Vapeman,

Props on organizing the text it helps a ton getting to the meat of the matter.


......Shriveling leaves with brown spots sounds like one of two things.

COULD BE: (A) heat stress
(B) lack of watering
(C) both

Resolution: Maintain adequate soil saturation following the "WATERING SCHEDULE" from previous post
.................................................. .................................................. ...
---About watering-----

This goes for transplanting and first watering.

-Soak the soil untill some water drains out the bottom of the pot.
(if you are doing a flush your looking to put in 10% more H2O than the size of the pot)

As for a beginning watering schedule goes. Use your sense of touch, feel how heavy the pots are when they are thoroughly watered, then check them when their dry. Much lighter, yea? A combination of seeing how dry the top soil looks and how heavy the pots are is a good way to gauge when they need some drink. It's ok for the plants to dry out a bit before re-watering them, this takes some time to getting to know the plants schedule. But once you do you'll be like today they will need water, you just know it.
.................................................. .................................................. ...

Due to the size of the Beginning pots size, watering will be more frequent, every 1.5-2 days. The watering cycle will lengthen as your plants graduate to larger pots with more grow medium.

{Pearlite turning BROWN}
In your situation this is caused by the water and soil.

Later on this could mean salt build up. (Nothing to worry about now.)