My plants dying! Can anyone help?

M

Muttie

Hi, I'm new to this site so have only put links to the pictures. I took the pictures at night with an old camera so the pictures aren't as good as they could be I'll try to upload some more later if people ask me to.
 
I'm also new to growing having only ever looked after 2 plants I received from a dead relative about 6 months ago which were already quite old. This means any advice I can get would be very much appreciated as apart from reading as much as I can online I'm making it up as I go along.
 
 
 
I was given this plant
 
 
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/114059479@N03/11880215495/]
 
 
 
as a christmas present by my brother and although at first it was looking quite strong, the longer it's been in my care the more sickly it's become.
 
At first I thought the sickliness was due to the ill care it received from my brother, he kept it in a wardrobe bringing it out for an hour or two sun a day. Being him, he also most likely hardly watered it, so I felt it was only fair that there be repercussions. That said I'm now sure that this is something else that is causing the plant to wither.
 
 
The plant is kept in the window and I leave the window closed as much as possible as I was told it wouldn't like the breeze and the cold.
I've also been using scissors to prune the plant rather than hands as I have also been told this matters. and when initially gaining the plant pruned it quite harshly as it was quite beaten up.
 
 
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/114059479@N03/11880496613/]
 
 
 
I have checked for parasites almost a dozen times and so am pretty sure it's not that.
 
I water the soil rather than the plant as I read rely on that this can cause root or stem rot so I don't feel there's any sunburn though I may be wrong.
 
I feel it's probably either fungal or a deficiency in something, from reading online my best guess is either calcium or boron but as I say that's just a guess.
If you do feel it's a deficiency I would be really grateful if you gave me some advice on how to treat it.
 
 
The first symptom I noticed was the lack of the end on some of the chillies peppers.
 
 
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/114059479@N03/11880495083/]
 
 
 
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/114059479@N03/11880212845/]
 
 
 
The next thing I noticed was the largest leaf developing these yellow patch's that also are indented on the underside.
 
 
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/114059479@N03/11880493203/]
 
 
 
Since then many of the leafs have developed disfigured areas. Some of the disfigured area's end up having holes all the way through.
 
 
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/114059479@N03/11880214735/]
 
 
 
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/114059479@N03/11880217045/]
 
 
 
Some of the stems have also disfigured.
 
 
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/114059479@N03/11880217615/]
 
 
 
Some leaves have partially withered and many withered away to the point where I just felt it was best to cut them off. Most of the new young leaves, stems and what I assume would be flowers whither straight away.
 
 
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/114059479@N03/11880214735/]
 
 
 
My chilli's have progressively become smaller and smaller and taken longer and longer to redden. The first 4, from the left, were all picked on christmas day along with about 5 others, all about the size of the 3rd, 4th that were accidentally thrown away.
 
 
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/114059479@N03/11880501243/]
 
 
 
The chilli nearest to the right as you can see was picked prematurely this was because I was worried about the spot developing at the bottom 
 
 
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/114059479@N03/11881069316/]
 
 
 
and the small withered stem.
 
 
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/114059479@N03/11880664304/]
 
 
 
I've bought some 'Chilli Focus' and am going to start a course of it starting hopefully tomorrow.

That's everything I can think of that may be helpful, thank you for your time and help. :)
 
The pepper kinda makes it look like blossom end rot. It's caused by a lack of calcium or a calcium lock out. If it is, it's a fairly simple solution. Pick up a bottle of CalMag+, or something similar from a hydro store and water it in.
 
You're trying to hard. The harder you try the more it will die. Best bet is flush the soil by running water through it for a while then get some plant food such as bonnie herb and vegetable fertilizer, add a cap full of vinegar to a gallon of water, add the fertilizer to the water and dump it unto the pot. Set the plant on some good light and leave it be.
Also, there are tons of people on here with seeds for the new plants as fire ass has suggested. That includes me, PM if interested. Good luck
And welcome
 
First thank you everyone for you help it's great to even get a response.
 
I think I'm gonna try Blisters' idea of using calcium first. As this is what I thought it would most likely be.
 
The more I think about it, I feel I was over reacting to say it's dying, or if it is I think it may take a little while about it, so I'm not gonna kill it off just yet. Also if common annum just means common cruddy plant, which I suspect it does, then yeah but it was a gift from my little brother and as a new horticulturalist I'm not too bothered about the purity of breed.
In case the plant suddenly does go off the deep end then I've got some seeds which I'm now germinating, though they're also common annum.
 
Impending Bending, I know, but cheers, it's good to hear it from someone else. I will back off little and maybe a bit more but I'm initially going to try with the calcium then if that doesn't give me the results I want then I'll try with the flush, I just feel that may be a bit drastic at the moment, though I don't know maybe soil flushes are routine?
 
Flushes can be somewhat routine and it can't hurt unless the problem is that it's been over watered. That said, a flush on its own probably wouldn't help. I didn't really look at the pictures because I couldn't see anything but it sounds like it's not terribly unhealthy so trying the calmag first won't hurt anything either.
 
     First of all,  :welcome: to THP! You've come to the right place for help growing peppers!
     Second, and this just my opinion, I think that plant needs more light and fewer expectations at this difficult juncture in it's troubled life.  ;)
Muttie said:
 
My chilli's have progressively become smaller and smaller and taken longer and longer to redden.
Click to expand...
If your plant was in my custody I would do three things: 
1.) Remove all pods and buds/flowers. Your plant looks like it knows it's dying and is just trying to eek out a few more pods before it throws in the towel. If you want it to survive, you need to tell it to focus it's energy on vegetative growth, rather than reproductive. 
2.) Get it some more light. Peppers LOVE light and warmth. If you don't have a warm, south facing window where it can bask and photosynthesize, you might need to give it some supplemental photons. 
3.) Don't worry about it too much.
impending_bending said:
The harder you try the more it will die. 
Click to expand...
It might sound counterintuitive, but any gardener can tell you there is some truth to this. Only water when it needs it (dry soil, but not-quite-wilted foliage) and go easy on the fertilizer. Don't let those pods fool you, your plant is dormant right now. Dormant plants don't need much, if any, supplemental fertilizer.
     It might be tempting to try to diagnose every lesion and scab, and place blame accordingly, but the truth is your plant is stressed. Lots. Most often, stress leads to disease, not the other way around. Your plant just needs a little time to photosynthesize and store up some energy in preparation for a flush of new growth in spring. Once it warms up and your plant gets to go outside, it will reward you with all kinds of new green growth. All those old, diseased leaves will shed and it will look like a new plant. 
     THEN you can let it set all the pods it wants!  :dance:  :dance:  :dance:
 
Thanks Dash 2, I think your right about cutting all the pods away. I'll  do that ASAP. That said I am going to keep on with the Chilli Focus though I'm going to put half as much Chilli Focus to water than before.
 
I haven't got round to the wash out yet and I think I won't do it at least not for now as I think maybe just leaving it be as much as possible is the right thing to do.
 
I still agree with Blister that there is a calcium deficiency, so although I haven't been able to get any calcium from my nearby gardening shops, I am going to grab some and just add a little in to see if my chilli perks up a bit. 
 
Thank's everyone for your advice. I'll probably post new pictures in a week or so to keep you posted, hopefully I'll be able to borrow a camera for it too. 
 
:)
 
  :dance: and the dancing red banana is now my new favourite thing about this website.
 
Sorry it's been so long since I've updated this.
The Chilli plant is looking much healthier and I found my local hydroponic shop. The man behind the counter suggested that I don't water it till it's bone dry then saturate it. (which I'm going to try)
He also suggested re potting it in a bigger pot so it's roots can grow more and putting bat guano in so that when watered the nutrients come through. (again I think I'm going to try)
He also said to cut off all the branches and take it own to it's highest cross section, of the branches, something I'd really like you're opinion on. Apparently it means the plant will grow much more if I do this, anaa?
 
These are some photos I took today of my chilli, I know the windows got condensation on it so the air was a bit wet but I normally leave the window open a little at the top and this seems to stop it.
 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/114059479@N03/12155314205/in/photostream/
 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/114059479@N03/12155715104/in/photostream/
 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/114059479@N03/12155548353/in/photostream/
 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/114059479@N03/12155276075/in/photostream/
 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/114059479@N03/12155260715/in/photostream/
 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/114059479@N03/12155233355/in/photostream/
 
It would be great to hear your opinions on it's progression. :)

:dance:  :dance:  :dance:  :dance:  :dance:
 
Don't cut the branches. They are looking good and healthy. You will want it to branch out to be a big plant! It looks like it has recovered nicely. I'd take those peppers off though. They will slow down its growth.
 
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