Need help with leaf and growth problems

[Praetorian]

Question 1: Pics 1 & 2 have a leaf issue i have on a couple hab plants, we've have temps in the high 90s-100s and ive been battling earwigs wondering if these were the culprits? Leaf damage is only on the top growth the undergrowth looks good and healthy to me. Also will they recover?
Question 2: This cayenne plant looks more like a bush is this normal? Most ive seen are more slender.
Last pics are of my raised beds. Just curious what spacing you guys use, i've used the square foot method.

 

[smokinasschilli]

Not saying this is the problem , I had plants that looked similar growing next to a farm , sent a sample to primary industries here and the answer came back as follows

Hormonal damage
suspected herbicide exposure

In mine the first 1/3rd of the plant seemed fine , above that the leaves started to curl , the problem got worse as time went on and I ended up with extremely small slim curled up leaves, the plants still flowered and produced chilli's, they were extremly slow to grow , pods were very small compared to other plants growing in my other plots at different locations

 

[patrick]

In my experience when the top leaves only look like that you've got a mite problem. I've had it for a few years and just this season found out what it was. I finally found one of the little bastages on a leaf when I put it under a microscope. Got lucky as it was running out of the focused area. Sending samples to experts is a great idea. I've taken leaves to my local master gardener at the county coop and they wouldn't/couldn't give me a specific answer because they never found a bug. I've changed the way I collect the leaves and now I can find bugs almost 100% of the time. Or I should say I used to be able to find mites 100% of the time. My friend ORTHO is taking care of that problem.

Best of luck to you.

 

[nitwit]

i want to know how deep are your beds?

me not knowing looks like the black stuff under your
beds is weed barrier?

how does the water drain through that, and are your vegetables roots able to penetrate that stuff?

 

[Praetorian]

Not saying this is the problem , I had plants that looked similar growing next to a farm , sent a sample to primary industries here and the answer came back as follows

Hormonal damage
suspected herbicide exposure

In mine the first 1/3rd of the plant seemed fine , above that the leaves started to curl , the problem got worse as time went on and I ended up with extremely small slim curled up leaves, the plants still flowered and produced chilli's, they were extremly slow to grow , pods were very small compared to other plants growing in my other plots at different locations

How much would something like that cost?

In my experience when the top leaves only look like that you've got a mite problem. I've had it for a few years and just this season found out what it was. I finally found one of the little bastages on a leaf when I put it under a microscope. Got lucky as it was running out of the focused area. Sending samples to experts is a great idea. I've taken leaves to my local master gardener at the county coop and they wouldn't/couldn't give me a specific answer because they never found a bug. I've changed the way I collect the leaves and now I can find bugs almost 100% of the time. Or I should say I used to be able to find mites 100% of the time. My friend ORTHO is taking care of that problem.

Best of luck to you.

I have other plants in the nightshade family right next to them that are doing fine, are these mites specific to peppers?

i want to know how deep are your beds?

me not knowing looks like the black stuff under your
beds is weed barrier?

how does the water drain through that, and are your vegetables roots able to penetrate that stuff?

Beds are a foot deep. Its plasic mulched to prevent weeds/grass because the soil is such thick clay no plants would thrive in it...except stupid weeds. Drainage isnt a problem because the beds boards have very slight gaps that allow to water to drain through well. I know this because i stood out in the pouring rain the other day to make sure lol.

 

[nitwit]

thanks for answers of my questioning

i think some of your issues may be bugs or fungals

the first thing i would try is spray with neem oil and dish soap

like one teaspoon neem per quart and one teaspoon ivory dish soap

spray every 2-3 days and soak the undersides of all the leaves

even those you think look non-affected

next time also please consider to try to double the depth of your raised bed

and amend the soil under there so your roots may get down in there good

and find anything they may want instead of the plastic layer they find now

try on just one of your many beds and find out if it might work out for the betterer

the spacing of my stuff is variable and sometimes i just plant in every place that looks

like whatever i have that needs a place might work there i try it

good growing hope the plants start to give lots of pods