Sudden withering

kartupelis · Dec 27, 2016

A warm hello in this "chilly" December! He he!
As you can see the problem with my plants is getting worse by the day. It's been a week between the first two pictures. I came back from the holidays expecting the plant to get a bit more dry (suspecting I had over watered it) and spring back to life but it did not. Its brother is starting to show the same symptoms - leaves are getting soft at the edges. My final guess is the low temperatures although they are on a windowsill inside a heated room.
Although the one has lost its leaves could it be over-wintered or is it too young? And what can I do to help the other one? Right now I'm just hoping that the soil will dry and that'll help.

A side note: the previous year Hab I have next to them is doing fine with the same treatment and environment.

solid7 · Dec 27, 2016

Do you have any air circulation? As in, do you have a fan blowing on them?

kartupelis · Dec 27, 2016

solid7 said:
Do you have any air circulation? As in, do you have a fan blowing on them?

I do not but I open the window periodically so I presume they are not being suffocated.

solid7 · Dec 27, 2016

kartupelis said:
I do not but I open the window periodically so I presume they are not being suffocated.

You presume incorrectly. Indoor plants MUST have a fan. Your plants won't take up water if they aren't breathing well.

kartupelis · Dec 27, 2016

solid7 said:
You presume incorrectly. Indoor plants MUST have a fan. Your plants won't take up water if they aren't breathing well.

Wouldn't that be a gradual and not spontaneous symptom in that case? Moreover I've grown two other plants to full maturity last year with identical conditions and one of those last year plants is still there and doing fine.

solid7 · Dec 27, 2016

kartupelis said:
Wouldn't that be a gradual and not spontaneous symptom in that case? Moreover I've grown two other plants to full maturity last year with identical conditions and one of those last year plants is still there and doing fine.

Perhaps, but it would be a lot more spontaneous if you compounded the problem by overwatering...

kartupelis · Dec 27, 2016

solid7 said:
Perhaps, but it would be a lot more spontaneous if you compounded the problem by overwatering...

Do you mean by giving it limited light or other resources?
I'd like to believe it's a matter of water or nutrients because that seems like a variable that could cause spontaneous change. I will be changing the substrate and will see if that helps. Other than that I'm out of options.

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solid7 · Dec 27, 2016

kartupelis said:
Do you mean by giving it limited light or other resources?
I'd like to believe it's a matter of water or nutrients because that seems like a variable that could cause spontaneous change. I will be changing the substrate and will see if that helps. Other than that I'm out of options.

Sent from my FREEDOM X1 using Tapatalk

No, what I'm trying to say is, when you grow indoors, you need some sort of constant air circulation. I'm not going to debate your past success - I'm just going to say that it's not a good approach to do an indoor pepper grow without air circulation. Add to that, the fact that when you overwater, and you have no way of rapidly drying out the growing media, you will have a problem similar to what you are seeing - that is, leaf wilt, and dropping of leaves that look otherwise, healthy.

Just get a cheap fan, and keep as much light as you can on the plants, and in a month or so, you should see a resumption of normal, healthy, growth.

kartupelis · Dec 27, 2016

solid7 said:
No, what I'm trying to say is, when you grow indoors, you need some sort of constant air circulation. I'm not going to debate your past success - I'm just going to say that it's not a good approach to do an indoor pepper grow without air circulation. Add to that, the fact that when you overwater, and you have no way of rapidly drying out the growing media, you will have a problem similar to what you are seeing - that is, leaf wilt, and dropping of leaves that look otherwise, healthy.

Just get a cheap fan, and keep as much light as you can on the plants, and in a month or so, you should see a resumption of normal, healthy, growth.

Thanks! Will try and hope for the best.