Seedlings turning yellow

ninilie · March 8, 2013

My seedlings are from 1/26/13 with some a couple weeks after that. They are about two inches or so tall and have lots of leaves. I noticed 2 weeks ago that some of them are turning yellow from the bottom leaves up. I read several back posts on this subject and the cause was either to much water or not enough ferts. I potted them in a mixture of peat and pearlite with Jobes organic fert. I also use fish emultion each week. I first tried giving more ferts to see if that would help and did not see an improvement. I also went to watering every other day. These plants are outside already on my balcony and it is currently raining

. My mom told me that maybe my mix is not draining well enough and that I should add some small bark to it. My mom makes her own mixture for seedlings but then plants into the ground so she is not to sure of container gardening. Last year I just used a miricle grow mix, but I wanted to try my own. These pants will be going into bigger containers at some point once I figure out how many I can keep for my balcony. I plan to give the rest away to friends. I am going to a nursery today and plan on buying some lime to add and switching to seaweed ferts if they have it. I may also buy some small bark. Does this seem like a good solution or should I try something else?

Doug9345 · March 8, 2013

Are you talking about the bottom real leaves or are you talking about the seed leaves. If it's the seed leaves turning yellow, that is normal.

Is 1/26 the day you planted the seeds or the day they germinated? How many true leaves do they have? A picture or two would help. My first though is that you've over fertilized them and they may be to wet also. Peat tends to water log if you aren't careful.

ninilie · March 8, 2013

Hi Doug- thanks for replying. I 1/26 is when I planted the seeds. It started out that just the seed leaves were yellow, but I just looked at the 3 that in question and the whole plant looks to be turning yellow. I was going to post pictures, which I took, but I cannot find my camera connecter to upload them to my computer. My son seems to have taken it. Maybe I can figure out how to take a picture and email to myself. Not sure how the quality will be.

ninilie · March 8, 2013

Here are pictures with my old not so smart phone. Hope you can see them well enough to get an idea of whats going on. Forgot to mention that I noticed it is all one variety that is having this issue, only my cherry toms (organic Red Cherry Tomato from Seeds of change).

Sun City Linda · March 8, 2013

I live in SoCal. Those are pretty small seedlings to be out in this weather we are having. I do take my babies out everyday when it is warm, and I have a number of the larger ones out now, under my patio, but they are about a foot tall, sturdy and healty. If you take a weak yellowing seedling and leave it out in 40 degree +/- stormy, windy temp it is not likely to do well.

I would take them inside now, put them under some lights, any kind, but watch the heat so you dont burn them and dont water at all. We are due for sun in a couple of days which may help. I cant tell if anything else is going on maybe someone else can. Good luck.

ninilie · March 8, 2013

Thanks Linda, I can move them inside onto my dinning room table maybe (that will may go over well with my family). I have some unused fish tanks that I can try putting them in and using the lights on those. They have been on the balcony for a couple of weeks and they are up against the building to stay under the 2 foot or so overhang. This is my first year starting my own toms and using my own soil mix (could be a bad idea to try both at the same time). The last several years I have started my own sweet peppers, carrots, potatoes, and pok choi, but mostly I would buy plants from nurseries.

Sun City Linda · March 8, 2013

Yes, if at all possible, bring stressed seedlings into a warmer, less hostile enviornment. Every year I manage to kill a number of my dwarf or smaller variety type seedlings. This is because I start at least 135 up to 3 or 4 hundred tomatoes by hand with almost no artificial lighting. I tend to treat them all the same with regard to watering and outside exposure. There is no way I will be checking the soil on each, I do it by tray weight. What happens is the more vigorous varietis are fine but the less vigorous, slower growing dwarfs, get over watered, yellow and some die before I catch it. I think that is what is going on with your cherries. Some but not all cherries are vigorous seedlings.

You may get some good and entirely different imput from others but you wont hurt anything by putting them in ICU (aka inside) for now.

tuk50 · March 8, 2013

I agree with Doug.. maybe too much of both. Plus like Linda said tooo much cold. Maybe even bring them in when the outside temps drop below 50 or 60 degrees. I use pro-mix HP for potting and it is a well draining soil and it only needs water every few days, (not every or everyother day) your leaves look very green otherwise, but cupped which makes me think they are a bit weather shocked.
Hope this helps a bit...

ninilie · March 8, 2013

I brought them inside under a fish tank light. I couldn't figure out how to rig something to hang the light on so I just put them inside the emtpy fish tank. I hope it does not get to hot and cook them. I will be monitoring them over the weekend to see how they do. They wont get much circulation. I left the rest outside and will bring them in at night and just take them back out in the morning. I garden kind of like you Linda only the heartiest survive. I was hoping for last weeks nice weather to stay around for a bit oh well. Oh the lights are 2 /12 inches from some plants and the smallest one is about 4 inches away. I opened the blinds so some natural light will get to them that way. I moved them outside orginially because I did not think they were getting enough light in the windowsil and because I had to many plants that they all would not fit.

Tuk- I forgot to ask where do you buy your pro-mix at? I looked for several of the mixes that people mention here and have not found them.

Cole_Robbie · March 8, 2013

Air movement of any amount will help them in that aquarium. Does the room they are in have a ceiling fan? If not, can you dig up a fan of some sort somewhere?

tuk50 · March 9, 2013

The only place I could find it here in Tucson is at Lowe's, a 2.2cu ft bale that needs to be hydrated before you use it. Its 29.00 here and lasts me a couple of years since I only use about a 100 cup fulls each year. I love it and my peppers, tomatoes, eggplants and squash seem to do better in it than anything I've used in the past. I hydrate it with with a tablespoon of liquid kelp in a gallon of water, pot the plants as the second set of true leaves are forming and wait a couple of days for them to adjust and then I use 1talbespoon of kelp and 1tablespoon of fish per gallon of water to water them as they need it and never leave the cups in the water more than a few seconds every few days till the temps get over 80 or 90 degrees and the plants start getting larger, then they will need more water accordingly, but never leave them standing in water as you may already know.

ninilie · March 9, 2013

I took them out of the fish tank this morning and put them in my windowsil to get real sun. I will put them back in the tank when the sun goes down and give them more light. I don't have a ceiling fan in my bedroom (the only bedroom that does not have one) but I do have a box fan I always used to put on them in the window.

ginger2778 · March 9, 2013

My seedlings turned yellow almost immediately after I gave em some liquid certilizer(very diluted). So I gave them some very diluted Epsom salts and they got green again almost right away. In any event, they will green up as soon as they are permanently planted, but try the very diluted Epsom salts.

ninilie · March 11, 2013

Just heard my weather forcast and it is for 12 days of 70ish weather. I will have to look and see if i can find some epsom salt and give that a try. So far I have not watered for 2 days and only a couple pots look dried out just a bit. I set all of the seedlings back outside as of yesterday because of the wonderful weather. I will continue to monitor the yellow seedlings and wait for them to dry out before watering. I plan on giving some of them away to a co-worker but wanted to get them a little bit bigger before I gave them to him so they have a good chance. I think one of my sweet banana peppers grew almost twice in size in two days from the heat.

Sun City Linda · March 12, 2013

Yes, the weather is great. A few days in the warm sun and they will take up water and be ready for more!

Ginger - You are the second person I have seen post epsom salt for yellow seedlings, how much to a quart, or gallon?

March 8, 2013	#1
ninilie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 26	Seedlings turning yellow My seedlings are from 1/26/13 with some a couple weeks after that. They are about two inches or so tall and have lots of leaves. I noticed 2 weeks ago that some of them are turning yellow from the bottom leaves up. I read several back posts on this subject and the cause was either to much water or not enough ferts. I potted them in a mixture of peat and pearlite with Jobes organic fert. I also use fish emultion each week. I first tried giving more ferts to see if that would help and did not see an improvement. I also went to watering every other day. These plants are outside already on my balcony and it is currently raining . My mom told me that maybe my mix is not draining well enough and that I should add some small bark to it. My mom makes her own mixture for seedlings but then plants into the ground so she is not to sure of container gardening. Last year I just used a miricle grow mix, but I wanted to try my own. These pants will be going into bigger containers at some point once I figure out how many I can keep for my balcony. I plan to give the rest away to friends. I am going to a nursery today and plan on buying some lime to add and switching to seaweed ferts if they have it. I may also buy some small bark. Does this seem like a good solution or should I try something else?

March 8, 2013	#8
tuk50 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Tucson, Arizona (catalina) Posts: 413	I agree with Doug.. maybe too much of both. Plus like Linda said tooo much cold. Maybe even bring them in when the outside temps drop below 50 or 60 degrees. I use pro-mix HP for potting and it is a well draining soil and it only needs water every few days, (not every or everyother day) your leaves look very green otherwise, but cupped which makes me think they are a bit weather shocked. Hope this helps a bit... __________________ Hangin on for dear life!

March 8, 2013	#9
ninilie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 26	I brought them inside under a fish tank light. I couldn't figure out how to rig something to hang the light on so I just put them inside the emtpy fish tank. I hope it does not get to hot and cook them. I will be monitoring them over the weekend to see how they do. They wont get much circulation. I left the rest outside and will bring them in at night and just take them back out in the morning. I garden kind of like you Linda only the heartiest survive. I was hoping for last weeks nice weather to stay around for a bit oh well. Oh the lights are 2 /12 inches from some plants and the smallest one is about 4 inches away. I opened the blinds so some natural light will get to them that way. I moved them outside orginially because I did not think they were getting enough light in the windowsil and because I had to many plants that they all would not fit. Tuk- I forgot to ask where do you buy your pro-mix at? I looked for several of the mixes that people mention here and have not found them. Last edited by ninilie; March 8, 2013 at 07:36 PM. Reason: spelling

March 9, 2013	#11
tuk50 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Tucson, Arizona (catalina) Posts: 413	The only place I could find it here in Tucson is at Lowe's, a 2.2cu ft bale that needs to be hydrated before you use it. Its 29.00 here and lasts me a couple of years since I only use about a 100 cup fulls each year. I love it and my peppers, tomatoes, eggplants and squash seem to do better in it than anything I've used in the past. I hydrate it with with a tablespoon of liquid kelp in a gallon of water, pot the plants as the second set of true leaves are forming and wait a couple of days for them to adjust and then I use 1talbespoon of kelp and 1tablespoon of fish per gallon of water to water them as they need it and never leave the cups in the water more than a few seconds every few days till the temps get over 80 or 90 degrees and the plants start getting larger, then they will need more water accordingly, but never leave them standing in water as you may already know. __________________ Hangin on for dear life!

March 8, 2013	#2
Doug9345 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Durhamville,NY Posts: 2,706	Are you talking about the bottom real leaves or are you talking about the seed leaves. If it's the seed leaves turning yellow, that is normal. Is 1/26 the day you planted the seeds or the day they germinated? How many true leaves do they have? A picture or two would help. My first though is that you've over fertilized them and they may be to wet also. Peat tends to water log if you aren't careful.

March 8, 2013	#5
Sun City Linda Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: SoCal Inland Posts: 2,705	I live in SoCal. Those are pretty small seedlings to be out in this weather we are having. I do take my babies out everyday when it is warm, and I have a number of the larger ones out now, under my patio, but they are about a foot tall, sturdy and healty. If you take a weak yellowing seedling and leave it out in 40 degree +/- stormy, windy temp it is not likely to do well. I would take them inside now, put them under some lights, any kind, but watch the heat so you dont burn them and dont water at all. We are due for sun in a couple of days which may help. I cant tell if anything else is going on maybe someone else can. Good luck.

March 8, 2013	#10
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Air movement of any amount will help them in that aquarium. Does the room they are in have a ceiling fan? If not, can you dig up a fan of some sort somewhere?

March 9, 2013	#13
ginger2778 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Plantation, Florida zone 10 Posts: 9,283	My seedlings turned yellow almost immediately after I gave em some liquid certilizer(very diluted). So I gave them some very diluted Epsom salts and they got green again almost right away. In any event, they will green up as soon as they are permanently planted, but try the very diluted Epsom salts.

March 11, 2013	#14
ninilie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 26	Just heard my weather forcast and it is for 12 days of 70ish weather. I will have to look and see if i can find some epsom salt and give that a try. So far I have not watered for 2 days and only a couple pots look dried out just a bit. I set all of the seedlings back outside as of yesterday because of the wonderful weather. I will continue to monitor the yellow seedlings and wait for them to dry out before watering. I plan on giving some of them away to a co-worker but wanted to get them a little bit bigger before I gave them to him so they have a good chance. I think one of my sweet banana peppers grew almost twice in size in two days from the heat.

March 12, 2013	#15
Sun City Linda Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: SoCal Inland Posts: 2,705	Yes, the weather is great. A few days in the warm sun and they will take up water and be ready for more! Ginger - You are the second person I have seen post epsom salt for yellow seedlings, how much to a quart, or gallon?