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Rheinland-Pfalz, DE

I have two plants growing right now with the same exact problem- crinkled true leaves. I started them only a couple weeks ago, so they only have 3 true leaves, but they are all messed up. The first one looked as if the end was brown, curled up, and inhibiting the leaf to expand and grow. The next two true leaves are only affected on the tips, missing about 1/3 of the leaf. Any ideas? Tia!

5/30/2013 6:06:49 AM

Muddy Waters

My 1st thought is too much water??Do you have a picture?Is there any yellow on plants,just guessing here.

5/30/2013 7:03:32 AM

East Jordan, MI

most likely sunburn from your description. It could be caused by not enough water (the roots are small and the leaves are growing fast), not hardening the plant and getting it accustomed to the sunlight slowly, and possibly too much fertilizer in combination with very bright hot sun on a young plant. I actually burnt a few under a new grow light I tried inside this year.

If this is the cause, the edges of the leaf are burnt which causes it to stop growing, but the rest of the leaf continues to grow and bunches up.

You can take a sharp pair of scissors and trim the very edge off or snip the edge at intervals to let the leaf expand.

If it continues to happen on new leaves you can suse something to filter the sunlight getting to the plant. We shade the tip to the 5th leaf through the whole year. It seems that these leaves are the most affected because they are farthest from the roots and growing fast.

Good Luck

5/30/2013 8:31:14 AM

Rheinland-Pfalz, DE

Thanks for the responses. Is there a way to post pics on this site without using a third party hosting service? But I think the response from 'cntryboy' is most likely the case since I had them under a grow light and a heat lamp (heat lamp was 2 ft away, but still), so I think burning is probably the answer.
I also see these tiny flies around them all the time, and I'm not sure what type they are, but could they cause this kind of damage? I did start spraying recently to prevent this possibility in the future.
Luckily, the 4th true leaf on the faster growing plant looks beautiful, so I think it will recover from whatever affliction it may be.

5/30/2013 9:48:56 PM

East Jordan, MI

yes you can post pictures on this site (if they are under 4M)

Go to the main page
at the top left click
Grower Diaries
on the right in the grower diary menu click
Submit your own diary
To upload a photo click browse and go to where you have them saved.
you must put some text in the text block
Click submit.

It will take a few hours to display because all images have to be approved to ensure people don't post inappropriate material (this is a family friendly site)unless you are a premium member, then you are trusted -- unless you violate that trust.

5/31/2013 7:30:47 PM

Johnston, Iowa

Korea Grower - I just submitted pictures to my diary of what may be the exact same problem. I've had these crinkled first true leaves for a couple of years now. Check out my pictures later today when they upload. This has happened to my plants before they've been put outside, so sunburn and watering is not the issue for me.

6/1/2013 2:36:57 PM

Johnston, Iowa

what I am suspicious of is a possible mistake during seed starting. I've filed off the seed edges like normal, THEN soaked them in the water & H2O2/hydrogen peroxide solution. I wonder if the H2O2/water solution is causing this as the solution is getting into the inside of the seeds?

Here's a couple of examples of what this looked like on my plants last year.

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=178289

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=178721

6/1/2013 2:41:06 PM

Connecticut, USA

I have seen early leaves do that on plants many times before. I think it has to do with transplant shock. Just keep and eye on it and watch the new leaves. I bet they will be fine.

6/3/2013 6:05:54 AM