I posted a while ago about my oldest habanero, whose leaves suddenly shriveled and who is now probably dead. At the time, I suspected I had killed it with some combination of too much soapy water on its leaves (to kill sap-sucking insects) and overwatering in a clogged pot.
One of its next-pot-over neighbors just came down with the same symptoms, though, in an almost-too-well-drained pot - the leaves wilted quickly, and many of its upper branches were hollow when I trimmed them away. Another habanero in the same pot still looks reasonably healthy, though, and when I separated and repotted them yesterday as a belated quarantine measure, both plants' roots looked fine.
I moved the healthy-looking pepper as far away from all of the other peppers on my balcony as possible while still giving it some light; I amputated most of the ill pepper's stem, about an inch or two above its one remaining branch with semi-healthy-looking leaves at the time, and gave it a lot of water. The cross-section of the stem at that cut point looks normal, as far as I can tell - it's definitely not hollow - but the remaining leaves wilted by this morning. I'm hoping that it's in transplant shock but afraid that it's dying of illness.
It's possible that this is a soil-borne pathogen, because I did stupidly move some ant-bait stakes between my oldest habanero's pot and the neighboring pot before I realized that my oldest habanero might be contagious, but since only one habanero in that neighboring pot looks ill so far, I'm more afraid that it might be something transmitted by the whiteflies infesting the whole balcony.
So: does anyone know what this disease might be (wilted leaves, but healthy-looking roots)? And does anyone have a really, really effective whitefly-slaughtering method that wouldn't hurt the anole and geckos on the balcony? I've tried soapwater spray, garlic-and-cayenne spray, and a handheld vacuum cleaner today in complete desperation; all three methods seem to disturb the whiteflies and kill some of them, but most of them just fly away and return. (It is a miserably enclosed north-facing sunless balcony, so wind and rain can't just get rid of the whiteflies for me.)
Thank you for any help! I would love to still have some peppers next year when I get a new apartment. With a nice open sunny patio.
One of its next-pot-over neighbors just came down with the same symptoms, though, in an almost-too-well-drained pot - the leaves wilted quickly, and many of its upper branches were hollow when I trimmed them away. Another habanero in the same pot still looks reasonably healthy, though, and when I separated and repotted them yesterday as a belated quarantine measure, both plants' roots looked fine.
I moved the healthy-looking pepper as far away from all of the other peppers on my balcony as possible while still giving it some light; I amputated most of the ill pepper's stem, about an inch or two above its one remaining branch with semi-healthy-looking leaves at the time, and gave it a lot of water. The cross-section of the stem at that cut point looks normal, as far as I can tell - it's definitely not hollow - but the remaining leaves wilted by this morning. I'm hoping that it's in transplant shock but afraid that it's dying of illness.
It's possible that this is a soil-borne pathogen, because I did stupidly move some ant-bait stakes between my oldest habanero's pot and the neighboring pot before I realized that my oldest habanero might be contagious, but since only one habanero in that neighboring pot looks ill so far, I'm more afraid that it might be something transmitted by the whiteflies infesting the whole balcony.
So: does anyone know what this disease might be (wilted leaves, but healthy-looking roots)? And does anyone have a really, really effective whitefly-slaughtering method that wouldn't hurt the anole and geckos on the balcony? I've tried soapwater spray, garlic-and-cayenne spray, and a handheld vacuum cleaner today in complete desperation; all three methods seem to disturb the whiteflies and kill some of them, but most of them just fly away and return. (It is a miserably enclosed north-facing sunless balcony, so wind and rain can't just get rid of the whiteflies for me.)
Thank you for any help! I would love to still have some peppers next year when I get a new apartment. With a nice open sunny patio.