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Growing from Seed

Seedling leaves discoloring and then dying

13 years ago

I am attempting to grow some vegetables and flowers from seed for the firs time. I survived some initial damping off problems by using chamomile tea. Yesterday I noticed that one of my cucumber seedlings had some discoloration on the seed leaves. When I woke up this morning, the leaves were all white & curled and the plant had almost died. Now I am noticing the same discoloration on other seedlings (petunias).

These seedlings are inside, receiving light via a windowsill (although I sometimes open the window so they get some direct sun) and I'm supplementing in the evenings with fluorescent lights. I used a starter potting mix.

Does anyone know what this is & how I could treat it to save the remaining plants?

I will attempt to upload some photos.

Thanks

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Comments (7)

oilpainter
13 years ago
It sounds like your plants have been sunburnt. You can't take a plant that has been germinated indoors and expose it to UV light. A plant grown outside is exposed to UV light from the moment it sticks its' head out of the soil. Not so indoors. That is why you have to harden off plants grown indoors. You harden them off by gradually exposing them to more and more sunlight, starting with a couple of hours in the shade. Those that have been badly sunburnt may not make it, but those that only have a little damage should come back. Just keep them out of the sun and use your grow lights. Harden them off when they get bigger
mel_arl.ma
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks. I am very surprised that seedlings could get burnt in May in MA! I was worried that they weren't getting enough light! Thanks for your response.

Here is a photo:

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Okay, I'll stop putting them out for awhile. Is there anything else I can do to help them recover? Sorry but I don't think you understand what we are saying. You cannot radically change the environment of a plant without damage. The damage is done now since they weren't hardened off first so you might as well leave them out. The damaged parts will die and fall off but the new growth will slowly replace it and should be ok . Taking them back inside only to move them back out side later on will only reverse the progress made and then cause more damage. Plants need to be very gradually - over a period of 7-10 days - exposed to the the outside when they have been grown indoors. This is called Hardening Off and there are FAQs here as well as lots of internet info about it.. They never go from inside directly into the bright sun. Rather they go in slow steps from inside out into the world. First to sheltered shade like a screen porch or under a deck, then into shade protected from wind and high temps, then into light sun for a few hours, and gradually over several days into more and more sun for longer periods. And once they start out they don't go back indoors again except briefly in the case of severe storms or such. Dave
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My seedling leaves are wilting like in the photo above. I am growing in Kale in Rockwool. I have an adjusted the EC to be 1.0 and pH to be 6.2. Temp. of solution in 25C or 77 F. Air Temp. is also 25 C or 77 F. Here's another photo. The true leaf seems to be healthy. Here is one where the seedling leaves are not wiling even after the true leaf has emerged. Could you please suggest what might be going wrong ? Thanks a lot in advance for your replies to my query.
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Just to follow up I believe th problem was too much water. Saved 6 out of the 12 which is ok. I only wanted 6 but when transplanting to larger pots I was able to make 12. All 12 initially were great then after a while they succumbed to the above pictur or had some shallow roots from most likely root rot that they couldn't feed themselves and in 2 instances I was able to pull them right out of the dirt and saw no roots really. Kinda like a cabbage maggot problem on a cabbage. Oh well I, more of a veggie grower but every year wife picks out flowers she wants to grow. Didn't really realize these are perennial tubers at first otherwise I would've opted for larger pots than the 4 inch ones :/
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Pls. take a deep breath & try to calm down. Who knows why? I suggest you put them back where they were & leave them alone, so they can start over. Bright, indirect light would be best while rooting. Are you actually watering them? Not supposed to while rooting as they have no roots w/ which to take up water. They have their own water storage in their fat fleshy leaves. What they need now is your time & patience. Sorry that's not an active, DOING response, but really, that's what they need.
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taz6122
13 years ago
As I've already stated in your other post, you need to put the plants in larger containers. They are probably root bound and need room for the roots to spread out.
sarahbarah27
13 years ago
Is that a yogurt container? Any how, it looks to be plenty big enough judging by the size of the seedling. I doubt that being root bound has caused the leaves to look like that. I agree that it is sunburned, and possible wind burnt from the open window.
oilpainter
13 years ago
That container is just fine for that size plant. Anyhow if it were root bound the leaves wouldn't look like that. The leaves would be yellow and the plant would fail to thrive.

Yours look to be normal growth. And yes, they do look to be sunburnt or wind burnt, but not damaged beyond repair. UV light is the same in May as it is in July. Imagine taking a person who has never been exposed to UV light and putting him in the sun. Even in May, That person would have a dandy sunburn. The same with plants.

As I said before--put them under the lights and harden them off before they go outside permanently.
taz6122
13 years ago

The leaves would be yellow and the plant would fail to thrive.

The top leaves look yellow to me!
mel_arl.ma
Original Author
13 years ago
Yes, this is a yoghurt conainer (with drainage holes), but the plant is not root-bound. The cucumber that I mentioned is in in a larger container (3 by 3 inches - a real one designed for plants!), and is also not root bound. I am hoping you are right that it is sun/wind damage as these I can control (at least for now) - I much prefer this verdict over hearing that I have a fungus or bacterial infection. So I'll moderate the light exposure & be careful to harden-off gently. Thanks for all the comments!

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