Problems with peppers, stunted growth, leaf drop

Hello guys,
 
Need some advice about plants that stopped growing, flower buds that drop (in mass) and yellow
leaves which also fall off (leaves have no symptoms of brown spots or anything, they just turn yellow).
I'd post a picture of these leaves aswell, but my loveley helpfull wife picked them up and threw them away.
A few days ago I started noticing that a lot of leaves (mainly older leaves) from my Bhut started to turn yellow,
which wasnt a concern to me at that time, but now those leaves are starting to drop (30% dropped allready).
The leaf drop starts at the bottom of the plant, but does not affect the new forming bottom branches (see pic's).
Also on the top of the plant there is no more new growth and the forming flowers on the top are falling off in mass.
The top of the plant is showing a brown discoloration (see pic's), but the bottom part still grows healthy and green.
The problem is at the moment only occuring on 1 bhut, the other bhut is still fine (also the rest of the plants are ok).
 
I started to try and troubleshoot this problem and this is where I am at now :
 
-Watering I only do when the plants start to wilt a bit.
-Feeding happens once a week with Chili focus (with fish emulsion)
-no bugs found on the plants at all.
-I checked the roots and no mold has been found
 
The plant's pods seem not affected and keep growing and are looking nice.
 
Could this be that the plant puts all its energy in the podding process and stops all other functions like growth
and flowering?
Does it have a nutrient deficiency or could it be a disease?
 
Any help from u guys would be very much appreciated as at the moment I really dont know what to do anymore.
 
PS: Today I went to the pharmacy and bought me some Magnesiumsulphate (100% pure pharmacy grade epsom salt)
and I dilluted 1tbspoon of it in 1/4 gallon of water and sprayed it on the plants . Could this help fix my problem?
And also, how many times is beneficial (using this spray) once a week, 2 times a month?
 
 
This is a picture from the top end of a branch which stopped growing and shows the brown I mentioned,
also one of the forming flowers shows a brown stem and will fall off when touched or eventually fall off from
itself later today.
DSC_0541_zps89b6bcdb.jpg

 
 
 
 
This is a picture of the nice healthy and green new undergrowth (u can also see the many places where the leaves dropped off)
But at the places where leaves dropped off new branches appear.
DSC_0545_zps6c6f216c.jpg

 
Many thanks for reading and replying!
 
Well leaves yellowing and falling off are usually a sign of lack of nitrogen. When the plant reaches its pod limit they will focus on ripening the pods kinda like survival mode. I'm not familiar with chili focus but if the leaves are just yellowing and falling off I would boost the ferts a little as long as your pH is in check.
 
Yellowing leaves can be any kind of nutrient deficiency, nitrogen would be the most common but you said you were using food with fish emulsion, so it could be another deficiency, or could even be nitrogen burn from too much fert.  Good ones to start with would be calcium, magnesium (both macronutrients), and iron.  Try continuing spraying with epsom salt and see if that makes a difference.  Bonemeal might be good to mix into the spray and soil if the magnesium spray isn't helping.
 
 
I've even had similar problems and buried a dead minnow in the soil and had it fix it, hard to say.
 
Bonemeal isn't water soluble so it would do no good to try to spray it. Bonemeal has to be broken down in the soil. Nute burn will usually show some type of necrosis on the leaves burnt tips or edges dying. If the leaves are healthy and just turning pale yellow and falling off I still say its a lack of nitrogen for some reason. If the pH is within range ( 6.3-7.0) then the plant is probably hungry. Not all plants use the same amounts of nutes some like more some less.
 
rebelgrower3 said:
Bonemeal isn't water soluble so it would do no good to try to spray it. Bonemeal has to be broken down in the soil. Nute burn will usually show some type of necrosis on the leaves burnt tips or edges dying. If the leaves are healthy and just turning pale yellow and falling off I still say its a lack of nitrogen for some reason. If the pH is within range ( 6.3-7.0) then the plant is probably hungry. Not all plants use the same amounts of nutes some like more some less.
 
 
ikeepfish said:
good to know about bonemeal, I've never done it personally, was just throwing the idea out there.
 
 
Both thanks for the advice, will get the ph-tester and have a look, I'll probably will be getting me some bonemeal too.
 
Greetz,
 
Oli
 
Wasent able to get the bonemeal, but I fed the plants with organically palm fert 6-4-6 (NPK) today to give them more Nitrogen.
Yesterday I also sprayed with Epsom salt.
I hope they'll come through...
 
When applied bone meal takes a little time to break down so it isn't a quick fix. Bone meal is a good source of phosphorus which aids in root development and flowering. Blood meal on the other hand is faster acting and a good source of nitrogen. You should see an improvement in your plants in a few days with the ferts you used but I would still check the pH of your solution and runoff of your soil just to be sure everything is in check. You can always buy one of the soil test kits from the big box store and get a better idea of what your soil is lacking.
 
rebelgrower3 said:
When applied bone meal takes a little time to break down so it isn't a quick fix. Bone meal is a good source of phosphorus which aids in root development and flowering. Blood meal on the other hand is faster acting and a good source of nitrogen. You should see an improvement in your plants in a few days with the ferts you used but I would still check the pH of your solution and runoff of your soil just to be sure everything is in check. You can always buy one of the soil test kits from the big box store and get a better idea of what your soil is lacking.
 
First of all Thank you (yes capital T :) ) Rebel for the great advice!
 
Just now I've removed the plant from its pot and noticed that the soil is allmost completeley dry at the bottom (watered it abt 8hours ago)
Its only the top layer of soil that is still a little wet, so I guess the leafdrop and the yellowing could be from not enough water too?
 
After reading here on THP I was a bit afraid to overwater and to overfert so I only  water it with 17 fluid Oz for 1.5gal containers when it starts to wilt. Guess I'll need to use more water after seeing the soil is allready completeley dry after 8 hours.
 
Soil Ph is 6.3 at the moment so I guess there's no problem there ? (yes got me a cheap meter)
 
Havent found the bone meal yet here in Belgium garden stores, so I'll probably be ordering from the net to get a hold of some.
 
 
Any more advice allways welcome!!
 
Greetz,
 
Oli
 
I just got out of the hospital about 2 weeks ago and my plants didn't get watered for about 2 weeks and I had massive leaf drop and yellowing from it. Feel your pots while there dry then water them good and feel them again that way you can judge when they need watered. Your not going to over water just watering when needed it comes from watering to frequently when the soil is still wet. Underwatering will sure cause your problems. Glad you figured that out.
 
rebelgrower3 said:
I just got out of the hospital about 2 weeks ago and my plants didn't get watered for about 2 weeks and I had massive leaf drop and yellowing from it. Feel your pots while there dry then water them good and feel them again that way you can judge when they need watered. Your not going to over water just watering when needed it comes from watering to frequently when the soil is still wet. Underwatering will sure cause your problems. Glad you figured that out.
 
Ow, sorry to hear that u have been in the hospital, hope it wasent something bad... Wish u a great recovery!
The plant is getting a bit better now scince I found out my problem.
I'll be watching them more closeley now so I can prevent and identify eventual upcoming problems faster.
At the moment the plant lost about 50% of its leaves.... but its stabilizing.
The new undergrowth is getting much larger now to compensate with the leaf loss it experienced.
Will be posting some more pics soon.
Thanks for following this thread, will be updating it regulary so u can see the progress (or when the plant experiences more trouble)
 
Greetz,
 
Oli
 
Leafdrop has been stabilized after changing my watering/feeding schedule. Really happy to have
resolved this problem.
Pods are ffinally getting some color too.
 
pic taken outside on 9/5/13 (no more yellow leaves)
DSC_0005_zps50c70e21.jpg

 
 
 
pic taken under artificial light on 9/8/13 (lookin awesome)
DSC_0006_zps356c5d20.jpg

This should be Bhut Jolokia Yellow, but aparentley it turns red.... nvm if its seriously hot I dont mind.
 
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