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Growth rate questions

S

sirhc76

Plant info:
 
What I have is 3 each of the following, Smoking Eds Carolina Reaper, Bhut Jolokia, Bhut Jolokia Chocolate, Jays Red Ghost Scorpion.  When I got them, week of April 7, they were well rooted in the 2 in pots so I transplanted them into 4s and two weeks later into the 6's then into 1g pots on May 22nd which is where they are now.  I'm using Fox Farms Ocean Forrest and started dosing Grow big on June 16th.  I'm in central Texas and the plants get tap water, PH of 7 every 3-4 days and full sun from 7am to 7pm.  I made sure the plants were never rootbound and they are going into 20g pots this weekend.
 
For some reason each time I potted up the next set of leaves would crinkle up.  I checked for bugs and found none but pulled in some ladybugs just in case.  We had a nice storm awhile back while I was out of town and the leaves got a little battered, noticeable in the pic.

I had been pinching the buds off and last week just let them go while I was out of town last week.  Yesterday I went out and noticed this 2 inch pepper on one of my Bhut Jolokias which is about 18 inches tall.  Should I just continue to let them do their thing and how will this affect production throughout the summer?  The plants are all between 12 and 18 inches, loaded with leaves and since I topped one of each species those are nice and bushy.  Is this growth normal or sub par for plants this age in these conditions?
 
Thanks for your time,
 
20140619_104637_zps06bjapn4.jpg
 
It looks like your leaves are being eaten by something. You've got some odd looking ones, like the two flat at the bottom, one is right in the middle and the other is next to it on the right side.
I have a few plants which look the same, but its not aphids or slugs. Is it the work of broad mites?
 
Zoli said:
It looks like your leaves are being eaten by something. You've got some odd looking ones, like the two flat at the bottom, one is right in the middle and the other is next to it on the right side.
I have a few plants which look the same, but its not aphids or slugs. Is it the work of broad mites?
Click to expand...
 
I was thinking the same thing, it looks like classic broad mite damage.
 
Broad mites suck out the contents of individual cells, leaving behind what appears to be a hole but on closer inspection you can see the "skeleton" of the leaf has remained. If it is a real hole it is probably not broad mites.

Crinkled leaves can come from mites, but puckered leaves are more often an early sign of note burn.
Broad mites suck out the contents of individual cells, leaving behind what appears to be a hole but on closer inspection you can see the "skeleton" of the leaf has remained. If it is a real hole it is probably not broad mites.

Crinkled leaves can come from mites, but puckered leaves are more often an early sign of nute burn.
 
Thanks for the info everyone.  I originally thought broad mites and read the ongoing threads about them but saw now visible signs of them other than leaf damage.  What magnification would I need to see them or leftovers from them.  Would they be systemic across all my plants and all leaves?  All twelve of them are side by side and not all plants or leaves have this issue?  Its really easy to tell which leaves will have the issue, they normally have a brown color on them right after then bloom noticed in the pic below.  What about the growth, normal at this age or stunted by the leaf issues?
 
One of the plants with no noticable damage:
20140619_122022_zpsf45kcf2m.jpg


cropped image of leaf bud with issues.
Capturedamage_zps84d7b48d.jpg


 
 
I agree with Jamie...just get them into their final pot size and let them be for a bit. If they don't shake it off after a bit, fire this thread back up.
 
Thanks everyone. 

I’m far from being an entomologist but I think my plants have thrips.  I was referencing the pest guide thread and the thrip pictured there is black so I just moved on.  Yesterday I noticed a few little white "movers", slim and long then did some reading and realized thrips can come from the factory in various colors, the little shats on my plants happen to be white.  They actually look like a very very small grain of rice without magnification and when you try to smash their little arse they sort of hop or of fly away.  I may have gone overboard but I ordered some sticky traps, ladybugs, Amblyseius cucumeris and a mix of Steinernematid / Heterorhabditis nematodes.  I also have one of these showing up tomorrow to see if I can get some closes ups of the royal rumble.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QF0A1Y/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
This was also a good read, wife’s family was in town this weekend :)  http://biocontrol.ucr.edu/wft.html
 
yep that sounds like thrips. Whitish or yellowish, older ones are light brown, I rarely see any dark ones here. Its the rice shape that gives them away.
 
amblyseius will do it - sticky traps are useless, ladybugs....meh..but definitely do the amblyseius thing - see my thread on mites v thrips! ;)
 
Moosery, I had read your thread as well.  Did you use any type of other counter measures?  I was thinking spinosad and or mosquito dunks after I let the bugs battle it out.  I ordered my nifty camera today and thanks to prime it will be here tomorrow, in the meantime I got this pic with my phone after I shook its little ass out of a flower.  I dont think I have them that bad at this point since not all 12 of my plants are showing signs and they are all close to each other.  Its also not every leaf, sort of like every other set of new leaves.
 
littlefugger_zpsf5777ba3.jpg
 
no countermeasures except frequent misting spray to try to keep humidity up, and manual removal of adults every time I see them.
I figure any pesticides will also kill the mites, and the mites are doing such a great job...
 
As has been said you will be fine with the mites if you do it right as per instructions - dont worry if symptoms get worse before getting better - thrip damage tends to only show after plant growth (like a pattern on a balloon, it stretches out!) 

btw- how did you get such a good pic with your phone?? It's as good as I get WITH the usb microscope!
 
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