"Billy" wrote

Thanks for the reality check Steve and Susan. My own guess was
that it was the sphagnum moss who's dampness kept the roots too
cool, after they went outside, but who knows.

I don't think so, as I had my starts sitting on a temp controlled 80 degree
base with 480 watts of fluorescent lighting only inches above the 6 flats I
started and I experienced the same deficiency you speak of. I was surprised
at how much miracle grow I had to push at them to keep them greened up.

As valuable as new starts are, I constantly errored on the side of too
little. Once I moved them outside and planted them, they snapped right to my
expectation of fertile and healthy.

One thought I had as I was going through the period is that it much
resembled the nitrogen deficiency one experiences when new bark mulch is put
onto a planted flower bed.

Steve Young