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Anyone know what causes this? (pics)

TXCG

TXCG

Well, I have a few different plants with problems. I'm pretty sure its aphids causing the deformed leaves but I can't ever catch them in the act. I also have this looking stuff on the bottom of some leaves. I think it might be that black mold that grows on the aphid honeydew, because the spots don't show through on the surface.


Black spots


Curled leaves(suspected aphid damage....maybe calcium deficiency)


more aphid damage

All the gooey whitish stuff in the pics is a pyrethrein pesticide i got that is safe for veggies.

What you guys think?
 
Looks like aphis have got you too. Since you are in a warm climate, take the plants outside and spray them with a garden hose with as much pressure as they can handle without going limp or breaking. Otherwise try insecticidal soap and/or neem or find ladybugs. Im infested with the buggers again but waiting for natural predators before I buy anything else. Looks like you got the light really close,maybe too close. (Second pic) Are these all hydroponic and what types?
 
Well I sprayed some badass poison around the edge of my porch that might kill anything crawling around, and I got some garden friendly pyrethrin pesticide/fungicide for the plants themselves that says it can be used on fruits/vegetables up til the day of harvest. Supposed to kill aphids, mites, spider mites, leafhoppers, caterpillars, whiteflies, spittlebugs, mealy bugs, scales, thrips, etc...& powdery mildew, rust & blight as well.

I should find out in a few days if it works, new growth is coming at a rapid pace now, so I'll be checking the leaves. The new growth is the most deformed at the moment.

Any other guesses on the weird dark rings/marks on the first pic? Several other leaves have that on a couple plants, but the coloration doesn't go through to the front of the leaf.
 
Txclosetgrower said:
Any other guesses on the weird dark rings/marks on the first pic? Several other leaves have that on a couple plants, but the coloration doesn't go through to the front of the leaf.
Click to expand...
Oh, didn't notice that was the bottom of the left in the first pic. Sorry. Now that I look at it again, I have a better guess. It's from a little 5/16 of a inch long, 1/16th" or less wide, translucent worm that Ilved in the soil. They like high moisture soil and live in the upper levels of the soil. Had the same bugger in my Carnivorous Plant Terrarium. But, that's just a guess. :P
 
I'm curious to know if in the 2nd pic is from the light being to close, is this the reason ? because I've noticed that on some of mine now. what would be the correct distance to have from top of plants to lights ? (even though I've already raised the light a little to be on the safe side)
or is this funky leaf look kinda normal to see & nothing to really worry about ?
 
chilehunter said:
I'm curious to know if in the 2nd pic is from the light being to close, is this the reason ? because I've noticed that on some of mine now. what would be the correct distance to have from top of plants to lights ? (even though I've already raised the light a little to be on the safe side)
or is this funky leaf look kinda normal to see & nothing to really worry about ?
Click to expand...

No, all these plants are outside on the porch. (I'm doing hand-watered hydro outside & inside)

But yeah, having your light too close would cause similar symptoms, pale wrinkled leaves, even brown scorch marks. What kind of light are you using? That is the major factor on how close it should be. A 400 watt hps should be about 10-12"(if its not an air-cooled reflector) above the tops of the plants while fluorescents should be only 1-3".

But also, the new growth does tend to be a bit lighter in color than the rest of the plant and from what i understand chili leaves tend to wrinkle up some on their own anyway.
 
TX - I was just asking because I'm trying to nail down the same question now, I only noticed it after I saw this thread then looked at my chiles, & I'm like d@m I got the same kind of leaves on some :clap:
I have (4) 48" 40 watt fluorescent bulbs that were something like 2' from the tops of plants before but moved up to about 3' from tops now.
this is happening to old growth leaves for me. no discoloration just that funky bumps on the leaves.
I've just never seen this before or I havent never paid much attention to them if this is kinda normal, I have no clue if its something to worry about ? granted I have some small white bugs but they ARE A B***H to get rid of, I'm just grabbing any ladybug I find by the window & bringing them to the plant to eat them (spray kills some but not all kinda like a never ending battle) & I cant bring them outside to spray down. but at least the white bugs are not doing any damage to the plant as far as I can see.
 
chilehunter said:
TX - I was just asking because I'm trying to nail down the same question now, I only noticed it after I saw this thread then looked at my chiles, & I'm like d@m I got the same kind of leaves on some :clap:
I have (4) 48" 40 watt fluorescent bulbs that were something like 2' from the tops of plants before but moved up to about 3' from tops now.
Click to expand...

Fluorescents run very cool, so 3' is way farther than you need to have the lights. Light intensity follows the inverse square law, i=1/d^2 so basically if you double the distance you quarter the intensity. And since you don't have any heat to deal with really from the bulbs, you can keep the bulbs really close to the plants, like a few inches away, to maximize the usable light to the plants. Unless the plant is actually touching the fluoro tube, it won't get burned. More light = happier plants. Only reason to have the lights a foot or more above the plants is to cover more area.
 
I know they dont give off any heat, so you say they can be close well then whats the cause of this causing the leaves to look like that ?
 
Maybe your problem is different but I get this problem when aphids leave honeydew which magnifies light causing some deformities or burn growth tips, especially at the top of the plant where there are tightly spaced nodes. The aphids also suck the juices out of the plant weakening them. Aphids are white or green little buggers that breed quickly and love nitrogen fertilizers. Hope this helps
 
See, the only thing is I haven't found any actual bugs on my plants, just the damage shown in those pics. So I'm just guessing at aphids, haven't actually seen them. But I did see ants around the area a lot.
 
Txclosetgrower said:
See, the only thing is I haven't found any actual bugs on my plants, just the damage shown in those pics. So I'm just guessing at aphids, haven't actually seen them. But I did see ants around the area a lot.
Click to expand...

Dig around in the pot a little bit and see if there are any ants in the potting soil. They could be tending the aphids. You may have to drench the soil with something not too toxic to get rid of the ants before you can get rid of the aphids.

I have a terrible problem with Argentine ants. There's a mega colony in our neighborhood, and they get into everything. They do seem to keep the fire ants out, which I suppose I should be grateful for, but I can't set a plant pot on the ground for a minute without them building a nest in it.
 
the ants aren't in the soil cause it's not soil its coconut husks . the ants were living in the railing on the porch . i'm starting to think the 2nd pic is calcium deficiency for sure i ordered some cal-mag plus so that should sort that out
 
potawie - those are the same kind of bugs I have :shocked: I tried some spray but I really dont want to keep useing that stuff, I'm kinda looking for a more organic/natural way of getting rid of them since I dont want pesticides on the chiles I'll be eating. or I might have to wait until warmer months to spray them down outside & let other natural predators take care of them.
 
Yeah, it is most definitely a calcium deficiency. Hopefully that cal-mag plus will fix it, but it may be too late. Good thing I have a spare hab on the windowsil that I'm gonna transplant outdoors when I get the cal-mag. The other plants are showing calcium deficiency signs too, but not as bad. I hope that cal-mag gets here quickly.
 
Hmm, it might be mites. I found 3-4 tiny red dots on the bottom of the leaves of that really f'ed up one and shook them off onto some white paper. They started crawling so i broke out the magnifying glass and it looks like some kind of mite. Could mites be behind all the deformation?
 
Txclosetgrower said:
Hmm, it might be mites. I found 3-4 tiny red dots on the bottom of the leaves of that really f'ed up one and shook them off onto some white paper. They started crawling so i broke out the magnifying glass and it looks like some kind of mite. Could mites be behind all the deformation?
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, sounds like spider mites.

"Feeding inJury shows up first as pale,
yellowish blotches on leaves which cause
foliage to have a speckled appearance.
Heavy infestations will cause leaf
distortion, wilting and stunting of the
plant."
 
Haha ok now we're back to the beginning again. Calcium deficiency? The plant that is most affected is a habanero after all....

"Both Scotch Bonnets and Habanero plants need large amounts of calcium in the soil, and will fail to thrive or produce a large crop of fruit if not adequately fertilized. Calcium deficiency shows up as wrinkled leaves, especially the younger leaves. We use bone meal to cure calcium deficiencies, and you will need to keep adding calcium whenever you see leaf-wrinkling in these peppers."

-Redwood seed company (http://www.ecoseeds.com/)

"Habaneros, especially, will need calcium many times during the growing season, in the form of bonemeal, an few Tablespoon per plant. Scatter the bonemeal around each plant, and water in. You can tell when you need calcium if the plants stop growing and if young leaves start to pucker---they are running out of calcium to build new leaves."

-(http://www.batnet.com/rwc-seed/Pepper.growing.tips.html)
 
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