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seeds Seedlings, when to cut your losses.

G

glyon

Hello,
 
All
 
I have started several varieties of peppers under some T5HO's, the seedlings are approximately 6-8 weeks old. I am quite certain I overwatered at first (I am now watering from the bottom), and added nutrients to soon (before doing proper research, finding this place!). My main question is if the seedlings would be able to recover and produce on par with properly cared for seedlings. As it is relatively early and I have a decent growing season here in NC, I am wondering if i should not just go ahead and start some more seedlings just in case. 
 
Thank you,
 
 
EDIT: What is the preferred/easiest manner to go about posting pictures? I suppose they have a chance and could bounce back, the reason I think they are struggling is due to leaves curling downward, the leaves are not quite as yellow as they once were, which is a good sign. As of now they are on about 14 hours a day but I will set my timer for 18on/6off. I have an oscillating fan for air movement and heat reduction. They are growing in a closet which seems to be around 78 degrees with the lights on. I was quite surprised by the heat output, no where close to HID's though, (thankfully). I will get a pictures posted soon. 
 
I'm in NC as well. My seedlings that sprouted first are just now (2 weeks old) starting to put out their first true leaves. We do have a good growing season here, so you could start your seeds over.

But are you sure that your current plants are not going to make it?
What makes you think they may be a lost cause?
Do you have a picture of them?
 
Welcome!  Hard to say without pics but I've had many recovery stories.
 
This season, I have new T5s which run quite hotter than my T8s. I burnt off several cotyledons by accident but the seedlings recovered nicely. Years ago, I tried to save everything. But now, I do eventually cull runt seedlings that refuse to grow - so long as I have backups of that variety. If not, I think you have plenty of time to start some backups.
 
Stab in the dark, are they under 24 hour lights?  I've had that stall pepper seedlings at a point.  But if you are a first time grower, it might just be that you are expecting more rapid growth than you should.  Best example, ghost pepper.  When I grow them at room temp, they take forever to germinate and really get going.  At about 90 degrees, they really move fast.

Too much water does slow things down, not enough O2 to the roots but once you dry them out a bit they should perk back up.  yes, you can neut lock them but water and flush can fix that.
 
Welcome to THP. You still have plenty of time to get peppers going and get a great harvest being in the Carolinas. But pics would be a lot more help in determining whether all is lost or still salvageable.
 
This is my first year growing from seed and I have had some hard lessons already. I used Hydrogen Peroxide, diluted to 3% and soaked the first seeds - didn't know it was supposed to be diluted another 10 times and so I fried all my best, hand picked seeds.

Next, I soaked the next batch in weak chamomile tea and then planted in coir in the airing cupboard. Hooks everywhere in about 2 weeks, so bought a plug tray, mixed coir with potting mix and perlite, planted the hooks and put under a new T5 light. Most died and looked like they were shrivelling - although the coir was very moist, the mix clearly wasn't and I completely forgot to water them in, or put a tray underneath the plug tray. Changed that and I now have 2 survivors from that second go.

The first batch that I fried, were done on 1st January. The second batch on about 11th Jan and then some new superhots seeds I bought went in around the 18 Jan.

Was going to give it all until Valentine's Day and see if anything came through. Checked last night and had a twilight, a 7 pot and 2 Peter peppers all hooking, so planted AND WATERED IN. Will see how they get on, but the point is that they came through nearly a month after planting.
 
If your non super hots are taking that long, it may be due to germination moisture and heat.
Seeds like to be moist (not wet) and warm. With super hots preferring even more warmth, (85o-95o) is a good window. Even with great conditions some will still take a month and sometimes longer before germinating.
With the conditions stated above, regular pepper seeds can spout as soon as over night with 3 - 7 days being most realistic.
 
Big, this is a link to the Chile Pepper Institute.  It is special considerations for growing ghost pepper.  I am sure it applies to other super hots because damn there are a lot of crosses these days.  Of the ghost pepper, they say germination might take up to seventy days, but usually more like a month.

For germination, I put seeds in incubators intended for chicken.  As long as the thermostat lets you get down to eighty five or so, they work great.
 
http://www.chilepepperinstitute.org/content/files/SpecialBhutJolokiaInst%283%29.pdf

Capcom, how do you maintain those temps. I went to incubators after heating mats did little. Thing is, I have to remove them from the incubators as soon as they are up because there is very little light in there.
 
ajdrew said:
Big, this is a link to the Chile Pepper Institute.  It is special considerations for growing ghost pepper.  I am sure it applies to other super hots because damn there are a lot of crosses these days.  Of the ghost pepper, they say germination might take up to seventy days, but usually more like a month.

For germination, I put seeds in incubators intended for chicken.  As long as the thermostat lets you get down to eighty five or so, they work great.
 
http://www.chilepepperinstitute.org/content/files/SpecialBhutJolokiaInst%283%29.pdf

Capcom, how do you maintain those temps. I went to incubators after heating mats did little. Thing is, I have to remove them from the incubators as soon as they are up because there is very little light in there.
Click to expand...
Grow room fluxes between 80o and 95o depending on what I am doing with my lights. If I want, I can get my room to 100o+ without too much of a problem. I can maintain a temp range with day/night cycles closer together.
 
Capcom, ah.  Mine is the former cistern of our home.  Lots of space, but what the folk who promote underground green houses do not share is that the earth also acts like one giant heat sink.  Very expensive to get it over room temperature and not at the point of being able to afford to insulate. 
 
On the bright side, in the middle of the summer on the hottest day with ever light running, I never exceed 90 degrees. Last house, had a grow room at floor level.  Kept getting too warm, things stretched too much.
 
yea the seedling heat mats don't seem to be very good at heating the root zone. I have 2 bulb fixture for a terrarium. I have cfls in it and set it ontop the humidity dome. bulbs are about 0.5" from the top of dome and warms the inside up from low 70s up to 85 ish. My mat sucks. 
 
D3, not saying anyone should do this.  I did but I am not too bright.  I once cut the wires on a regular home heating pad, removed the controller (uh, the safety device) and ran the wires straight to the heating pad.  Then i plugged it into a dimmer switch to control the temp.  Used that method before I started raising chicken and had empty incubators every winter.
 
glyon said:
EDIT: What is the preferred/easiest manner to go about posting pictures? I suppose they have a chance and could bounce back, the reason I think they are struggling is due to leaves curling downward, the leaves are not quite as yellow as they once were, which is a good sign. As of now they are on about 14 hours a day but I will set my timer for 18on/6off. I have an oscillating fan for air movement and heat reduction. They are growing in a closet which seems to be around 78 degrees with the lights on. I was quite surprised by the heat output, no where close to HID's though, (thankfully). I will get a pictures posted soon. 
Click to expand...
 
I personally use http://www.photobucket.com once you upload the pics they give you the link you need to post here. After you click on your uploaded picture on the website look on the right hand side of the picture and you will see a box to "Share Links", copy the one that says "IMG" and you are set. There are other sites that do the same thing, but photobucket is free and pretty good if you aren't uploading a ton of pictures.
 
I decided to try the kitchen paper and ziplock bag in a Tupperware container in the airing cupboard with the remaining purchased seeds. Within a week I had 4 Peters, 5 Cornish Nagas and 2 7 Pots all pop, so transferred to plug tray, WATERED IN and all have flourished to true leaves.

Then I checked on them again on Sunday and I had a Reaper and an Uba Tuba that popped, so planted them on last night and also added more mix up to the cotys on the ones with true leaves.
 
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