Sprouts look burnt or dried

[RyboFlav]

Hey guys,

I recently started a batch of sprouts and I noticed yesterday that some of the edges are looking a little hurting.

I'll try to post some pictures after I get home from work, but for now I will just say what I think could be causing it.

The 2 main possibilities are that because I am using Shultz potting soil plus (which has 9 months of time-release ferts in it) it could be over-ferting the young sprouts, or that since I have the sprouts in plastic beer cups, they aren't drinking fast enough and are getting over watered.

All I have done so far is germinate the seeds in ziplocs with coffee filters and then plant into the soil and put in a jiffy greenhouse until sprouted. Then they got moved under CFLs at about 10 inches away. I have not watered since, and I haven't added any nutes.

Any ideas?

 

[trinicoolieboy]

ummm.....it could be the fert thing....... i have some sprouts with about 4 true leaves already and dosed them with 30-15-30 (similar to miraclegro) and a couple of the leaves developed dried out ends, just like you are saying.....(i knowingly doubled the recommended mixture concentration - guess i won't do it again).....

these sprouts were germinated in pure pro mix and transplanted to a garden soil / pro mix mix

 

[TXCG]

Do you have drainage holes in the bottom of those cups? If not, put them there ASAP.

And its a good idea to start seeds in a neutral mix, it definitely could be the time release ferts causing the issue. Is it the cotyledons that look burned or the 1st true leaves? (cotyledons = seed leaves that don't look anything like a normal pepper leaf)

 

[LGHT]

This is my first season and I just hatched my first sprouts and I got almost a 95% hatch rate by just using the off the shelf jiffy heated greenhouse with 72 cells for seeds. It came included with the peat pucs and heater and only cost $30.00 for everything. I read a lot about how you can use egg cartons cups etc, but this was cheap, quick, easy, and worked very well. In less than a week I had over 130 spouts which actually caused a problem because I have no clue what i'm going to do with them all. If you still have seeds I would say let that first batch go get a jiffy heated greenhouse with peat pucks and go for it.

Good luck!

 

[RyboFlav]

Do you have drainage holes in the bottom of those cups? If not, put them there ASAP.

And its a good idea to start seeds in a neutral mix, it definitely could be the time release ferts causing the issue. Is it the cotyledons that look burned or the 1st true leaves? (cotyledons = seed leaves that don't look anything like a normal pepper leaf)

I do have some drainage holes, just 4 holes poked around the edge of the bottom of the cup and put it into a 2nd cup. I know there isn't water sitting in the 2nd cup too.

It is the cotyledons that look burnt. Some of the peppers are starting to get their first set of true leaves now.

The wierd thing is that it isn't all the peppers that look burnt. I have a pair of explosive embers that look fine, but my red habs are affected...

Could PH be an issue? I think my water is slightly alkaline. I do let it sit for a day to dechlorinate.

 

[TXCG]

I do have some drainage holes, just 4 holes poked around the edge of the bottom of the cup and put it into a 2nd cup. I know there isn't water sitting in the 2nd cup too.

It is the cotyledons that look burnt. Some of the peppers are starting to get their first set of true leaves now.

The wierd thing is that it isn't all the peppers that look burnt. I have a pair of explosive embers that look fine, but my red habs are affected...

Could PH be an issue? I think my water is slightly alkaline. I do let it sit for a day to dechlorinate.

pH shouldn't be an issue until the plant starts requiring nutrients. Seedlings do fine on tap water. pH too high or too low causes certain nutrients to become unavailable to the plant. My tap water pH is 9.6, and even that ridiculously high pH hasn't caused any problems with seedlings when fed straight tap water.

My guess stands with nutrient burn.

 

[RyboFlav]

My guess stands with nutrient burn.

So would my best plan of attack be to start over in neutral mix, or should I just flush the heck out of them and hope they survive? Or even just wait and see if they pull through?

 

[TXCG]

Not sure if flushing would be effective against a time release fert. I'd wait and see if they pull through, don't scrap them thats for sure. But I'd try planting a few in netural mix (or coco coir, coco coir is the SHIT and superior to soil in every way possible) for comparison if it's not too much trouble. Best of luck man, I've had my fair share of problems with seedlings

 

[AlabamaJack]

you can always get a nonfertilized soil, dig them up gently, wash the roots off and put them in the new soil....just an option for you...

 

[LGHT]

I still say start over. Even if you get them flushed replanted and they start growing better they will be weak and stunted because of the trauma where new seeds may end up out growing them in the long run.

 

[TXCG]

I still say start over. Even if you get them flushed replanted and they start growing better they will be weak and stunted because of the trauma where new seeds may end up out growing them in the long run.

You wanna see a good example of a stunted seedling getting its ass kicked by plants started weeks later, just look at my current grow in my sig. Back left corner is fatalii started same day as the GIANT trinidad scorpion in back right corner. Front two are lemon drops started after the other two had been planted, and they are way ahead of the stunted fatalii.

 

[LGHT]

You wanna see a good example of a stunted seedling getting its ass kicked by plants started weeks later, just look at my current grow in my sig. Back left corner is fatalii started same day as the GIANT trinidad scorpion in back right corner. Front two are lemon drops started after the other two had been planted, and they are way ahead of the stunted fatalii.

Good example. I read a lot and most people say stunted seeds will never grow at the same rate of a strong healthy seeds. Your plants only a week a part look like a month a part! I wonder how each plant is gonna look in 6 months??? May be the difference between 20 fruit or 200.

 

[TXCG]

Good example. I read a lot and most people say stunted seeds will never grow at the same rate of a strong healthy seeds. Your plants only a week a part look like a month a part! I wonder how each plant is gonna look in 6 months??? May be the difference between 20 fruit or 200.

Only reason I didn't yank it and replace it is how much shit i've had trying to get a single fatalii plant going. And this one is actually alive and has leaves so thats better than the rest lol. But yeah, fatalii and scorpion were germinated and transplanted into the hydro system on the exact same day.

 

[RyboFlav]

Here are some pictures of my purple cayenne:

You can kind of see the burnt tip in the bottom left corner. You can see the fertilizer bastard on the right.

The white triangle at the tip is leaf, not part of the soil.