Holes in my seedlings

Why are there holes in the leaves of my seedlings? The leaves are also kind of deformed and wrinkled on some plants.

Are they growing with holes, or are they growing and then the holes appear? I found one leaf of one plant all hella chewed up this morning (it was FINE last night!), so I know something has been afoot. Or a-eatin'. Only one leaf of one plant.

Seamaiden said:

Are they growing with holes, or are they growing and then the holes appear? I found one leaf of one plant all hella chewed up this morning (it was FINE last night!), so I know something has been afoot. Or a-eatin'. Only one leaf of one plant.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. There is one plant that is really healthy, not touched, slow growth tho, like the rest. Another plant was healthy until i started to notice holes, others i am not so sure. However I couldn't find any bugs on it, even with a 10X magnifying lens.

Some of my plants also have deformed or badly wrinkled leaves. They are also not growing any more, but they aren't dying??? I have looked all over the internet and these forums for info, but it was no help.

I'm gonna bet that the holes are being made by a visitor. I wouldn't expect to find it right there on the plant all the time... maybe set a trap! Or, wash the plant with a mild soap and water solution, or dust it with diatomaceous earth (all safe means by which to address some parasite problems, but by no means all).

The malformed leaves are for someone more experienced. The slow growth is relative, I'm learning that many factors go into this, among them available nutrients and minerals (micronutrients), pH (absorption of a given nutrient takes place best at certain pH levels), temperature, humidity, and genetics.

Not growing anymore, but not dying... so... they're just kind of "hanging on"? Indoors or out? Light (PAR -- photosynthetically active radiation, which is measured in lumens and Kelvin ratings or nanometer on the spectrum), food, soil/medium -- that's what the plants need, and none in too great or too little a quantity. If under artificial light, do you have the right combination of lights? If outdoors then that's not the problem, because all lighting is mimicking the sun, right?

I keep the plants outside and move them around to keep them in the sun. On cloudy days and at the end of everyday i move them in and put them under fluorescent lights. once i spray the soap-water solution on do i wash it off? ANd will this hurt the plants.

Note, these pictures are old ones so you can't really see the holes but the wrinkling of the leaves is starting. And what do you suggest to speed up the growth. thanks again

No suggestions to speed up growth, if they're getting a minimum of 5-6 hours of direct sunlight then that's what they require. I let the plant tell me when to water. If it's rather cool then that's going to impede growth somewhat.

Yes, you can wash off both the soapy water solution and the diatomaceous earth.

u got pests or maybe its those fert pots ur usin

Just to keep you updated....
They are all about the same size, some i pinched the dead leaves off so they only have 1 set. None of them look to good except for one that looks really healthy, but is almost a bright green. Its growing still really slow. I think the others are not going to grow anymore. So now i am going to try to germinate about 15 more seeds. The seeds are pretty old, so i dont think i will get many more plants, 3-4 max probably, and i am going to try to pollinate a female for more seeds. Wish me luck.

Question, one plant has 1 main stem like the others but then it shouts into 2 small branches at the nodes, with small wrinkled leaves. Whats up with that? And on the healthy plant when should i try to trim, or FIM to get some more branches? It is prob about 4 inches tall, month and a half old while the others are 1-2inches. Thanks

I think FIMing would be ok with the bigger plants, but you want to remember that they need to have enough leaves to convert all those nutrients, light, and water into actual plant growth. That's why I've been careful not to FIM or trim the younger plants.

On a side note, before I left for Micronesia I FIM'd 6 plants, chosen randomly from the first Phase of my grow (I germinated in two phases, a week apart). Of the plants that needed transplantion FIRST, the majority were the FIM'd plants. They were about 4"-6" tall when I FIM'd, although I didn't FIM the whole set of new leaves/new growth. The difference may or may not prove to be statistically significant in the long haul in terms of plant health and, ultimately, flower production.

thanks! i guess i'll wait untill the plants are a little taller.