Leaf issue

SadisticPeppers

eXtreme Business
The last day or two, I've been noticing that a bunch of the new leaves have seem withered. I've attached several pictures, and let me know what you guys think and if it's something I should be worried about and any remedies for it (if needed)
 
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Could be calcium deficiency. Although in the last pic the leaves almost look wilted like they are dying back instead of just being contorted from deficiency. Were the plants exposed to any fluctuating temps or harsh environmental conditions? too hot, too cold, too close to light fixture. Or did they recently get a strong dose of fertilizer?
 
It could also be a wilt virus, probably not, but all you can do is wait and see on that one. Maybe try cal mag if you think it needs it. 
 
I moved them around yesterday to make sure the landscaping guys wouldn't accidentally cut the lines for the drip irrigation. I'll be moving them back out to their regular spots in the morning...
 
As far as the leaves themselves, there was a temperature change last week, but it wasn't all that severe, I think for a couple nights, it got down into the low to mid 50's but that was about it. There was a coldsnap a few weeks back, but they seemed to make it without a problem. Insofar as the calcium issue, I did give it a 2nd dose of slow release fertilizer several weeks ago, and it included a Calcium supplement, and it seemed content with it for a while, but like I said, that was at least 2-3 weeks ago, so with the waterings I had, the Calcium may have leeched out already. I did just install my fertilizer injector today, and the fertilizer I have, does have some calcium in it, and tomorrow will be the plants' first feeding of it. So we'll see if it helps, and if it helps a bit, but not enough, then I'll get myself some CalMag, and see if that helps it even further. I've previously purchased it online, but in a pinch, I can go to the local hydroponic store a few exits down, and purchase it there. It's actually a little cheaper, so I may just end up getting it there.
 
broad mites, the worst thing could happen to your plants, this bug is invisible by naked eye, it lives under the leafs and multiply very fast, it only attacks fresh young leafs by sucking off the life out of them.
 
u need to cut off all the infected branches, they will not get better at all, then make sure u throw them away from the healthy plants, also, u need to look into finding a spray for this bug if not u may lose the whole season.
 
I'll definitely do that! Luckily, it's not on all plants thus far. Are there any particular bug sprays you'll recommend?
 
I was just checking actually and saw that Neem Oil is quite effective against them, so I'll use that after trimming the new growth on the affected plants, then "carpet bombing" the plants with a Neem OIl mix :)
 
Mate, that looks like broad mites to me. Cut em back like pepperlover says, and get some lime sulphur and spray the leaves and stem upside and down. Not the most pleasant smelling stuff mind you, so stay up wind whilst spraying. Follow up with another spray about 7 days later to make sure. Good luck, they can be a pain in the ass.
 
elcap1999 said:
I'll definitely do that! Luckily, it's not on all plants thus far. Are there any particular bug sprays you'll recommend?
 
I was just checking actually and saw that Neem Oil is quite effective against them, so I'll use that after trimming the new growth on the affected plants, then "carpet bombing" the plants with a Neem OIl mix :)
 
for commercial extreme cases, Avid can be applied 
 
http://www.entomology.umn.edu/cues/mnla/avid.pdf
 
Thanks, Judy! I can confirm that yes, it was a broad mite infestation, and I saw a teeny tiny group of them crawling around on a leaf I just cut. 
 
I just finished trimming up the plants, and took out a few leaf sets that looked iffy to me, but it only affected roughly 1/3 of my plants out there, it that, and if anything, now they'll come back bushier than before. I also got some Organicide from Home Depot, and sprayed the living daylights out of all my plants, so if there were any broad mites left, they ain't happy!
 
Been a lurker, but signed up to tell you about my last year's horror of broad mite - and to tell you that I beat them last year with NO pesticide at all and haven't seen a single one since. I even had yields in the end, which was pretty good result considering my mite outbreak had all my plants infested like your pics, and was in July! 
 
All detailed in my obscure blog but probably not allowed to link here so I'll give you the cut-paste (I do hope this is OK). Basically the method is stolen from the folks with african violets who have been fighting these broad mites for a long time, it's a hot water treatment:
 
 
- dispose of any badly infested or non crucial plants. Bring the odds in your favour.
- prune all remaining fruit off the plants, edible or otherwise, you want the plant to concentrate on recovery after what you're about to do to it, so remove all the fruits.
- cover the pots WELL with plastic bags. You will be surprised just how much soil can leak out of even a securely bagged up pot, so be prepared for a muddy mess.
- if you have any large plants > 3ft or so, either trim them down or bin those plants, because submersion in entirety is really really important.
- Get yourself some weights. Not concrete or brick, stuff like a few plant trays. But make sure you have sterilised it first if you think there might be mites on it - boiling water would work I guess.
- You need need need an accurate thermometer. I used an infra red digital gun thermometer, they're cheap enough now that I would recommend anyone gets one, they have so many uses.
- You also need a stopwatch or timer.

All ready? Take them to the bathroom. And now's the time to be thorough. Remember, if just a couple of mites survive, you're going to have to do this all over again. And trust me, you won't want to do it all over again.

Run the bath to as deep as you can and you need the water to be 43 degrees C. Not 44, not 42. You need exactly 43. Now, don't worry about maintaining that temperature once the plants are in, you have a bath full of water, it will stay hot for a while, trust me. But bear in mind the surface will be cooler than the bulk of the water, so swirl it with a stick. Use your hands if you like but I found 43C to be quite uncomfortable.
Once you're at 43C - put your plants in and set the timer/stopwatch. You need 15 minutes. No more or less.

Now is also a good time to wipe your windowsill, window surfaces and/or spray them with dettol or other bleach solutions. I really don't know whether broad mites hang out away from plants, but it's prudent to take a few minutes to clean up, it can't hurt.

When 15 minutes is up remove the plants, stand them up, and don't be surprised if they look like boiled cabbage.

Now be warned. Your chilli plants won't much like 43C either. All my plants lost their leaves. All of the leaves dropped off within 24 hours of the "dunking". I thought that was it, I'd killed them. But alas, they all survived, new growth came in very soon, within a week, and that new growth almost invariably came with flowers!
 
 
..also I have a youtube vid of the broad mites under a usb microscope if that's allowed? :)
 
p.s. that looks pretty advanced in your pics, I'd defo get out a "loupe" and go over all your other plants with a fine toothcomb to be sure you dont have others in early stages of infestation...they are sly...very sly...
 
p.p.s. please go easy on me, I'm a chilli growing noob, unfortunately I just had a gutting first year of being thrown in the deep end last year!  :rofl:
 
Well, welcome aboard, first and foremost :)
 
As I mentioned prior, I already applied Organicide to the pants, as well as trimmed the affected leaves. I was especially careful not to "hatrack" the plants, since that tends to make them far more bushy than they'd normally be. I'll be monitoring the plants over the next few days, but my luck being what it is, if I had killed any with the trimming/Organicide, they'd already be dead now :) But the Organicide has a side benefit in that it leaves beneficial insects like butterflies and bees unaffected, so I'm hoping this method will be sufficient
 
moosery said:
Been a lurker, but signed up to tell you about my last year's horror of broad mite - and to tell you that I beat them last year with NO pesticide at all and haven't seen a single one since. I even had yields in the end, which was pretty good result considering my mite outbreak had all my plants infested like your pics, and was in July! 
 
All detailed in my obscure blog but probably not allowed to link here so I'll give you the cut-paste (I do hope this is OK). Basically the method is stolen from the folks with african violets who have been fighting these broad mites for a long time, it's a hot water treatment:
 
 
- dispose of any badly infested or non crucial plants. Bring the odds in your favour.
- prune all remaining fruit off the plants, edible or otherwise, you want the plant to concentrate on recovery after what you're about to do to it, so remove all the fruits.
- cover the pots WELL with plastic bags. You will be surprised just how much soil can leak out of even a securely bagged up pot, so be prepared for a muddy mess.
- if you have any large plants > 3ft or so, either trim them down or bin those plants, because submersion in entirety is really really important.
- Get yourself some weights. Not concrete or brick, stuff like a few plant trays. But make sure you have sterilised it first if you think there might be mites on it - boiling water would work I guess.
- You need need need an accurate thermometer. I used an infra red digital gun thermometer, they're cheap enough now that I would recommend anyone gets one, they have so many uses.
- You also need a stopwatch or timer.

All ready? Take them to the bathroom. And now's the time to be thorough. Remember, if just a couple of mites survive, you're going to have to do this all over again. And trust me, you won't want to do it all over again.

Run the bath to as deep as you can and you need the water to be 43 degrees C. Not 44, not 42. You need exactly 43. Now, don't worry about maintaining that temperature once the plants are in, you have a bath full of water, it will stay hot for a while, trust me. But bear in mind the surface will be cooler than the bulk of the water, so swirl it with a stick. Use your hands if you like but I found 43C to be quite uncomfortable.
Once you're at 43C - put your plants in and set the timer/stopwatch. You need 15 minutes. No more or less.

Now is also a good time to wipe your windowsill, window surfaces and/or spray them with dettol or other bleach solutions. I really don't know whether broad mites hang out away from plants, but it's prudent to take a few minutes to clean up, it can't hurt.

When 15 minutes is up remove the plants, stand them up, and don't be surprised if they look like boiled cabbage.

Now be warned. Your chilli plants won't much like 43C either. All my plants lost their leaves. All of the leaves dropped off within 24 hours of the "dunking". I thought that was it, I'd killed them. But alas, they all survived, new growth came in very soon, within a week, and that new growth almost invariably came with flowers!
 
 
..also I have a youtube vid of the broad mites under a usb microscope if that's allowed? :)
 
p.s. that looks pretty advanced in your pics, I'd defo get out a "loupe" and go over all your other plants with a fine toothcomb to be sure you dont have others in early stages of infestation...they are sly...very sly...
 
p.p.s. please go easy on me, I'm a chilli growing noob, unfortunately I just had a gutting first year of being thrown in the deep end last year!  :rofl:
 
i'd like to see the youtube vid and blog...  im sure they'd be ok to post the links to them. 
 
jojo said:
 
i'd like to see the youtube vid and blog...  im sure they'd be ok to post the links to them. 
 
 
My blog isn't much, just a sort of dump of things I discover as I tend to forget, I was looking at a "glog" instead actually ;) but the broad mites vid is quite interesting, I could only get a vid of a "drowsy" one, usually they move like lightning across the leaves. I believe this is an older infant. 
It's at about 120x magnification if I remember correctly - to the naked eye they look smaller than a speck of salt, they are REALLY tiny, dust tiny. Even at this magnification you can only just see the legs as it walks, the microscope is pretty good but they are just fairly small, smooth and featureless bugs even up close. Took me ages, weeks, to diagnose them at the time, should have come here - you guys spotted the signs instantly lol. 
 
If I get them again this year I have a full macro lens ready to take better pictures, but to be honest given how utterly devastating they are, I'll pass on that opportunity!!! 
 
Nice video, man!
 
I checked my plants just now, and 24 hours later, they seem to be doing quite well. I'm even seeing several new pods forming. Several flowers did drop, but they were already starting to yellow, and there's more than enough flowers to go around :)
 
elcap1999 said:
Nice video, man!
 
I checked my plants just now, and 24 hours later, they seem to be doing quite well. I'm even seeing several new pods forming. Several flowers did drop, but they were already starting to yellow, and there's more than enough flowers to go around :)
 
Everything crossed for you. 
One thing I did notice (after reading it on the interweb) is that the wilted/dead/mutated growth is caused by a toxin which takes a while to get out of the plant's system, meaning you will probably still see warped new growth for a few weeks and it doesn't necessarily mean you still have a problem! 
 
Very good to know, thanks! And chances are, it'll probably have already gotten out of the pods ripening on the plants by then :)
 
Random fact: Broad mites die when the pile of cut leaves they're on is hit with a napalm covered chainsaw. ;)

Well  :censored:. I have mites on my sunrise scorp. Plant is NOT gonna like treatment, and I'm gonna miss a harvest because of it.
 
Wow, this is great info
I really like seeing the info from Pepperlover and Moosery.  When Elcap showed that picture of the plant tops/leaves, it was like seeing last year all over again.  I had this same thing happen to many of my plants.  I think I tried too many things in combination, because it came and went through out the year and I never knew what it was or what made it disappear when it did.  This info along with the pictures really helps.  I will keep my eyes open for this same thing this year and now I at least know what I am fighting.
 
Filing this nugget away!
 
It's really good info, bp, and it really helped!
 
I've been keeping a very keen eye on my plants, and am already seeing new leaf growth on the plants I trimmed. Although that may also be due to the fact I just gave them all a good dose of the hydrolized fish emulsion/seaweed mix on Friday. 
 
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