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Sick Bhut Jolokia help :(

mudsta

mudsta

Fellow growers...

I'm based in South Australia (S 35' lat) and my first season is now drawing to a close for winter.
Amongst other varieties I attempted to grow a Bhut Jolokia (rookie mistake!) and didn't have very much luck.

At the beginning and peak of summer my plant looked lush and green but kept dropping all flowers.
Pic during peak season here



I grow in pots and fertilised with miracle grow tomato food approximately once every 8 weeks alternated with a weak Epsom salts solution.
I also gave it a weak potash mixture once, about 2 months ago.
In that time I picked 2 pods that turned red and both were tiny (size of a round garden pea)

The problem....
Over the past few months my Bhut leaves have been getting yellower and yellower and now are dying on the tips.
I also now have a heap of pods (30+) forming.
Is this a nutrient [font=Arial']deficiency[/font]? Nute burn? Too much water? (Due to rain) or the effect of cold weather?





I normally water once a week if no rain is around and we dont get frosts here at all.

Any help for a 1st time grower would be great,
Cheers,

Mudsta
 
IMHO too much water. All mine not sheltered from the rain are doing that. Well mine aren't that yellow because they have better drainage with perlite etc, but the tips of the leaves are dying off like yours as they were constantly wet.

Feel free to jump into the OZ thread too BTW: http://thehotpepper.com/topic/21897-winter-summer-in-oz-comparison-aussie-blabberers/page__st__3780
 
I'm no expert to say the least but I would agree with Pablo to much water, My climates a hell of a lot different then yours down south but my growing practices are different again to most my plants are in an aquaponics system and which is rich in oxygen but constantly flooded I noticed a simular effect at the start of winter up here so I would put it down to the cold and lack of oxygen in the soil which is due to too much water.
 
Too much water as the others said, plus the soil may be too compacted/dense. If the soil is caked into muck at the bottom of the pot that is a problem. Repot it with some lighter, more porous soil especially at the bottom of the pot.

Also make sure the drainage holes are not getting clogged.
 
My bhut did the same thing, until it was finally a twig in the dirt. I repotted it promix with loads of pearlite, and gave it 8oz water. Takes time but it'll bounce back. After a couple months, it's become my healthiest plant, though it remains the smallest. Now I water it once a week, and less than a pint at a time.
 
Pablo_h said:
IMHO too much water. All mine not sheltered from the rain are doing that. Well mine aren't that yellow because they have better drainage with perlite etc, but the tips of the leaves are dying off like yours as they were constantly wet.

Feel free to jump into the OZ thread too BTW: http://thehotpepper..../page__st__3780
Click to expand...

Awesome! Thanks Pablo (and everybody else) :party:
Too much water should be an easy one to cure as it's in a pot. Will keep it under my verandah and repot with better drainage soil etc ASAP.
Would you suggest cutting the dead parts off the leaves? Or dont touch them??

Dave2000 said:
You have more than one plant exhibiting symptoms, yes? Water one less, give the other more nitrogen.
Click to expand...

Dave,
No my 2 x serranos and 6 x thai are all fine. Just the bhut is doing this and it's my only plant of that variety.
I tried fertiliser with nitrogen in it on the bhut twice but it did nothing.

Thanks for the help everybody! Greatly appreciated!
Cheers,

Mudsta
 
Yep its winter, plants hardly need any water this time of year (they are dormant/sleeping) my Bhut`s were looking similar to yours, i did the cal/mag thing (not sure if that helped) & have not watered in a month or more & they are looking fine.

Mezo.
 
Opposite hemisphere from here, DD.

Looks very much like too much water to me, too. Note that different varieties uptake water at different rates - I had to water my aji habaneros more frequently than any other variety last season, and expect to have to do the same this one. Also, my congo trinidads were ridiculous - we had way too much rain towards the end of the season last year, and they sucked up the water so badly, the pods split their skins from being too water-logged. So yes, if you back off the watering, you'll notice fairly quickly with any new growth a difference - the new growth will come out greener, but the old growth will remain yellow.

The blackening on the tips..... If it's just a case of too much water, no problem. However, if you've got a fungus in addition to that, I'd rather see you pull leaves than lose the plant. We had a nasty fungus hit this area last year at one point, downing trees and all kinds of plants. My peppers managed to resist it, but my basil bit the dust. Unfortunately, it looked a lot like the end-stage of too much water, though typically the end-stage of too much water is wrinkly, browning leaves at the ends without looking like something's on the surface. But "on the surface" is relative - had to look really closely at the leaves to get a surface read on the fungus, though it was more apparent on the stems. Hopefully yours is just overwatering.
 
Good point, make sure there's no spots on the leaves or stems, if there is, treat them with a fungacide. If unsure give them a sulfur or copper or copper sulfur etc spray anyway.
Anything that has been very wet has a higher chance of getting a fungus or bacteria on it anyway.
Also as far as if chillies are too wet, besides the obvious symptoms, if there's weeds growing in the pot, it's too wet LOL...
 
IMO, since your winter is coming on, I would give them an extreme haircut...leave no leaves or buds on the stems...strip them...then I would pull the plant from the soil and wash the roots off...no worry about being careful here if you don't break too many major roots....after that, I would get some really good potting mix that is fairly light weight, drains well, and doesn't compact readily...after they are in their new home, I would use a full strength (as recommended by the label) root stimulator or something like 4-12-4...MG makes one and I use it when I transplant...

then let your plants grow through your winter being careful about insects such as mites, aphids, white and black flies....this will give you a flying start on next year and IMO second year plants are the largest producers I have seen...

my first post in the linked thread is an example of a plant before and after it had it's haircut....I didn't repot because I didn't need to...

http://thehotpepper...._hl__overwinter
 
geeme said:
So yes, if you back off the watering, you'll notice fairly quickly with any new growth a difference - the new growth will come out greener, but the old growth will remain yellow.

The blackening on the tips..... If it's just a case of too much water, no problem. However, if you've got a fungus in addition to that, I'd rather see you pull leaves than lose the plant.
Click to expand...

Geeme,

I have pulled off every leaf that was "over watering effected" and any that looked damaged or suspect. Since moving my pot under the verandah it looks like it should recover even though it is dormant. :dance:

Pablo_h said:
Good point, make sure there's no spots on the leaves or stems, if there is, treat them with a fungacide. If unsure give them a sulfur or copper or copper sulfur etc spray anyway.
Click to expand...

Pablo,

After stripping all the suspect leaves I have done a full plant spray with a half strength Lime Sulphur mixture. Hope this should keep at bay any nasties that want to take on my Bhut while he sleeps. :shame:

Thanks for the help fellow growers!

Here are a couple of pics


 
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