Hey guys, I received some new Scotch Bonnet seeds this year and am having some plant health problems. I planted eight seeds and only had two plants germinate. The two plants that germinated grew fine for approximately three months. The first thing that I noticed was the leaves turning up. I was not overly alarmed by this and thought it might be a heat issue. Then the leaves started to turn yellow and drop. They also seem to be turning brown on the tip of the leaves. It appears that it mostly the older leaves but I have seen some younger leaves doing it. I am using the same soil mix that I used last year with the only difference being that I started the seeds in a solo cup full of MG (I got lazy). I also planted a few SB's from seed stock from my last years plants and they seemed to suffer the same problem (they have been culled). Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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Are my Scotch Bonnets sick!
- Thread starter GrowrNotaShowr
- Start date
I'm sure others will stop by so I'll ask the usual questions:GrowrNotaShowr said:
1. What's the soil mix? I assume you mean media?
2. Are you adding nutes (Or anything else?)? If yes, what is it, it's NPK #s, application strength and frequency of application?
As an observation, the media in the last pic looks soaked (Read that as over watered.) A lot of rain or your watering schedule please?
The_NorthEast_ChileMan said:
I am pretty new to growing peppers so I am sure I am not using the best mix. I am using SunGro Metro-Mix and Black Kow about a 50/50 ratio and also adding some sand an vermiculite. I also added some Osmocote when I potted the plants. About 2 weeks ago I started adding Alaska fish fert. I am planning on adding the fish fert. every 3 weeks or so. This is the same mix and fertilization that I used last year and had good results. I had just watered when I took the picture. We have had an average amount of rain and I am being carful not to over water. if there is no rain they get about a 3rd of a gallon a day per plant (if the soil feels dry when I sick my finger in it). Thanks for your help!
Well,, welcome to the yellow Chile club...
Not a good club to be in.
From your good pics, in my rookie opinion, looks to be a couple things going on with your plant, maybe.
I've seen the little pin holes in leafs before, not quite as big as yours and no brown. That was spider mites. A curled leaf up top with spider webbing is usual consistent with spider mite infestations.And spider mites can be seen easier then the much smaller broad mite that do not make the pin holes.
Thats my take on the pin holes, but don't take it as the gospel on the subject. It could be from a past spider mite problem if no webbing is present, or something else altogether. Just my take on the pin holes.
The yellowing of leafs imo could be from compacted/hydrophobic media not letting nutrients be available to the roots. Seen this many times unfortunately. But the fix is easy and works well if thats your problem. Up pot the plant to a larger pot with nice (lite airy mix if you're in a hot humid rainy climate) homemade mix. or something similar.
Solid7 gave me a mix recommendation a while back and its been working incredibly well for me. 7/2/1 of peat/perlite/worm castings,with 1/2 cup organic fert rolled in and either a little dolomitic lime or 1/2cup powdered eggshells all per a 5gal pal.
Is the pot heavy or light..? What size pot..?
Anyhow, the below pic is of my plant that just started to get the yellows 5-6 days ago. Checked carefully and see no evidence of pests. The yellow can be from over/under water so tried both, with no change but a steady progression to more yellow. But the plant has not shut down and seems to still be setting fruit, lots of fruit, although no more flowers. But must be 50 fruits on the plant in various sizes of un-ripe.
So, today I will transplant to a larger #5 fabric pot from its plastic 3 gallon its been in for 3 months now. Kind of hate to mess with a plant that has so much hanging fruit but if I don't my experience says the yellow will continue to get worse and worse. Did this a few weeks ago to a reaper that had the same yellow but worse, lost a lot of leafs, no flowers/fruit, plant shutting down all pale green yellow... its now totally green with flowers and fruit.
My 'yellow' plants seem to really respond to a up pot with a good media, almost instantly. When I pulled the yellow reaper, could see the root ball all compacted with wet soil surrounding the root ball but the inside of the roots dry and it was not from a lack of regular watering, the pot was heavy. And this was with a good media mix, not as good as my current mix though....
Here is a pic of the plant that will get a replant to a bigger pot today, to hopefully rid it of the dreaded yellow chile.
If I were you, I would spray all your plants with neem asap. And up-pot all the yellow ones to a good media mix. This seems to be the cure for almost all chile plant problems, with the exception a dreaded less probable bacterial/viral infection. As long as all the other basics are correct, a spray/up-pot should cure your problem(s) imo... Its worked for me in the past and hopefully will today.
JMO
Not a good club to be in.
From your good pics, in my rookie opinion, looks to be a couple things going on with your plant, maybe.
I've seen the little pin holes in leafs before, not quite as big as yours and no brown. That was spider mites. A curled leaf up top with spider webbing is usual consistent with spider mite infestations.And spider mites can be seen easier then the much smaller broad mite that do not make the pin holes.
Thats my take on the pin holes, but don't take it as the gospel on the subject. It could be from a past spider mite problem if no webbing is present, or something else altogether. Just my take on the pin holes.
The yellowing of leafs imo could be from compacted/hydrophobic media not letting nutrients be available to the roots. Seen this many times unfortunately. But the fix is easy and works well if thats your problem. Up pot the plant to a larger pot with nice (lite airy mix if you're in a hot humid rainy climate) homemade mix. or something similar.
Solid7 gave me a mix recommendation a while back and its been working incredibly well for me. 7/2/1 of peat/perlite/worm castings,with 1/2 cup organic fert rolled in and either a little dolomitic lime or 1/2cup powdered eggshells all per a 5gal pal.
Is the pot heavy or light..? What size pot..?
Anyhow, the below pic is of my plant that just started to get the yellows 5-6 days ago. Checked carefully and see no evidence of pests. The yellow can be from over/under water so tried both, with no change but a steady progression to more yellow. But the plant has not shut down and seems to still be setting fruit, lots of fruit, although no more flowers. But must be 50 fruits on the plant in various sizes of un-ripe.
So, today I will transplant to a larger #5 fabric pot from its plastic 3 gallon its been in for 3 months now. Kind of hate to mess with a plant that has so much hanging fruit but if I don't my experience says the yellow will continue to get worse and worse. Did this a few weeks ago to a reaper that had the same yellow but worse, lost a lot of leafs, no flowers/fruit, plant shutting down all pale green yellow... its now totally green with flowers and fruit.
My 'yellow' plants seem to really respond to a up pot with a good media, almost instantly. When I pulled the yellow reaper, could see the root ball all compacted with wet soil surrounding the root ball but the inside of the roots dry and it was not from a lack of regular watering, the pot was heavy. And this was with a good media mix, not as good as my current mix though....
Here is a pic of the plant that will get a replant to a bigger pot today, to hopefully rid it of the dreaded yellow chile.
If I were you, I would spray all your plants with neem asap. And up-pot all the yellow ones to a good media mix. This seems to be the cure for almost all chile plant problems, with the exception a dreaded less probable bacterial/viral infection. As long as all the other basics are correct, a spray/up-pot should cure your problem(s) imo... Its worked for me in the past and hopefully will today.
JMO
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Thanks ACS 1, I will give that a shot. I have been spraying the plants with neem about once a week or so. I currently have them in 5 gallon buckets. I will try to up-pot them tomorrow. Thanks again!!!