4.5 Months successful grow - now under (possible) BLS attack :(

zumajoe · Jul 17, 2015

I'm pretty sure it's gotta be Bacterial Leaf Spot (BLS) - most of my plants are getting these little dark spots and on the Aji Limon it's starting to make the bottom leaves droop / yellow / drop.

I've removed the most infected leaves, and the plants are getting thinner by the day from continuous removal. Yesterday I sprayed a 1/2 tsp Baking Soda per Gallon foliar, hopefully it slows things down.

Certainly a bummer considering I was really good about getting rid of leaf litter. I'm a bit surprised considering although coastal, it's relatively dry here compared to other places in the world and we get a decent sea breeze almost all day long.

I'm guessing it's one or a combination of the following:

bad seeds
not good enough plant hygeine (washing hands, tools)
water splashing from using a heavy bucket during watering
recent humidity
foliar spraying in the evening
having the plants too close to each other
or just bad luck.

I guess next grow i'll be sure to start w/ the copper spray early!
Hopefully I can at least get a few good harvests before these things are completely wiped out. I'm just hoping it doesn't attack my existing pods... they are so close!

grantmichaels · Jul 17, 2015

zumajoe said:
I'm pretty sure it's gotta be Bacterial Leaf Spot (BLS) - most of my plants are getting these little dark spots and on the Aji Limon it's starting to make the bottom leaves droop / yellow / drop.

I've removed the most infected leaves, and the plants are getting thinner by the day from continuous removal. Yesterday I sprayed a 1/2 tsp Baking Soda per Gallon foliar, hopefully it slows things down.

Certainly a bummer considering I was really good about getting rid of leaf litter. I'm a bit surprised considering although coastal, it's relatively dry here compared to other places in the world and we get a decent sea breeze almost all day long.

I'm guessing it's one or a combination of the following:

bad seeds

not good enough plant hygeine (washing hands, tools)

water splashing from using a heavy bucket during watering

recent humidity

foliar spraying in the evening

having the plants too close to each other

or just bad luck.

I guess next grow i'll be sure to start w/ the copper spray early!
Hopefully I can at least get a few good harvests before these things are completely wiped out. I'm just hoping it doesn't attack my existing pods... they are so close!

That doesn't look like BLS ... or it's very, very early.

Post your worst looking (aka biggest in diameter "sore") ...

zumajoe · Jul 17, 2015

Here's where i'm at now... again, hoping to squeak by without the BLS getting my fruits at least for 1 good harvest.

Aji Limon:

Trinidad Scorpion "Sunrise"

Scotch Bonnet (supposedly):

grantmichaels · Jul 17, 2015

I don't see any leaf spot, that's good news ...

site-search isn't revealing my old pics ...

let me poke around in photobucket and i'll post again in a few ...

oldsalty · Jul 17, 2015

Beautiful plants. Wish you luck hopefully you'll still get a decent harvest.

oldsalty said:
Beautiful plants. Wish you luck hopefully you'll still get a decent harvest.

No worries Gadget is on the case!!

grantmichaels · Jul 17, 2015

See the necrotic white spots here:

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e381/levkoffgm/TopsyGarden/TopsyGardenS01/photo3-1.jpg
Here's a good one

zumajoe · Jul 17, 2015

grantmichaels said:
I don't see any leaf spot, that's good news ...

site-search isn't revealing my old pics ...

let me poke around in photobucket and i'll post again in a few ...

Hey Grant... thanks for the response.

I did search the web and found some photos that looked like what's happening with mine, while others appeared to have much larger lesions. At first I thought maybe it could be a CaMG+ overdose.. The symptoms however, seem to match what happens with BLS. (Lower leaves looking heavy / wilting, with some of these little dark spots, and then falling off).

I'll have to wait for a new photo since I tossed any leaves recently removed, but here's some example of the lower leaf wilting (no i haven't over / under watered):

grantmichaels · Jul 17, 2015

Here's what it does to pods =(

zumajoe said:
Hey Grant... thanks for the response.

I did search the web and found some photos that looked like what's happening with mine, while others appeared to have much larger lesions. At first I thought maybe it could be a CaMG+ overdose.. The symptoms however, seem to match what happens with BLS. (Lower leaves looking heavy / wilting, with some of these little dark spots, and then falling off).

I'll have to wait since I tossed any leaves recently i've taken off, but here's some example of the lower leaf wilting (no i haven't over / under watered):

Without the white necrotic spots in the middle of the lesions, I wouldn't assume BLS (personally) ...

But ...

The answer is the same, regardless ...

Time to start AACT =)

http://thehotpepper.com/topic/32001-beginners-guide-to-aactcompost-tea/

You don't want this!

zumajoe · Jul 17, 2015

Could it be a long lost cousin of BLS? Anyone ever get these mini black spots before?

grantmichaels · Jul 17, 2015

zumajoe said:
Could it be a long lost cousin of BLS? Anyone ever get these mini black spots before?

1) If you think it's contagious, spread your plants out to minimize the transmission vector.
2) You are clearly doing good work ... the plants are big, and you've taken the step to use air-pots ... you might like what AACT brings you ...
3) Stop saying BLS ... you are going to give yourself a kneina hura, LOL ...

My $ would be on garden variety nutritional deficiency ... I'd sprinkle a little Osmocote around the base, water it, and call it a day ...
Since it's bottom-side of the leaves, it's also possible that driven rain splashed a chemical/fertilize up and it's burned/damaged the lower leaves that it hit ...