issue Leaf curling downwards, newgrowths are deformed and brown at the tip and then turn necrotic

[Deggy]

Hi, my pepper plant leaves are curling downwards, but theyre not flimsy, they have some rigidity, and mostly happens on the younger leaves although some older leaves are also starting to curl downwards.

Loads of newgrowths, but theyre small, deformed, and slowly turns necrotic, now the older leaves are starting to turn yellow aswell (veins are still green)

Flower pods grow, but they drop before they could bloom

 

[Deggy]

Looks like several factors causing this problem. First the small amount of bugs are not enough to cause this tho they are contributing to it. As i read eailer you said you spraying your plants every 3 to 7 days with neem oil? Not a good idea as oil can cause hypoxia in plants. You should not apply oil no more then once or twice a season and that is outdoors in full sun. Also you need to increase air flow for proper respiration. But it also looks like you have a toxic soil mix. When i get a plant that looks like that i remove all the soil and wash off the roots completely then repot it in new clean sterile soil. Make sure to examin the roots an see if they are white

Hi, thanks for the suggestions but unfortunately I cant repot for now, is there anything else that i can do to help the plant? Maybe raise the soil PH using citric acid?
As for the airflow, I beleive they are getting enough airflow since my balcony is quite windy most of the time.
And for the neem oil i just started the first dose today, should i stop?

 

[HellfireFarm]

Update on my plants, (tested the neem oil spray on a few leaves before spraying) Just did the first dose of neem oil spray today, after starting to flip each leaves i noticed a bunch of ants creating a "nest" ? Theres these bumpy green spots that the ants were protecting, then noticed a leaf with white bumps on it, and a spider mite was also protecting it.

Gut feeling from that description suggests that's the eggs.

 

[The_NorthEast_ChileMan]

Does your neem oil product have directions with rates? If you search the forum for thrips neem you might find useful information, I would give a direct answer if I knew.

Search results for query: thrips neem

thehotpepper.com

 

[Deggy]

Gut feeling from that description suggests that's the eggs.

One of the plants got a lot of aphids on the newgrowths, weird thing is there seems to be no aphids on my 2 other plants even though theyre next to each other, and the aphids seemed unphased by my first dose of neem oil 2 days ago.

 

[Deggy]

Another update, I think that my pepper plants probably have root aphids.., theres this white material that looks a bit dusty ontop of my soil which I originally thought was fungus but it doesnt exactly look like a fungus, I will send a pic when it turns day, do you guys have any suggestions on how to deal with them? Im starting to loose the battle.

Just read some articles about a fungus called Beauveria Bassiana, says that it can infect aphids and then kill them in 5-7 days, should I use this?

 

[Indiana_Jesse]

I don't believe the pests are what is causing the growth issues. Definitely appears to be some sort of nutrient/soil/medium issue. I have had the same issue with certain growing mediums. Once I changed growing medium, I had no more issues. If you aren't able to get a different growing medium, or find soil, you are likely aren't going to see improvement, pests or no pests.

 

[Deggy]

Update on my pepper plants, theyre looking much healthier now, applied the beauveria bassiana once, and did an intensive neem oil treatment every 3 days(now 4 days). New leaves have grown albeit still a bit crooked, but much better than last month, one of the plants even started to grow flower buds again! Thanks everyone for the help, ill keep applying neem oil until the pests are eradicated.

 

[mymouthsburning]

I don't believe the pests are what is causing the growth issues. Definitely appears to be some sort of nutrient/soil/medium issue. I have had the same issue with certain growing mediums. Once I changed growing medium, I had no more issues. If you aren't able to get a different growing medium, or find soil, you are likely aren't going to see improvement, pests or no pests.

Apologies for hijacking this thread Deggy I have a question for Indiana_Jesse...


Just wondering, what medium would you recommend growing in, in buckets? Not sure if this would help, but I have soil that is darkish in colour, reasonably clay like but I'm trying to mix some gypsum through it to separate it a bit and add some composted mulch to it. It appears very healthy, there are many worms through it. Whatever medium recommended by you, would you add some of this soil to it, or not?

Any advice given would be much appreciated!

 

[Indiana_Jesse]

Apologies for hijacking this thread Deggiy I have a question for Indiana_Jesse...


Just wondering, what medium would you recommend growing in, in buckets? Not sure if this would help, but I have soil that is darkish in colour, reasonably clay like but I'm trying to mix some gypsum through it to separate it a bit and add some composted mulch to it. It appears very healthy, there are many worms through it. Whatever medium recommended by you, would you add some of this soil to it, or not?

Any advice given would be much appreciated!

I'm by no means an expert of growing mediums. There are others that are really into the details of growing mediums and soil. The only commercially available (in the USA) growing medium I have not had issues with is Promix. I currently use Promix HP. I have to feed frequently with this medium, but at least the nutrients/salts don't seem to accumulate or become unbalanced/toxic. Otherwise all I can say is grow in whatever you have and see what happens, and then adjust/modify accordingly.