Hi, i germinated my seeds in paper towels etc and they sprouted, i put them in a propagator outside when it was sunny with a mixture of: sterilized potting soil perlite sand organic fertilizer and a few drops of a secondary fertilizer i know i shouldn't have used fertilizer for plants that haven't sprouted i made a mistake but kept them to see if they would grow ok and also i shouldnt have put them in direct sunlight i figured there was a tropical thunderstorm and even though they where under a propagator (in the sunlight which turned to rain rapidly when i was out) somehow soaked the soil through and some / most of the bits of perlite are turning this browny discoloration?? ? why is this? does anyone have any ideas?? i figured i would put them in the sun and let the soil dry out which it didnt eventually, andsee if anything happened, but many of the seeds just didnt come through, apart from one that was in a separate small pot that seems to be doing ok and just has cracked the surface which is now in the shadey area keeping warm with a bag over the top ready for the sun when shes stronger. so back to the question, does anyone have any ideas why the perlite has turned this browny colour?? could it be the mixture of ferts? or one of them? or the water that soaked the soil any help would be good so i can eliminate this happening when i re-germinate some new seeds. thanks
I believe perlite on the top surface turns brown due to the light. If you move some soil aside there should be white perlite underneath?
Sounds like the pearlite is rotting boil for 10 minutes should whiten them back up. lol. or maybe it's just the pearlite soaking up a bit of dirt. Don't worry so much bud. Your babies still have a long way to go.
my perlite usually turns brown after a week or so. Mind you i add rhizotonic to my water, where only a few mls of the stuff is enough to change the colour of the water to a light brown - i assumed it was just sucking up some water/nutes. Isn't that what it's supposed to do - retain moisture?
yeah i thought that maybe due to the rain etc that it would soak up some of the mositure in the dirt. many thanks
I'm having this same problem. It is just turning the perlite on the top brown. I'm pretty sure it's from my CFL's. Does it hurt anything or should I move the lights away a little?
My soil plants always do this too, never seen a negative side effect though. The perlite on top of the soil often grows algae, I scratch the surface everytime I water.