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Problem with new leaf growth

A

arghmychillis

Hi everyone,
I'm growing some Carolina Reapers in the UK and looking for some advice!
Recently I've noticed on most of my plants the new growth seems to be crinkling and distorting itself, apart from a couple of aphids I can't really see anything that may be thrips or another pest on the plants so I'm not sure what could be causing them to go like this.
I've read about potential calcium deficiency but I've been watering them weekly with chilli feed which should have enough so I don't think its that either. (I've also now gone back to straight water for a bit in case it was too much feed)
I'm now considering possible over watering due to poor drainage but I'm not 100% sure that can make the leaves go like this.
 
You should be able to see what I'm talking about from the photos in the album below, any help would be really appreciated!
 
http://imgur.com/a/elWe0
 
Thanks!
 
juanitos said:
hey lol
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Haha hi! I had wondered if we may bump into each other again  :P
Vicious Vex said:
Recently transplanted?  
 
and welcome to the forum. 
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Thanks Vicious, they were transplanted a couple of weeks ago, could it be to do with that?
 
Juanitos suggested to me on reddit about the possibility of the soil not draining well so all credit goes to him if it's that! 
 
arghmychillis said:
Haha hi! I had wondered if we may bump into each other again  :P

 
Thanks Vicious, they were transplanted a couple of weeks ago, could it be to do with that?
 
Juanitos suggested to me on reddit about the possibility of the soil not draining well so all credit goes to him if it's that! 
Click to expand...
 
Poorly draining soil can result in water stress - Curling up leaves, yellowing veins, etc. 
 
If they were recently transplanted I would have guessed it might have something to do with transplant shock, but I don't think after 2-3 weeks the leaves would be now curling.  
 
 
Question,  What type of soil are you using?  
 
Juanitos is more seasoned than I with peppers.  I would trust his judgement. 
 
Vicious Vex said:
 
Poorly draining soil can result in water stress - Curling up leaves, yellowing veins, etc. 
 
If they were recently transplanted I would have guessed it might have something to do with transplant shock, but I don't think after 2-3 weeks the leaves would be now curling.  
 
 
Question,  What type of soil are you using?  
 
Juanitos is more seasoned than I with peppers.  I would trust his judgement. 
Click to expand...
 
 
My soil is just standard multipurpose that says it is 42% peat free, I'm thinking of re-potting half of them and adding in some perlite to help with drainage and see if it does them any good, in case it is water stress.
 
Of all of the many posts and threads I have seen about curling new leaves, I'd guess that about 60-70% of the time it is broad mites or over fertilizing. (over fertilizing can result in the roots locking out certain nutrients - like calcium or magnesium for example, thus leading to the misunderstanding that the plant is cal/mag deficient - this is not necessarily the case, just happens often. Problem is if misdiagnosed and people add more cal/mag then your just adding oil to the fire)
 
My suggestion is to take a very close look with a scope (60x or better) and if no mites, then do nothing - wait for those new leaves to grow out and see how they look once mature. The other leaves look great. Sometimes, with over fertilizing, the new leaves want to grow faster than they can produce the connective tissue. If this is the case, then those curled new leaves will eventually grow, flatten, and darken within two weeks. And everything will be fine without having to 'fix' anything :)
 
 
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My wrinkly leaves seemed to have filled out once they put on some size...Except for my Habs, they just seems to all be wrinklier than the rest.
 
Same thing happened with my Peter Peppers, they were the only two plants out of fifty that were curling. I agree with juanitos. When the leaves of my peter peppers were curling bad i didnt water the plants until the leaves started to wilt slightly, then watered them and wallaaa. I found that my peter peppers for whatever reason needed a lot less water than my other peppers and i had been overwatering.
 
mrgrowguy said:
Of all of the many posts and threads I have seen about curling new leaves, I'd guess that about 60-70% of the time it is broad mites or over fertilizing. (over fertilizing can result in the roots locking out certain nutrients - like calcium or magnesium for example, thus leading to the misunderstanding that the plant is cal/mag deficient - this is not necessarily the case, just happens often. Problem is if misdiagnosed and people add more cal/mag then your just adding oil to the fire)
 
My suggestion is to take a very close look with a scope (60x or better) and if no mites, then do nothing - wait for those new leaves to grow out and see how they look once mature. The other leaves look great. Sometimes, with over fertilizing, the new leaves want to grow faster than they can produce the connective tissue. If this is the case, then those curled new leaves will eventually grow, flatten, and darken within two weeks. And everything will be fine without having to 'fix' anything :)
 
 
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I'll have a hunt for a better scope to look for mites, then maybe re-pot a few of them with some perlite for better drainage and leave the others to see if it sorts itself out. Thanks for all the info!
 
Also thanks for all the replies and advice everyone, it looks like I've got a good few options and I'll try to narrow them down to the source! I'll keep everyone posted.
 
Hi again everyone, back again with an update! I hope it's okay to sort of bump myself like this.
 
I've repotted half of the plants into some soil with perlite, hoping that it may have been badly draining soil causing the issues, so time will tell with how that goes compared to the other half. Unfortunately, it seems like when it's not one thing it's another! Now most of the plants, perlite or not, seem to be developing black spots, mostly on the edges of the leaves, while others are starting to appear quite mottled looking.
 
I've searched the forum and found lots of talk about bacterial leaf spot and different fungal problems but on some older posts photos are missing while others don't really look the same. I've uploaded some new photos and would really appreciate it if anyone could take a look and help me out, again! For the millionth time!
 
http://imgur.com/a/R6FS1
 
Thanks again everyone!
 
Spicy Mushroom said:
I would cease fertilizing for a bit and see how things develop. 
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Hi Spicy Mushroom, I've stopped fetilizing for the moment, could that be causing the black edges on the leaves?
 
Thanks for the reply!
 
I'm inclined to think the symptoms were due to both over-fertilizing and overwatering/too much water retention. Since you ceased ferts for now and repotted with better drainage, you've at least eliminated those culprits. Just maintain exactly this setup for a few weeks, methinks. Let us know what all the new growth looks like.
 
Quick update! It's been about a month since my last post and there seems to only be bad news unfortunately. There hasn't been much new growth at all in any of the plants and all the new growth that there is, is very twisted and curled. The black spots have also got worse on a lot of the plants. So, apart from all that everything's fine!  :shocked:
 
I'll get some photos up soon to show the progression of whatever's going on.
 
arghmychillis said:
Quick update! It's been about a month since my last post and there seems to only be bad news unfortunately. There hasn't been much new growth at all in any of the plants and all the new growth that there is, is very twisted and curled. The black spots have also got worse on a lot of the plants. So, apart from all that everything's fine!  :shocked:
 
I'll get some photos up soon to show the progression of whatever's going on.
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Sounds like a bacteria infection due to the spotting of the leaves. If there's any mottling or streaks, then it could be viral too. The stunting of growth with increased of symptoms is another telltale sign of infectious agents.
 
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