What are these spots on my seedlings leaves? *PICS*

bate181 · June 15, 2008

I hardened my seedlings off over the past 2 weeks. i may have exposed them too abruptly to sunlight. im really not sure. but as you can see in the pictures, many of my plants, even ones not pictured, have these spots on them. anyone know what these are? i started the seeds on May 15th. do you think they can be planted right now?

feldon30 · June 15, 2008

Tiny bit of wind damage or hardening off failure (too much sun too fast). I might give them a break out of the sun for 1 day, but they should recover.

bate181 · June 15, 2008

^ it has been quite windy as well. they've had these spots for at least 4-5 days and have been in full sun those days. do you think taking from the sun for a day would have much effect?

feldon30 · June 15, 2008

If they haven't gotten any worse, I'd go ahead and plant.

bcday · June 15, 2008

That looks like the type of sunburn that occurs when there are droplets of water on the leaves in hot sun. Older plants with tougher leaves later in the season are not affected. But if the leaves of young seedlings get wet in the sun, the water droplets act as magnifying glasses and concentrate the sun's rays to burn small spots in the leaves.

If the plants are all hardened off now, I don't think taking them out of the sun completely would be beneficial; it would only be a setback in the hardening process.

Go ahead and plant them out if the upper leaves look thick and tough. Or if you're really not sure, just plant a few out, wait a few days to see how they do, and then plant the rest. And while Mother Nature may intervene, try not to get the leaves wet except in early morning so that they dry off before the sun gets too warm.

Just a note, the freckled appearance of the leaf in the third pic might be from mites -- check the underside of any leaves that look like that, with a magnifying glass if necessary, and see if there are tiny critters crawling around there. Mites can become a serious problem in hot dry weather if you let them go too long.

June 15, 2008	#1
bate181 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Southern California Posts: 74	What are these spots on my seedlings leaves? PICS I hardened my seedlings off over the past 2 weeks. i may have exposed them too abruptly to sunlight. im really not sure. but as you can see in the pictures, many of my plants, even ones not pictured, have these spots on them. anyone know what these are? i started the seeds on May 15th. do you think they can be planted right now?

June 15, 2008	#2
feldon30 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 5,346	Tiny bit of wind damage or hardening off failure (too much sun too fast). I might give them a break out of the sun for 1 day, but they should recover. __________________ [SIZE="3"]I've relaunched my gardening website -- [B]TheUnconventionalTomato.com[/B][/SIZE] * [I][SIZE="1"]*I'm not allowed to post weblinks so you'll have to copy-paste it manually.[/SIZE][/I]

June 15, 2008	#4
feldon30 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 5,346	If they haven't gotten any worse, I'd go ahead and plant. __________________ [SIZE="3"]I've relaunched my gardening website -- [B]TheUnconventionalTomato.com[/B][/SIZE] * [I][SIZE="1"]*I'm not allowed to post weblinks so you'll have to copy-paste it manually.[/SIZE][/I]

June 15, 2008	#5
bcday Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NY z5 Posts: 1,205	That looks like the type of sunburn that occurs when there are droplets of water on the leaves in hot sun. Older plants with tougher leaves later in the season are not affected. But if the leaves of young seedlings get wet in the sun, the water droplets act as magnifying glasses and concentrate the sun's rays to burn small spots in the leaves. If the plants are all hardened off now, I don't think taking them out of the sun completely would be beneficial; it would only be a setback in the hardening process. Go ahead and plant them out if the upper leaves look thick and tough. Or if you're really not sure, just plant a few out, wait a few days to see how they do, and then plant the rest. And while Mother Nature may intervene, try not to get the leaves wet except in early morning so that they dry off before the sun gets too warm. Just a note, the freckled appearance of the leaf in the third pic might be from mites -- check the underside of any leaves that look like that, with a magnifying glass if necessary, and see if there are tiny critters crawling around there. Mites can become a serious problem in hot dry weather if you let them go too long.