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pests deficiency? pest?

hi friends
 
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these are translucent, dead spots on the leaves. there is some leaf drop as well.
i have a few other peppers potted in the same media at the same time, and none of them have this issue.
thoughts?
 
thanks
 
another thing i can add is that it rained a lot lately (many days in a row), but the other unaffected plants endured it too
 
Just a note on that... when you fill your containers, you want to actually fill them. Reason being, peat compacts when it gets wet, and as it gets degraded by microbial activity. (as you have probably noticed) Every container has a saturation zone, and the less media in the container, the higher this zone reaches. That's important, because your plant isn't going to love to grow into that saturated zone. When you get really skilled at growing, you'll know how to deal with it better. But until you are aware of the problems it causes, it won't really be intuitive.
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It can exacerbate problems with things like overwatering, as it will have a higher % of saturation, and will also take longer to evaporate. So you may be watering when the media appears dry, but it could be very wet underneath.
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That could potentially be problematic for feeding (excessive nutrient retention) as well.
 
also, i should have mentioned that it's a self-watering bucket thing (as illustrated on youtube by peter stanley et al).
i think i made tons of mistakes, especially on the recipe for the media, but i hadn't considered that underfilling could actually make it worse. thanks
 
thinking back, i was actually afraid that the young plant's roots wouldn't be able to get moisture from the bottom (being too far away from the media-filled net pot "wick" hanging into the reservoir), so that was part of it.
 
i'll make another topic in a bit about my troubles with this method...
 
also thanks for posting so much recently. i've been steadily learning things here and there from recent topics like "Best cheap soil(or mixture) from retail stores for containers?" and "looking to switch to a better fertilizer".
 
When I first moved to container gardening - not by choice, but by necessity - I had to learn all of these things, too. I wished, at the time, that someone was more forthcoming with their own experiences. I'm stubborn, so I spent a lot of time and money figuring a lot of things out. But not everyone should have to do that.
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That first thread you referenced has a good recipe for your containers. The only thing I might do differently for a SIP, is to cut the final mixture with some pine bark fines. That mix that I referenced, but add THAT mix to the pine bark fines, at a ratio of about 1:2 (pine bark to THAT mix) to start off with. The fine pine bark doesn't take away any of the mix's properties, but it DOES help greatly to retain structure of the mix. And, it's a very cheap filler.
 
Disclaimer: I am far from an expert. My plants have all sorts of issues and I'm generally too lazy to do anything to them other than blast them with the hose if I suspect pests.
 
I think there's two possibly related, possibly not related things going on here:  the twisted new growth, and the necrotic spots. I often have issues with the twisted new growth, often accompanied by aphids. If I see aphids, I blast em with the hose and after a couple of blastings and hand-pickings, it's usually resolved. If no aphids, I don't worry about it. I saw a post around here not too long ago saying very tiny mites can also cause it, so if you want to take a look at your new growth with a magnifying glass or something, you might find mites.  
 
The second issue you have is the necrotic spots. To me, that looks like damage caused by water pooling on the leaves and then giving your plants a sunburn. If that's the case, just don't water during daylight or make sure you're not letting water pool or bead on the leaves when you do. The other likely culprit in my mind is some sort of infection. 
 
But the thing that jumps out to me the most is that based on how dark your soil appears, it looks wet to me. If youre utilizing some self- watering system, it may be keeping the whole environment too wet. That would be my first guess as to the cause of your problems. 
 
MAFWIZ said:
The second issue you have is the necrotic spots. To me, that looks like damage caused by water pooling on the leaves and then giving your plants a sunburn. If that's the case, just don't water during daylight or make sure you're not letting water pool or bead on the leaves when you do. The other likely culprit in my mind is some sort of infection. 
 
But the thing that jumps out to me the most is that based on how dark your soil appears, it looks wet to me. If youre utilizing some self- watering system, it may be keeping the whole environment too wet. That would be my first guess as to the cause of your problems. 
 
It's not sunburn from water droplets.  That is not a real thing.  It has been debunked many times, but the claim still persists.  No worries there.

The second point is the relevant one.  It's why I brought up the perched water table. (saturated zone)  It could be overwatering.  It could be a nutrient deficiency.  It could also be bacterial.  If it's bacterial, water on the leaves will certainly worsen it.
 
I kinda got distracted before I could launch into my typical 'what are you feeding it', 'how often', etc routine.  But all of that comes next.  And every other bit of pertinent info.  Indoors/outdoors, temp, rain history, etc, etc, etc.  If you want a problem fixed, you really can't give too much information.
 
That being said.. take this suggestion with a grain of salt. I've never personally dealt with INSV so I can't accurately diagnose it. You can however buy strips from a company called agdia that can confirm the case.
 
Post some pics of the bottom of your leaves. I suspect Edema from overwatering and those dead spots are where the cells have exploded from too much water and died.

Similar spots from my plants earlier this season with edema...
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If edema is the cause then it would be a result of your plant not getting adequate air flow... stemming from your lack of potting soil in the container.

Regardless of the cause you need to take solids advice and fill that container up asap.
 
update:
 
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looks a bit worse. tomorrow i will have to try to do something for it.
i'm thinking new media and more of it.. and maybe some spinosad (insecticide) for the heck of it in case it's some kind of mite.
 
sinensis said:
update:
 
 
 
 
looks a bit worse. tomorrow i will have to try to do something for it.
i'm thinking new media and more of it.. and maybe some spinosad (insecticide) for the heck of it in case it's some kind of mite.
 
 
It's not really great habit to get into doing things, "just in case".  Your issue is not mites.  Of this, I am very certain.
 
What I'm not so certain about, is exactly what it is.  Unless I've missed it, I don't recall you telling us what you've been feeding it, and how often.  It's not entirely clear to me from the pics, but I highly suspect a combination of overwatering and overfeeding.  Both of them possible tied to the low levels of potting mix.  And I'm especially suspicious of this, given that you've said your other plants aren't suffering the same fate.

Resist the urge to be un-knowledgeably proactive.  That's never the answer.
 
I'd still like to see some pics of the underside of those older damaged leaves. The newer growth looks better than those older leaves.
 
you got it. tomorrow i will take pics.
 
also, i'm still writing up another post that goes into more details about what i've been doing to these poor guys.
 
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