Hi I'm a beginning gardener. I am growing some peppers indoors to
transplant when it is warmer. As a practice I transplanted some of the
extra plants in to a window box (still inside) that was empty.

Some of the leaves on 5 out of seven plants are developing pale areas,
beggining on one side of veins and spreading outward to fill the space
between vanes. Some transplanted Parsleys also have it faintly on
their leaves. I scanned a picture, but frankly they look healthier
and greener in the scan than in real life. But you can see the whitish
line developing alongside one side of the large leaf's veins.

http://members.aol.com/royalef/leaves.jpg

I checked all the leaves, top and bottom. No residue, no sack or spots
on the leaves, undersides or the crotches of the shoots. I have put
the window box outside twice, edge of the porch so they could get some
direct sun. I think the areas developed after this.

My first guess was sunburn. The advice I read was to cut off all the
burnt leaves. Is that best? I have a corner porch (two walls, two open
sides). If i am trying to acclimate(sp?) a transplant for the outside
is a porch corner with no sunlight a good place to start? It might get
morning sun when it is low in the sky..

The other possibility was chlorosis--although the examples indicated
the whole leaf being pale green and veins a healthier green. On the
leaves where the pale whitish is most prominent the veins don't seem
to be excluded. I read Chlorosis is iron/magnesium deficiency(my
fertilizer has these). I also read it can be from hard water--which
has never been a problem here (north of NYC, NY, zone 6, only blocks
away from the Long Island Sound)

The only other thing I could guess was I'm not fertilizing
properly--which I'm sure I'm not. I was using a watersoluable 10-15-10
that was designed to be used lightly everytime you water. I've read so
much conflicting information about fertilizing once/month, once/week,
never on seedlings, that I need to sit down and restudy the topic in
general. I'm thinking of not using the schultz fertilizer because it
doesn't fit the conventional fertilizer recommendations. I used it at
first then stopped out of confusion from what I read. I do it every
other week now--which is lighter than recommended by the manufacturer.


Lastly, one of the plants has started to curl some on one leaf. If it
worsens that means a root issue, right? The soil definitely isn't
drying out, so i'm thinking more likely somethign like root rot. by
next week if that one doesn't improve I'll yank it to examine roots.(
i think i read they would be brown for root rot, although I don't
really recall ever seeing roots that weren't brown in my life)

Thanks for any advice.

DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

DigitalVinyl said:

Hi I'm a beginning gardener. I am growing some peppers indoors to
transplant when it is warmer. As a practice I transplanted some of the
extra plants in to a window box (still inside) that was empty.

Some of the leaves on 5 out of seven plants are developing pale areas,
beggining on one side of veins and spreading outward to fill the space
between vanes. Some transplanted Parsleys also have it faintly on
their leaves. I scanned a picture, but frankly they look healthier
and greener in the scan than in real life. But you can see the whitish
line developing alongside one side of the large leaf's veins.

http://members.aol.com/royalef/leaves.jpg

It does look like sunburn. Were these plants started under lights and then
moved to a sunny window?

I tend to move plants outside to areas where I know they will get some sun
but be covered by dappled shade, sooner (when first taking them out) or
later (as they get better adapted).

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

(Pat Kiewicz) wrote:


It does look like sunburn. Were these plants started under lights and then
moved to a sunny window?
The seeds started in a sunny window, but the window is crowded and I
couldn't get much sun on the transplants. I put a small flourescent
there to help out, but I don't think they are getting enough light.
I'm going to setup a more proper lighting system this week.

I tend to move plants outside to areas where I know they will get some sun
but be covered by dappled shade, sooner (when first taking them out) or
later (as they get better adapted).

I put them on a table below the railing level of the porch. I figured
the railings would help as a windbreak. However, high afternoon sun
hit them for about 3-4 hours each time. I'll put them on the back
corner, earlier in the day to give them morning sun instead next time.
Then afternoon sun in shorter doses.

Should I cut off all the burnt leaves?
DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

On Sat, 26 Apr 2003 12:51:20 -0400, DigitalVinyl
wrote:

(Pat Kiewicz) wrote:


It does look like sunburn. Were these plants started under lights and then
moved to a sunny window?
The seeds started in a sunny window, but the window is crowded and I
couldn't get much sun on the transplants. I put a small flourescent
there to help out, but I don't think they are getting enough light.
I'm going to setup a more proper lighting system this week.

I tend to move plants outside to areas where I know they will get some sun
but be covered by dappled shade, sooner (when first taking them out) or
later (as they get better adapted).

I put them on a table below the railing level of the porch. I figured
the railings would help as a windbreak. However, high afternoon sun
hit them for about 3-4 hours each time. I'll put them on the back
corner, earlier in the day to give them morning sun instead next time.
Then afternoon sun in shorter doses.

Should I cut off all the burnt leaves?
DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

It may be the cold causing the problem. Peppers like it hot. Here,
near Phila, I don't plant my peppers until the end of May, a few weeks
after the tomatoes go in the ground.
I'd leave the leaves for now. If they don't recover, then I'd remove
them, and at that point, the plant may be history, unfortunately.
Barry
--
Note - Remove the X from my e-mail address for direct replies

(Barry K) wrote:

On Sat, 26 Apr 2003 12:51:20 -0400, DigitalVinyl
wrote:

(Pat Kiewicz) wrote:

It may be the cold causing the problem. Peppers like it hot. Here,
near Phila, I don't plant my peppers until the end of May, a few weeks
after the tomatoes go in the ground.
I've read some confusing info on tomatoes. One well-known book (Sq.Ft
Gardening) said tomato transplants go outside ON last frost date which
I believe is april 15 for my area. Yet others say 2-6 weeks after when
nighttime temps are above 55 degrees. Nightime averages reach 55
around the first week in June historically, about 6-7 weeks after last
frost. We had 30s and 40s almost every night for the last two weeks,
so I'm assuming that +2-6 is the correct timing. Peppers are supposed
to be similar, preferring 55+ night/70+day.

I'd leave the leaves for now. If they don't recover, then I'd remove
them, and at that point, the plant may be history, unfortunately.
That's okay, I have 3-5 others in pots that I haven't put outside and
they are all healthy looking. These were heading for the scrap heap
and I was using them to pratice transplanting without maiming. :-)
I'm just trying to make sure I'm not doing something bad with
soil/water/fertilizer to cause it.


DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

On Sat, 26 Apr 2003 21:50:36 -0400, DigitalVinyl
wrote:

(Barry K) wrote:

On Sat, 26 Apr 2003 12:51:20 -0400, DigitalVinyl
wrote:

(Pat Kiewicz) wrote:

It may be the cold causing the problem. Peppers like it hot. Here,
near Phila, I don't plant my peppers until the end of May, a few weeks
after the tomatoes go in the ground.
I've read some confusing info on tomatoes. One well-known book (Sq.Ft
Gardening) said tomato transplants go outside ON last frost date which
I believe is april 15 for my area. Yet others say 2-6 weeks after when
nighttime temps are above 55 degrees. Nightime averages reach 55
around the first week in June historically, about 6-7 weeks after last
frost. We had 30s and 40s almost every night for the last two weeks,
so I'm assuming that +2-6 is the correct timing. Peppers are supposed
to be similar, preferring 55+ night/70+day.

I'd leave the leaves for now. If they don't recover, then I'd remove
them, and at that point, the plant may be history, unfortunately.
That's okay, I have 3-5 others in pots that I haven't put outside and
they are all healthy looking. These were heading for the scrap heap
and I was using them to pratice transplanting without maiming. :-)
I'm just trying to make sure I'm not doing something bad with
soil/water/fertilizer to cause it.


DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

I believe you said you were north of NYC in an earlier post? I'm at
the southern end of zone 6. Our landmark for planting tomatoes outside
is Mother's Day. I would think yours should be similar, or a few days
later.
Barry
--
Note - Remove the X from my e-mail address for direct replies

Here's something I dug out of my archives, and scanned, that you may
find helpful. It's a planting schedule for central PA, put out by the
Dept of Agriculture at Penn State. The image is about 39K:
http://w2up.home.mindspring.com/planting-schedule.jpg
BTW, the hard frost date cut off at the top/right edge is May 1.

Another link I find useful is the agricultural weather forecast from
Rutgers at http://cook-college.rutgers.edu/htbin/agweather.com
As you can see, current soil temp is in the low 50s, a bit cold for
tomatoes/peppers.

Barry
--
Note - Remove the X from my e-mail address for direct replies

(Barry K) wrote:

Thanks for those...

Another link I find useful is the agricultural weather forecast from
Rutgers at http://cook-college.rutgers.edu/htbin/agweather.com
As you can see, current soil temp is in the low 50s, a bit cold for
tomatoes/peppers.

When a book says peppers and tomatoes need 55 degree minimum
overnight...are they referring to soil temperature or ambient
temperature. I had been assuming the later.


DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

DigitalVinyl wrote:

...When a book says peppers and tomatoes need 55 degree minimum
overnight...are they referring to soil temperature or ambient
temperature. I had been assuming the later...



They mean air temperatures and are referring to mature plants. Below 55
F, tomatoes are subject to catfacing of the fruit, where the blossom end
of the tomato is covered with scars. It's a problem for producers, but
not really for home growers. It doesn't affect the taste, only the
appearance and saleability.

I would put the limit at about 40 F for setting immature plants out. 40
F average temperatures could easily get to freezing on an occasional
clear night, but you can cover the plants for that night.