Still having problems with pepper leaf drop and yellowing

hello--

I have posted a couple different threads in regards to the yellowing and dropping of my pepper seedlings' leaves. I thought I had gotten the problem under control, but the yellowing came back. It is affecting about 1/3 of all of my plants, and I can't seem to curtail it!! My poor Hot Paper Lantern plant has lost two sets of it's bottom leaves, and it appears the next highest leaf nodes are next. They're not over-watered, I checked the pH of all of them and they are all between 6 and 6.5, and just last night received their second fish emulsion feeding. I've included a couple of pictures. Please help!!!!

--Jordan

I am not an expert at this but ......if I were in your shoes I would raise the dirt level to cover those leaf nodes that have fallen off. The plant will grow roots from them and be stronger. Add some perlite to aerate the soil....it needs to breathe and drain well. And don't give them any more fertilizer for now.....wait until they are older and hungrier for that.

Honestly, mine do that when the soil is too wet. Do the cups have drainage holes on the bottom?

WonderWeasel - when starting seeds indoors, be sure to add lots of perlite to whatever mix you use - even if it already contains perlite.

I use three parts perlite to one part soil mix - morganc is correct - those roots need to breathe.

It looks like your overwatering them. They're at the stage were you need to start letting the soil dry out a bit between waterings.

Thanks for the heads up on the watering, they will definitely be getting cut back! Will let you know how they respond.

A little update: All of the plants that had leaf drop are already showing new leaf growth at the nodes that dropped their leaves! Thanks again for all the help/suggestions.

I woulld also suggest that you should cut back on the fertilizer.

In my experience, yellowing leaves at the bottom are normally from nutrient deficincy of some type. Most often its lack of nitrogen in high enough amounts compared to the other main two which is of course phosphorus and potash. Other nutrients you need more of to fix this might be more iron or possibly sulphur. I am very successful using a mix or organic ingredients all at once with almost every watering. I make the strength of the fertilizer and the types I include appropriate to the age of the plants and the type of plant. Also I take into account any symptoms the plants are showing, which is rare because with several different organic fertilizers at once I rarely have plant doing anything except growing fast and healthy. There are a lot of different organic additives you can use. Some you probably have even heard of. I am really into this subject and have been studying it for a long time. There are waaaay to many to list here. But you are in luck because I have created a webpage that tells lots of info about organic nutrients and fertilizers and additives to increase plant vigor and yields. You can check my webpage out at

http://sites.google.com/site/allabouteverything1234/

There is lot of info on organic fertilizers to make your plants grow better and faster and yield more. Even more info is being added weekly so if you are interested in this subject remember to check back for new stuff. I help this info helps your plants grow better. :) Let me know how it goes.

Yellowing leaves is indicative of several different problems. I doubt this is nitrogen deficiency because along with yellowed leaves it also causes stunted growth. This is a healthy looking plant other than a few dropped leaves.

Well, it turns out the problem WAS the drainage of the soil that I transplanted them into. I used miracle-gro organic choice potting mix (no perlite included) and a very small amount of perlite, but apparently not enough. The soil was staying very moist around the root ball for well over a week, so I ended up transplanting the poor things AGAIN into a 2:1 mix of regular miracle-gro potting mix (not organic choice) and perlite. Although most of the yellow leaves ended up dropping, all of the plants are having dark green new growth near the nodes of the leaves that fell off, and are requiring watering every 3-4 days now instead of every week-week and a half. Thanks again for the help; I think I'm finally starting to figure this pepper gardening thing out!

WonderWeasel - although the addition of perlite is not quite as much as I would use, you are certainly on the right track. Because my seedlings are set in mostly perlite, they require wateing every day. I think the water is lost through transpiration, because those pots that have seeds that have not yet sprouted need water much less often.

I figure the more water the plants take up, the more fertilizer they are using, the faster they grow, the healthier they are, etc., etc.

16 days later and no casualties; Some of the leaves on the affected plants are still slightly yellow, but all of the new growth is a rich, dark green!

YAY!

Good job Wonder.

Thanks, I thought I was doomed when my Hot Paper Lantern looked more like a may apple!