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Problems with seedlings turning dark green/purple

scatimberlake9CUkfGBQscatimberlake9CUkfGBQ Posts: 5
in Problem solving
Hi all first post on here and first year of growing. Currently starting out some tomato, chilli, cucumbers and herbs. I'm in the south east of england. I started them on a heat mat and they seemed to germinate very well. Temperatures ranging from about 17-24 degrees Celsius. Since then they have been on the window sill and under a grow light (led 3000k & 6000k bulbs total amount of lumens roughly 3500) over the past few days ive had them exclusively under the lights for 15 hours a day. The tap water round here is quite hard and thats what ive been using. Using john inns seedling mix + perlite with some. even off the heat mat temperatures are in the 20's (new born in the house :smiley:)

So a little background, I've noticed a lot of the seedlings are very dark green with purple undersides and the stalks are fairly purple aswell. slights leaf deformity i think. I thought maybe it was too much nitrogen or maybe a pH problem with my tap water. Any ideas what this could be or whether I'm over thinking a bit. I'm going to start using rain water from now on and plan to thin out and repot soon. 

Thankyou very much! Sam

Posts

  • scatimberlake9CUkfGBQscatimberlake9CUkfGBQ Posts: 5

  • bcpathomebcpathome Posts: 1,313
    I can’t see a problem .Different seeds will come up looking different won’t they? A tomato plant won’t look like beetroot for instance. I suggest you just wait and see ,they all look ok to me , think you might be concerned unnecessarily.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    If it's your first year of grwing, I think you are beig a bit over ambitious.  A later start would have been better.  But everything seems to be OK

    Labelling is always a good idea.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    edited March 2023
    Tomatoes often look like that @scatimberlake9CUkfGBQ - ie purpley undersides, so don't worry too much.  :)
    However, the bigger problem is - where are you going to put them when they're all pricked out and potted on? That's the real challenge when seed is sown very early, and heat etc is used. Unless you have a conservatory, a warm enough greenhouse, or a large porch or similar, it'll be difficult to keep all of those happy, so you probably will have to discard some. 
    Light is more necessary than heat for toms, but sowing later helps to avoid the problem. Most herbs are hardy, so they'll be easier to get outside later.  
    Most people are only starting to sow seed now, depending on location. It's easier to wait, and then you can get the potted plants outdoors, or into the greenhouse, at the right time, when it's warm enough for them.
    I do my toms around mid March so that they can safely go in the gr'house around mid May. They need fairly consistent double figures overnight to thrive. The cucumbers are probably the same but I don't grow them.       :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • scatimberlake9CUkfGBQscatimberlake9CUkfGBQ Posts: 5
    Thank you all for the replies! 
    I've got them all labelled and dated, I had to write on the pots as I didnt have any thing to pop into the pots like ice lolly sticks etc.

    Glad they seem okay! I was worried about the peppers the most as they seemed to be very dark in colour.

    In regards to planting early I read that planting 4-6 weeks before last frost date (start of April here) was appropriate however I see that might be a bit optimistic. I've just picked up a Halls Popular 64 and was also thinking about putting a heater inside whether tubular heaters are any good? I was thinking of 120w? 

    Also wanted to grow my veg organically. It seems tomatoes etc are heavy feeders. Would Bonemeal, Wood ash & Bone, Fish & Blood be enough and if need be use some organic liquid fert during the fruiting stage? 

    Thankyou 

    Sam



  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Dark is usually ok  - even red. Very pale or yellow leaves are more likely to be a problem.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Toms don't need any food until they set the first truss of fruit. That'll be a while yet. They get enough from the mix they're growing in , especially as you'd be moving them on every so often before their final positions. I don't give mine anything until that point, and then they just get tomato food a few times.
    Others will use different types of food, but you don't want to treat them the same as ornamental plants where you want lots of flowers, so you feed those a lot early on, and throughout their growing season. Too much food can be counterproductive for toms- they have no need to get to the fruiting stage if they're too comfy, and can often just grow too much rather than flowering. A bit of stress encourages them to flower sooner, and then produce the fruit they need to reproduce. We want them to make that fruit.  :)

    I've never had them in heated greenhouses, so can't really advise with that. You'd probably only need it overnight to stop temps getting too low if you're in a warmer area, assuming it's reasonable enough through the day when you put them out there.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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