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sun Yellow Sunburn?

D

dragon49

I've seen purple sunburn, but never yellow sunburn. Is there such a thing. I see the weirdest thing happening with my Trinidad Moruga Scorpion. This has only been happening since I upgraded my lighting.

The existing 2nd row of top leaves and all new top leaves coming in, are very pale. BUT, the new leaf growth under the canopy, in the middle of the plant where the light is not hitting as directly, is coming in healthy green. Why the heck are the middle leaves much darker than the top ones? Is this yellow sunburn affecting the top?

To see what I am taking about, look at the last pics that I posted in my glog:

http://thehotpepper....g/page__st__100

If you look a few pics before, you can see the top leaves were much greener.
 
I am fertilizing with 1/4 strength (1/4 teaspoon per gallon) of all of this stuff, every other watering:

http://www.amazon.co.../dp/B001AWZPH0/


http://www.amazon.co.../dp/B000BSFEF2/


http://www.amazon.co.../dp/B000X5Y1KM/


http://www.amazon.co.../dp/B00A52OS4M/

I'm using Poland Spring water which I just tested - It has a p.H. of 7.1

When it was in the small clay pot, I was watering every 3 days. Since putting it in the 5 gallon bucket, I have not yet figured out a regular schedule. When I first transplanted it into the bigger container, I gave it 2 cups of water. Four days later, (back to the 1/4 strength nutes) I gave it 8 cups - I need to test the drainage - it worked. I waited a long time to water again, this time with 2 cups. it's been around 5 days since the last watering. The top soil is visibly dry, but there are no signs of wilting, so I am giving it another day or 2.

I had initially suspected over-watering was causing the paleness, but I now see new healthy green leaves in the middle of the plant. I'm hoping the plant is healthy and this is some weird form of sunburn. I would like to know, scientifically what is going on here. I know I over watered, as there are some brown spots on one leaf. Is it possible that the waterlogged roots are feeding the top leaves and new growth, but the existing healthy leaves are feeding the new ones?
 
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You may have two different things going on simultaneously. First, you did just significantly increase the light, and too much of a sudden light increase can cause bleaching of the leaves. That's part of why one must harden off the plants gradually when taking them outside at first. This post, though, makes me think you have the beginnings of fert burn. The leaves should be relatively smooth, but the leaves in those pics appear rather puckered. Try only giving them ferts every other watering for a while.

You can see in the pics higher up on the same page in your thread that the leaves were smoother than in the linked post.
 
I am only giving them ferts every other watering.

I did suddenly quadruple the light they were exposed to - If this is "Bleaching," I'm hoping the plant will adjust - I am assuming that not enough chlorophyll is harmful and not just ugly. The Bleaching theory also makes sense, because the leaves not directly exposed to light, are dark green.

People here have lights that are much more powerful than mine and grow healthy plants. I did however, start to raise the plant with 1 florescent, then suddenly put it under 4 floruscents. The good news is that whatever ailment this is, it is not affecting growth - I'm getting new leaves at the top, and in the middle, and it appears that the stem is getting taller.
 
I would imagine most of the people here with uber light setups use them from the get-go. Think about this: If you had warm enough weather, you could just direct-sow your seeds outside, in full sunlight. They'd sprout in full sun, and take it just fine. That is what farmers and people who live closer to the equator do - and what I did when I lived in TX and CA. Where you live, you don't have the ability to do that right now, so you sprouted and have grown indoors with a fairly small amount of light. So yes, there's going to be an adjustment period whenever you make changes, especially fairly big changes. Once the adjustment period is over, however, the plant should return to normal, though note the leaves that have yellowed will likely not return to green, but the new growth should be fine.

I'd still suggest backing off on the ferts a tad. The plant's still small, so it really doesn't need much right now. Try every third watering, and see if the new leaves are smoother.
 
Thanks for the diagnosis - I get reasoning behind it. I'll post when the adjustment comes. So far, it looks like I've gotten 2 new sets of leaves on the top that came in bleached.

I was just about the add some lights (normal socket screw in floruscents) on the sides, but I'm going to wait until I get a lot of new green top growth, as I don't want to bleach the middle and bottom leaves.
 
+1 with everything Geeme said. Everytime I see fert burn, it first effects the top new center growth (if not too fert burnt) Which then it shows around the leaf edges. An seeing as you just repotted it bigger pots and some fresher soil. They shouldn't need fert's that often. An when I repotted in 5 gallon buckets last year. My young plants totally shocked me in how long they could go with out needing watering again. An that was outdoors in May in Georgia.
 
I am amazed at how long this is thriving without water. It has now been 9 days without water and the plant is still growing and not showing signs of dehydration.

I did notice something - The top main branch that got bleached is not growing - It is still alive as the top leaf set is stretching towards the light, however it has not grown, nor have new leaves formed in the middle, -this part of the plant has looked exactly the same for the last week. However, the lower leaves are growing and and multiplying. Already, one of the sections (not sure of the correct terminology) has a leaf that is now the same height as the top set of the original main branch. Tomorrow, it will be taller.

Is this a normal growth pattern, or did the bleaching do weird things to the plant?
 
I'm gonna end this thread, and link to the last post of my glog for the solution:

http://thehotpepper.com/topic/36740-dragon49s-2013-grow-log/page__st__100#entry801271
 
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