seeds Seedlings with 1st / 2nd set of true leaves but damaged roots

[resili626]

Hey guys, do you have any experience with seedlings that had experienced damaged roots but grew their first or 2nd sets of true leaves before the root damage occurred? Quite a few of my plants experienced that problem because I was overwatering them and out of 23, only 4 survived. The 4 that survived looks good again and they're planted in a peat moss / perlite mix of 50-50 and I'm trying to water them only once per 3 days or so but after the 2nd day of not watering them, they started to have their leaves curl upwards. So my question is:

1) Do those plants that experience damaged roots at such a young age manage to make it to fruit-bearing maturity or will they forever be stunted?
 
2) Given that I live in Malaysia where it is hot (~30'C on average) and humid (>70% on average), how often should I water them when they're planted in a 700ml container that's peat/perlite mix?  

 

[Topsmoke]

given that plants cant get up and move they tend to be incredibly resilient, if they've survived  the transplant they will most likely survive you could see some slowing of growth but it should recover completely eventually.  What you transplanted them into has me more concerned especially since they're already stressed.  Everyone should be moving away from peat moss.  Its harvest is not environmentally sound and more directly the ph is just to low. Turning your soil acidic could prevent nutrient uptake and disrupt normal root growth. Coconut coir is much better, it has a neutral ph and its made from coconut husks. If you use peat you need to balance the ph with something like agricultural lime.  Temp and RH sound great but either way you water when the top inch of soil is dry(depending on pot size) and water till water comes out of the bottom of the pot.

 

[resili626]

Thanks Topsmoke! I'll take a look at coco coir again but the ones available in Malaysia tend to be very fine and from what I've read, fine coco coir = bad for drainage and then there's the issue of washing the coir several times to get rid of the salt. The only good coco coir that I think I can find here are the ones from ACE hardware store but it is heavy on the wallet. Furthermore, I've had absolutely no idea what 'watering' means until you said that I should water until water comes out of the bottom of the pot. I thought that was known as flushing? Can I get some clarification here? 

At the moment, I just spray on top of the planting medium for like 5 seconds with a 2L sprayer on mist-mode before calling it a day. I'm a bit cautious when it comes to watering because the 19 plants that did not survive was watered twice a day while they were planting in peat pellets (they later developed root rot which I highly suspect was due to the peat pellet not draining properly). So now, I changed the planting medium to peat moss + perlite at 50/50 with a watering schedule of only once per 2 days. It would be great if someone can tell me if I'm on the right track or I'm under/over watering them? 

 

 

[Scuba_Steve]

I believe flushing is when you water way past the point of water coming out of the bottom.  When water first comes out of the bottom, it is a sign that the soil is wet from top to bottom.  This is the way I have always watered btw...

Also, watering twice a day is over-watering.  Seedlings should never be allowed to dry out, but they can get pretty close.  After this though, the soil should be allowed to dry out until the point where the plant actually begins to wilt very slightly.  Then rewater and it will perk right back up.
 
The easiest way to test when you need to rewater is based on the weight of the pot.  Pick up your pot when it is dry, then again when it is wet.  You will quickly learn when to rewater based on this weight difference.

 

[resili626]

I believe flushing is when you water way past the point of water coming out of the bottom.  When water first comes out of the bottom, it is a sign that the soil is wet from top to bottom.  This is the way I have always watered btw...
Also, watering twice a day is over-watering.  Seedlings should never be allowed to dry out, but they can get pretty close.  After this though, the soil should be allowed to dry out until the point where the plant actually begins to wilt very slightly.  Then rewater and it will perk right back up.
 
The easiest way to test when you need to rewater is based on the weight of the pot.  Pick up your pot when it is dry, then again when it is wet.  You will quickly learn when to rewater based on this weight difference.

Thanks! That kinda means I've been watering my peppers wrong the whole time. By the look of it, I'm currently under watering them because I've never seen water flow out of my planting medium before