Gordon Johnson, Extension Vegetable & Fruit Specialist; gcjohn@udel.edu
I recently had several trays of tomato seedlings that were not growing properly in 128 cell trays. They were reddish yellow in color and stunted. We moved them into 72 cell trays with new media and they greened up within 5 days. The following are some possible causes.
Problems with Transplants in Small Cell Sizes
More and more transplants are being grown in small tray cell sizes. These small size transplant plugs can become extremely root bound and may not put on new roots after transplanting. Another issue is when small cell transplants become waterlogged by overwatering. There will be limited oxygen to roots in this situation and plants may turn yellow and remain stunted. This is very common in peppers and tomatoes.
Poor Growth Due to Problems with Greenhouse Media
Each year there are some problems that arise with vegetable transplants related to issues with the growing medium. This is often seen as poor growth, yellow plants, or stunted plants. Greenhouse media manufacturers have good quality control measures in place, but things can go wrong on occasion – inadequate mixing, critical components missing or in the wrong proportions (i.e. wetting agents, fertilizers, lime), or defective, poor quality components. Media can also be affected by poor storage and handling. Most commonly this occurs when it is stored outside, and bales or bags get wet. In addition, media has a certain shelf life – old media often dries out and is hard to get rewetted.
When growers start filling trays, any media that does not handle well should be viewed as suspect and should not be used. Contact your supplier and have them inspect and run tests on the suspect media. Avoid using overly dry or caked media, media that is hard to loosen, media with a bad smell, water-soaked media or media that is hard to wet.
Most media (but not all) will come with a starter lime and fertilizer charge. The fertilizer is designed to give about 2-3 week of nutrients. If the fertilizer is missing or improperly mixed or in the wrong proportion, seeds will germinate but seedlings will not grow much and will remain stunted. In this case, liquid fertilizer applications will need to be started soon after plant emergence.
Peat based media are acidic in nature and we generally can grow at lower pHs than soil. Plants will perform well from 5.4 to 6.4. Lime is added to peat-based media and reacts over time after first wetting so pH will rise over time. Above 6.4 we often see iron deficiencies in transplants. This also occurs if irrigation water is alkaline (has high carbonates) causing pH to rise too high over time.
In high pH situations, to get transplant growth back to normal, use an acidifying fertilizer (high ammonium content) for liquid feeds. Use of iron products, such as chelated iron, as a foliar application on transplants can help them to green up prior to the pH drop with the acid fertilizer. In severe cases with very high media pH, use of iron sulfate solutions may be needed to more rapidly drop the pH. Acid additions to greenhouse irrigation water may also be considered for where water is alkaline.
If lime is missing or inadequate, and pH is below 5.2, plants may have calcium and magnesium deficiencies or may have iron or manganese toxicities. This also occurs in media that has been saturated for long periods of time. To correct this situation, apply a liquid lime solution to the media and water it in well. Calcium deficiencies will lead to damage to growing points and stunted and distorted plants.
Media that does not wet properly may not have enough wetting agent or the wetting agent may have deteriorated. They will be difficult to water and will not hold water well thus stressing plants. Application of additional greenhouse grade wetting agent may be needed.
If the initial media fertilizer charge is too high, or if too high of concentration of liquid fertilizer feed is used, or if incorporated slow-release fertilizer “dumps” nutrients, high salt concentrations can build up and stunt or damage plants. Leaf edge burn, “plant burn”, or plant desiccation will be the symptoms. Test the media for electrical conductivity (EC) to see if salt levels are high. The acceptable EC will depend on the type of test used (saturated paste, pour through, 1:1, 1:2) so the interpretation from the lab will be important. If salts are high, then leaching the media with water will be required.