Is this fungal or bacterial?

scotchnaga85

scotchnaga85

Please note that the whitish stuff is either copper chlorate or sulfur.  ;)
 
I really need some help with this one guys, please :confused:  
 
This, whatever it is, is proving very problematic on my Moruga plants, slowly killing stems and foliage.
 
  • Attacks new and damage growth.
  • Attacks from the outside and woks its way into the stem.
  • Starts as blisters before finally browning off and killing that part of the plant.
  • Sulfur & Copper seem to have not effect.
  • Moving indoors into warm dry conditions have no effect
 





 
damn...I don't know what that is but it looks bad...
 
I recommend taking a cutting showing the damage in a ziplock bag to your local nursery and ask them...(then tell us what it was)
 
AlabamaJack said:
damn...I don't know what that is but it looks bad...
 
I recommend taking a cutting showing the damage in a ziplock bag to your local nursery and ask them...(then tell us what it was)
Click to expand...
 
We don't have that kind of thing over here in the UK... their generally clueless in most of the local garden stores lol.
 
Is it possible to get pictures of the tops of the infected leaves? Are they discolored, spots, any veinal chlorosis? Maybe an entire picture of an infected plant? Are you able to take a look at the roots of the plant? One way you can test for certain bacteria infections is to take a piece of infected stem and place it upright in a small glass of water. Don't disturb it and after a few minutes you will see a thin milky line of bacteria streaming out of bottom of the cut stem. Also if you split the stem lengthwise what's it look like inside? Mushy or any yellow/brown discoloration inside? Hopefully someone can help diagnose the problem.
 
Scorched said:
Is it possible to get pictures of the tops of the infected leaves? Are they discolored, spots, any veinal chlorosis? Maybe an entire picture of an infected plant? Are you able to take a look at the roots of the plant? One way you can test for certain bacteria infections is to take a piece of infected stem and place it upright in a small glass of water. Don't disturb it and after a few minutes you will see a thin milky line of bacteria streaming out of bottom of the cut stem. Also if you split the stem lengthwise what's it look like inside? Mushy or any yellow/brown discoloration inside? Hopefully someone can help diagnose the problem.
Click to expand...
 
Scorched said:
Is it possible to get pictures of the tops of the infected leaves? Are they discolored, spots, any veinal chlorosis? Maybe an entire picture of an infected plant? Are you able to take a look at the roots of the plant? One way you can test for certain bacteria infections is to take a piece of infected stem and place it upright in a small glass of water. Don't disturb it and after a few minutes you will see a thin milky line of bacteria streaming out of bottom of the cut stem. Also if you split the stem lengthwise what's it look like inside? Mushy or any yellow/brown discoloration inside? Hopefully someone can help diagnose the problem.
Click to expand...
 
Leaf's die as a result of the stem death. As already stated the pathogen attacks from the outside inwards, on the blistered stems the stem is white and healthy inside, but once dead obviously not. I can't get to the roots, sorry.
 






 
     Do you have the equivalent of state university county extension agents in Jolly ol' England? They are pros and they likely see this stuff all the time. They (if they or someone like them exists) would be the folks to talk to.
     Send them samples that include (on one sample) diseased tissue, healthy tissue and the interface between the two. This is important.
     Also, in addition to the sleuthing tips that Scorched mentioned, you could slice a piece of infected tissue and place it in an inflated ziploc bag near a moist paper towel (also inside the bag) and see if you can induce the pathogen to fruit, or sporulate. (The paper towel and the specimen shouldn't be touching.) Whatever appears (moldy lookin' junk) could be a big clue as to what's causing your symptoms.
     Good luck!
 
I will give the bag and wet tissue experiment a go later, should I keep it warm, hot or cool? I'm aware some pathogens prefer hot and others thrive when cooler. Also should I wet the stem first?

I sliced a stem lengthwise and it was brown around the area of the blisters/ spots. Also I took a completely dead stem and found it was hollow inside - relevant maybe?
 
scotchnaga85 said:
I will give the bag and wet tissue experiment a go later, should I keep it warm, hot or cool? I'm aware some pathogens prefer hot and others thrive when cooler. Also should I wet the stem first?

I sliced a stem lengthwise and it was brown around the area of the blisters/ spots. Also I took a completely dead stem and found it was hollow inside - relevant maybe?
Click to expand...
 
     Keep the bag at roughly the same temp as your infected pepper plants - that's what the pathogen seems to prefer (room temp should be fine). No need to wet the stem first. The humidity provided by the paper towel is all you need.
     I think the brown tissue and hollow stem you are seeing might just indicate a necrotic lesion, which could be caused my many pathogens. 
 
dash 2 said:
 
     Keep the bag at roughly the same temp as your infected pepper plants - that's what the pathogen seems to prefer (room temp should be fine). No need to wet the stem first. The humidity provided by the paper towel is all you need.
     I think the brown tissue and hollow stem you are seeing might just indicate a necrotic lesion, which could be caused my many pathogens. 
Click to expand...
Thanks, I will give this a go then :-)
 
dash 2 said:
     Take pics of anything interesting, please. I'm curious to see what's going on. I've never seen that before.
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Not a great deal has happened, there seems to be a fine layer of brown hair/ mould/ fungus on the dead stuff - Im trying to obtain a magnifying glass for a better look.

As for the plants, the latest coating of coper oxychlorate, combined with them moving in doors has halted or at least slowed the pathogen down.
 
An intersting development of which I will post pictures tonight.

The wet tissue that has been in the bag with the infected stem has now developed pink circular spots.

Assuming that this is fungal, could these coloured spots could be spores?

I did some brief digging and I found that at least some types of Blight & Wilt causing fungus have salmon pink spores. I will did further into later.
 
Isolation in a bag doesn't necessarily indicate anything because by altering the environment you change the survival rate of various pathogens.  Even a perfectly healthy plant will have fungal spores and bacteria on it.
 
Here are the pictures as promised.
 





Dave2000 said:
Isolation in a bag doesn't necessarily indicate anything because by altering the environment you change the survival rate of various pathogens.  Even a perfectly healthy plant will have fungal spores and bacteria on it.
Click to expand...
 
Probably so, but it shouldn't be dismissed so easily. Clearly something is attacking the plant, and whatever it is its immune to sulfur and quite resistant to copper.
 
Try taking a sample to a professor at a local uni agricultural department.  Yes the pink substance does look like fungus, yet I don't see it on the plant as pink in any significant amount.
 
Take some of the copper chlorate or sulfur and see if it kills the culture on the tissue.
 
Is the base of the stem infected at all? The first 4 or 5 inches above the soil line. How are the pods on infected plants doing? Growing fine or rotting/falling off? Has any fungus begun to grow on the infected parts of the stem as whatever it is progresses, if so what color?
 
Hi guys, that is chilli blight. Fungal....
The chileman.org has a page on diseases but I don't know how to link the page.
Nasty! Hope you can get it sorted
Phytopthora blight....
Anthracnose has pink fruiting bodies...
 
I'm pretty sure Phytophthora can be ruled out - Absolutely no wilting, and never has been, also it effects the outer most ends of branches rather then main stem.
 
Also there is absolutely no effect to the fruiting pods, though some of the pod stems do have lesions on them.
 
However i am drawn towards some kind of blight, as to which one... i don't know.
 
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