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Stanwood, Washington

Some of my first true leaves have an issue. It appears that the edges of the leaf have hardened and stopped growing. I had this happen last year as well. The center part of the leaf keeps growing and it gets sort of a pillowed look to it. Last year I planted them anyway and the plants seemed to progress fine from then on. Has anyone else experienced this? Anyidea what is causing this? IS it environmental? to hot too cold, root bound?

Here is a photo from last years diary.
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=177103

on the The plant in the foreground, the smaller leaf is the first true leaf and has the edges that stopped growing. The plant in the background has the same issue.

4/15/2013 12:35:59 PM

Colorado

Captan,some of my plants do that every year.I dont know the cause.They always grow out of it.When the effected leaf/leafs are about 4 inches across I take a scissors and trim the outside radius of the bad zone and that lets the leaf open better.The plants seem to outgrow it by the 4th true leaf stage.

4/15/2013 1:44:22 PM

Corryton, TN

Have battled it every year. This year I did some test seeds and found that after the seed pops and is potted, I watered heavy enough to have it run out the bottom at potting and again as soon as I saw the cots. Did it tonight on the ones that popped today. This may be scary for those concerned about rot but its worked for me so far. Try it on some test seeds to confirm my results. Also been watering more in general but I'm able to put plants outside at 75-85°.

4/15/2013 10:17:27 PM

Lymington UK

It looks like a lack of food which might be due to growing very fast in very warm conditions. I would cool them down and get them it the hoop house as soon as. Some of the seed composts have very low amounts of food in to start with.

Ian

4/16/2013 9:03:04 AM

Lymington

I agree with bro when the leaves are really small if they haven't enough food the cells can't form properly so you get mis shaped leaves. I have sown 4 seeds and watered them with plain water and 4 seeds and watered with feed with a conductivity of 2.4
Will get Ian to post results in his diary
A pumpkin experiment is always good
Stewie

4/17/2013 5:17:13 AM

Vermont

I had similar issues in my test germs this winter. To overcome the problem I reduced the number of hours each day to 12 as soon as the cots were developed. I also had a heating fan circulating air. Turning that off to ensure the warm air wasn't blowing on the leaves helped a lot.

4/18/2013 8:39:44 AM