Salvage Operations

[lostcoast]

Hi Folks, need a little advice from you more experienced growers. I bought starts in May (Fatalii, Jamaican Hot Chocolate, Aji Amarillo) and planted them in 5 gal buckets with some generic organic potting soil. We've had a pretty cool start to the summer so I kept them behind water walls until the beginning of july. Initially the plants seemed to be doing really well, vigorous green growth up until shortly after I pulled the water walls down. Since then the fatalii and aji have gone down hill with the fatalii dropping leaves pretty quickly and both looking somewhat sickly. The hot chocolate is doing ok, blossoms and about 10 pods set with more coming, but also doesn't seem to be thriving like it should.

I water/fertilize once a week with this product (which was recommended by our local organic gardening supply) as well as a kelp/fish emulsion product because I wanted to include a kelp component in the feeding. All watered into the soil since I cant stand the smell if I foliar feed. I've done a couple of foliar applications of epsom salts and H2O2 as well as battled it out with aphids using pyrethrins/insecticidal soap and garlic oil. The plants never show signs of needing water even with the weather being in the 70's - 90's and lots of wind...

The fatalii and aji (to some degree) leaves fall off when slightly bumped, look more yellow than they should, and have some necrosis on the margins of the leaves. There was some spotting so I initially thought the issue might be bac spot (H202 foliar application 2x) but the new growth doesn't seem to have any spotting - perhaps that was aphid damage rather than bac spot. I'm wondering if the issue is drainage. The buckets have five 3/4" holes in the bottom so I'm thinking that repotting in new soil might help things out. I'm wondering if it is too late in the season to repot; especially for the hot chocolate... thoughts?

Pics (sorry for the poor quality, phone sucks):

hot chocolate

hot chocolate leaf curl

aji (note necrotic margin of leaf right of center in foreground)

fatalii (I pulled all of the bad leaves off of this plant, they pretty much fell off when bumped)

I was hoping to overwinter these plants to get a jump start on next season but am rethinking that option.

 

[Capt Poopiepants]

I water/fertilize once a week with this product (which was recommended by our local organic gardening supply) as well as a kelp/fish emulsion product because I wanted to include a kelp component in the feeding. All watered into the soil since I cant stand the smell if I foliar feed. I've done a couple of foliar applications of epsom salts and H2O2 as well as battled it out with aphids using pyrethrins/insecticidal soap and garlic oil. The plants never show signs of needing water even with the weather being in the 70's - 90's and lots of wind...

So are you using that liquid fish fert and another kelp/fish emulsion once a week, and if so, are you using it straight or diluting it (1/4 or 1/8 strength)? I'm not as seasoned as a lot of growers on here, but if you are using both once a week, that sounds like a lot. I use a 5-1-1 fish fert every 3 weeks or so and always dilute it, started with 1/8 strength and use 1/2 strength now and all my plants are at least 28 inches tall. That's not a good sign if your plant drops leaves when it's slightly bumped, healthy plants are pretty resilient and should be able to take a whole lot more than that. Personally I'd stop using fertilizers and flush them to see if they improve because, based on what you're saying, I doubt your plants will be able to support any pods on your current regiment, and if you do get a few, they'll either die or be stunted.

 

[lostcoast]

So are you using that liquid fish fert and another kelp/fish emulsion once a week, and if so, are you using it straight or diluting it (1/4 or 1/8 strength)? I'm not as seasoned as a lot of growers on here, but if you are using both once a week, that sounds like a lot. I use a 5-1-1 fish fert every 3 weeks or so and always dilute it, started with 1/8 strength and use 1/2 strength now and all my plants are at least 28 inches tall. That's not a good sign if your plant drops leaves when it's slightly bumped, healthy plants are pretty resilient and should be able to take a whole lot more than that. Personally I'd stop using fertilizers and flush them to see if they improve because, based on what you're saying, I doubt your plants will be able to support any pods on your current regiment, and if you do get a few, they'll either die or be stunted.

Thanks for the reply Capt. - I'm using it 1/2 strength but I could be over feeding. It is 2-4-0.2 and was recommended to feed every couple of weeks. The kelp stuff is N-P-K negligible. I'm thinking that repotting would solve that or sogginess but am unsure if the plant with pods will tolerate it. The leaves falling off when bumped is certainly disconcerting - something is not right here...