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Identify this disease

Hello,

[SIZE=13.3333px]I have indoor jalapeno plants on an east window sill, started from home depot plants.[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=13.3333px]They were doing great  until a week ago, I noticed a yellowish fungus on the leaves.[/SIZE]

Flowering has declined. I only have 1-2 peppers per plant.


See pictures.

The pics don't do it justice -> it's much more yellow/rusty than white/grey in person. The affected leaves turn yellow.

[SIZE=13.3333px]Also saw tiny black insects on a couple of leafs - gone after treatment. (see blow)[/SIZE]

Some leaves fell, I also removed the worst ones a week ago to slow the spread.

Treated with combo insecticidal soap/sulfur fungicide once, seemed to get a a bit better but has spread more. Did second treatment yesterday.

Help? How do I cure this? I don't want to lose these plants.
 

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I believe that's some sort of mite. Spinosad will most likely eliminate them. If that fails, you can use neem or plant something next to it that they like even more than peppers. Catnip is my favourite for this
 
Powelly said:
I believe that's some sort of mite. Spinosad will most likely eliminate them. If that fails, you can use neem or plant something next to it that they like even more than peppers. Catnip is my favourite for this
 
If it were actually mites, don't you think that the sulfur would have already done the trick?
 
savemyplants said:
the sulfer deals with fungus, the insecticidal soap with mites, etc.
 
I used http://www.saferbrand.com/safer-brand-3-in-1-garden-spray-32-fl-oz-rtu-5452-6
 
Sulfur is a nuclear bomb for just about any kind of insect.  It will kill indiscriminately, every insect that visits your plant.  Doesn't much matter how you apply it.  Additionally, it's just about the most effective miticide known to man.
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Kills insects and fungi equally.
 
savemyplants said:
well, it doesn't seem to be working.
 
Maybe because we haven't actually established that it's mites?
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I'm actually scratching my head on this one, because it doesn't look like a pest problem to me.  More info about this, please.  Feeding, watering schedule, conditions that it's being grown in, etc, etc, etc.
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Can you get better pics?  Close up?
 
For me, if this were gonna be mites, it would be spider mites.  But for the way those leaves look, you'd notice the underside of the leaves covered with small red specks.
 
"
I'm actually scratching my head on this one, because it doesn't look like a pest problem to me.  More info about this, please.  Feeding, watering schedule, conditions that it's being grown in, etc, etc, etc."
 
Being grown indoors on a east window with supplemental light from two reflector led 16w grow lights on from 1pm to 9 pm.
 
Only one feeding with 5-10-10 liquid into a litre of water (recommended ratio) split between 6 plants after plants - i read too much nitrogen is bad for pepper production so i haven't fertilized more.
 
They were close together but I moved them apart.
 
For watering due to hot conditions (no a/c inside and lots of east sun) I was doing almost 2 litres split over 6 plants daily. I've cut this to less than half.
 
I can't get better pictures, using cell phone camera.
 
 

 
 
savemyplants said:
Only one feeding with 5-10-10 liquid into a litre of water (recommended ratio) split between 6 plants after plants - i read too much nitrogen is bad for pepper production so i haven't fertilized more.
 
Too much of anything is bad.  But you don't have enough N going in.  Your ratio is out of whack.  An ideal ratio would be 3-1-2, but a balanced would be just fine.
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Lots of misconceptions about Nitrogen.  But you will need it all stages of plant growth.  Phosphorus in particular, should NEVER be higher than Nitrogen, short of a documented deficient condition. (not the case here)
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If you don't have enough Nitrogen, it will affect uptake of all other nutrients.
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I'm not saying this is the problem, but it's something that also needs to be addressed.
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Additionally...  Did you get any of the sulfur spray into the media?  Sulfur will drop your pH.  I'd suggest doing a slurry test, to find out what's going on there.
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Do you have a fan blowing on the plant?
 
There are no red dots on the bottom of the leaves.
 
There is no fan blowing on the plants but i often have (and need) that window open.
 
I intentionally sprayed the surface of the soil  in case there's fungus/insects in there - didn't put a lot.
 
Everything I've read says to use a low nitrogen fertilizer, that too much reduces flowering and pepper production
 
---------
"
  • Pick a fertilizer with the first number lower than the other two. Example 10-30-20 (NPK – Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium)
https://pepperhead.com/growing-hot-peppers/
 
"tomato fertilizers work well for chili pepper plants, as do compost and well-rotted manure. A good 5-10-10 fertilizer is usually sufficient for peppers. "
 
https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/growing-chili-peppers/growing-chili-peppers-guide/
 
I really don't think deficiencies produce something powdery on the leaves.
 
With all due respect to your internet advice - that's a pretty bunk recommendation for the fertilizer.  But OK.  If you don't wish to believe that, it's OK.  There are a lot of considerations for using such specific fertilizers, and if you don't know any of them, or are new to growing, your safest bet is to stick with balanced.  "everything" that you have read must be fairly limited. I seldom see this advice. (although I acknowledge that some people do give it)  But, as someone who is confident enough to give advice, I am only telling you that I have NEVER used a fertilizer with numbers like that.  Even so, you are not really at a point where you'd need to be concerned about this.  Right now, your plant's growth is far more important than the blooms that aren't there.
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What are you growing in?  Peat or coco?  It can make a HUGE difference to point #1.
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savemyplants said:
There are no red dots on the bottom of the leaves.
Then that probably rules out mites.
 
savemyplants said:
There is no fan blowing on the plants but i often have (and need) that window open.
 
I am asking, because powdery residue on leaves is often symptomatic of powdery mildew.
 
savemyplants said:
I intentionally sprayed the surface of the soil  in case there's fungus/insects in there - didn't put a lot.
 
It takes less than 1/8 Tbsp of lemon juice to change the pH of 2 gallons of my water by 2 points.  "a lot" is a very subjective term.
 
savemyplants said:
I really don't think deficiencies produce something powdery on the leaves.
 
No, they don't, but your plant looks like it's got more wrong with it than just powder on the leaves.
 
here's another with the same advice - https://www.backyard-vegetable-gardening.com/fertilizing-peppers.html
 
The plants are plenty large - the pic with the whole plant? That's the smallest one. they were doing perfectly fine before.
 
I used potting soil which has pete in it.
 
Very little of the spray went into the soil, i just wet the surface and it didn't cause new issues. The progression seemed to have slowed down after the first application but now it's getting worse again.
 
I suspect the pots may be on the small side, i can measure later. but it doesn't explain this problem.
 
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