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Anyone Seen This Before?

Eephus Man

Eephus Man

I had been having what I assumed were high N issues in my back raised beds, but as the year has worn on, leaves haves stopped curling, corn was planted, and I actually started to get a very few peppers (and lots of cucumbers) out of the bed.

Now more peppers are coming in, but here's some interesting fruit that I figured y'all would like to see.

Thoughts? Still on the over-N train?

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Thanks, ABC. Would I get severe leaf curl with thrips, and then have it desist, and then get fruit like this on some of the plants?

It only affects tomatoes and peppers (and slight leaf curl on okra). Corn has not been affected at all. Some peppers aren't either. Peppers growing in different soil on the endcaps have suffered absolutely none at all, which is what made me think it was soil-based and not pest/virus/bacteria.

Dunno.
 
Slimbob said:
Are these seeds from a grocery store pepper?
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Nossir. 90% sure it is a Jimmy Nardello's from Seed Savers Exchange. Possibly a Chocolate Hab that was self-saved. Very likely the former and confirmable. All stock grown in that bed has sister plants in pots on my deck garden. All have grown true and fine, including both of the aforementioned.
 
The thing that makes me agree with the nitrogen excess is the color - both the pods and the stems are very yellow, a classic excess-nitrogen sign. I don't know that this would cause the pods to deform like that, though. I tended to find that my plants stopped growing and producing last year when we had excessive rain towards the end of the season. I did have one pod that got twisted/curled up, but that was a single pod.

Are you giving them calcium and magnesium? Can you put some kind of cover over the bed so they don't get rain for a while, but only the nutes you feed them?
 
Thats some pretty scary pods you have there. In a way It reminds me of 'contorted plants like Salix matsudana 'Tortuosa' (Contorted Willow) or Corylus avellana 'Contorta' (Contorted Hazel) in the way that all the parts of the leaves are there but not in their usual shape but twisted like they are in pain.

In the case of the contorted Hazel and Willow this is a deliberate genetic cultivation however I believe you may have an unitentional genetic disorder which mother nature throws up from time to time. Did all of the seeds come from the same place and if so what percentage are affected?

Whatever happens it would be interesting to save seed from the curled peppers and plant a couple next season and see what happens.
 
geeme said:
The thing that makes me agree with the nitrogen excess is the color - both the pods and the stems are very yellow, a classic excess-nitrogen sign. I don't know that this would cause the pods to deform like that, though. I tended to find that my plants stopped growing and producing last year when we had excessive rain towards the end of the season. I did have one pod that got twisted/curled up, but that was a single pod.

Are you giving them calcium and magnesium? Can you put some kind of cover over the bed so they don't get rain for a while, but only the nutes you feed them?
Click to expand...

I'm giving them nothing except water. I live in Central Texas, man. It doesn't rain!! Seriously, though, what made these plants start to grow again was about 5.5" of rain in a week. Prior to that, my dripline was keeping them alive, but not letting them thrive. It has now been a couple of weeks since it has rained, and I'll bet it'll be at least 3-4 more weeks before we see a drop. Maybe longer.

I initially mixed the old garden soil from last year (the bed was too shaded to have plants produce fruit), some homemade compost (which I have also used on other plants) and soil from a local vendor that I buy my potting soil from. I found at least a few "nuggets" of white powder that I assume was gypsum. They list it in their ingredients list. I also saw what appeared to be not completely composted manure. I suspect one of the two, but I haven't the faintest. I have been trying to draw out N all season (corn, okra, cucubrit plantings) and water more frequently to flush out any I can as well. They started to grow better with more water and now the plants are mostly full sized.

Adam said:
Whatever happens it would be interesting to save seed from the curled peppers and plant a couple next season and see what happens.
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I may well do that. I haven't split these open yet, but I suspect they are too young to have seed. Will find out today. It was Jimmy Nardello's seed from Seed Savers Exchange. I have two of the plants growing elsewhere and producing just fine without issue. This is the only Nard plant in that particular bed. All of the leaves curled similarly in most of the peppers at first, too.

If there are more of these things that show up, I'll keep y'all in the loop.
 
Arenal Botanical Garden said:
Snatch a flower off, right before it turns into a bud, and look at it with a magnifying glass.
Thrips can cause that.

PETA. Peepers Endure Thrip Attack. ;)
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ABC,

Just did this. I'm pretty sure you've nailed it. I don't own a magnifier of any kind, but I could see some lil' elongated critters scatter out of the flower when I plucked it. So I suspect your hunch was right. Weird that they only like the JNs so far, though.

So I think the early leaf curl was high nitrogen, and this odd fruit was thrips. At least it wasn't nuclear sludge!!
 
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