[GreyScales]

I've had a number of chilli plants that have just gone... wrong. It's strange because they're from the same seed packets, in the same potting mixture, under the same grow light as the others. But they've just gone weird and don't look healthy at all. They also appear to be more susceptible to aphid attack, as they seem to be mostly ignoring the healthy ones.

Is this a genetic thing that's unavoidable or have I done anything that may have caused this? I'm leaning towards genetic because you could tell there was something wrong with a few of these the day they germinated. Then again, is this something removing the seeds from heat early can cause? Because once one seedling had germinated the whole container had to come out of the heated propagator.



In the middle is what I'd regard as a healthy jalapeņo, to the right one of the weird stunted ones. To the left that mangle is supposed to be a cayenne...

Is it my fault or just a matter of planting more seeds to accommodate the defects? I only plant five seeds of each type and they're all in the same container, like you can see the tomato seedlings in the background (soon to be potted on).

[Lardman]

It's hard to tell if the grow lights are the culprit but all of them don't look right to me. Even the middle jal looks to have wrinkled leaves which is normally a sign of aphid damage. 

I'd grab you a picture of a healthy jal but the only one I have this year has leaf damage and isn't a good example.

[GreyScales]

I do have an aphid problem, they annoyingly overwintered on another plant. However the ones on the left and right were weird looking as soon as they germinated before the bugs got anywhere near them. I'm wondering if a lack of heat played any role since the whole pot had to come out as soon as one germinated (and one did germinate early).

[surbie100]

They don't look right to me. But I don't see how heat would cause the problem. If the new leaves coming through aren't more normal, and you can't reduce the aphids significantly tbh I'd be tempted to bin them and start again or buy plants.

I hoik my seedlings out from their siblings with a sweetcorn fork once they show up. It means the other seeds stay tucked up nice and warm, while the tiny seedling is out in the big wide sunny world.

[GreyScales]

It's too late to start any new seeds, so I plan to visit the garden centre and see if I can replace the unhealthy plants. Hopefully they don't close down the outdoors section because of high winds, which they've done before