Hello!

I have a batch of seedlings that are nit doing great. I dont know why because other than being few weeks younger I dont think I have done anything different than my other batch.

This is my good batch, they are green, compact and seem to be doing fine. The bottom rows are dwarfs and the tops are micros.


Now this is the problematic batch. Many got helmet head i guess I didnt put them deep enough, so the cotiledons look wonky. But see how weird they are acting


They were sowed Feb 26th.
The top 2 rows are tasmanian chocolate and sungold. They are leggy and yellowing.
Third row is pinochio, for some reason is staying extremely small compared to everyone else. Ive gone ahead and sowed another see if it does better.
Bottom row is curley kaley, compact but im also seeing some yellowing.

The soil is mostly coir with a bit of succulent mix to air it up.
Ive only fertilized once with miracle grow diluted half strenght.

Suggestions???

Thankyou!

The unhappy ones have a N deficiency, that's the yellow leaf problem. Also seem unevenly watered or retaining water differently. The yellowest one, in the top left corner, looks wet. That can cause yellowing (and N deficiency) if it got too much water. Vs the little Pinnochio could use some water before you fertilize it.

I find when mixing up two potting mixes and using a small sized cell pack, it can be tricky to be sure they're really evenly mixed and every cell gets the same thing. Maybe some got more coir and some got more succulent mix? That might explain uneven retention of water, perhaps.

There is nothing wrong with using full strength miracle gro on seedlings.
Done it for years.

Bower wrote: ↑Sat Mar 19, 2022 6:00 pm The unhappy ones have a N deficiency, that's the yellow leaf problem. Also seem unevenly watered or retaining water differently. The yellowest one, in the top left corner, looks wet. That can cause yellowing (and N deficiency) if it got too much water. Vs the little Pinnochio could use some water before you fertilize it.

I find when mixing up two potting mixes and using a small sized cell pack, it can be tricky to be sure they're really evenly mixed and every cell gets the same thing. Maybe some got more coir and some got more succulent mix? That might explain uneven retention of water, perhaps.

Mmm im surprised they have defficencies being so young! Ill fertilize again with the next watering and will keep an eye on the water retention.

Thankyou!

With seedlings of that size, I'd have already re-potted. Larger containers, having much more starting mix, really help me in preventing under or over watering.

Right so i have moved the best ones of each variety to bigger pots with a mix of 1/2 potting mix and 1/2 coir and mixed in some tomato-tone.

Curious about the pinochio, is really stunted compared to the rest. The others even the unhappy ones have a nice root system.

Now just wait patiently. Im not patient.

Thanks a lot everybody.

Variety will have a play in their growth too. I wouldn't compare them too too much to one another. Pinocchio will be smaller than say a sungold.

Also, what color is the under side of the leaves? Are they purple?

Out of many plants i have always had one that is over watered for one reason or another.
I've had to let them dry out and then slowly start adding a little water at a time because the root system isn't developed as well.
It's sort of like you can't let a starving person have too much food at once.

With a stunted seedling, which usually means a stunted root system, I barely water the starting mix only at the bottom, trying to keep the upper part dry. I want those short roots reaching for water.

Pinocchio looks just fine to me. It is a micro-dwarf orange cherry tomato . This plant matures at 7-10 inches so I wouldn't expect it to start out nor keep up with your others. Just keep on carrying on. It will only need to be planted in a one gallon pot when it is planted out.

As for the rest, a little fertilizer should green them up.

My pepper seedlings in coir were yellow like that, even that coir should have had fertilizer in it. I read that using coir can cause magnesium deficiency. I sprayed my plants with Epsom salt and used that with a soluble fertilizer when watering and my peppers got nice green leaves now.

Rockoe10 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 20, 2022 6:11 am Variety will have a play in their growth too. I wouldn't compare them too too much to one another. Pinocchio will be smaller than say a sungold.

Also, what color is the under side of the leaves? Are they purple?

Thing is the pinoccio is much smaller than the other micros also. We see, it might catch up eventually.

I just checked, all of them even the happy ones are different shades if purple. So they really needed some serious fertilizing didnt they?

svalli wrote: ↑Sun Mar 20, 2022 2:59 pm My pepper seedlings in coir were yellow like that, even that coir should have had fertilizer in it. I read that using coir can cause magnesium deficiency. I sprayed my plants with Epsom salt and used that with a soluble fertilizer when watering and my peppers got nice green leaves now.

Mm i did buy buffered coire but who knows. The tomatotone has calcium and magnesium. If it doesnt improve ill try your trick. Thankyou!