Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am having trouble with my seedlings. I plant the seeds and they germinate and then they start to look a bit sick. Some of the leaves seem to die and others have little white lines on them. Any ideas?

I'll try again with the photos

And more photos...

looks like leaf borer, and then heatstroke.
dunno how to kill leaf borer, but maybe you should shade your beds... god knows I need to shade mine my beetroot looks just like whatever is in pic 3

+1 on KP. I would try a spray (check the White oil thread) and maybe start the seedlings in a tray and transplant when are 4-6 leaves old. Shade will surely help.

I reckon they are getting eaten, you can tell by the holes in the leaves and they may also be eating the stems and obviously weakening the plants. Could be caterpillars, but my guess is slugs. A couple of things are to use traps, upside down saucer with beer, not much good when there is rain around if the system is exposed though. When it is not raining you can use a spray to repel bugs such as chili/ garlic spray, some people also suggest diluted worm wee. Look for signs such as the slime trail or droppings, that might give a more definitive clue.

The first picture looks like that poor seedling might be getting way too wet.

It is kinda hard to tell sometimes if the seedling is getting eaten or if the holes in the leaves are due to some deficiency.

If you have note supplemented with iron and seasol, I would recommend a small dose of those since the dead spots could be due to potassium deficiency and I see a little bit of yellowing and I know some plants are especially sensitive to iron deficiency when they are seedlings.

After that, make sure the plants are not being scorched by the sun too bad and follow Faye's and the others advice.

White trails inside the leaves is probably leaf borers and I wouldn't worry about that since it rarely hurts the plants. It's the leaves being eaten off that is most likely to kill the seedlings before they can get past this stage.

I'm with Faye on this, looks like slugs.
Here is a pdf on slug control that has a part in it about using Iron Phosphate for slug control, not toxic to fish and good for plants. bad for mulluscs
http://www.slugcontrol.rothamsted.ac.uk ... ochure.pdf

I believe I have got a similar problem... the leaves are all eaten up by something before they get a chance to grow... Check under the leaves.... whether there is tiny yellow looking eggs attached... and also caterpilliars/larvae hanging off the leaves... I flooded all these plants (both sides) with dipel about two weeks ago... and it appears that the rest of the leaves grew better... I actually see more leaves surviving right now... I believe it could be the white cabbage moth... but both the dipel and the hunting down of the moth (ie. if I see them in my backyard, I chase and kill them) seemed to have helped....

But this is just my guess...

Caterpillars of all kinds seem to be really bad in Perth this year (well in bullsbrook anyway). I think some thing is eating your plants.

I can see what looks like Eucalyptus flowers in the first photo. If you find your plants are struggling in general it may be because of the allopathic (?sp) chemicals contained in all part of the eucalyptus tree. If a tree is dropping leaves and blossom on your GB you may want to sling some shade cloth over the top to redirect them away from the GB.

I sprayed the plants with dipel a couple of weeks ago. I haven't seen any slugs. I'll bait with beer and see what happens. I'll also try the seasol and iron. Thanks for everyone's advice.

go out at night.
you'll find slugs then, if they're there.

That is the tip of the day Kuda
...very prev' at night take a pop stick or chop stick
(don't eat them )

Give em to the quail, they love em.

if you haevn't got quail, get some

Well I probably should add that I did hit the plants twice in a week with dipel and possibly a third two weeks later...