Question: Problems with vegetable starters

[fizzyspark]

Hello all:

New to this forum and pretty new to gardening in general. Glad to be here and hope to learn more and more every day! Starting some vegetables indoors, with a plan to move them outside to some raised planters.

I germinated a few different types of tomatoes, zucchini, squash, and peppers (banana peppers & sweet peppers). I made some "starter cups" for my seeds - put some drainage holes in a solo cup, put that cup inside of another cup, and then added some soil. I planted them and put them under some LED grow lights (100W each, one AC Infinity and one off-brand), and was off to the races. Everything was going swell until recently.

My tomato plants all started to have a "clawing" of the leaves, and the branches have become extremely brittle and are literally just falling off. The bottom leaves of my zucchini plants have started to droop and become neon green/yellow. I have made sure my plants are watered on a regular basis, making sure to not keep them super damp or get bone-dry. I have been making sure to give them 8-10 hours of light per day. There has been some stretching, but that is not my main concern.

Sad to see my plants like this! Just trying to figure out what is going on with them. I have started germinating some more seeds, as I don't really see any recovery from the plants at this point.

Did some kind of disease overtake my plants? Is the soil junk and causing nutrient deficiencies? Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Surprisingly, both types of my pepper plants seem to be doing fine, with no visible issues.

I attached some photos of the plants in question, as well as the soil that I used for these starter cups.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Happy growing!

 

[Meadowlark]

Welcome @fizzyspark .

My first reaction to your post was perhaps the problem is standing water in your cup within a cup. No air for the plants.

The water can't drain off with cups of identical size. Check the outside cup and see if it has water in it.

 

[fizzyspark]

Welcome @fizzyspark .

My first reaction to your post was perhaps the problem is standing water in your cup within a cup. No air for the plants.

The water can't drain off with cups of identical size. Check the outside cup and see if it has water in it.

@Meadowlark:
Thanks for taking a look at my post!

I regularly rinse and dry the "drainage" cup after watering and allowing some time for the plants to absorb H2O. However, I get what you are saying. Would you recommend putting some pebbles or something in the "drainage cups" to allow for more space at the bottom for some extra air flow?

 

[Oliver Buckle]

That you wash and rinse sounds like plastic cups? Plastic cups usually have a flat base, paper cups the sides usually go below the base, it is no use standing these in anything wet, you just have to keep them watered and let the excess drain. Plastic cups with a flat base I would stand in something larger and flatter, a gravel tray is ideal, but the top of an icecream carton would do. Water from the top until the water comes through, then stop so just a bit gathers underneath, leave the next watering until the water has all gone from underneath and the top is starting to feel dry.
It may be if the roots got saturated they have started to rot, tip a plant out and look at the root system, is it white? Black or brown is not good at that stage, does it smell at all. If the roots are still healthy they may recover, if not they could possibly, but it would be easier to start over most times.

 

[Meadowlark]

@Meadowlark:
Thanks for taking a look at my post!

... Would you recommend putting some pebbles or something in the "drainage cups" to allow for more space at the bottom for some extra air flow?

Those cups being the same size seemed to me like you were effectively adding another bottom layer with the outside cup and possibly trapping water...and seedlings can't stand in water at all.

Sounds like you are taking steps to avoid that and that's good...so that may not be the problem.

 

[Chuck]

I am going to go against the previous observations. The first thing I will say is that the potting soil has very little NPK. That tomato plant is too big for the container and is rootbound. Being rootbound means it cannot get enough water. The soil in the cups appears to be DRY. It should NEVER be dry. The color of the tomato plant is not right. It isn't green enough. It should be a dark green. The yellowing of the squash plant shows lack of nitrogen and with an NPK of less than 1/2% I can see why. I see zero advantage by planting a cup within a cup. I would immediately repot into a larger container and fertilize with a good fertilizer such as Espoma. I would throw that potting soil into the trash and get something decent, anything that is OMRI rated. Your pepper plants will take longer to show effects but they will. Repot them too. Fertilze everything.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Chuck is right, I hadn't looked closely at the photos before. Those are pretty small cups too, you may well have washed most of the nutrients out over watering and then rinsing the outer cup. I use 12oz paper cups and pot on as soon as things get established, it's a good maxim with any sort of pot or container, 'if in doubt use the larger one'.