Unsure what this is

C

CJay

Hi Guy's!
 
So I just had a quick question. I've recently got into growing  a few things (noob here basically) and don't seem to have had any issues getting seeds to germinate properly but a few days ago I noticed that some of my seedlings were starting to get black around the edges of the leaves and one was starting to look a little moth-eared. I have done a bunch of reading and can't quite seem to find an exact match yet. I've attached a picture and if anyone can help I'd be much appreciative! And any tips on how to stop it from progressing or are the plants done for?
 
IMG_2240.JPG
 
Looks to me like your lighting may be too intense. I had this happen last year to a couple of seedlings of different varieties (all treated the same and grown in the same medium).
 
The darkening (actually purpling) is due to increasing amounts of anthocyanin which acts as a natural sunscreen. Perhaps you should back your lights up a tad or cut the hours a bit.
 
Thanks for the info Filmost.
 
At the moment I'm using a 1700 Lumen 6400K (26W) CFL As reccomended by the Local growers association. The one thing I got very widely varying ideas on was how high above the plants to position the light. Do you have any insight into this? I know that too high will make for spindly plants and as a result went with the lower values I was told which were around 1.5" -2". I'm starting to think I may have goofed and should have gone about 5-6" at least. I was also told to give them around 16 Hours of light. I'll cut it back by 4 hours perhaps and see how they do.
 
Now that I think about it as well the purpling is worse on the older plants that sprouted first (Dwarf Apache's) vs the Habanero's which have almost nothing but are about a week behind in germination
 
I actually have 15 Dwarf Apache's 15 Serrano, 10 Habanero, and 10 Carolina reaper going right now... The reapers and habaneros are free of any marking but the apache's and serrano's all seem to have the purplish marks.
 
When they are bigger you can move the lights closer, but to start with I would set them about 3-5 inches above the plants. Honestly though, I got the purpling even at that distance (all my plants were in the same box) and it eventually goes away. So I would not worry about it too much so long as they are growing properly.
 
Make sure you get a fan in there to circulate the air around them, that helps keep them from stretching a bit too since they will focus on strengthening their stems.
 
Don't listen to anything Filmost says, he has no idea what he's talking about.

filmost said:
Looks to me like your lighting may be too intense. I had this happen last year to a couple of seedlings of different varieties (all treated the same and grown in the same medium).
 
The darkening (actually purpling) is due to increasing amounts of anthocyanin which acts as a natural sunscreen. Perhaps you should back your lights up a tad or cut the hours a bit.
Click to expand...
filmost said:
When they are bigger you can move the lights closer, but to start with I would set them about 3-5 inches above the plants. Honestly though, I got the purpling even at that distance (all my plants were in the same box) and it eventually goes away. So I would not worry about it too much so long as they are growing properly.
 
Make sure you get a fan in there to circulate the air around them, that helps keep them from stretching a bit too since they will focus on strengthening their stems.
Click to expand...
He hit the nail on the head. It's almost certainly the lighting. Some varieties (CGN 21500, Pimenta de Neyde and the myriad PDN crosses, Purple Flash, Black Pearl, etc.) are supposed to have purple foliage, while others (Serrano, Carolina Reaper, and so on) characteristically show purplish on the stems, particularly at the nodes. The purple-foliage varieties can be forced to make deeper-colored leaves by growing them in more direct sunlight for the reason that Filmost mentioned.

Anyway, he's right about backing the lights up, and doubly so about the fan; not only will it strengthen the stems, it also helps to prevent damping off.
 
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