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Problem ID, leaf curl in young leaves

Johnaton

Johnaton

Hi,

I've been discussing this problem in my glog but decided to take it a step further and open this topic to have a discussion dedicated to this problem as it is really bothering me now.
Today I went to check out my grandfathers greenhouse and was shocked to find the same issues I have on some of my plants at home (some in pots, some in full ground, some with feeding, some without, ...).

All of the affected plants are annuums (Cheyenne, Golden Cayenne and Chilaca are the ones being hit by it.)

The plants seem to be pushing out buds like it's nobodies business and the first flowers look ok, they're not dropping off and I can allready see a few small peppers forming in them.

Obviously as none of the new plant growth is normal it will seriously handicap the plant and it's ability to take up light and use it to grow peppers so I'd like to try and fix this ...

These are 2 pictures I took of the problem:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/79652399@N05/7172429191/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/79652399@N05/7357675662/

Notice how leaves are very small and curled with veins looking like some kind of wild river going all over the place ...

I hope we can find what is causing this!
 
MITES!!!!! I just chopped the top off a Bhut that looked very similar to yours, after putting it under 30X scope I found about 20 little critters crawling around. If you find em treat all the plants around em and isolate the infected ones.
 
Prehensile said:
MITES!!!!! I just chopped the top off a Bhut that looked very similar to yours, after putting it under 30X scope I found about 20 little critters crawling around. If you find em treat all the plants around em and isolate the infected ones.
Click to expand...

I've been inspecting my plants now with a small magnifying glass but I'm not really sure what I'm looking for, are they numerous on plants or am I looking for 2 specs on one plant, am I supposed to see them moving?
 
You'll need at least a 10x but upwards of 60x is best. You're looking for them and eggs near the main vein on the underside of the leaves. They are very small. And it only takes a few to do this to your plants. Also, they don't even have to still be present. By the looks of your pics, I'd say your numbers are higher and they are still there.
 
After inspecting leaves for 15 minutes I've seen exactly one little red fella running about on one of my plants that was hardly effected, I did spot some minor webbing in the top of the most affected plant and there are some tiny black specks on the bottom of the leaves, eggs perhaps? I've eliminated one plant in the process of inspection but want to save the others, any suggestions on an effective organic way to get rid of them?

How is it by the way that so few critters can cause this much damage, and why are they present on only a couple of plants and seem to be very picky when it comes to species of pepper plant? I expected if I would have problems with little bugs that they would infest all plants, not just a few ...
 
These damn mites are tiny even at 30x, They hop rides on small flies, they also inject a poison in the plants while feeding, I use a neem oil/pepper juice/mild detergent spray to treat em, once the poison is present it takes a long time for the plants to recover. cut off the damaged foliage and hope for the best.
 
Prehensile said:
These damn mites are tiny even at 30x, They hop rides on small flies, they also inject a poison in the plants while feeding, I use a neem oil/pepper juice/mild detergent spray to treat em, once the poison is present it takes a long time for the plants to recover. cut off the damaged foliage and hope for the best.
Click to expand...

Any advice on preparing such a spray? How much do I need of each?
 
I follow the directions on the neem oil container then add strained/filtered Scorpion juice on to of that it needs to burn your skin to be effective, 2 TBSP neem per gallon 1-2 of mild detergent and as much pepper juice till it burns your arms underside. Only apply after the sun goes down or in full shade, I have to spray every 3-5 days here in the swamp.
 
I am now 99% positive these are broad mites I'm dealing with.
As soon as I have the time (hopefully tonight) I will treat all plants with something (not quite sure what yet, will see what I can get my hands on).
I also plan on stripping the affected leaves off plants.
Now I was just wondering, as I understand the reason leaves etc are misformed is because of the saliva of these critters being toxic, now if I strip the leaves and leave the stems and buds be, will those be ok and will the plant pick up growing new vegetation on those stems, or am I better off getting rid of the entire affected stems because perhaps the toxin is present in those stems and would just cause new growth to be weird too?

Cheers for all the help!
 
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