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container Curled leaves on new growth. Every season.

B

bvgroote

This is my second season trying to grow chilli plants. Last year I learned a lot, I was overwatering, overfertilising and had poor soil and drainage.

This year, we're using a good organic compost, mixed with a little cow manure, some vermiculite and perlite and given worm tea and seasol fortnightly.

Almost all my plants get to a certain size, and just before or slightly after flowering, the leaves start to bubble and curl. Typically after the leaves start curling, growth slows down a lot and eventually stops.

We've noticed that 2 of our chilli plants that haven't curled are both from a different supplier, and were both quite mature when we bought them.

We have grown plants from seeds which have also started to get this leaf curl. We have re-used soil from previous plants, mixed it in with more compost and used it to plant more chillis and other vegetables.

Our neighbour has a couple of chilli plants and no evidence of leaf curl, so it must be something we're doing, but we just cant figure out what it is. Any ideas pepper gang?

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Not a big fan of spider mites, or the eye strain that comes with them.. It does look like what you have though.

Get a pump sprayer and mist them regularly, that helped me get a handle on them. I take infested plants and hold them at an angle over the tub or similar basin with a drain, and then use a fully pumped fine spray to go over the plant, starting from the base and moving up and out, like you are painting it.. But much closer range. Make sure to remove webbing where possible.. I like to use a small blush brush for this task. Be sure to rinse out the basin after as well. A misting bottle didn't give me the pressure to really dislodge them effectively, so I feel it best to use a 1 gallon pump sprayer (which is nicer for misting your grow area anyway).

There are also some great ladybugs for dealing with these, but I haven't seen them on the market and they are fairly small and hard to keep track of. Some predatory mites and Orius are very helpful in controlling them.. But I haven't been able to eliminate them from the room, and they seem to pop up whenever it gets too dry in there.. Starting in the darker corners. Since I've been keeping my room at about 50% humidity, I haven't seen a resurgence.

Always look for infestations on the lowest leaves of your plants, as that is where they seem to start. I have a Pubescens that has lived with these for like 3 years now, off and on. A good 50x is great for early detection, but may give you eyestrain. I used to have almost perfect vision until I started using these pocket microscopes and now my left eye is off enough to give me headaches reading.. Coincidence? Maybe I'm just getting old.
 
CraftyFox said:
Not a big fan of spider mites, or the eye strain that comes with them.. It does look like what you have though.

Get a pump sprayer and mist them regularly, that helped me get a handle on them. I take infested plants and hold them at an angle over the tub or similar basin with a drain, and then use a fully pumped fine spray to go over the plant, starting from the base and moving up and out, like you are painting it.. But much closer range. Make sure to remove webbing where possible.. I like to use a small blush brush for this task. Be sure to rinse out the basin after as well. A misting bottle didn't give me the pressure to really dislodge them effectively, so I feel it best to use a 1 gallon pump sprayer (which is nicer for misting your grow area anyway).

There are also some great ladybugs for dealing with these, but I haven't seen them on the market and they are fairly small and hard to keep track of. Some predatory mites and Orius are very helpful in controlling them.. But I haven't been able to eliminate them from the room, and they seem to pop up whenever it gets too dry in there.. Starting in the darker corners. Since I've been keeping my room at about 50% humidity, I haven't seen a resurgence.

Always look for infestations on the lowest leaves of your plants, as that is where they seem to start. I have a Pubescens that has lived with these for like 3 years now, off and on. A good 50x is great for early detection, but may give you eyestrain. I used to have almost perfect vision until I started using these pocket microscopes and now my left eye is off enough to give me headaches reading.. Coincidence? Maybe I'm just getting old.
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Thanks so much!
The pump sprayer just has water in it or a diff solution?
The good thing is we have a lot of active ladybugs on our plants at the moment. They are legends. I'll keep you updated!
 
I use cycled(tap that has been aerated for a day or more) or distilled water. I don't use any chemicals in my grows, outside of hydrogen peroxide. Lady bugs are fun to work with.. What kind do you have?
 
Hi, I’m in Geraldton and have this problem every year mainly with birds eye or Thai chilli, not so bad with super hots.
I grow out door hydro.
Mancozeb does the job, available from Bunnings.
just spray once a week under the new growth, If hell bad just top them.
The first time I nearly lost all my plants due to these buggers ended up soaking them in a liquid sulfer solution, stinks but works.
 
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