Edges of leaves wilting, then dying

[RichardK]

On a few of my second year Habanero plants, recently some of the leaves have been wilting on the edges, tips, and those parts soon die and crunch off, or the whole leaf falls off.

They were doing fine up untill a few weeks ago and I have not been over watering, only when whole plant is wilting do I water, and deeply. Also, the leaves are plenty far away from the 26 Watt CFL lights.

This happens to new leaves and old leaves, some of them get yellow around the edges, most just wilt when a healthy green color. The wilting is alwayse at the tips, and sides nearest the tip. Sometimes it spreads backwards toward the stem and 90% of the leaf is wilting, then either falls off or the wilted part gets hard and crunchy. Some of the leaves have spots of yellow (See Image Below).

The affected plants seem stunted, and dont grow outward as much as the others and the new leaves dont get as big as the others.

What could be causing this? Here are the pictures...

 

[Pam]

Check list:

1. Could you not be watering enough?

2. Have you checked for insects like aphids or spider mites?

3. What, if any, fertilizers or "nutes" are you using?

4. What kind of potting soil?

 

[RichardK]

... Continued from above

Check list:

1. Could you not be watering enough?

2. Have you checked for insects like aphids or spider mites?

3. What, if any, fertilizers or "nutes" are you using?

4. What kind of potting soil?

1: As I said above, I water deeply when the plant starts wilting as a whole. The Problem wilting is on some leaves, not all leaves.

2: There is not a single aphid in sight, nor any other pest EXCEPT when I was repotting one of my Habs, there were some June Bug/Japaneese Beetle grubs at the bottom of the pot in various stages of development.

3: I have been using Tomato food (9-12-12), and Epsom Salt.

4: Standard Potting soil, nothing special... Same pots and plants as last year.

I cut back all my plants to stumps, waxed the tops and they came back with a fury, some had nutrient deficiency (from Aphid infestation) and I corrected that right away, and they were going right along their merry way untill of late some of them have been looking sickly, and the wilting of the tips and edges on some of the leaves (25% of them).

Hope that helps.

 

[Pam]

How often are you fertilizing? I'm wondering if an excess of one nutrient is blocking uptake of another. Oh, and is the fertilizer you're using complete?

 

[RichardK]

How often are you fertilizing? I'm wondering if an excess of one nutrient is blocking uptake of another. Oh, and is the fertilizer you're using complete?

I have only fertilized twice, and this was when the plants were showing signs of nutrient deficiency. I used about 1-2 Tablespoons per potted plant (same as directions on fert. box).

I did put a small amount (1/10th normal feeding) of Bloom Booster in the water a few times, because the Tomato food I use doesnt have micro nutrients and the bloom booster does.

Only three of my 11 large habanero plants are having this problem, the rest are fine.

I'm thinking if it's a fertilizer problem, to flush the three pots in question two or three times, and see what happens...

 

[caroltlw]

pH issue?
Looks like potassium deficiency but the ferts you're using should have that covered.

So you use some type of wax when you cut back to stumps? I've been trying to figure out how to seal mine. Any chance there was something bad in the wax?

 

[willard3]

Try to get your photos down to 900 pixels/side or less and they will display better.

People on dial-up are going to complain about 2 meg files.

 

[RichardK]

Try to get your photos down to 900 pixels/side or less and they will display better.

People on dial-up are going to complain about 2 meg files.

I would IF they would allow you more than 4 images per post! They make it easier to group them together in one image.

And ten years from now, are people still going to be looking out for the folks on "dialup"? Who uses that these days?

If they complain, LET THEM! If I was using an old Pentium 90 Mhz Desktop and complaining the page takes too long to load,
does that mean the administrators have to modify the site to accommodate me?

 

[RichardK]

pH issue?
Looks like potassium deficiency but the ferts you're using should have that covered.

So you use some type of wax when you cut back to stumps? I've been trying to figure out how to seal mine. Any chance there was something bad in the wax?

So what would you say? pH too high or too low?

 

[caroltlw]

So what would you say? pH too high or too low?

You got me there. I think if it's off too far either way you'll have problems absorbing nutrients. That's usually only an issue for the hydro guys. But maybe there's something with the soil or watering on those plants??
Got access to a pH test kit? Mine came as part of a cheapo soil test kit from the gardening dept at a major retailer. There's probably a better way to test.

 

[Josh]

I would IF they would allow you more than 4 images per post!

Sorry no info about your plants. You can only post 4 pictures per post but you can do as many posts as you want per thread. So if you have 6 pictures do one post with 4 pictures and a second with 2.

 

[RichardK]

You got me there. I think if it's off too far either way you'll have problems absorbing nutrients. That's usually only an issue for the hydro guys. But maybe there's something with the soil or watering on those plants??
Got access to a pH test kit? Mine came as part of a cheapo soil test kit from the gardening dept at a major retailer. There's probably a better way to test.

I just painstakingly sorted out about 3 TBSP of Potash from my Tomato food (The Red Stuff) and disolved it in warm water and then into a pitcher of fresh water and fed it to the three affected plants...

Will see if I get an improvment before I go changing the pH.

 

[joeknowsjolokia]

I just painstakingly sorted out about 3 TBSP of Potash from my Tomato food (The Red Stuff) and disolved it in warm water and then into a pitcher of fresh water and fed it to the three affected plants...

Will see if I get an improvment before I go changing the pH.

To much epsom salt, mine did the same for me before. Flush it a few times with just water. Then back off on the salt!
Why won't you back off on the size of your pix? I have dial-up and I'm one of those people that actaully have a life away from computers.
If your going to act like a lil child, people won't want to help you. Everyone IS here to help each other, so be nice or the pepper Gods will frown on you

 

[RichardK]

Why won't you back off on the size of your pix? I have dial-up and I'm one of those people that actaully have a life away from computers.
If your going to act like a lil child, people won't want to help you. Everyone IS here to help each other, so be nice or the pepper Gods will frown on you

Woah calm down buddy, no need for name calling. I'm simply pointing out a fact... Most people have broadband, besides I want image detail so people who do have a decent internet connection can actually see what I'm talking about. That and most of the images I see posted here are not that smaller than mine anyway.

And what does "having a life away from computers" have to do with you having dial-up? Most ISPs dont even offer dialup as a stand-alone package anymore, simply as a compliment service used for access on the road, with a laptop... but with Wifi and other wireless servies these days, even that is going out of style.

I'm sorry if I dont feel up to castraiting my images for the one guy out of 50 that has to wait a minute or so longer to see my images. No offense.

Besides, if not all in one image they would be spread out into several images, which would be more data than one large image and would take the same amount of time to load if not longer.

I actually take the time to resize my images before posting, unlike some people who do the lazy thing and source to the original high res images.

Calling me a little child isnt the best way to get me to go out of my way to accommodate the 20% of users out there still using dialup.

 

[POTAWIE]

Its not a rule, just common courtesy to keep pic sizes down for those of us on dial-up, and for those of us who prefer not to have to right/left scroll.

 

[RichardK]

Its not a rule, just common courtesy to keep pic sizes down for those of us on dial-up, and for those of us who prefer not to have to right/left scroll.

Yep I totaly understand, and under normal circumstances I would have taken my already resized images and not clumped them into one image so I dont have to break up my post for more than 4 images.

Also, I have all widescreen monitors and I'm not paying attention to horizontal size, out of sight out of mind... Next time I'll try and remember to make sure they are not as wide.

Other than that, thanks for the input guys... Very much appreciated.

 

[AlabamaJack]

Richard...if I am not mistaken, with the resolution of our screens, you can compress the images and you still can't tell the difference between the noncompressed and compressed...this is JMO...if I am wrong, I am sure someone will correct me...

Willard was just trying to be helpful...he doesn't post much but from what I have learned, if you listen to him, he will never steer you in the wrong direction...

are the leaves dying on the whole plant or just on some of the branches...if it is only on some of the branches, I would consider something is clogging up the plumbing...

 

[RichardK]

Richard...if I am not mistaken, with the resolution of our screens, you can compress the images and you still can't tell the difference between the noncompressed and compressed...this is JMO...if I am wrong, I am sure someone will correct me...

Willard was just trying to be helpful...he doesn't post much but from what I have learned, if you listen to him, he will never steer you in the wrong direction...

are the leaves dying on the whole plant or just on some of the branches...if it is only on some of the branches, I would consider something is clogging up the plumbing...

They are compressed, JPEG... Perhaps I should lower the ratio a bit...

I'd say 20 to 30 % of the leaves are wilting at the tips and or the sides nearest the tips, not the leaf as a whole.

When feeling the leaf, it's crisp and healthy at the base near the stem and moving downward it gets rubbery, sticky and saggy... which is to say, wilted

This doesnt reverse and the wilted part alwayse dies, but the leaf can stay on or the whole thing falls off. With the younger leaves I notice they alwayse tend to fall off rather than stay on the plant with 50% of it dead.

The other leaves look fine, but a few days later this starts happening to them as well. It's been getting worse and I had my ideas of what may be causing it, so I decided to ask in here since this is only my second year of growing Peppers.

 

[thepodpiper]

RicharK, I do not care one way or the other how you display your pics.......but it is unpleasing to the eye to see the pics all lumped together with no distinction where one pic ends and another begins and as for scrolling to see the whole pic, I like POTAWIE do not bother with it. JMO.

Dale

 

[thepodpiper]

If it is a nutrient or salt build up maybe giving them a good soaking and let the water drain out of the bottom for a minute or so might be the way to go. I remember last season the plant pathologist from UofM told me that if I bottom water the plants, every once in a while you should top water to rinse down the buildup of salts.

Dale