strange plant need expert help

VtPepper · Oct 5, 2007

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ok the plant you see well there are 2 of them. not one flower planted day after christmas. both plants loaded with little leaves about the size of the tip of my pinky. been that way all summer. any clue why they look this way? or why no flowers when all the other plants did great. i have no idea what kind it is due to a mixup.
thanks

Pam · Oct 5, 2007

So, give us some history. What are they planted in, what fertilizers have they had, and have they been indoors or out? If outdoors, have they been treated for insects at all?

Picture two looks like insect damage, but picture four looks like it could even be a virus. I'll try and google up some pictures this afternoon.

VtPepper · Oct 5, 2007

they were planted in pots in a very very very expensive organic compost. they went outside after the last frost. and just came in 4 days ago. insect or virus out of 100 plants all in pots all the same soil all side by side. and only thses two were effected

if you look in this pic you can see them they are the sticks with tops and no leaves on the stems. i was hoping to get a flower to at least get an idea what kind of plants the were but none yet. on the right side of pic one you can see another plant planted the same time as the funny ones and that is going great. hope that helps. i also sang to them alot if that might have caused it.
thanks

Pam · Oct 5, 2007

Ok, so they haven't had any other fertilizer, correct? Do you still have one of the organic compost bags to see what the NPK numbers were, or if it lists any of the micro-nutrients?

The leaf distortions, stunting, and lack of any flowers makes it sound a lot like cucumber mosaic virus, too, but let's hope it's not that. Here's a decent site with pepper virus information.

http://plantpathology.tamu.edu/Texlab/Vegetables/peppers/pvd.asp

And you're sure there are no aphids or spider mites or other buggies?

VtPepper · Oct 8, 2007

I dont see any bugs at all and i would not jump to a virus because only 2 plants affected and they all had the same growing area, compost, pots, light. ect you would think it would have spread to other plants. the only thing they have that is different is there a different species form the other plants. maybe defect at seed level.

Pam · Oct 8, 2007

Some species, and even some varieties within a species will prove to be more susceptible to disease or insect damage. Annuums are much more susceptible to the resident blight than Baccatuums or Chinense. And I can't grow Datil peppers, for some reason, both the hot and the sweet always do poorly.

You can certainly try a complete fertilizer and see if they perk up. It could be nutritional, and if it is, you should start seeing normal growth above the distorted leaves.

VtPepper · Oct 9, 2007

okay i found a bug on one leave tried to get a pic but bug to small. it was tan and just a little to small for me to clearly see what it is no magnafying glass so maybe thats the problem. i am gonna try to spray them with a bit of dish soap and see if it helps.

Steve H Graham · Oct 10, 2007

I had mealybugs and aphids, and I had stunting problems like that. As I've fought the bugs, the plants have recovered very well, so maybe there is hope.