pests Help! Is he dying? Does he need calcium? Is it Aphids?

[troutbum]

This is my 7 Pot. The only 7 Pot I have. It has a ton of peppers on it. The leaves are curling badly and they are starting to feel brittle. I was giving it Bloom Along Bone Marrow. For a while I was giving it Alaska Fish Fert. I don't see aphids on it. I am afraid it is dying. (I get paranoid about my plants.) Should I give it more calcium? I have been using neem incase it has aphids. I was thinking about pulling it from the bucket it is in and replanting it but I don't want to lose any peppers? I have never run into something like this before.
Someone please take a look! Is there anything that I should or could do to bring this back!

 

[Proud Marine Dad]

What is your watering like? Are you watering too much?
I would say the aphids caused much of that but they won't kill the plant.
I would go easy on the Neem as well as I am not sure if it is safe to use a lot.
You are spraying on the neem in the shade in a cool part of the day I hope?
It can burn if sprayed on in the sun. It is also affected by UV light much the same as BT I hear.

Try spraying the aphids off with a stream of water, if that does not conrol them fairly well then move up to horticultural soap in a spray bottle.
Insecticides whether organic or synthetic should be the last resort.

 

[Joshuap2000]

Hey,they look fine to me, but the leaf curling can be one of the following reasons,

A fungus or insect, but said you were spraying them so I dont think that is the case,

You can be overwatering them, or your soil is not draining well enought. NOt sure
excctly were you are at, but here in florida I been able to water mine every otherday
and they are just doing fine.

So hopefully sobody else can confirm what I think.

 

[3/5King]

I think that it is fine as well. All it has is a little bit of leaf curl...psshhhhh...don't sweat it. These plants are so resilient. I will say that less is more in your case. Leave it be, give it only water and no fertz for a week or two. It could be over ferted. If it's in a bucket, does it have drainage holes in it? (definitely don't dig it up and re pot it.)

Let the plant try and right itself. If you had Aphids, the leaves would be sticky to the touch and you would see them. They are big and you can't miss them if you have them. I would back off the neem oil, unless you actually see them on your plant.

Let the plant do it's thing. What size pot is it in and how big is the plant in relation to the pot? Could it be root bound? Give us a little more info about what your feeding with, plant/container size, water schedule, temps...etc. But looking at the picture, less is more. These plants can look 10 times worse than yours and do just fine...and yours doesn't even look bad. Just slightly stressed and showing it.

 

[dani8538]

I love when u share info!

 

[troutbum]

What is your watering like? Are you watering too much?

You are spraying on the neem in the shade in a cool part of the day I hope?
It can burn if sprayed on in the sun. It is also affected by UV light much the same as BT I hear.

Try spraying the aphids off with a stream of water, if that does not conrol them fairly well then move up to horticultural soap in a spray bottle.
Insecticides whether organic or synthetic should be the last resort.

Thanks! I am spraying with neem right before dark so that it does not dry. The same with the watering. When I water it is at dusk. The temps here in CT have been in the mid 90's for much of the month. I also calmed down on the ferts as I felt like all my other plants were growing to large with not enough production.

I think that it is fine as well. All it has is a little bit of leaf curl...psshhhhh...don't sweat it. These plants are so resilient. I will say that less is more in your case. Leave it be, give it only water and no fertz for a week or two. It could be over ferted. If it's in a bucket, does it have drainage holes in it? (definitely don't dig it up and re pot it.)

I will leave it be and not repot it. The bucket does have some good sized holes for drainage. The other day when I watered because it was very dry the water poured out of the holes toward the bottom. It is just bizarre to me because the Bhuts and habaneros that are next to it look just fine. I have thirty plants which look good but this one looks very stressed and it is my favorite.

What size pot is it in and how big is the plant in relation to the pot? Could it be root bound? Give us a little more info about what your feeding with, plant/container size, water schedule, temps...etc. But looking at the picture, less is more. These plants can look 10 times worse than yours and do just fine...and yours doesn't even look bad. Just slightly stressed and showing it.

The container size is probably about 2.5 gallon. The water schedule was once every three days when I saw it starting to wilt. The temps here in CT have been in the mid 90's with the exception of a few days in the mid 80's. For ferts I have been using the Alaska fish, Sulfur and spraying with epsom. I also use the Bloom Along brand of Bone Marrow. There are ants in the area which were crawling around this plant along with some others so I used diatomaceous earth to repel them which seemed to have worked. I am wondering if something made its way into the soil and is attacking the roots. The stem appears to be healthy looking and pods that it is producing look nice and green but the growth appears to have slowed. Maybe due to the hot weather.