Sick Plant

Sev · Feb 27, 2017

Hi All,

Long time no post. Been crazy with work and family.

One of my plant seems to have been developing a few issues, and having spoken to some wise old men, they think it may be nutrient burn, but to consult with all the Chilli Gods, I thought I'd post some clean photos up to check everyones perspective.

Plant - Bhut Jolokia (Red)

Tips seem to be going brown and then dying (including buds at nodes)

Brown tips

Dead nodes

Oily Wrinkly Leaves

The leaves on these branches (new ones) also have that wrinkly oily appearance versus other leaves which look really healthy. Also this is happening on the left hand side of the plant.

In the middle, new growth seems to be bubbling a bit

On the far right hand side of the plant everything seems fine...

Neighbouring Bhut Jolokia plant (White), fed from the same tank...

I'm concerned the plant is sick, because at the moment it's carrying over 100 pods with more buds and flowers coming...it would be a big loss to me. All plants are quite healthy, masses of buds and pods - this is the only one where it looks bad.

Other thoughts are sun burn, but the bigger leaves look fine...or some type of bug (no aphids on the plant at all).

Any thoughts?

Cheers,

Sev

96strat · Feb 27, 2017

What are you feeding them? I over did a fert last year and it did the same thing. It grew out of the over feed of N. Just water for a few weeks and it should be ok.

Powelly · Feb 27, 2017

Round leaves like that is stereotypical calcium deficiency

lek · Feb 27, 2017

please take some close up photos of the other side of the leaf

Pyre · Feb 27, 2017

Mites, broadmites most likely

peppamang · Feb 27, 2017

Last year I had this problem about midseason, after the plants were strong and healthy. It ended up being mites, I clipped off the wrinkled leaves and treated with some organic pesticide and the plant sorted itself out! Good luck.

austin87 · Feb 27, 2017

Broad mites... happened to my plants last year.

mpicante · Feb 27, 2017

I would spray for mites.

nzchili · Feb 27, 2017

I agree with all those who suggested it may be mites.

austin87 · Feb 27, 2017

Broad mites are not visible to the naked eye btw. A 30-60x jewelers loop should help you see them if you are so inclined.

I thought my problem last year was calcium deficiency, so I gave them cal-mag. All that did was accelerate the growth of the tender new leaves and give the buggers more of what they like to eat. It really set my season back. I used Azamax (3x in about 10 days, diluted per instructions on the package) with success. Others like wettable sulphur.

Sev · Feb 27, 2017

Thanks all - included some photos of the undersides of the leaves. I've also done a first pass with eco-neem oil which gets rid of mites. I'll repeat in a few days, and clean up the plant removing some of these affected leaves as well.

Photos (excuse my hands)!

Cheers,

Sev

nzchili · Feb 27, 2017

^ yep that is mites. If the leaf / new growth damage wasnt enough, then the slightly brown discoloration in these latest pics is also a tell tale giveaway for broad mites. I know it well.

I would cut off all the affected growth before spraying with lime sulphur or wettable sulphur. I have no experience with wettable sulphur but I do have direct experience with lime sulphur vs mites. You will need to get serious and remove a good amount of growth if you are to go forwards and not backwards,

You will want to destroy the growth that you remove...I used to cut it off and throw it in a big pot of boiling water before discarding..

Sev · Feb 27, 2017

Thanks nzchilli.

So, neem is good versus mites, so apply neem to everything, chop off anything affected and hopefully we won't have anymore issues.

Does this mean get rid of peppers as well, or will the neem help?

Cheers,

Brad

nzchili · Feb 28, 2017

Sev said:
Thanks nzchilli.
So, neem is good versus mites, so apply neem to everything, chop off anything affected and hopefully we won't have anymore issues.
Does this mean get rid of peppers as well, or will the neem help?

Cheers,

Brad

I do not believe you will get anywhere with neem as its contact only, and no way are you going to get every single mite with neem unless you dunk the plant. They are relentless.. By all means give it a try but im confident you will only slightly delay them with neem. infact you will get nowhere with most things that are labelled as "miticide" , they generally cover spider mites and two spotted mite etc and not these

Sulphur based products on the other end mess with the ph on the surface of the plant, and so turn it into an environment that cannot support mite life.

edit; heres an old image I took from my tussles with mites showing the underside of leaves with the distinctive brown coloration

Powelly · Feb 28, 2017

It seems that I have mites

Sev · Feb 28, 2017

nzchilli, I cleaned out alot but was able to find a magnifying class and was looking at some leaves that I'd left on (that look fine) but lots of white dots moving around underneath...which I'd assume are mites.

When you say sulphur based products, are there any specific names you can give to help me out?

Barring that, I was thinking maybe strong hosing may get rid of alot of them?

mrwrx · Feb 28, 2017

Yeah as others have stated it looks like mites. I just started treating my plants for this too,

I'm using this from Bunnings for $14.35

Powelly · Feb 28, 2017

Thanks MrWRX

nzchili · Feb 28, 2017

Sev said:
nzchilli, I cleaned out alot but was able to find a magnifying class and was looking at some leaves that I'd left on (that look fine) but lots of white dots moving around underneath...which I'd assume are mites.

When you say sulphur based products, are there any specific names you can give to help me out?

Barring that, I was thinking maybe strong hosing may get rid of alot of them?

yep the image of what mrwrx posted is exactly what I have used in the past. Available from bunnings in NZ, so I assume available from bunnings in Aus as well.
mix it strong

lek · Feb 28, 2017

Sev said:
Thanks all - included some photos of the undersides of the leaves. I've also done a first pass with eco-neem oil which gets rid of mites. I'll repeat in a few days, and clean up the plant removing some of these affected leaves as well.

Photos (excuse my hands)!

Cheers,

Sev

that's what i thought. :party:

this is common problem and easy to solve. just use Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana to kill them all.

or make pepper plant stronger and repel them using:
EM5 + wood vinegar + amino acid + B-vitamins + seaweed extract (Ascophyllum nodosum) + water