Help! Pepper seedlings dropping leaves

[luvmygarden]

When I checked my pepper seedlings this evening I found some with wilted lower leaves, some browning on leaves. Not all of them, but I want to try to fix whatever is causing this before they all do have it. They have plenty of light, air flow, water - but not sopping wet...I'm at a loss. The only thing I wonder about is I used Miracle-Gro potting mix...could the fertilizer in it be too strong?

[Denninmi]

The problem with diagnosing this type of problem is that many things can cause essentially the same "look" in the plant -- it takes a real expert to know for sure. This looks to me like it could be a fertilizer/salts problem as you mention, or some type of fungal or bacterial problem, but it's really hard to know for sure.

How are the environmental conditions around the plants in terms of airflow and moisture. If it is a pathogen, it could spread quickly in wet and humid conditions with warm, stagnant air. You might try increasing the airflow a bit if this is a possibility.

If it's a salts/overfertility problem, it basically must have come from the soil (unless you added additional fertilizer) -- the only thing I could think of to suggest is either trying to leach the soil with distilled water, or transplant into some new soil from a different manufacturer.

[Blanesgarden]

That is sorta what one of mine looked like, until I removed the Kozy Koat. Humid,damp, low air,no air circulation....Perfect conditions for a little pest nibbling on the leaves, A few days later after the koats have been removed, there is a sign of progress.

The peppers I have inside, where its dry, less humid, are doing great!
With my experience in growing peppers, they do like it dry somewhat, I would change your growing conditions, slowly, and see if this helps.

[luvmygarden]

Thanks for your thoughts. I really thought I had the conditions right to avoid fungus problems, but maybe not. I've removed those that were looking bad so they don't infect the others. Then I spritzed the healthy ones with a chamomile tea concoction, and turned the ceiling fan on high, and opened up the area they are in to allow more air flow. Hopefully this problem will disappear in a day or 2.