Tokyo Burning: 4 weeks in, any advice on leaf discoloration? [2013]

Backdating things a bit... will add pictures later.
 
Day 1: Seedlings arrived from the farm on June 1st. Took them out of the box, put them on plates, watered slightly, admired.
 
Day 2: Left them outside for the day, brought them back in at night. Plants looked a little weakened from the sun.
 
Day 3: Forgot to take them outside. Whoops!
 
Day 4: Left them outside for the day and night. Rectangular planters & soil arrived.
 
Day 5: Woke up to see that the plants all looked very, very wilted. Soil was bone dry. Added a good bit of water to each (far more than I'd been watering previously; I had probably been severely underwatering in retrospect) and they all looked as healthy as I'd ever seen them by the end of the day.
 
Day 6: Cloudy, haven't watered the plants and they look healthy though the soil's probably getting dry. Preparing to transfer them into the rectangular planters; will divide the plants with cardboard so the roots don't get too tangled,  so that I can eventually move them to their own pots.

 

[dokool]

Day 6, Part 2: Found a bunch of 2-gallon pots at the dollar store; bought 5 for now plus related supplies and will buy the rest when needed. Thinking about potting the Thai Chilis and Naga Vipers tomorrow since they're the biggest.
 
Brought the plants inside as it's going to rain in the morning and I don't want to risk wind knocking them over.
 

 
Noticed a bit of dry-out on a couple leaves, this was on one of the Thai Chilis:
 

 
And this was on one of the Naga Vipers:
 

 
A couple other leaves on other plants have small dead spots but nothing significant. Lots of new leaves sprouting on the base of the stalks but it's clear that these guys are itching to get into a bigger home.

 

[birdfather]

the burnt tips could indicate fertilizer burn. at their size, i'd only give them half strength doses of ferts.

 

[dokool]

I haven't given them any fertilizer so whatever happened must have been at the seedling farm.

 

[birdfather]

i wouldnt be surprised.  no worries though they look healthy

 

[dokool]

Day 7 - Transplant Day, Part 1! Watered the Thai Chilis, shook off of the dirt once I cut out the plastic cup, and put it them in 2-gallon pots with some regular general-purpose soil. Sunny right now but there have been lots of clouds today so i only gave them a relatively small amount of water (maybe 1/2 of a 20oz bottle) once I put them in the pots; starting to wonder if that was a bad call or not.
 
An hour later and the largest leaves on the Thais are wilting somewhat but I imagine that's par for the course in terms of transplant shock so I'm trying not to get concerned.
 
So far I've transplanted the two Thais and also the Capsicum Frutescens; I only have two pots left so I'm running walking slowly to the dollar store to buy four more so I can finish up the rest this evening. Pics in a bit!

 

[dokool]

Photos!
 
First Thai Chili in the pot. Didn't knock as much dirt off the root ball as I should have.
 

 
Root ball on the second Thai Chili:
 

 
All three plants potted:
 

 
 
Also, I had an idea. These weeds have been growing up through the gravel that our landlord had laid out last fall. Could I tear them up and lay them on top of the pots as mulch, or would I just be putting weeds in my pepper pots?
 

 
After a longer nap than expected i decided that I wasn't going to deal with the rest of the plants today, so I'll go and buy the 4 pots I need tomorrow.

 

[georgej]

Nah, leaves need to compost before adding to soil. Plus you dunno what plant it is. Ph, alkaloids, nutrients, poisons etc.

Just buy proper compost. Plants in Japan are fukt

 

[dokool]

Good catch, thanks. It was just an idea to help clean up the backyard and maybe help the plants in the process.
 
Rain tonight; the plants are all under an overhang so they should be affected much Hoping they get some moisture in the air.

 

[dokool]

Pleasant afternoon so after giving the unpotted plants water and sunlight I transferred the rest of them.
 

 
Noticed the wind sometimes really picking up the Thai Chilis so I staked them down:
 

 
Same with the Naga Vipers and Bhut Jolokias since I brushed off a lot of their thicker soil when I was exposing the root balls for transfer:
 

 

 
 
I noticed that this round of transplants seemed to have a lot less transplant shock than the first three plants; I think that may be because I had left the soil bags outside and they had soaked up a bit of sun so they were warmer (especially the sealed bag which was considerably more moist than the first bag that had been left open).
 
I guess from now on the name of the game is watering every couple of days until the magic happens.

 

[dokool]

After a couple days of Leaving My Goddamned Plants alone, I went to bring them under the awning before this afternoon's/evening's rains. And what did I find?
 
BUGS
 
These green eggs (?):
 
 
 

 
And these green bugs (might be the eggs too, but this one definitely has legs):
 

 
And this dude on the underside of the plant:
 

 
And this off-white egg? I saw some whiter eggs of the same shape/consistency too:
 

 
And finally THIS insanity right on top of one of my Thai Chilis (and here's a bigger image):
 

 
 
What's the game plan here; are some (or all) of these beneficial or should I be looking into pesticides? It's raining on and off all day today so I'm not about to crutch about looking for ladybugs.

 

[Boguspokus]

Hello. Whenever I find aphids I squish them, trying not to damage the leaves. My aphid population took daily attention untill the predator bugs turned up. Here in australia it was ladybirds, spiders and lacewings that saved the day. Maybe plant some marigolds near by, I hear that the aphids prefer them for food and when you have a healthy population on them you can nuke them with some pyrethrin, that way not getting any poisons on your chillies. I am not sure what the "dude on the underside of the plant" is but it may be a predator. Pesticides are a last resort in my opinion, nature hopefully will come thru for ya.

 

[Pepper-Guru]

Aphids, inspect and squish thoroughly. Pyrethrins works great but will also stunt microbial soil life as well as benificial insects like pollinators and predetors. Japan is beautiful. Get some bonchis going!

 

[georgej]

i think theres a meme hidden in there. pics of the thousands of weird gnarly bugs we have in Japan..
Japan: its not all bonsais, sushi and geishas.

theres tentacle porn and a topselling book on ways to commit suicide

 

[dokool]

Day 13: The rainy season has hit Tokyo and we've not seen the sun since around Monday or Tuesday. All of my plants have been moved under the awning of our patio, which mostly shields them from direct rain. They've still gotten a fair amount of water from wind and backsplashes and I've rotated the pots around so that one plant isn't at the edge for too long, but the soil isn't that damp a couple inches deep and there's no run-off so I'm not concerned about overwatering.
 

 
The capsicum frutescens (bottom row, center) is quite a bit lighter than the other plants; I'm not sure if this is because of a mineral deficiency or if it's naturally supposed to be that color. My halepenos (bottom row, #1 and #4 from left) still don't seem to have grown as steadily as the other plants; their stalks seem a bit thinner and #4 is drooping a little. Seeing as they haven't had any sunlight in a few days, hoping some sun will perk it up tomorrow or over the weekend?
 
The Naga Vipers (Top row #3 and bottom row #2)  are looking beautiful (to my untrained eye), while the jolokias appear healthy but seem to have slowed down.
 
The Thai Chilis are an issue... the first one (top row, far left) has lots of growth, while the second one (top row, far right) is showing growth (and what could even be the start of flowers at the top?) but is again harboring aphids. Squished a dozen of the f**kers today and I think I got all of them but you can never be too sure. Neem spray will be delivered this afternoon; should I just spray each plant once or give them all a good dose?
 
Edit: Neem arrived half an hour after I posted this; gave each plant a good spray though I think I may have to go outside in order to get the underside of the leaves.

 

[dokool]

Day 16: After what felt like 40 days and nights, we've actually had a good amount of sun the last couple days. Last night and this morning there was a lot of rain scheduled so I brought all the plants far under the awning, but this afternoon we set them back out to get some sun.
 

 
The healthiest plants by far are the Naga Vipers. Pictured is #2; I don't even really think it needs to be staked down. The stalks have gotten incredibly thick!
 

 
Of the two Thai Chilis, #1 has the most growth (although the two leaves at the bottom are quite yellow; wondering if that's a shade issue since they haven't had too much sun lately:
 

 
While #2, still isn't getting very many nodes but the stalk is basically tree-like:
 

 
#2 was the plant with the big aphid problem but I only spotted two today (three days after the first neem oil spraying). Girlfriend helped me move the plants and saw a couple spiders, lacewings, etc. So the good bugs appear to be showing up. Gave them all another neem spraying today.
 
The habaneros are doing okay but definitely the slow plants of the group. Bhut Jolokias looking fine. On georgej's recommendation I've ordered some liquid fertilizer which will hopefully correct any minor imbalances (yellow leaves, etc) and maybe spur on my plants to grow a little faster. Looking forward to the end of the rainy season and that July sun!

 

[dokool]

Day 22: I've now had these seedlings for about three weeks and they're not dead yet. Not bad!
 
Today is the first full day of sun we've had in a few days so all the plants are out in the light. All 9 have been fertilized with Hyponex liquid fertilizer on georgej's recommendation; he suggested that I only use half the recommended amount since my plants are relatively smaller so I did so (2ml into a 2 liter bottle, which was enough to water all of the plants fairly thoroughly).
 
Thai Chili #2 (the one that doesn't have many leaves) is showing flowers at the very top of the stalk:
 
(the photos look a bit strange because I used a tiny adhesive macro lens on my iPhone)
 

 
And Thai Chili #1 (which has a lot more leaves) also appears to have small buds coming in:
 

 
To pinch or not to pinch? That is the question.
 
 
The Habaneros continue to struggle:
 

 
 
Hoping that a few days of sun helps to push them along a bit.
 
 
Also noticed a ladybug flittering about from plant to plant today. Aphid sightings have dropped to just about zero after 3 applications of Neem Spray.
 
Noticing more yellower leaves at the bottom of my plants; kinda wondering if it's a nutritional issue (that hopefully the fertilizer will fix) or if they simply aren't getting enough sun after coming out. Should I consider pruning?

 

[dokool]

Day 29: With most of the plants having stretched their legs, a few are starting to stretch their arms and develop branches. I eventually decided to pinch off the flowerbuds on Thai Chili #2, and it seems to be sprouting a lot of leaves in new places since then. In general most of the plants are healthy (or at least not dead!) and there haven't been many aphids (if any).
 
Thai Chili #1 is doing pretty well, but I noticed some leaf discoloration that I'm a bit concerned about:
 

 

 

 
These are the three leaves closest to the bottom:
 

 
 
Any thoughts?

 

[pebbles]

I am in Tokyo as well, and the rain season has been quite bad this year. I started earlier than you so I am ahead and am not to worried about the rain but I still feel bad for my plants during the constant rain/clouds. However it seems to be letting up right?
 
Also.. good job btw! And I wouldn't worry about bottom leaves too much.

 

[dokool]

Another Tokyoite? Welcome! There's also georgej who lives down in Kanagawa so we have ourselves quite a group going.
 
Did you start from seed or seedlings? And yeah, I'm not sure if the rainy season has officially been declared 'over' in Kanto but starting on Monday/Tuesday it's going to be partly sunny and 30C+ for at least a week straight so I'm waiting for my plants to start kicking ass.