Plants are wilting, weird stuff, please help

Bicycle808

Bicycle808

I am sorry I don't have pictures but I will try to upload some soon. I have a bunch of plants, most are doing reasonably well despite my ineptitude, but 4 of the 99 at my community garden raised beds have suddenly taken a sharp turn for the worse. I'm trying to figure out what I should do in the short term
..

Some background: I started many plants from seed, and some did great and others failed miserably, depending on which starting soil I used. One of the plants that was doing best was an Orange Thai, which in the solo cup was big and bushy and strong and even setting a few tiny pods while still in the solo cup. I expected great things but, one day, it just wilted dramatically. It looked like it had dried out but the soil was pretty much ideal at that point. Still, it was wilting so I gave it some water but it didn't matter; it stayed wilted. It didn't makes it to plant out; I wasn't to worried because I had more plants than I had garden space, but I still felt underway that what had been my most vigorous plant has been taken out by a mystery. . .

Fast forward to a week or two ago: one of my Jalapeño Conchos plants had seemed to be doing at least kinda well. It was smaller than my other plants from the same seeds, but it had buds and seemed healthy, if a little stunted... Until it started to woke dramatically, too, and didn't get better with watering. This occurred during a heat wave, so I thought it had something to do with that.... But all of my plants wilt on terribly hot days, and they all bounce back after some water... Except this one.

Fast forward to a few days ago: now three other plants in the next bed over are showing the same symptoms. These three also happen to be in close proximity to one another, so it seems to be spreading, and I worry that it will affect all of my plants.

After a few searches , i am suspecting that it is a fungal infection (fusarium or verticillium.) I don't think it's viral, as there were no weird marks on the leaves, just wilt. The leaves have gone a little yellow, but that seems to be a symptom that appears after the fact, pleasantly b/c I overwatered the willing plants in a misguided attempt to save them.

My questios are, are these plants doomed? Should I yank them ASAFP will the fungus spread to the outer plants, either none or in future grows?

Sorry for all the questions, but i'm freaking out...

Tia,
Rob
 
Update: my mom told me to pull the affected plants and toss them in the garbage ( no compost)... She doesn't think my soil will be permanently tainted, but she's eternally optimistic. She's a really good Gardener, but she is guided more by experience and intuition than by science and hard knowledge...
 
floricole said:
Maybe Cutworms, look  the 1 inch deep in ground to see if it ate the stem
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I will do that... Is that the effect it would have? Wilting? The plants haven't fallen over....

Will definitely check as soon as I'm out of work
 
Bicycle808 said:
I will do that... Is that the effect it would have? Wilting? The plants haven't fallen over....

Will definitely check as soon as I'm out of work
Click to expand...
 
yes, this is what mine look like after they ate them
 
Hmmm... Researching cutworms, it seems that could be it. I have also noticed tons of fireflies in those beds, both day and night... And it says fireflies like to eat cutworms. Maybe they're drawn to my beds because those critters are there?

I'm thinking that midnight isn't the best time to check for this damage, but I'll try tonight, by the light of my cellphone.
 
Just so you know... you want to hope this is a pest issue.  Any of the -illium or -arium variety blights, are soil borne, and that's really bad news.  
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I never thought I'd say this...  but let's pray for pests.
 
Bicycle808 said:
I guess I ought to get me some food grade diatomaceous earth... Sprinkle that around the base of each plant?
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Won't do much good.  Stuff is useless when wet.  Also, if they're doing subterranean damage, they won't really get into it.
 
If you have cutworms chewing roots, you've got a lot of cutworms.  They tend to be very territorial, and will get cannibalistic, until there's only one of them left.  So, I'd also check other root chewing bastards.  Grubs come straight to mind.
 
solid7 said:
Just so you know... you want to hope this is a pest issue.  Any of the -illium or -arium variety blights, are soil borne, and that's really bad news.  
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I never thought I'd say this...  but let's pray for pests.
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I was feeling the same way, and actually felt hopeful when Floricole suggested cutworms.

I can patiently destroy insect larvae, but fungus is more of a nebulous foe, with countless microscopic spores and the potential to be a permanent problem
 
solid7 said:
 
Won't do much good.  Stuff is useless when wet.  Also, if they're doing subterranean damage, they won't really get into it.
 
If you have cutworms chewing roots, you've got a lot of cutworms.  They tend to be very territorial, and will get cannibalistic, until there's only one of them left.  So, I'd also check other root chewing bastards.  Grubs come straight to mind.
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Just curious, why would that indicate a large number of cutworms? I was under the impression that they were big and could do a lot of damage rather quickly???

I had 99 plants at that site; if there's a lot of cutworms, wouldn't more plants be suffering by now?
 
I'm so frustrated that I can't upload pictures real quick right now but the note I look at this the more I think it might be cutworms. But that might just be wishful thinking
 
Bicycle808 said:
Just curious, why would that indicate a large number of cutworms? I was under the impression that they were big and could do a lot of damage rather quickly???

I had 99 plants at that site; if there's a lot of cutworms, wouldn't more plants be suffering by now?
Click to expand...
 
Yeah, they can get big, but usually, they come out at night, and defoliate.  When they're doing the deed underground, they've got a lot of roots to chaw through to induce complete system failure.  Not saying they couldn't, but they're not on the same scale as, say, a tomato hornworm.  So, that leads me to believe there may be a cluster of them.  Like 6-10.  Or that they're another type of pest.  Like I said, I'd be more likely to vote for the big June bug grubs in this case, but I'm not entymologist.  Not completely sure what you have in your area.
 
Sounds like a possibility. When I pull these doomed plants, in going to do a lot of investigation. I'm scared to disrupt my healthy plants too much, but I have nothing to lose with these lost causes
 
can also be WIREWORM 
 
peppers_insects_wireworm_damagestem_zoom.jpg

 
cutworm on tomato plant
peppers_insects_cutworms2_zoom.jpg

 
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/IPM/english/peppers/insects/wireworm.html
 
 
Hope to get it figured out! Just dealt with a huge hornworm issue here plants are just starting to rebound. I ended up cutting a Aji Pineapple and 2 Scotch Bonnets down to nubs in the hopes they with regrow. Best of luck my friend
 
Thanks, Crispee... i appreciate it. I fought hornworms in the past; they are terrible.

Floricole, the pic of the tomato plant cutworm victims looks a lot like my doomed chile plants... I think you're onto something. But, whodafugg is WIREWORM!?! I'm off to Google that shit now...
 
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