Few Problems

[Blister]

I'm having a few problems with my plants and I can't seem to figure out what's causing the problem. The first plant is an orange hab in a pot. It was recently attacked by spider mites and I think I may have gotten rid of them. I noticed that the leaves are all bumpy and crinkly and had been like this even before the spider mites got to it. My other orange hab that's actually in the ground has a similar appearance. Is this normal?

Orange hab in pot

Orange hab in the ground

My Chili Grande has a similar look, except that the leaves are curling, but not going yellow.

The last picture is an assorted bunch of chili's. They are yellowing and really only have green near the veins of the leaves.

What is it that these plants are lacking? I had been giving them all a shot of epsom salts at night - sprayed on the leaves once a week - but that didn't seem to take care of the problem. With the exception of the orange habs (in the pot and in the ground) the soil in the potted plants is mixed with

1 part bone meal
1 part blood meal
1/2 part dolopril
2 parts perlite
7 parts organic soil

I've also given them a single shot of 20-20-20 ferts last week diluted into water. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[LGHT]

I had almost the same exact problem with a Bhut Jolokia and a trinidad scorpion after getting suggestions to add ferts that your already using I sent a pic to a friend that is a master gardner and she said it's a result of the plant not being able to cool itself down or sweat enough and is essentially over heating. I moved those 2 plants to a shaded area where they get half the amount of light as before and both recovered and took off nicely. In 2 weeks the Bhut has over 20 buds and lots of new growth and the scorpion has tons of new growth as well. Not sure if it will fix your probelm, but it worked for me.

 

[Hotpeppa]

hmmmm,

my thoughts :

magnesium def would of been my first guess...( you took care of that possiblity with the epsom salts )

over watering would be my second guess...

or maybe too much sun, try a little more shade in the day...

as far as the curling of the leaves go, you seem to be taking appropriate measures with that as well by adding bone meal to the mix... hmm not sure about that one but would love to know if you figure anything out...


i think its overwatering and maybe a little burning from too much fert...

keep us updated please....

 

[Blister]

Thanks for the replies guys. It's supposed to be raining and much cooler for the next few days so hopefully I'll be able to see if heat is the problem.

I can also let up on the watering of the smaller plants in the pots. I do have them in the greenhouse and the light is somewhat diffused. The only times the plants get direct sunlight is in the early morning or later evening when the sun shines through the windows on each end.

I will keep the thread updated.

Neil

 

[RichardK]

Any kind of Leaf Cupping like that can be caused by a Magnesium, Calcium or Potassium deficiency, so you could try some dolomite which has Magnesium and Calcium. As for the Potassium, if your plant food has little red "rocks" (potash) in them, you can painfully seperate them and disolve it in water and feed that to them, or find some other Potassium only source. I dont suggest giving them plant food with anything else because other than the leaf cupping they look like they are doing more than fine and adding anything other than the above nutrients may cause more problems.

For the yellow ones, they look like they need some Nitrogen real bad.

 

[PepperLover]

the habs look just fine th others too much water or rain

 

[Blister]

Ok, I have some magnesium, calcium and potassium in the form of blood meal, bone meal, dolomite lime, and epsom salts but how much do you add?

 

[RichardK]

Ok, I have some magnesium, calcium and potassium in the form of blood meal, bone meal, dolomite lime, and epsom salts but how much do you add?

Blood Meal is the nitrogen, not sure how to apply that to soil with a plant already growing in it.

Dolomite lime can be applied with a few teaspoons (no more than a Tablespoon) per pot, or disolved in water first and then poured in.

If you do the dolomite, no need for epsom salt since dolomite has both Magnesium and Calcium.

...as for the others, read the instructions on how to apply, if they dont have any then maybe someone else here has a good idea on how much to apply for correcting a deficiency.

 

[Blister]

Just a little update. I spoke with a fellow at our local nursery and got some more input. His first question was "do you have aphids?" Yep, I had a very small amount about 3 weeks ago. I found two adult aphids and one plant had about half dozen eggs on it. I also had some spider mites. The plants were treated and both the mites and the aphids are gone. I'm going to keep an eye out for any more of them just in case.

His second question was "What kind of soil are you using?" I told him that it was the '100% organic soil' from Costco and was mixed with blood, bone meal, perlite, and dolopril etc. He told me he used to get the same soil from the same supplier in Abbotsford, but no longer does so because the soil is garbage. His experience was that the bags were wildly inconsistent in terms of the acidic levels. His recommendation was to get the plants into quality potting soil, but wouldn't really recommend anything. He did not say "Oh mine is the bestest ever!", rather he said "Just use a quality potting soil".

He also recommended fertilizing the plants with a 15-15-30 tomato fertilizer every two weeks. The solution was to be mixed at 4.5ml per liter of water.

So I picked up some better soil and have replanted the pepper plants. I tried removing as much of the old soil as possible without destroying the root system, but some of the smaller roots did break. I found that some of the plants were really over watered. They were not drying out before being watered again. So there's part of the problem, but not the complete problem. I have plants in 4" pots that are displaying the same leaf curl and yellowing as the plants in the larger pots. The smaller 4" pots dry out really fast in the greenhouse. Because all the recent plants (about 9) were planted in the Costco soil, I replanted in the same manor with the new soil.

In one instance of the larger pots, the soil was starting to smell a little foul about 1/2 way down. For the most part the roots looked good. A few were slightly brown, but most were bright white. I'm going to let them wilt before they are watered again and now I just have to wait and see what happens over the next few weeks.

 

[rds040800]

I noticed a foul smell from 2 of my larger pots this morning when watering, and the plants that are in them are not doing the best. Gonna have to follow this to see what is said of that.

 

[Blister]

I can't say what the severity of the problem is for your plants, but a foul-smelling soil isn't the best sign. A quick google search turned up

Roots should be white or light-colored. Black, dark-colored, or foul-smelling roots are usually signs of a serious problem, such as fungal disease.

In my case, the soil was starting to rot. A portion of the soil (about the size of a quarter) was turning into a black clay-like mess. I removed it and put the plants into a higher quality soil.

I'm guessing that I was either over watering, or the plants didn't have adequate drainage. Could be a bit of both, but I'm leaning towards me over watering them.

 

[patrick]

To help with the fungal problem in the roots use some hydrogen peroxide diluted with water. It will help. I believe I read one teaspoon to a quart of water. You should probably wait until one of the big guns around here chimes in. Good luck.

 

[rds040800]

I actually did some reading, and it is a supposed good practice to add hydrogen peroxide to water when watering plants every once in a while, because it allows the release of oxygen for the plant to use. Must do research to find out exact ammounts to use, and will experiment on jalapeno plant that is not happy.

 

[joeknowsjolokia]

I actually did some reading, and it is a supposed good practice to add hydrogen peroxide to water when watering plants every once in a while, because it allows the release of oxygen for the plant to use. Must do research to find out exact ammounts to use, and will experiment on jalapeno plant that is not happy.

Hydrogen peroxide is found naturally in snow and rain water. be carefull when adding it while watering. It depends if you are using food grade or not. The stuff you buy at the drug store is only 3% by volume so it is pretty safe to use. Food grade is like 16% so far less should be used!
I heard that when using 3%, mix 1 Tbls to 1 quart of water. I have not tried this though!

 

[inolan22]

After doing all that you have done, did the plants stop curling? I have a few plants that look nice and green but the leaves are curling in like some of yours in the pictures above. I have hit them with some epsom salts, but do not think it had much affect. Did you find that over watering was causing the leaf curl? I am hoping so, because the plants I have are already in 3 gal pots and I really do not want to transplant them >.

 

[Blister]

The plants are starting to recover, but still don't look that good. The Habanero in the pot (pictured in my first post) has lost a lot of it's new growth. The older leaves are smoother, but it still needs some time. Unfortunately we've been experiencing a lot of cold temps at night which have been hovering around 5C (41F). We've also had a lot of rainy days with little to no sun. It all seems to have really slowed any sort of progress.

I did bring the ailing plants into the house 3 days ago and have given them a shot of VitaMax. So far that's been working far better than Epsom Salts or any of the other additives I've given them. The hab does have a bunch of new buds on it. The plant may not look good, but I may still get some production out of it after all.

 

[Blister]

Just a quick update. I've been bringing all my ailing plants into the house at night because it's been getting so cold out at night and the days haven't been much better. We've had a lot of rain and overcast sky's. They have been responding by smoothing out, going a nice deep green and really seem to like the new soil. The older leaves still don't look that good and I don't really expect them to fully recover. They are older leaves after all, but the new growth is smooth and green.

The Orange Hab lost a lot of new growth, but since I've been bringing it in, it's managed to grow about 1" taller and has about 15 new buds on it.

My serrano really likes it's new home. Like the other plants, the older leaves still have some yellowing, but the new growth is really green. This one is pulling through like a champ. I doubt I'll get any production from it though. It doesn't have any buds on it and my season is quickly coming to a close.

Here are the misc. chili plants that were having some problems. Like all the rest they were replanted into better soil. They've responded by greening up and starting some new growth. Foliar spraying with vitamax and putting them in some quality soil seems to agree with them.

They still have a ways to go, but they are looking better. I'll try and post some better pics of them later on today. These ones didn't turn out like I had hoped, but you can see the plants greening up and some of the improvement on the older leaves.

 

[POTAWIE]

I think your new soil will do wonders.
I'd be careful if you chose to use hydrogen peroxide. It's good to help root rot or to pre-sterilize water or equipment but it(h202) can break down nutrient bonds as well as kill beneficial microbes

 

[Blister]

Given the results I have been having by simply putting the plants into new soil, I really don't think I'll use anything like peroxide. Time, nutrients and water seems to be really doing wonders for all of them. There are a few that are taking longer to recover, but that's mainly because they were much further gone. I also have a few doubles of the ones that aren't doing good so it's not really a concern. As long as I can get at least one of each variety to pull through I'll be happy.

We also seem to be getting into some nice weather. We'll be getting some temps in the low 20C's (68F) and mainly sunny. That should really help them along. It would be nice to leave the plants out in the greenhouse and not worry about them rather than carting them in and out each day and night.