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I Fear Disaster Has Struck 080408

AlabamaJack

AlabamaJack

eXtreme
I am fearing my worst nightmare has struck....is this bacterial spot? The only other thing it could be is the heat....was 107F Saturday and 108F/42C yesterday....

I am taking prints of these pictures to my local nursery man today to see if he can identify the damage...

Pray it is not Bacterial Spot please...if it is, I fear I will lose my total crop...over 300 plants...

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These are Scorpions, Dorset Nagas, and a white Habanero...at the opposite end of the my superhot row I showed yestereday...

I am almost to tears...it is already pretty widespread in the superhot row...I can see about 30 plants with this in different stages...the T. Scorpion is the worst...
 
I am very sorry AJ. It's hard to see close-ups of the leaves. I am no expert, but I don't see the characteristic brown spots / lesions on the leaves. Sometimes older plants will abort a ton of leaves for no reason.

Perhaps heat wilt from the crazy temps?

Chris
 
I forgot to say I was told months ago by a plant pathologist (well known one) that Bacterial Spot DOES NOT hit overnight. The damage is slow, but steady.

The white splotches on the leaves look like sunburn to me too.

Chris
 
you know I was looking at your other post & thinking that if a virus got in there it would take out the lot.
I went through a similar thing here just before winter all the advice I have is.
1. Stop watering (it can be the cause & peppers survive on next to nothing)
2. Get out the neem (a lot of disease is passed along by bugs)
3. Any leaves that start to brown, yellow or curl, nip them off (plant will spend energy trying to save it...but not if the leaf is no longer there)
4. a mild dose of seaweed will help regenerate new growth.
5. split the carriers away from the healthy plants....i mean other side of the house...for me the disease stopped when the temp dropped on the shade side.

I don't know if any of this will help, but somehow I know that you're keeping a log of Cpt. Kirk proportions lol. try a few bits out & check for results.

BTW if a plant does actually die, or there is one to sacrifice, check the roots, that bit hasn't been ruled out yet.

Sorry I haven't got a solid solution, best of luck.
 
I am also very sorry. I don't think it is Bacterial Spot the leaves will have brown rings like burn marks on them. Yours almost look like they accidentally got hit by round-up sprayed from a neighbors yard or even hot water sitting in the hose got sprayed on them. Just a guess praying it doesen't get any worse.
 
you know Bent...overwatering may be it....I have been watering twice a day, mornings and evenings and may have brought this on myself...I was reading about Plythora Blight...I think this may be it because the symptoms sure fit...this is from Marks website (chileman)...

Phytophthora Blight (Chile Wilt) is caused by a water borne fugus Phytophthora capsici and is generally observed in wet waterlogged areas. The fungus can invades all plant parts causing at least three separate syndromes: leaf blight, fruit rot, and root rot. It is promoted by warm, wet weather. Plants suffering from this condition often wilt and die, leaving brown stalks and leaves and small, poor-quality fruits. If the fungus enters the roots, the game is unfortunately over as the plants cannot obtain enough water (due to root rot), suddenly wilt, and eventually die. Symptoms of the less serve leaf blight include brown or black spots that may kill a localised portion of the plant. Affected areas are often bordered with a white mold.

It is hard not to water when the plants are wilting but the more you water, the worse the situation becomes...no water for a couple of days for the plants...I just hope they don't burn up in this heat...
 
AJ,

Is there a way to can get them all into a shady area, even it is means using sheets hung on boards or clothesline? I noticed the plants at the fair, even though the building was hot, did not dry out near as much as the ones in the garden.

I gave them a good, long soaking last Monday evening and they didn't get but a maybe two cups of water per plant during the fair. We don't have quite the heat you do (low 90s) but IME it is the sun, not the temps, that (primarily) will dry the soil and cause the plants to wilt.

Another suggestion - if you have any mylar left, find a way to run it around the pots. It should help defelct the sun away from the roots.

Mike
 
AJ - it seems like you're watering an awful lot.

Granted, we're hovering in the 80's, but I typically only water once a week. If it rains a couple times, I can go weeks without touching them.

I don't have a clue what the problem is, but I'd say to stop watering for a couple days and see what happens.
 
I'm not sure what's happening but personally I don't see it being overwatering. With big plants, black plastic pots, and your extreme sun/heat, I just can't see it. And isn't it mostly one area that is affected? Whatever it is, I hope you can remedy it soon. Good luck.
 
I have a plant that's doing something similar AJ. Sorry the picture was taken on a phone so it's not very clear.


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The one below did the same and all the leaves fell off, it was bald for months then suddenly grew again.


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rainbowberry said:
I have a plant that's doing something similar AJ. Sorry the picture was taken on a phone so it's not very clear.


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Click to expand...

My caribbean red did the same thing so i trimmed off the bad leaves and basically stopped watering it, and she cleared up after a couple of weeks or so.
 
Really Really Sorry A.J havent got a clue what the problem may be..i wish i do lets hope a solution can be found for the remaining plants :(
 
AlabamaJack said:
It is hard not to water when the plants are wilting but the more you water, the worse the situation becomes...no water for a couple of days for the plants...I just hope they don't burn up in this heat...
Click to expand...

Thats where #3 comes in. The plants I had with problems have had to regrow all their leaves. Picking them off myself when they were yellow & easily pulled off or crinkled & brittle & throwing them away actually seemed to speed up the recovery.

I did try all those things, but of course not enough 'locations' to get a true reading on the situation. The plants that survived the best were put in the shade through winter, but they all still look like seedlings, whereas their sibblings (can you use that term for plants) who were in the sun grew better after having the leaves trimed at any sign of a problem.

Most of them have healthy blooms now & 1 or 2 still show signs of problem & yes still got small pods on the few that are fruiting, but thats probably just because its winter here.

If my brain worked like yours I'd be able to show you a graph of what I've tried so far :D
 
Sickmont said:
My caribbean red did the same thing so i trimmed off the bad leaves and basically stopped watering it, and she cleared up after a couple of weeks or so.
Click to expand...

Yeah I suppose I stopped watering mine too, I just dumped it outside and left it to either die so I could have the pot, or make a miraculous recovery. The leaves started falling off it's body then spread up to the top. The plant's fine now though.
 
my douglah went from this:

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to this:
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in between it lost all of its leaves & flowers & if you can see on the pic half the way up all the branches is dead. The leaves have grown back much smaller & paler.

Just so I can rule another thing out AJ.....you're not growing any seed from my yard are you?
 
Potawie, I don't like to go against your thoughts but I do believe it is because of my watering regimen...one thing I have noticed is the pots that drain better are doing much better than the ones that retain the water better....double edged sword here...

now that I think back and review my records, I have had 5 plants just up and die on me...no discernable reason at all but I did not pull them up and look at the roots....

I just got back from talking with my nursery man...he confirmed what I had suspicioned...some sort of blight...maybe not the Phytophthora but some kind of fungus that has thrived in this heat and with me pouring the water to them, I have actually made the situation worse...once the fungus gets to the roots and into the plants vascular system, it is almost a done deal because the fungus stops up the plants plumbing...

The Scorpion that has dropped most of its leaves will be sacrificed this evening to find out if it is root rot....if it is root rot, I will drastically trim the root system, cut the plant back to bare stems, and repot the plant in fresh potting soil watered in with peroxide and nutrients, then change the watering regimen to every 3 or 4 days...

The thing that clued me in as to what was happening was the blurb on Marks site that said "kills a localized portion of the plant"....sooooooooo...what to do....there is no suitable treatment for this fungus other than a systemic treatment, then I can't eat the peppers...but, I can still grow the plant, collect the seeds and use them for next year...that will be an extreme measure tho...and by the way, this could be the reason my Jalapenos are not growing to full size with very stunted small fruit...and could also be the reason I am having some fruit rot....

I am going to trim all the affected portions of the plants today after work and maybe add a little peroxide to give them a little drink...maybe the peroxide will help kill the fungus without impacting the plant...got to try something...I can't just let them die....

I don't think we traded any seeds did we Bent?....I will have to look at my records but off the top of my head, I don't think we did...
 
AJ
I am so sorry to hear about your plants and I hope you manage to sort this out. After my nightmare the other week, I lost 300 plants in all but did manage to salvage some. The ones I salvaged dropped all their leaves and were just stalks for the best part of a week then tiny regrowth appeared.
Keep your chin up and don't give up! I hope everything works out for you AJ
Tori
 
AlabamaJack said:
one thing I have noticed is the pots that drain better are doing much better than the ones that retain the water better....double edged sword here....
Click to expand...

Hopefully you've figured out the problem and can at least stop it from spreading. I have a few plants in cheaper poor draining soil and they are my worst looking plants:( With really well drained soil, I often need to water several times on the hot days.
 
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