Need help on pepper leaf shriveling. Not Growing normally

mikho_garcia

mikho_garcia

Hi THP,
20140124_175523.jpg

 
These are Thai peppers i started Second week of December. I have 9 Plants that germinated and 8 of the are now having stunt growth with this leaf problem. I'm not sure on what transpired but i have 1 plant that is growing normally which shares the same mixture of soil and fertilizer. That sole plant is now twice the size of these sick plants.  I have these same issue last year when i tried to grow peppers i bought online. Some of them grew normally and MOST of them like these. I'm planning on growing a batch of seeds i will be getting by Feb. and I hope someone can help me out here.
 
I'm planning on changing its soil to an organic and transplant them by tomorrow and see what happens.  
 
I was not able to see your image so am just guessing.  Are there what appears to be fruit flies hanging around the plants?  I suspect fungus gnat maggots might be eating the roots of your seedlings.  Larger plants are not so susceptible as seedlings.  How old or how big are your plants?
 
If you are going to repot anyway take special notice of whether there are any small pale white maggots in the soil.  If the plants are doing as badly as it sounds it might be a good idea to get rid of all the soil on a couple of them anyway just to make sure the issue isn't soil borne.
 
https://www.dropbox.com/s/epc6a1vnfcqr7mj/20140124_175527.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zi6kwial8cetsi8/20140124_175538.jpg
 
These are the pictures hope you can see it from the links. The one normal pepper is around 8 inches now while these sick ones are just 5- 5.5 inches. What i don't understand is that there are aphids underneath the leaves of the big one but none on the smaller. I'm not sure on what does fruit flies looks like but i believe aphid is one of the minor culprit here. I will try to replant them later and check if there are these white maggots in the soil. 
 
Thanks for the quick response from you Robisburning.I have been trying to grow peppers since i joined THP and I have lesser success rate each year, so i tried our local chillies first and this is what happened. My challenge is when i get the new seeds how will i prevent this from happening in the future.
 
They look like they may have some bugs on them, did you check the underside of the leaves and see if there is anything crawlying around? Everytime I had that happen, i had aphids or something on the underside.
 
To be honest it does not look like fungus gnats.  I have once managed to get plants to wilt like that by overfertilizing so that is my best guess. I suspect it could also be fusarium wilt disease and aphids have helped it spread but I am really just guessing having no personal experience with it.  If that is the case it may have been present in the seeds when you bought them. Hopefully someone who knows more can come along and offer some advice.
 
In the meantime anything you can tell us about the soil, watering schedule, fertilizer and seed source would be helpful. Also any additional photos of the leave close up especially some showing the curled up leaves would be great.   
 
For Aphids I spay insecticidal soap (potassium fatty acids). It is all natural, and kills on contact. Just follow up every 5 to 7 days to make sure hatched eggs are killed to.

What kind of water are you using for them? Tap water, well water, distilled, RO?

Once plant leaves are malformed, I most always cut them off. Either disease, chemical burn, or lack of nutrients caused it. I have had peppers plants kind of like this with no enough Calcium or Magnesium. Because I use RO water. If I miss the nutrients, the plant growth and development will suffer. Have you tried pruning them back ever so gently? I have also seen animals urinate on them and burn small plants. Urine contains lots of fertilizer type Nitrogen. Some people use it to fertilize their plants, but must dilute at least 10:1.

Also do those cups have holes in the bottom? Your plants is suffering from something. Maybe root rot. Those cups look very drenched.

Hope this helps.
 
@joshuap2000 I will check later today and will post some pictures.
 
@Robisburning, i will be repoting them later and we'll not know if that'll work up untill next week. 
 
@Mcguiver. I use tap water for watering them. I use osmocote slow release fertilizer. I will be re-poting them and use an organic garden soil i bought from the garden store and will not add any fertilizer this tiime.
 
We'll let you guys know later.
 
I do not like granual Fertalizer or slow release. I prefer liquid. I can measure out what I need and dilute if necessary. Granular is very hard to control.

Have you tried liquid? I also only use RO water. So I must add Cal-Mag to the mixture. With granuals I almost always burn stuff.
 
Looks like they need to be moved into something a little bit roomier. Try potting them up a few sizes dude. Bigger pot with some good quality sheep poo added should see them happier. Kinda looks like their may be too much moisture as well. My 2 cents, hope it helps.
 
Here's their height. The one on the left is the strongest i believe.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9k7kmwlzkuehyao/20140129_055358.jpg
 
Here's beneath the leaves of the smaller ones. Its aphids indeed. I keep on spraying soap and water but they keep on coming back. I'm about to buy an insecticide for them, what insecticide should be nice for them.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qzsx71ooce3jmai/20140129_055546.jpg
 
I did not found any maggots in the roots when i trasffered them to a bigger pot.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dr5nhc9y34euz30/20140129_055654.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/b1sz6kc1zarbwi9/20140129_055948.jpg
 
I just have to do something about the aphids. 
 
McGuiver said:
I do not like granual Fertalizer or slow release. I prefer liquid. I can measure out what I need and dilute if necessary. Granular is very hard to control.

Have you tried liquid? I also only use RO water. So I must add Cal-Mag to the mixture. With granuals I almost always burn stuff.
Click to expand...
What system are you using for your RO (Reverse Osmosis) water? Just curious will that help lower the alkalinity in the tap water once processed.
 
I got my RO filter from...

https://filterdirect.com/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=30

I don't use the DI water much except to rinse my car windows.

My tap water is about 7 to7.5 ph.

Hardness is about 350 PPM.

After RO filter my water is 5 to 5.5 ph.

Just where I like it. Hardness in PPM is no higher than 10 after filter.

I also have the RO filter hooked up to my fridge water and ice maker.

I wish I would have done this years ago.

This filter removes a lot of junk. It removes heavy metals, including Calcium & Magnesium. You will have to supplement your water for plants with Cal-Mag in order to avoid plant deformation and blossom end rot due to the lack of Cal-Mag.

I originally got this system for my Lucky Bamboo. It will not tolerate fluoride (poison), or chlorine. It also removes all algae critters from the water. We get a lot of well water from the city. Leave it outside or under grow light for one day and it will grow algae. I can root stuff in water with a lot less chance of bad stuff growing in the water. I was buying distilled water for my Lucky Bamboo, but this is cheaper in the long run.

On a side note, my water pressure here is between 90 to 100 PSI. I had to put a regulator on the input of my RO system. I ordered it with my system.

We are kind of a prepper family. I also store water in those blue water containers. I fill those up with RO water and food grade bleach.
 
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