I entered a discussion about purple leaves in Capsicum last spring. Following is part of what I wrote. You can review the entire thread if you follow the link below: The most common cause of purple leaves (very common at this time of year)[I wrote this last Apr] is a deficiency of phosphorus (P) because P is required to make ATP and ATP is needed to turn sugars to starch and to load sugar into phloem for transport. No P - no ATP - no move sugars/starches - anthocyanin (purple pigment) builds up - plant turns purple. The most frequent cause of a P deficiency is cold soils, which is why so many plants planted out too early turn purple. A P deficiency is not the only suspect cause of purple leaves. Nearly any environmental condition that puts the brakes on growth and the accompanying use of sugars, but does not limit sugar production (photosynthesis) can cause anthocyanin buildup and purple leaves. If only the outer edges of the leaves are purple, it may be a K or Mg deficiency. If the center of the leaves are also purple, it could be too much Ca in the soil or the result of too much water in the soil blocking uptake of P and Mg. Do not apply a fertilizer with the middle number higher than either of the other two numbers (N & K) to container plants. There is never a need for that much P (relative to N) in container culture unless you're supplying only N in another form. Plants use about 6 times more N than P and the massive doses of P in 'bloom-booster fertilizers' cannot do any good. Al Here is a link that might be useful: I'll take you to the other thread, if you click me

Hi Cole, The segments turning purple has nothing to do w/ watering, it's usually a reaction to stronger sunlight & does not harm the plant at all. I believe the thinning segments have to do w/ improper drainage, is that the mix they came w/? Is it possible it has hardened off & become impossible to rewet? In that case the water tends to run down the inside of the pot, right out the bottom & doesn't get into the rootball. These plants are best NOT potted up, they tend not to want it, have small roots & don't need the larger pot until the plant is much larger. I have some for several years in their original 3 or 4" pots. Also overpotting them can lead to overwatering & subsequent rot. Generally they benefit from withholding of water for about a month after they bloom, then resume watering somewhat & in Spring when you see lots of new growth, that's the time to resume watering more heavily. In the meantime, I'd take a pencil or stick, poke some holes in the top of the mix around the plant & then when you water, water down into these holes in hopes that the water will go right into the rootball where it can do some good. Additionally, there's lots of info. here on these plants. Pls. search around here for the link about Holiday cacti. It's very useful & chock full info. HTH = hope this helps.

I like that little glass plate! Would you believe I have one JUST LIKE IT! I don't know where it is right now or I'd grab a picture, LOL! Anyway. Not to go against the common wisdom here but I swear those little seedlings look UNDER watered to me. If you wait 'til the plants droop to water, they are already stressed. The point is to avoid stressing the plant. In future I would recommend against using that mix for seed starting - I believe I read it was compost, coir and sand. For one thing, never in my life have I ever bought a bag labeled "compost" that actually was. So whatever was in that bag - it almost certainly was NOT anything one would normally think of as compost. My seedling mix for decades was peat and medium grade vermiculite (I used coarse for potting, but medium for seeding). I can actually get medium grade vermiculite still, but I used to sift the fines out of coarse for my seeding needs and since I haven't been able to get the coarse any more, I've virtually stopped using any vermiculite whatsoever, just because I have no use other than seeding for the smaller grades of vermiculite. I may reconsider that. But here are some of the seeding mixes I typically use: 1:1 peat and vermiculite (medium is ok for seeding, but not potting) 1:1 peat and good quality bagged SOIL such as Miracle Grow (again, of limited use as anything other than a seeding mix or single season container mix) 1:1 peat and very fine pine fines - I'm concerned this may end up too moisture retentive but we'll see. 1:1 peat and Scott's Turf builder - this is very finely graded pine bark with a teensy bit of fertilizer - 1-1-1. I think this could be a good replacement for my old mix of peat-vermiculite. I don't know if you can get anything like it in Australia. I've also successfully seeded in any halfway decent bagged soilless potting mix. I do try to avoid coir because results with coir tend to be so variable. Also, for all the bad rap peat gets for being "hydrophobic", the few times I've worked with coir I've found it to be next to impossible to rewet if it dries out. If you went 4 days without watering that could be an issue. What I would do at this point in your position is get some seeding paks or small pots and "repot" those seedlings. Try just a couple at first and see how they do, but they look stressed enough to me that I don't see a lot to be gained by waiting any longer than you have to. BTW - purpling of LEAVES is not anything normal for pepper seedlings. I have never seen that. Maybe I read that wrong. What I HAVE seen is that the stems of seedlings will sometimes darken to a kind of dark burgundy or purplish colors. I tend to see that on seedlings that have gotten leggy. It fades after awhile. I have some basil seedlings right now where just ONE seedling got leggy because it sprouted before all the others, I had them in a south-facing...

Diagnostics: Purple under leaves of tomatoes is a trait of phosphorus deficiency. This is the most telling trait of that deficiency. The yellowing of seedling leaves (lower part) is the deficiency of a mobile nutrient. The plant takes the nutrient from the lower leaves and moves it up to the growing portion at the meristem. Phosphorus is a mobile element. These two factors together diagnose your plant as definitely phosphorus deficient. Organic miracle grow is great, but tomatoes are heavy phosphorus feeder. Phosphorus is found in the soil in small, ever present amounts that are broken down from soil minerals (making it a bit different from Nitrogen in that respect). This will probably clear up once you get them into the ground with some nice soil and cations :) . If your plant were large enough to bear fruit, lower leaf chlorosis could be caused by an Mg deficiency. My advice is to transplant them as soon as the LFFD occurs. If you cannot, adding a bit of regular miracle grow solution may solve the problem (use the weak, smaller scoop, well diluted as directed) until you can get them into their final home.