Yellowing Cotyledons

[coachspencerxc]

I've got 82 seedlings at last count. Only one with more than cotyledons. Friday or Saturday, two of the oldest & largest seedlings started to yellow. Tonight, a couple of the other seedlings are yellowing a bit. Again, they're the ones that popped first. My guess is overwatering.

In addition, I get some that start to shrivel until I water ever so slightly & then they perk up again. These yellow ones never shriveled or got more water than the rest. I know I overwatered 2 weeks ago as they were popping. Been careful since then.

Thanks in advance for any advice. I searched the archives but didn't really find an answer.

 

[juanitos]

pix

 

[Pfeffer]

Yep, pics say more than a thousands words.

It would be great if you could supply the following;

- What medium do you use
- What light source do you use (and what is the cycle)
- Are the effected seedlings of one family (i.e. chinense, Baccatum etc)
- No need for teardrops of a mermaid or blood of a virgin..
-

 

[coachspencerxc]

pix

http://imgur.com/R7ywLTb
Thanks!

Yep, pics say more than a thousands words.

It would be great if you could supply the following;

- What medium do you use
- What light source do you use (and what is the cycle)
- Are the effected seedlings of one family (i.e. chinense, Baccatum etc)
- No need for teardrops of a mermaid or blood of a virgin..
-

Thanks!
http://imgur.com/R7ywLTb
First time to grow peppers from seeds, so learning curve is steep. Planned to space out the grow in 3 waves for trial & error. Using a mix of pre-packaged mediums. One seemed pretty ideal (can't remember exactly but some sand & perlite) but I didn't have a ton of it left. Got from Ag class at school I teach at. Another is heavy on compost & another heavy on peat. Added vermiculite. I'd say the mix is 40% ideal mix, 40% one heavy in compost, 15% one heavy on peat & 5% vermiculite. Using 1 T8 unit with 2 bulbs & a clip on CFL that I move around. Also in a sunny window but I have lights on it 18 hours/day. 2 yellow ones are in the same cell & are Cayenne. Wasnt too worried bc I didnt care much about them, but if the problem spreads to other varieties... Others that may be turning are Orange Thai. Scotch Bonnets have been most prone to shriveling.

I've had a dome on them most of the past 2 weeks. Took it off some today to hopefully dry things out if that's the problem. Seems fairly dry though.

Thanks!

 

[geeme]

Yellowing of leaves of a plant at any age is most often (but not always) caused by overwatering. Please describe your watering schedule and quantity. Also, I'm not sure if it's just the pic color, but the particular hue of yellow seems to indicate they're not getting enough light. As already asked, let us know what kind of light you're giving them and how often.

 

[coachspencerxc]

Yellowing of leaves of a plant at any age is most often (but not always) caused by overwatering. Please describe your watering schedule and quantity. Also, I'm not sure if it's just the pic color, but the particular hue of yellow seems to indicate they're not getting enough light. As already asked, let us know what kind of light you're giving them and how often.

Thanks. Hard to believe it would be lack of light. As stated above, I've got them in a sunny window but I also have one T8 fixture with 2 bulbs + one CFL that I move around. A couple of hours in the evening, I also put a large halogen bulb on them- more for a little extra heat than light, though I do have a heating pad as well. I have the lights on for 18 hours/day. 
 
I must admit my watering isn't on a particular schedule. Started off with too much water as most were still germinating. The yellowing ones were the ones who popped earliest and were getting that extra water while the others were still germinating. I went out of town 2 weekends ago & put way too much water in there worried that they'd dry up. I know I made a mistake then. When I came home, everything was pretty wet. I tried to dry it out & fix the situation. Since then, I've top watered with the growing medium seemed very dry &/or seedlings shriveled. I could be wrong, but I really don't think I've overwatered in the past 2 weeks. Maybe a little. I'm sure I did before 2 weeks though.
 
THANKS. 
At this stage, do I still need the domes? Should I still be using the heating pad? There are some that haven't germinated that I'd sure like to see, but it'll be a month Wednesday for some of them. Careful excavating tells me they're not close.

 

[slade122]

I'm with everyone else, that yellowing of cotyledons generally means overwatering.
 
I use the domes until most of the seeds have popped, generally around 2 weeks from the day the seeds were planted, sometimes a week longer if I'm doing seeds that take a particularly long time to germinate. However, this fall I used no humidomes, and misted twice a day or so with equal results. I really suggest only using the domes as long as you need to, the high humidity environment can be inviting for bad bacteria, mold, etc - and become the hinging point for things like dampening off.
 
I'm using my heating pad for around 3-4 weeks from seed planting date, or until the plant and evaporation are expelling water too quickly for me to keep up with watering (IE: during the 9-10 hours I am at work) as I leave my house relatively cool. Young peppers seem to like the heat.
 
Peppers need a lot of light, but I believe there are plenty of people who use T8's for germination, although I am not one of them. I use Hydrofarm FLT24's which are T5HO. T8's, plus a window and CFL should be okay, but if you see any early stretching / weak or leggy stems, light may be an issue to watch for. 4x T5HO (96W total) bulbs got me a much better result than 2x T5HO (48W total) in terms of stem strength and internodal spacing.

 

[coachspencerxc]

I'm with everyone else, that yellowing of cotyledons generally means overwatering.
 
I use the domes until most of the seeds have popped, generally around 2 weeks from the day the seeds were planted, sometimes a week longer if I'm doing seeds that take a particularly long time to germinate. However, this fall I used no humidomes, and misted twice a day or so with equal results. I really suggest only using the domes as long as you need to, the high humidity environment can be inviting for bad bacteria, mold, etc - and become the hinging point for things like dampening off.
 
I'm using my heating pad for around 3-4 weeks from seed planting date, or until the plant and evaporation are expelling water too quickly for me to keep up with watering (IE: during the 9-10 hours I am at work) as I leave my house relatively cool. Young peppers seem to like the heat.
 
Peppers need a lot of light, but I believe there are plenty of people who use T8's for germination, although I am not one of them. I use Hydrofarm FLT24's which are T5HO. T8's, plus a window and CFL should be okay, but if you see any early stretching / weak or leggy stems, light may be an issue to watch for. 4x T5HO (96W total) bulbs got me a much better result than 2x T5HO (48W total) in terms of stem strength and internodal spacing.

Thanks for the advice & ideas. I planted 1-2 seeds in each of 96 cells. I started the germination process 10/26 for half of them. The rest by 11/3. I have 82 sprouts now. I think I've come up with a plan... 
 
A) Leave domes off for good.
 
B) Give seeds that haven't germinated 2 more days. If they haven't popped by now, give up on them & turn the heating pad off. I have 2 more rounds of germination coming- one starting this weekend & one January 1. I got at least 1 seed to germinate from every variety except: Orange Rocoto (Red Rocoto sprouted in less than 10 days. I do want to grow the Orange, so I'll probably just isolate these few cells that have had no action & give them some more time.), Billy Biker (figured an annuum would pop quickly) & Bhut Orange Copenhagen, so I'm pretty happy with the results if they stay healthy.
 
C) I have the T8 light long ways on the shelf but the 2 trays the short way on the shelf. I'll position the trays long ways so they make optimal use of the light. 2 tray heat mat prevented me from doing that to begin with. I also have a 2nd clip on CFL I can add. I have other T8s to add once I need them for the volume of plants I'll have, but I don't think I need to add a 2nd T8 at this stage.
 
D) Biggest question- Misting or bottom watering? Wait until I see droop or follow a schedule?
 
E) Nitrogen when? Not yet, right?
 
F) Fan. Haven't used one on a regular basis yet because they've been domed.
 
G) If I lose the cayennes, no big loss. In the end, I will plant about 250 cells. This is probably an absurd amount anyway, so if I lose some to overwatering or lack of light now, I won't be too disappointed & will just chalk it up to a learning experience. I did plant some that I'm looking forward to growing in this first batch, but didn't use all of my seed & did plant some varieties (like cayennes) that I was OK sacrificing through experimentation.
 
How does this sound? I do a lot of gardening but have never successfully started seeds indoors. I either start with plants or bigger, easier seeds outdoors- beans, squash, watermelon, etc. Not a whole lot to worry about there. 
 
THANKS!!

 

[juanitos]

a) yes only put dome on until you see the first couple come up then take it off, Or be like me and don't use one at all.
 
b) if you don't have space problems just leave the ones that haven't germinated sitting there and keep them watered, maybe one will pop, if not just throw em out sure. i usually only wait 2 weeks because i get bored.
 
c) sounds good, put it close to the plants, like 4 inches away if you have some chain that you can lower it with.
 
d) bottom or top watering, idk about misting lol. I can Bottom water the whole tray at once add like an inch of standing water, and plants will soak it up and fan will help evaporate the rest in a couple days, water again when they get dry.
 
e) Dont need to fertilize for a while, like 4 or 5 sets of leaves. (like 2 months)
 
f) yeah ditch the dome and oscilating fan
 
g) just because they are a little yellow isn't a big deal they can recover.

 

[coachspencerxc]

a) yes only put dome on until you see the first couple come up then take it off, Or be like me and don't use one at all.
 
b) if you don't have space problems just leave the ones that haven't germinated sitting there and keep them watered, maybe one will pop, if not just throw em out sure. i usually only wait 2 weeks because i get bored.
 
c) sounds good, put it close to the plants, like 4 inches away if you have some chain that you can lower it with.
 
d) bottom or top watering, idk about misting lol. I can Bottom water the whole tray at once add like an inch of standing water, and plants will soak it up and fan will help evaporate the rest in a couple days, water again when they get dry.
 
e) Dont need to fertilize for a while, like 4 or 5 sets of leaves. (like 2 months)
 
f) yeah ditch the dome and oscilating fan
 
g) just because they are a little yellow isn't a big deal they can recover.

Thanks for all the advice.
Thought I was just dealing with a couple of slightly overwatered seedlings. Came home & red APHIDS. everywhere. No sign of them ever before. Ughhh... time to read up. I have insecticidal soap & BT. I'll read. Dangit.
Err... maybe 2 different bugs... both tiny. One grey & flying like a gnat. One red and on the underside of cotyledons.

 

[juanitos]

Thanks for all the advice.
Thought I was just dealing with a couple of slightly overwatered seedlings. Came home & red APHIDS. everywhere. No sign of them ever before. Ughhh... time to read up. I have insecticidal soap & BT. I'll read. Dangit.
Err... maybe 2 different bugs... both tiny. One grey & flying like a gnat. One red and on the underside of cotyledons.

hmmm did you not used bag soil? used soil from outside?
sounds like mites and gnats? check the pest sticky

 

[coachspencerxc]

hmmm did you not used bag soil? used soil from outside?
sounds like mites and gnats? check the pest sticky

Active evening for me yesterday. 
Came home worried about yellowing leaves but had to deal with bugs. Also had probably 10 seedlings that had looked healthy & decent sized when I left in the morning but were completely wilted and laid out on the dirt. Good news was the yellowing hadn't spread to other seedlings but the other problems had me pretty bummed out. Changed my set up as outlined above, sprayed insecticidal soap & watered those wilted sprouts. This morning everything looked much better. Seedlings popped back up. I will definitely tweak my planting medium near go around & add more perlite among other things. Seems there's very little happy medium between soggy and bricklike.
 
Anyway, 1/3 of the soil was from an open bag that was in my garage, but I planted in it 3 weeks ago & it's been inside every since. I pulled up a jalapeno plant & brought it inside 3 weeks ago too just to get a few more peppers for 4-6 more weeks- not really an overwinter project. Either the plant or the soil could've had bugs but nothing's changed in 3 weeks and they just showed up all the sudden- both the red ones & the flying grey ones. Hmm...
 
There were a few visible this morning, but I think it's under control. 
 
Thanks.