Should I be worried?

Hey everyone.

Like most of us "chilli-parents" I have a bit of a problem. It might be nothing but I'd like to nip it in the butt before it gets worse.

I have attached 2 pics I took this morning. The spots on my Bhuts made their appearance 2 days ago. They seem to through to the bottom of the leaf, looking like brown cracks (not really cracks, leaf is unbroken)
A little background... I water twice a week and grow mostly in a growing cloche. Every fortnight I spray with Neem-oil and this seems to keep the bugs at bay. I am in Wellington, NZ, and here in summer the temp hovers around 19-22 degrees Celcius...obviousely a little warmer in the growin cloche.

What could these spots be? Should I be concerned? ..and what could I do to get rid of it?

http://imgur.com/cQ5vF4j

http://imgur.com/exlY2PZ

The bottom black spots could be mold or some other type of fungus that is making it's way through the leaf to show the indentations on the top of it. How do you water? It could be water or water and a bit of dirt splashing up if you're top watering. I wouldn't be too concerned right now but definitely keep an eye on it. Try bottom watering if you don't already or be careful when you top water and try to avoid water splashing up onto the leaves.

Good luck!

patrick said:

The bottom black spots could be mold or some other type of fungus that is making it's way through the leaf to show the indentations on the top of it. How do you water? It could be water or water and a bit of dirt splashing up if you're top watering. I wouldn't be too concerned right now but definitely keep an eye on it. Try bottom watering if you don't already or be careful when you top water and try to avoid water splashing up onto the leaves.

Good luck!

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice Patric. I will certainly keep an eye on it.
I bottom water but the last few days has been quite warm and the conditions were rather humid in the growing cloche. Maybe I need to ventilate it more often...?? I normally only do so in the late afternoon when I get home.

Cheers

Hi Guys,

I have been looking at the forums to find out what is wrong with my Naga Morich chilli plant. So far Binx's problem seems to be closest to mine, just that I have a lot more black stuff on the leaves. Both on the upper and the lower side of the leaves. Also all the leaves on my plant are creased/ curled. The plant is about 50cm tall now. Most leaves are at the top of the plant. Bottom leaves have all dropped off. The plant is about 6 months old already and it has yet to flower and fruit. I live in the tropics where temperature is nearly constant and very humid all year round. Ranging between 24-32 degrees celsius. I water once a day to keep the soil moist to the touch but not damp.

At some point when it was about 30 cm tall, I found a lot of white flies on the under side of the leaves. I used a neem oil organic mixture spray to get rid of the white flies successfully. Ever since, I have been spraying the plant with the organic pesticide once every week to prevent the return of white flies.The black stuff accumulating on the leaves got worse/more. New leaves sprouting at the top of the plant are not affected by the black stuff. But as they grow bigger, the black stuff starts to accumulate.

I have some pictures to show the problem with the plant but I am surprised this forum does not have the facility to post pictures.

Could someone help please?

Regards,

cruiser

Edit: Added a link to some pictures. Hope it works!

https://plus.google.com/photos/105039488352327580187/albums/5877541353796512305

You should find a book to read before you kill your chiles  with too much attention.

Here's your pics.
URL for images has to end in a recognized image file extension, like .jpg

Fungus or blight? Doesn't look like septoria at least.

I suspected it was some kind of fungus, and confirmed it with an experienced chilli planter. As the fungal has spread to all the leaves, it was suggested that I chop the top off leaving just the stem about 20cm from the soil. I have also moved the pant from the rest of my plants since the fungus could have spread to it from the others. Hope new leaves will grow without any fungus. Will update in time to come.<br /><br />Thanks for the replies!

Any suggestions for preventing the same thing from happening again to my new plants? Besides spraying with fungicides after the spots start to appear.

I would stop spraying it with pesticides all the time, organic or not. Wait until there is a problem if you have to use them.

I don't spray at all, natural predators take care of all of my pest problems.

Thanks for the advice. My second attempt is looking much healthier than the first:

https://plus.google....87/albums/posts

I hope it continues that way!