yellow leaved seedlings

[Labradors2]

These are my sweet peppers which I started on April 1. They have been potted up once, but have not grown very much. I cannot remember if I put some fish meal in the bigger containers when I potted them up a couple of weeks ago.

I thought they must be lacking in nitrogen, so I added some Epsom Salts and, since that didn't help, I gave them some MG fertilizer a couple of days ago, but that hasn't perked them up either.....

They've been well hardened off outside for weeks now. They are just so small that it doesn't seem worth planting them out yet.

Any ideas about the yellow leaves?

Linda

[KarenO]

Hiya,

they look a little too wet maybe. also, has it been nice and warm where they are? peppers sulk in the cool, they do prefer heat. they might do better planted out, in the sun and a bit dryer. There's no nitrogen in Epsom salts, there is magnesium sulphur and oxygen (MgSO4) Hold off on fert for now but pot them up to their final spots someplace nice and sunny and very warm. They will start growing then I bet.

KarenO

[clkeiper]

Fertilizing them as they grow is necessary for them to grow. Once they start to turn yellow it takes a couple weeks to pull out of the condition after you start fertilizing them. All plants need fertilizing as soon as they show real leaves. Otherwise they struggle to survive and may never thrive. We can't feed our babies when they are born with only water to live on and a few nutrients every now and again and then expect them to grow. We need to feed our potted seedlings with care, too they have no way to get any nutrients except what we give them. I say get them in the garden as soon as possible.

[Mojave]

Mine always look like this in early Spring. It's been a strange cool season so far, this is the first weekend we have had temps into the upper 70's and I can already see some improvement.

I'm pretty sure yours will perk up.

[Labradors2]

Thanks for the input folks!

Today is a chilly, rainy, 50F and tomorrow will be a repeat, so I'll plant them on Tuesday (with some fish meal in the planting holes) and hope that they will cheer up in some 70 degree, sunny days.

Linda

[AlittleSalt]

Linda, they don't like 50F. My experience this year was/is that the yellow leaves will begin to fall off as the plants grow new ones. I overwatered once while they were still in solo cups and the lower leaves turned yellow the next day. That's when I learned not to water pepper plants as much as I watered tomato plants in solo cups.

Last fall, our fully grown pepper plants started looking kind of sickly when the nightly low temps got around 50F. They would perk back up during the heat of the day though.

[Labradors2]

Thanks Salt. I think I've been guilty of over-watering too! Some of my other seedlings were in very small containers so I was careful that "they" didn't dry out in the sun and (just while I was at it, with watering jug in-hand) I would water the peppers too.... Ugh!

Linda

[Labradors2]

I planted them a week ago and they don't look good. The one with the worst yellowing has dropped most of its leaves and I don't expect it to live. Here's a pic of the other two. I had four plants and planted one good and one bad close together with regular spacing in between.

I also took a picture of a yellowed leaf.

I put a tablespoon of fish meal and a couple of tablespoons of ground eggshell in the planting hole and I wonder if the eggshell was a bad idea as I am wondering about an iron deficiency. The whole veggie garden was covered in a couple of inches of aged cow manure this spring.

The weather has been wet, which is not good for the sickies.

Linda

[RayR]

They have all the signs of roots that are drowning in water. nutrient uptake issues, leaf cupping and all. But your soil doesn't look wet. Is the soil loose going down 6" or so or is it compacted? I know you have soil high in clay.

[Mojave]

I think Ray's right on. What are your high and low temps averaging now?

[ScottinAtlanta]

I spray the yellowing seedlings with a light Kelp mix - they love it. Greens them up.

[Labradors2]

Ray, thanks for your comments. I think they were too wet in their pots because I loved them too much! Then they were pretty wet in the ground, as it has rained a lot recently. However, I went out and checked the soil and it's not compacted 6" down and it's not even soggy as there's a good accumulation of aged cow manure on top of the clay.

Bill. Highs and lows? 70s during the day and 50s to 60s overnight.

Scott, thanks. Gotta get some kelp mix!

Linda

[RayR]

I guess it's impossible to say exactly what the root of the problem is other than it's a problem at the roots. If they weren't healthy at transplant then it maybe the cause of them not being able to adapt to the soil outside quickly. Usually a plant that is stressed because of root damage from over watering may still be able to recover as long as the damage wasn't too severe that would cause stunting or there weren't any root pathogens infecting the roots because of anaerobic conditions that would cause rot.
Scott's advise of using a liquid kelp spray is good. I would also use a root drench of kelp weekly and see if there is improvement.

[Labradors2]

Thanks Ray, I'll look for that kelp and do a weekly root drench as you suggest.

I'll also be more careful when growing my peppers next year. They were awfully slow-growing - perhaps it was the cold that got them down and they never snapped out of it. My Basil was small and slow-growing too, but at least the tomato seedlings were fine.

Linda