Greenfly Viruses

Glen · Mar 16, 2016

Hi folks,

I started a very early crop of Carolina Reapers here in London in December in an LED growbox (which I thought was going great) until i got a lot of problems with greenfly. Originally, I tried an olive oil, water and washing up liquid spray, which seemed to work for a bit but then the issue started up again. Unfortunately I had to use a store-bought pesticide spray (which cured the aphid problem) but by this point the leaves had started to dry at the edges and withered to the touch, as well as becoming massively discoloured. Compared to the chillies I have grown in the past the stems were also very thin and the growth seems to have stunted. I've put the 8 remaining reaper plants (in various stages of health) outside now with a citronella sticky pad in close proximity (which seems to be working great for keeping aphids at bay) but with the greenfly having been there for (possibly) longer than I originally thought, I'm 99% sure they've given the majority of the reapers a virus (possibly Cucumber mosaic virus) but I'd be interested to see what you guys thought. Are these chaps beyond repair?

Glen · Mar 17, 2016

I'll take it from the lack of replies that most people have thought "yeah bro, they're screwed."

Chilima · Mar 17, 2016

Bump for justice!

TXCG · Mar 17, 2016

Can't see what's going on in those small pics & for some reason I can't view the enlarged ones because Imageshack is not cooperating. Can you upload larger pics somewhere like www.imgur.com?

Glen · Mar 17, 2016

TXCG said:
Can't see what's going on in those small pics & for some reason I can't view the enlarged ones because Imageshack is not cooperating. Can you upload larger pics somewhere like www.imgur.com?

Sure can. Imageshack doesn't seem to want to co-operate!

Vicious Vex · Mar 17, 2016

Glen said:
I'll take it from the lack of replies that most people have thought "yeah bro, they're screwed."

Naw, your not screwed. Well maybe.

The best way to tell if it is mosaic is to shine a light under the leaves and look at the color distribution.

It might also be a mold, I don't think I have ever seen mosaic be white before.

I'm also not the more seasoned person here.

The bad news is hay by the time you notice the damage from a virus it is often too late.

Try trimming the infected leaves with CLEAN snips, and then set them aside in a moist environment. If you see mold develop quickly, it isn't a virus.

After talking with another member, is it possible you might starved them, pests, and lack of hardening off lead to the plants symptoms?

Glen · Mar 17, 2016

Here's a few of the Reapers as they are now:

Vicious Vex said:
Naw, your not screwed. Well maybe.

The best way to tell if it is mosaic is to shine a light under the leaves and look at the color distribution.

It might also be a mold, I don't think I have ever seen mosaic be white before.

I'm also not the more seasoned person here.

The bad news is hay by the time you notice the damage from a virus it is often too late.

Try trimming the infected leaves with CLEAN snips, and then set them aside in a moist environment. If you see mold develop quickly, it isn't a virus.

After talking with another member, is it possible you might starved them, pests, and lack of hardening off lead to the plants symptoms?

It's quite possible it's a mold, as the majority of plants I've lost this year (admittedly, I was very naive with my choice of seed supplier) have died seemingly from the bottom of the stem and I had them in fairly close proximity. Pests is possible as well I was a little lax with sterility when potting them on (could it be mites in the soil?). I was pretty careful about hardening off, but as per some advice I've got recently, I may have not actually planted the reapers deep enough to give the young stems proper stability.

Vicious Vex · Mar 17, 2016

Dampening off is a real threat to younglings. Have you noticed white stringy type buildup on the soil?

Really, what I would do is water with a watered down hydrogen peroxide/water solution with mild nutes. Trim the infected foiliage, and spray the remaining leaves /stem base with a soapy water mixture.

This will help clear the soil, feed the plant. Remove the damaged foiliage, and help keep pest and pest larvae off your plant.

Glen · Mar 17, 2016

I've never used hydrogen peroxide before. Could you give me a little advice as to what % to water I should use, and what nutes?

Vicious Vex · Mar 17, 2016

Glen said:
I've never used hydrogen peroxide before. Could you give me a little advice as to what % to water I should use, and what nutes?

This is a really good source for gardening with HO: http://www.using-hydrogen-peroxide.com/gardening-with-hydrogen-peroxide.html

You need to encourage growth with immediately avaliable nutes. I would suggest fish emulsion. You can't really burn your plants with it, and that is what you need to avoid right now. If you have mites, or an infection the root system will be damaged, and harsh chemicals fertilizer if done incorrectly could be a death sentence. Especially with the limited foiliage you don't want to risk leaf curl.

Fish emulsion smells, but it works. Keep in mind that HO will kill a lot of the good bacteria in your soil as well. So it might be a good idea to follow up on your next watering with a compost tea extraction solution.

c3po · Mar 18, 2016

Can you provide details of how often and how much you water? How long has it been since you watered before you took those pictures?