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health Dying plant? Not sure what is wrong.

C

clee1988

Recently my plant (bhut jolokia) was doing well, I did decide to put it in a different pot and it hasn't been the same since. I've read so much and have no clue what is wrong. I figure after more than a week it is likely not still shock, not sure if its has been getting too much water or what. The way I would describe the state of the plant is not really green but not really yellow either. Sort of in the middle and now the leaves are all wilted and curling. I'm hoping to do something before I loose the plant. Note it has rained heavily in the last couple of days and I've tried to keep it out of the rain to dry it out but even under my car port the soil seem to be wet. Today it isn't bone dry but not easy to get through the soil. I believe it might help to say I have a high clay content and I originally used quite a bit of worm casting to start. I've read it could possibly be nutrients but as I'm a first year grower I wanted to ask people more experienced.
 
June 19th
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Two days ago
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Today
 
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moruga welder said:
:welcome: to T.H.P.  !   how much water is it getting ?  whats your soil mix ?      :onfire:
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Mostly mixed it with new dirt from my yard and what it already had since it was already doing well??? Think this might have been a noob mistake. Water is def enough... I've worried it was too much tbh but I have no clue. I don't water it unless the soil is dry and leave are drooping. That being said with not knowing what to do in this plants decline I've been all over the place with it. Thanks for the reply
 
meinchoh said:
Repot that thing immediately. Clay does NOT belong in a pot!

Oh!  :welcome:
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Really? everything else is doing GREAT... or so it seems. I have a couple peppers planted in the ground and a couple in pots. I used only worm casting and dirty/clay from my yard. Seriously up until recently it was doing great.... maybe I had a good enough worm casting to clay ration??? Guessing I should get something immediately to correct. This is why I posted pictures from at least two weeks ago to show it was doing GREAT. I hope I didn't kill my best plant :\ If so guess live and learn, I have other but I would really like to save this one. By far it was the best plant. Thanks for the reply
 
Also If I am going to replant it what should I use???
 
*edit*
I might have just thought of why it has done okay so far, I tilled the yard before. When I re-potted a couple of plants I just dug up more dirt and broke it up. Why I didn't think of this before.
 
Nute lockout might just now be catching up with you. Clay is VERY dense and roots cannot move in it. Water and nute uptake is near impossible in too much clay, as is getting oxygen to the roots. Growing in ground and in pots are two different animals...
 
meinchoh said:
Nute lockout might just now be catching up with you. Clay is VERY dense and roots cannot move in it. Water and nute uptake is near impossible in too much clay, as is getting oxygen to the roots. Growing in ground and in pots are two different animals...
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Have you had any luck turning this around? I've been afraid of trying to take it out of the pot again with it in the current state. Also I gave more info in the comment before of things I just realized. :\
 
meinchoh said:
Use some peat moss, compost and perlite or vermiculite. There are plenty of soil making threads on here  :)

http://thehotpepper.com/topic/10245-all-about-soil-a-great-resource-i-thought-i-would-share/
 
 
Start here...
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Thank you so much for your suggestion but looking at so much information and trying to make an informed decision is difficult as well as finding something that would be available quickly. I'm unsure if this is something I should be trying to do tomorrow or if it can wait a few days while I research. Based on how much of a change there has been I thing it needs to happen much sooner. Thanks again for all of your assistance.
 
Go to a Home Depot or Lowe's and get a good potting mix/soil if you are pressed for time. You are more than welcome!!

Most of us learn by trial and error...lol
 
I'm no pro by any means but I've been using the miracle gro potting mix from Wally World in everything and I'm very happy with it. Cheap and easy. Also used their moisture control mix with no problems to date. Hope all goes well
 
clee1988 said:
Have you had any luck turning this around? I've been afraid of trying to take it out of the pot again with it in the current state. Also I gave more info in the comment before of things I just realized. :\
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You have nothing to lose by trying --- If you leave it where it is it's gonna die ( remember clay mixed with sand and water makes cement -- and plants don't grow well in cement !! ) - pull it out of the pot remove what you can of the soil and thoroughly soak in a bucket of water to free the roots and remove the rest of the soil -- then plant in a pot with proper soil (pretty much any kind will be better than what it is in ) - it might still drop most of the leaves but pepper plants are pretty resilient so it might recover.
 
Also probably will be wanting to amend the rest of your in ground soil with soluble gypsum ( or build some raised beds to grow in ) - here is an article that discusses it ( http://www.patwelsh.com/soils/never-add-clay-to-sand-or-sand-to-clay/ )
 
I have pulled a plant out a of a pot and just sprayed the root ball with a hose until all the soil 'melts' off, leaving just exposed roots. You can start over pretty easily this way. This has worked with plants/roots I dug out the ground, out of clay, as well.
 
 
edit: I have also had previous issues with root rot even with perlite and pumice mixed in. It wasn't until I added the vermiculite (as mentioned by Meinchoh) that I really started to see this turn around reliably. This of course is just my experience with my soil mix, but it may help you.
 
 
 
 
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