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Leaves curling and puckering problem

elknobomucho

elknobomucho

Hi all. Hopefully you can help me. I'm a new grower and probably making all the basic mistakes. I grow indoors. I'm from Ireland by the way so growing outdoors as such isn't an option given the cold climate. The problem I have is that the leaves on my plants are curling and thickening quite badly. It's happening on pretty much all of them. I currently have a crop which germinated about 2 months ago but I also have a some plants that a friend gave me which were germinated last August/ September. All are showing the same signs.
 
I live in an area with high levels of lime in the water which I presume means that it's calcium rich. I have a water softener...a salt based softener...which filters the supply to my hot taps. I presume that leaves this water quite saline. In my ignorance I'm sure I've used both indiscriminately so I'm not sure which might be the culprit...that's assuming it's a water problem in the first place of course. I'm using an organic seaweed fertilizer to feed them...a very dilute solution for the young ones. Can lime rich water damage plants or is it more likely to be salty water? Might over feeding plants cause these symptoms...crinkling and puckering? I don't think I've over fed them but I can't discount this as a possibility either. Any help would be most appreciated.
 
Hi all. Hopefully you can help me. I'm a new grower and probably making all the basic mistakes. I grow indoors. I'm from Ireland by the way so growing outdoors as such isn't an option given the cold climate. The problem I have is that the leaves on my plants are curling and thickening quite badly. It's happening on pretty much all of them. I currently have a crop which germinated about 2 months ago but I also have a some plants that a friend gave me which were germinated last August/ September. All are showing the same signs.
 
I live in an area with high levels of lime in the water which I presume means that it's calcium rich. I have a water softener...a salt based softener...which filters the supply to my hot taps. I presume that leaves this water quite saline. In my ignorance I'm sure I've used both indiscriminately so I'm not sure which might be the culprit...that's assuming it's a water problem in the first place of course. I'm using an organic seaweed fertilizer to feed them...a very dilute solution for the young ones. Can lime rich water damage plants or is it more likely to be salty water? Might over feeding plants cause these symptoms...crinkling and puckering? I don't think I've over fed them but I can't discount this as a possibility either. Any help would be most appreciated.
Some pictures would definitely help.
 
Looks a lot like fertilizer burn. You say a "very dilute" for the young ones, but define "very dilute" - the young ones can't generally tolerate more than 1/10 strength to start, and not at every feeding. 
 
yeah maybe you have something there. I'll cut out feeding the new ones for a while. There should be enough in the compost I'm using anyway. I think they're a very dark green as well which maybe indicates too much fertilizer? Thanks for the reply.
 
Yes, compost plus fertilizer is too much for the babies. Don't worry about dark green, but do worry if they start getting pale or yellow. Some varieties just have different values of green naturally. Varieties that put out purple pods, especially, tend to have darker green leaves. "Black Pearl" pepper leaves are very dark and may even have a purple tint to them:
 
http://parkseed.com/product.aspx?p=03953-PK-P1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ppc_google_pla&CAWELAID=1284041053&CAGPSPN=pla&catargetid=1459746928&cadevice=c&gclid=CIGVtvW63b0CFcU-MgodumEA9A
 
So you may just have a variety with darker green leaves.
 
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