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Ghost Pepper growth issue.

Richee

Richee

I started growing my peppers just over 4 months ago.

Only recently, have they been growing peppers, and they are all a foot tall or taller and look great.

But the only Ghost Pepper that I grew, is not much taller than an inch, and isn't looking so good. I do not know what to do for it at this point, other than tossing it out and starting another one from seed. Maybe it grew from a bad seed?

The leaves are yellowish, and almost white in some areas. Kind of hard to tell from these pictures as it is dark outside as we just had an hour or so of rain fall. The leaves also have a dusty look to them as well. I don't think it's bacterial spot disease or anything, it's just very unhealthy and can't put up a fight against the elements. I do not know why it is so weak.

I've never grew these types of peppers before, and didn't think they would need any special care aside from the normal pepper growing care.

Please give me any suggestions.

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Id try repotting it and giving it a light dose of food and something with a good set of micro nutrients. It looks okay, just needs some love. Dont Throw him out! :)
 
Hey,

Yeah.. the soil is wet because of recent rain we had before the picture was taken. I've made plant stands out of metal closet shelving held up by two cinder blocks.I like to sue the shelving because it lets the planter bottoms air out, and lets them drain better than sitting them on a solid surface.

I'll try re-potting. I used different dirt for most of my pepper plants, but ran out and grabbed a different brand. I now have the first brand on hand, and they seemed to like it better.. so I'll replant and see what happens.
 
I think it may be a soil issue, try to get a GOOD potting mix, and stay away from those that have "plant food" all ready in the mix. (read, Miracle Grow) I see a lot of wood chunks on the top of the soil in your photos, not something I would plant my peppers in. Check out the pinned thread at the top of the growing forum, it has great info on soils and all kinds of different mixes. Even some dirt with a few amendments such as compost and perlite is better than MG, IMO.

Good luck, don't give up on him, he just needs his feet in some good stuff.
 
i dont think the pot size is an issue. i've had seedlings with three true leaves in 5 gallon containers and they still go into crazy growth spurts...
 
I have heard that Ghost Peppers have a issue with potting mix and soil that has a lot of peat moss in it. Mine handled it fine since I wasn't aware of that at the time, but I've seen people have real problems with it.
 
The dirt I have my other plants in are from Lambert, and kind of like dust. It's very well broke down into fine grains, and it 100% organic.

The one I have the Ghost Pepper in is some Jungle brand, that I had to get when I couldn't find the Lambert. It has wood chips and pieces of bark. I definitely like the Lambert better than the Jungle stuff.

I'll repot him and keep you updated on his progress.
 
Hi,

Make sure you are using a soil/potting mix that has good drainage. Ghost pepper do not like to stay wet. They prefer a soil that dries out. Sometimes I do not water my plants until they start drooping. In fact, that's usually the way I do it. Let the plant tell you when it's thirsty.

A couple good potting mixes I recommend for the Jolokias are Fox Farms, Ocean Forest or Happy Frog. If you use these, do not add any type of fertilizer for at least 60 days. When you do, make sure it's organic!

Another thing I have learned and this may not apply to you but, if you are using water from your tap and it is chlorinated, make sure you let it sit for at least 24 hours. The Bhuts hate chlorination. It'll turn them yellow quickly. Even kill em'.

Best of luck!
 
Yellow leaves for me usually mean too much fertilizer, water and sun. What I would do is let it dry out some and keep it in the shade most of the day, let it get some late afternoon sun at most. And definitely no more nutes of any kind. When it recovers, you can start giving it more sun and start watering normally. Don't give up on it, it will recover and be fine.
 
Been using aerated water for the past four days. Sometimes in combination with aerated compost tea. Seems to do good if none at all for my plants. Aeration they say helps with evaporating the chlorine in the water. That at least is a good thing. I leave it on overnight before using

I use an aquarium aerator pump and an airstone for the water. Cheap enough to procure.
 
About a year and a half after my original post on this forum, my ghost pepper has finally began to take off. At one point, the plant sat there with no leaves for several months.

I'm not sure why it's had such a difficult time growing, but I held on to it.

About 1 months or so ago is when it really started to grow, in the winter time no less. lol.

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I'm kind of worried about how unstable it is. I really need to take a picture of the bottom of the plant to give you a better idea. It sat with no leaves for a long time, then near the top on one side is where it started to grow.

So in a sense, all of the growth you see is coming from a branch of the very top side of the trunk... and the trunk itself has not grown in size to accommodate for this.

It's a little trunk, holding a large branch out on one side.

But it's finally growing, so i'm not complaining.
 
I hate that Jungle Growth dirt. lol.

I actually got so frustraited with that soil that I washed it all out of the roots of my plants, and put them in new dirt. It was too messy and too heavy for potted plants. It might work good for garden plants.. but not for those in planters.
 
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