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Newbie grower needing a little help

S

Stazybo

I'm beginning to think that the Foxfire Ocean Forest that these guys are in is not so great. All the new growth is curled and wrinkled. Shouldn't be over-watering or over ferts. If anything I've starved them a little. I water maybe every 7-10 days. Only fertilized with organic kelp extract at half strength three times in 6 weeks. I also have organic alfalfa based slow release N fert as top dress. They get about 6 hours direct sun and then shaded sun for 3 hours.
I think maybe I will do a cal/mag fert.????
Also, there is some earwig damage and a very few leaf hoppers. I've hit them with Neem twice in two weeks. But all the new growth is cupped and curled and the maturing leaves are rounded.
Any ideas?


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what kind of plants are those?

id maybe hold off on more ferts, until you know for sure whats up. the color looks great for sure so id say plent of N...

have you noticed any other bugs besides the hoppers? i read recently that there is a type of aphid that lives in soil and is very hard to see. the aphid eats the roots causing leaf damage.. im actually struggleing with some now, but thats for a later post..
 
Yes I've stopped any ferts for a couple weeks now. I have seen tiny white bugs fly off when I tap the plants. Usually only one or two. Can't tell what they are. There is nothing that I can see under the leaves. The plants are in raised beds with about 50/50 Foxfarm Ocean Forest potting mix and good native soil.
Don't know about the "soil aphids". I'll check it out. The rest of my garden is doing great.
 
A couple of my tabascos are doing the same thing and my ghost peppers too. I have a mixed bunch of plants ranging from tabasco to scotch bonnet in the same raised bed garden. The soil was mainly black compost top soil that I mixed with perlite, sea shells and chickadee doo doo. I have 24 plants in the garden and 20 are fine. Two of the tabascos and a bishops crown look just like your photo. I gave everyone a shot of mag this morning and was wondering if they needed some bone marrow for calcium. I am noticing that I have these flying ants around the garden and they seem to like the soil. I am trying to figure a way to get them out of there. I don't want them attacking the roots of the plants. I sprinkled some sulfur around the base of the plants yesterday and gave them some water. It is 95 degrees here in CT today. I am going to wait to see what happens. As for the rounded leaves I have the same thing going on there as well. I am going to go out there and shoot a photo really quick.
Scotch bonnet
Trinidad 7 Pot
Ghost Pepper
All puckering, at first I thought it was a lack of calcium but I added the calcium so hopefully any new leaves will not have the puckering
 
Though whitefly can attack peppers a serious infestation is rare – after growing chillies commercially for 18 years we have not yet had a whitefly problem on our peppers but we do regularly get whitefly on our tomatoes.

White skin casings that are often confused with whitefly.
A simple test is shake the plant. Whitefly are actually white flies, and if the problem is whitefly the adults will fly up when the plant is shaken.
Ants are often found near aphid colonies as they feed on the fallen honeydew. To protect their food source ants actively look after, or “farm”, the aphids, protecting them from insect predators.


http://www.chilefoun...-pepper-plants/ from this link i got off an older thread on this forum.. sounds just like your situ to me Stazybo
 
I had the same problem earlier this year. Held off on water and fert, no change. Local nursery DX as fungus. Sprayed with organic fungiside 2x's two weeks apart and plants are looking healthy again.
 
Same as many replies here... but i dont think its your soil, Foxfarm plus the nutrients you're giving them seems a little excessive even. Cal/Mag in an outdoor grow is rarely needed in my opinion... they will be getting it from the water and the native soil, unless you are using RO water.
 
I have a chocolate habanero in Happy Frog that has been doing this all season no matter what I do. I finally repotted it and added some lime in with the soil, but so far only minimal change.
 
Interesting. Both HF and OF should have enough nutrients for your plants to last at least a month without having to supplement. I've had excellent results this year with HF and Root Pouches (admittedly I have nothing to compare these results to as this is my first season).
 
You do not need Cal/Mag IMO. Vegetation color is good, no yellowing from lack of nutrient take up. MG deficiency curls down if I'm correct. I believe this is a pest problem and I want to say thrips......

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This is extreme, but notice the new growth suffers worse and the leaves all curl up at the edges.
 
Agree, probably thrips (nasty creatures!). Puckering between the veins of new growth is pretty normal with c. chinense varieties. The curled leaf edges and irregular leaf outline are both bad signs though.
 
I know nothing of thrips I'll have to do some research. Thanks.

woody3says said:
You do not need Cal/Mag IMO. Vegetation color is good, no yellowing from lack of nutrient take up. MG deficiency curls down if I'm correct. I believe this is a pest problem and I want to say thrips......

5794027111_d1607ca8d0_z.jpg


This is extreme, but notice the new growth suffers worse and the leaves all curl up at the edges.
Click to expand...

So this is a thrip infestation? This is exactly what my plants look like.
 
I am going to say something that will make you guys question my sanity :dance:

Make up some Compost Aerobic Tea, Hit those plants Hard with it. Foliar and the soil as well. This will do a few things
  • Myco type fungi will help your roots get nutrients easier
  • A Bio-film made of good aerobic Fungi, Protozoa and bacteria will help fight off parasitic insects and diseases caused by bad anaerobic bacteria.
  • Your soil food-web will get healthier and produce more nutrients that are more readily available to your plants.
I had a Jalapeno that looked just like that, I just got a Black Pearl that looked just like that, as soon as I gave them Tea they started producing healthy new growth.
It worked for me, and It cost very little.

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I got this plant from a friend and it looked very similar, all I gave it was compost tea and it is growing back perfectly.

Notice the lower leaves are the crinkly ones, those aren't even the really bad ones. I pulled off the really bad ones to let the plants nutrients go to the development of the new growth and not to the development of already jacked up leaves.
 
Has there been any change?
Stazybo said:
I'm beginning to think that the Foxfire Ocean Forest that these guys are in is not so great. All the new growth is curled and wrinkled. Shouldn't be over-watering or over ferts. If anything I've starved them a little. I water maybe every 7-10 days. Only fertilized with organic kelp extract at half strength three times in 6 weeks. I also have organic alfalfa based slow release N fert as top dress. They get about 6 hours direct sun and then shaded sun for 3 hours.
I think maybe I will do a cal/mag fert.????
Also, there is some earwig damage and a very few leaf hoppers. I've hit them with Neem twice in two weeks. But all the new growth is cupped and curled and the maturing leaves are rounded.
Any ideas?


IMG_0719a.jpg
Click to expand...
 
troutbum said:
Has there been any change?
Click to expand...

Some. I have found that I have a much worse earwig problem than I realized. I have knocked them down quite a bit but still am fighting them every night. Most of my plants have improved a lot, but two of my choc habs and a couple of the ugandan reds are still stunted.
I have gone to the nuclear arsenal and circled each plant with corry's insect killer. I really hate to use it but I'm out of other options.
 
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