Pepper Seedlings Stopped Growing
Answered by: Conrad Richter
Question from: No Name Given
Posted on: April 15, 2002

I started my Anaheim and Cal Wonder pepper seeds 3 weeks ago. They started good, got to about 3-1/2" tall and stopped growing, and now the leaves are turning yellow and falling off. The worst is right under the lights. My basil, thyme and the peppers that are in that flat are wonderful. Just the two flats of straight peppers are problems. I raised the light about 2" a few days ago but still losing leaves.

I wonder if the problem has to do with damping off disease. This is a fungus disease that causes the tender stems of young seedlings to become constricted and thus unable to transport water and nutrients to the leaves. Typically, seedlings can topple over ot the leabes can fall off almost overnight. And the problem can affect one flat and not another event though the seedlings and conditions are the same.

You can try treating the affected seedlings with cooled chamomile tea sprayed on the area once a day until the progression of the disease stops. We have found that chamomile spray works very well. We suspect that the antifungal properties of chamomile are at work against damping off disease.

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