Help, 5 -6 plants died

NorwegianChili

NorwegianChili

Banned
Why is this happening? It happened some days after receiving bonemeal! Its like the stem has dyed just below the surface of dirt. Rest is in good condition.  
 
 
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Damping off is a fungus that occurs on the surface of the soil. Treat all of your plants, even if they show no signs of it yet:
 
- Carefully scrape off the top layer of soil
- Spray the soil with hydrogen peroxide several days in a row
 
To prevent damping off, don't overwater, and preferrably bottom-water. Ensure good air circulation (wind or a fan) in the area. If you're overwatering, back off - let the leaves droop just a tad between waterings.
 
I see some grey/white fungus on the top of some. Ok, will go at it now!

And I guess the plants who have fallen over is dead and just to throw away:/
 
Sometimes you can prop up older plants like that and they will heal after some treatment. After a couple of weeks you can remove the prop and they should stand on their own, it'll retain some of the scar tissue.
 
Geeme's advice is spot on, keep the top of the soil dryer, especially at the base of the stem.
 
NorwegianChili said:
And I guess the plants who have fallen over is dead and just to throw away:/
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If the plants are big enough, you can try to take some cuttings and root them.  Its a step backward... but better than starting over.  I've never tried to root cuttings from pepper plants before, but according to other posts here, its possible.
 
Took most of the soil off and added new fresh soil. Will see how it will work out. Thanks... some of the soil had some fungus looking white webbing on it when i looked. Humid, warm weather and too much rain maybe `?
 
That plant dont have any fungus or nothing :) The other seem to cope quite good with the TLC they got today. I only threw two of them away, had some replacements for them to go. They are a part of the indoor plants for the winter. Started them in may. But I dont know whats the issue with this one. Seems like its dried out, but it is moist. 
 
the day after, ALL plants who had that fungus seems to be doing pretty good, even the ones with the damaged stem are up and standing on its one. But the one jalapeño indoor guy is as sad today as last night.... hmmm
 
I just noticed one of my ghost sprouts had the only leaf fall off and after reading this I dug a bit and found the same white/grey stringy stuff just under the surface of the soil. Searching the house now for hydrogen peroxide
 
did not use any hydrogen peroxide, but i did scrape off the 3 - 4 cm top layers and replaced it with peat. It seemed to do the trick, a week later and nothing. The plants have scars, but they have grown a couple of cm from where the injury was. 
 
Hi Everyone, I just happened to randomly click on a thread and wanted to chime in to the suggestion box. I agree with, Stein's suggestion that the your problem stems from over-watering - however, I'd also suggest that you evaluate the porosity of your potting mixture and amount of air circulation (especially, indoor plants). Roots suffocate if there is poor gas exchange in the soil. If an anaerobic environment is created, a new "soil system" will overtake the current one. Non-beneficial bacteria advance and begin a process of anaerobic decomposition. Air circulation (breeze) is the trigger for auxins to command the robust growth of cell wall structure at high stress points along the stem. It is also necessary (especially, critical indoors) to prevent the accumulation of water on the surface of the soil. THIS is where damping off, occurs - right at the soil line. This is why a lot of us prefer to water UNDER container grown plants than, to pour water directly on the surface of the soil. The plant shown with dessicated leaves IS NOT getting enough water; unfortunately, the reason is more than likely due to the decomposition of your plant's root system (root rot). It is very difficult to reverse the root rot process. And, it is especially difficult with plants that are not already very robust established specimens. The major system switch is from aerobic to anareboic and that is why hydrogen peroxide works so well. It kills anareobic bacteria, brings fresh oxygen to the roots that are still alive and aerates compacted areas in the soil. H2O2 is not a toxin that will accumulate in the living soil or plant. The most aggressive treatment of a plant with root rot (in my own experience) is to un-pot the plant and run water slowly over the roots to remove all of the soil. At this point, you will take the bare roots and have an initial soak in H2O2 at 3% for about 5 minutes. When you examine the roots you will see some will "slime off" and you want to remove as much of this without disturbing the other "potentially" still alive roots. You then dip it again in a fresh solution. Re-pot the plant in soil that you have microwaved or baked in tin foil in the oven. You want to kill ALL bacteria. The, find the most established healthy pepper plant in your garden and take a plug of soil out from below its roots. You will use this soil to infect your virgin potting substrate. Re-pot and hope it rebounds. It's a lot of work and you may want to just cut your losses. It would be easier to re-seed; however, I've found that troubleshooting is a big part of the hobby and it's good to try different techniques. I also like the suggestion of rooting a cutting very much - it's possible to "regenerate" the plant. This is very easy to attempt; however, I've found that success rates vary depending on the person. In my experience, using plain distilled water in some attempts and every root hormone in other attempts... I'd rate myself a generous 50% rate of success. Now, there are guys that just have a special knack for this stuff. They don't do anything special at all and they get 80-90% regeneration. I call these growers "Rooters", it's like being a "Green Thumb" on steroids. I really hope you get the plants turned around.. while I'm on a roll here I may as well put it out there that if you need seeds from anything in particular shoot me a PM. If I have anything you'd like to grow I'd be happy to send you some in the mail. Nice to meet all crazy chili heads. :) Thank you all for making me feel normal! I'm going to water the plants now and hopefully get some sleep...
 
About baking or microwaving your soil to kill the bacteria.... that is not exactly what you want to do.  I posted this in another thread a while back: http://thehotpepper.com/topic/23028-miracle-grow-is-not-bad/page-3
 
 
 
 
'Jetchuka', on 10 Jul 2011 - 7:56 PM, said:
Quote
'Jetchuka', on 10 Jul 2011 - 7:56 PM, said:
Jetchuka said:
Past 180-190f is when is when potting soil becomes toxic, you cut it close at 200f imho. At least that's what i've read in some online publications.

Next time i'd advise something closer down to 170-180f (?) You can also turn the soil a little bit after 20 minutes so it heats the middle more thoroughly.
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Thanks for the actual temps Jet. My stove goes from "warm" to "200" as the first setting. I havne't gotten complete sterilization with anything below 200. This may be a variance within my oven, but it's still good to know the exact numbers.

Thanks
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You do not want to sterilize your media.  What you want to do is pasteurize your soil.  Temperatures above 160F approach sterilization temps.  In order to pasteurize your substrate raise it to 140 degrees and maintain that temp for a minimum of 2 hours.  Technically the range is between 140 and 160F, but when your thermometer reads 160F at the top of your kettle it could very well be reaching sterilization tempos at the bottom close to the heat source.  Pasteurization kills unwanted seeds and "bad" microbes, but preserves the good microbes.  However, sterilization kils everything.  And what happens at that point is you have basically "cooked" a feast, nay, a smorgasbord for the bad bacteria, which are the most agressive colonizers of "unoccupied" resources.  So, in fact, sterilization will acheive the opposite of what you mean for it to.  Pasteurization, on the other hand not only kills the 'baddies,' but promotes the 'good guys.'
 
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