- Feb 22, 2013
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I've been starting many (probably too many, but that's no fun!) plants inside my house this year. Too many varieties to name, but more than I've ever done before. I'm only starting the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and I tried spinach/lettuce/kale/herbs, but they didn't turn out so well.
The tomatoes have done extremely well. They're starting to droop a bit, and a few of the edges of the true leaves are turning yellow--last time this happened and I watered them, they all perked right up.
However, my peppers are struggling a bit more. They're slow to grow (is this normal?) but more than that, I have a few that are wilting away! Pictures below.
Most of the varieties that are wilting are the hot peppers, though a few of the bells are doing it as well.
I started them in early March in a seed tray with peat moss. Once they germinated, I moved them down under a shop light setup in my basement, using cool & warm bulbs hung roughly 1-3 inches above them. At first I watered them a bit much and they started to turn yellow. Since then, I've tried to water them less frequently (maybe once a week?). I water from below and let them pull up the water.
I watered these plants on Friday (or Saturday/Sunday?). They haven't been under the shop light setup since then (I meant to pot them up this weekend but I'm getting to it today).
The soil is VERY dry. Most of the plants are healthy, but I would say 6 of them are almost entirely dried up. 2-3 more are just drooping, and 1-2 more are halfway to dried up.
Are they even worth potting up and trying to save? I'm potting them up to MiracleGro potting soil. The peppers I did the other day are looking healthy, though still growing rather slowly.
How much water do these pepper plants need?! What else could be causing it? These aren't even the cells with a film on the top (and there are some of those, but those plants are healthy otherwise). Any suggestions for raising pepper seeds into happy little plants to put out in the garden in the next few weeks?
Edited to add: My basement is anywhere from 55-65 degrees. The past few days the peppers have been upstairs, which is significantly warmer (70 degrees on average, though sometimes it dips). They lights are on for 14-18 hours a day on average, though some days I've forgotten and they've been on for 24 and other days it's been 10.
These are the dried up ones. You can see how dry the soil is.
These are the slightly droopy and almost dried up versions.
You can see most of them are happy and healthy, and then a few of the droopy ones!
The tomatoes have done extremely well. They're starting to droop a bit, and a few of the edges of the true leaves are turning yellow--last time this happened and I watered them, they all perked right up.
However, my peppers are struggling a bit more. They're slow to grow (is this normal?) but more than that, I have a few that are wilting away! Pictures below.
Most of the varieties that are wilting are the hot peppers, though a few of the bells are doing it as well.
I started them in early March in a seed tray with peat moss. Once they germinated, I moved them down under a shop light setup in my basement, using cool & warm bulbs hung roughly 1-3 inches above them. At first I watered them a bit much and they started to turn yellow. Since then, I've tried to water them less frequently (maybe once a week?). I water from below and let them pull up the water.
I watered these plants on Friday (or Saturday/Sunday?). They haven't been under the shop light setup since then (I meant to pot them up this weekend but I'm getting to it today).
The soil is VERY dry. Most of the plants are healthy, but I would say 6 of them are almost entirely dried up. 2-3 more are just drooping, and 1-2 more are halfway to dried up.
Are they even worth potting up and trying to save? I'm potting them up to MiracleGro potting soil. The peppers I did the other day are looking healthy, though still growing rather slowly.
How much water do these pepper plants need?! What else could be causing it? These aren't even the cells with a film on the top (and there are some of those, but those plants are healthy otherwise). Any suggestions for raising pepper seeds into happy little plants to put out in the garden in the next few weeks?
Edited to add: My basement is anywhere from 55-65 degrees. The past few days the peppers have been upstairs, which is significantly warmer (70 degrees on average, though sometimes it dips). They lights are on for 14-18 hours a day on average, though some days I've forgotten and they've been on for 24 and other days it's been 10.
These are the dried up ones. You can see how dry the soil is.
These are the slightly droopy and almost dried up versions.
You can see most of them are happy and healthy, and then a few of the droopy ones!
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