New house, new mater problems
Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2018 11:49 am
I purchased a new home last year just in time to plant. It was mostly successful but had a few issues. This year we wanted to start everything by seed. We are in the southern mountains of western NC.
In previous I’ve started a few seeds Inside and always in the heated space of the house. This house has a full large basement but is only partially heated. On super cold nights it can get down into the upper 40s in the basement.
I’m using the top of an old buffet at around 2 x 12’ long. All seeds are being started in the typical small 1020 trays. I have heating mats under all the trays. The whole area is surrounded in mylar, and I have a 1500 W LED grow light a little less than 3 feet above the plants.
Things I know I’ve done wrong...Until a few days ago I had the grow light on 24 hours a day. I’m now doing 12 on and 12 off. Also, along with spritzing the plants from above I was keeping the lower tray with some water in it. I would fill the lower tray when it would completely dry out. I do believe I was overwatering.
What I’m noticing...The peppers are all doing fine. However a good percentage of the tomato plants are having issues. On some the leaves are turning purple and falling off. On others the leaves are turning yellow and falling off. It is always starting on the older leaves. Sometimes the plants bend at a 90° angle and eventually just fall down if I leave them like that.
Our garden this year is somewhere in the neighborhood of 50’ x 80’. There is no way that I can plant the whole garden by purchasing starters, So getting the seeds growing correctly over the next few weeks is about the most important thing going in my life right now. Any help would be really appreciated.
One more thing, I turned off the led light so you could get as true color as possible.
In previous I’ve started a few seeds Inside and always in the heated space of the house. This house has a full large basement but is only partially heated. On super cold nights it can get down into the upper 40s in the basement.
I’m using the top of an old buffet at around 2 x 12’ long. All seeds are being started in the typical small 1020 trays. I have heating mats under all the trays. The whole area is surrounded in mylar, and I have a 1500 W LED grow light a little less than 3 feet above the plants.
Things I know I’ve done wrong...Until a few days ago I had the grow light on 24 hours a day. I’m now doing 12 on and 12 off. Also, along with spritzing the plants from above I was keeping the lower tray with some water in it. I would fill the lower tray when it would completely dry out. I do believe I was overwatering.
What I’m noticing...The peppers are all doing fine. However a good percentage of the tomato plants are having issues. On some the leaves are turning purple and falling off. On others the leaves are turning yellow and falling off. It is always starting on the older leaves. Sometimes the plants bend at a 90° angle and eventually just fall down if I leave them like that.
Our garden this year is somewhere in the neighborhood of 50’ x 80’. There is no way that I can plant the whole garden by purchasing starters, So getting the seeds growing correctly over the next few weeks is about the most important thing going in my life right now. Any help would be really appreciated.
One more thing, I turned off the led light so you could get as true color as possible.