Scotty66: Hmmmm, that does look pretty reminiscent of my problem. That Bhut in the bottom picture as well as the top photo looks a lot like ground up "Wood" which is what my stuff was made out of. Coincidentally, both of those are the ones exhibiting the darkening of the leaves. The problem my plants were having was clearly the soil. I transplanted them all to an Orchid Mix and within a couple days they took off and the darkening is all but gone. I also started a brand new container of Sweet banana pepper seeds in the orchid mix and they are doing great with no darkening of the seed leaves or emerging true leaves whatsoever. Did you bottom water your plants (meaning you basically set them in a bucket of water and let the water soak from the bottom up)? If so, did your water begin to darken like a cup of tea after watering a couple containers. Mine did. But it stays clear with the orchid mix. I think there were tannins in that wood. Anyway, my advice is to get your seedlings into some more main stream growing medium asap. When I transplanted mine after 40 days, most barely had a set of true leaves. Some were barely visible and most had lost their seed leaves already. As soon as I put them in good soil, they began growing normal. They have made more progress in the last two weeks than they did the previous 5 weeks. Bruce

@greenman62 As of today the leaves are worse, they seem dry. i keep my house at 70 f day and 62 night. But its by the garage door. it gets in the 40s at night. I found tiny litte bugs, one can fly, not a lot but a few in the soil. it is slightly sandy soil with compost mixed in that i buy from a local nursery. Thanks for the help!

Mark, where do you live? I have tons of dragonfruit plants started from seeds..around a foot tall now and from my one year old plants. They are over the 6 ft. Trellis and growing like crazy!! I have 12 varieties and will send you some of them. I live in Florida. Just remember that it may take 6 years to get fruit from seeds and one to two years from cuttings! Big difference!

The medium is peat moss (zero nutrients). The lights are mounted to a scrap of plywood suspended 1-2 inches above the tops of the seedlings. And it may look like I have the tray wrapped in plastic, but it's just a barrier to keep the cats from snacking or walking over the tray. The seeds sprouted from about 3/5 to 3/16 (peppers a little slower). The natural light that they do get is shaded a little from the mounting board right now. Only the row closest to the slider gets any real sunlight for now, and those seedlings are leaning ever so slightly toward the artificial light. I'm starting to think the cotyledons are sunburned from the water left on the leaves after misting. I'm just worried that the true leaves won't grow before the cotyledons have dried up...the first true leaves were poking up maybe 2mm last night. I keep tricking myself into thinking these are older than they really are (24days). I was quite satisfied with my results until I saw the slightly browned cotyledons last night. I'll have to take a pic of the "burned" leaves tonight...the OP pic is from about a week ago, and I guess misleading. I'll be back home in a few hours... the spots weren't there last night, so maybe these got too wet for a few days? It's hard to take a pic of such small leaves! These are the San Marzanos...one is a faded green. I'm hoping the true leaves will grow FAST!