the better I felt. My thinking was that since the puck broke up a bit, it would beeasier for the roots to spread out into the soil. I still planted the remainder of the puck, just tried to hold it together as much as possible when putting it into the pot.
 
Thanks :)

Believe me when I say there are other people here who are far better at growing peppers than me!

I just have a bit of experience doing it on a very slim and tight budget :)
 
Back
Top