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Sick Barrackpore 7 Pot & Asian Birds Eye - Help?

F

funkz

Hi all,

Been lurking a little here, and tis my first time posting. I acquired some seedlings from MilK_MaN about 8 months ago, one Barrackpore 7 Pot and one Asian Bird's eye. They are my first chilies.

They had been growing alright for a while but the past few months they have been looking fairly sick, mostly the ABE. The main symptom I noticed was that it was not fruiting, the flowers would drop off, and the leaves going very yellow and also dropping. Then the other day I happened to find a photo I took of them when I got them and their leaves were huge compared to now, especially the ABE.

The ABE also seems to be covered in tiny little bugs which I only noticed recently. There is one or two little spiders that seem to have made webs over the plant, which I thought was fine (nature) and I thought the bugs were eggs or something to do with the spider. Anyway I think it has an infestation of some bug, and I might give it a spray with a mollasses/soap mix (which I use to keep caterpillers off my basil).

But is this bug issue related to the overall sick looking nature of the plant and lack of fruiting?

The B7P is green and generally healthy looking but has much smaller leaves than when I fist got it, and no fruiting yet (flowers drop off).

I have used half potting mix, half garden compost soil and have been giving them Seasol seaweed extract from time to time, and recently began giving them nitrogen-rich fish emulsion after I read that plants that are low on nitrogen have yellow leaves. It helped but not totally. Then I thought maybe I was overwatering them. I tend to keep them outside in partial shade. I also have been sometimes mixing in a bit of used ground coffee bean into their soil as I read that they like this. The soil on the ABE in the photos below from today looks clean because I just mixed some in, and removed all the dead leaves and stuff. A month ago I drilled a small hole in the bottom to allow the water to drain.

I took some photos this morning as below, any advice? Thanks :)


There are some more photos in the Flickr set.



WHEN I GOT THEM (Aug 2010 - ABE on right, B7P on left):






TODAY (Mar 2011 - ABE on right, B7P on left):



And the ABE with its bug infestation:




 
The ants give it away, you have aphids. You need to be aggressive. Besides treating the plants to get rid of the aphids, you'll need to keep those ants away. Do a search on aphids and ants in this forum, you'll learn what to do. Good luck.
 
U need to be brought up on charges of neglect and pepperslaughter! As usual.... Sorry but i had to say it. Goodluck. God bless honest abe!
 
Big aphid attack on those plants. As the previous members have said, get rid of the ants and aphids by spraying them off with water and use an insecticidal soap to control them. Kill as many as you can
 
Thats a horrible infestation. I had one last year, covered all the plants with cloth and released a bunch of lady bugs. Most of them were killed but not all of them. After a lady bug attack I would spray some chemicals on the plants for two solid weeks. get the underside of the leaves for sure.
 
What has the weather been like? What are your watering habits? The soils looks wet. If it stays that way for extended periods the roots will suffocate causing leaves to yellow and drop.
 
Thanks everyone for the welcome :) Seems like a real worldly mix we have here. Kansas? Get many tornadoes there? I been watching past eps of Storm Chasers lately, wish we got tornadoes here, or at least decent supercell storms :)

I'm in Melbourne, Australia so the weather has been a bit all over the place due to the la nina - but normally 20-30C and sunny (summer) and it's been a wet summer. I think I had recently over-watered it which I'm going to manage more. Should these be in full sun or mostly shade? I seem to feel they dont like the full sun. The sun here is pretty intense.

Regarding the ants, I noticed a lot of ants out when I took the photos because we were due to get a change coming in + rain that afternoon. Today I made up a mollasses mix and sprayed the plant, but I'll do a search and find out what else I can do about the aphids. I try not to use chemicals/pesticides on my herbs/veggies.
 
They will want full light. Yours might need a bit of shade so they don't burn up. After they get better give 'em the light!

Ants.... Go get you a bag of diatamateous earth, it's crushed up shellfish. Sprinkle SOME in your pots then spread it heavy on the ground all over around them. It's tiny razorblades that get between the joints and cut the ants to death :hell: It will also be a calcium shot for your peppers (hence don't spread it heavy IN the pot, but around it) Oh, and if it's goig to rain don't spread it yet. It will just be absorbed. Apply after it's dried out a bit, reapply after each rain to keep the field of death spread!!!!!
Haven't had an aphid problem yet so others will be more knowledgeable. I know you can find organic spray to kill them though. They are attracted by high N so watch your ferts....peppers don't like a lot of N anyway.

Best of luck with your babies :dance:
 
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