Trinidad Moruga Scorpion - what's happening?

S

sys6x

Hi all,
 
I've been growing those peppers indoors since september/october of last year in my bedroom with a fan and a 125w CFL bulb @ 6400K and all of a sudden, overnight, I have 3 of them dying with all leaves fallen on the soil...didn't change anything in the routine, temperature at 23-24c, humidity at 40-55%, nitrogen and nutrients..watered every 5-7 days and a light cycle of 19 hours with 6-7 hours of "night" time.
 
I separated those dying plants from the rest and what do I notice 2-3 days later, they are growing back!?  And the others are suffering the same symptoms right now, 2 weeks later...drooping leaves, some fallen leaves.
 
What's happening?  No apparent bugs in the soil, I wiped them 2 months ago with a bowl of water and vinegar, nothing under the leaves.  Also some leaves are tearing/ripping themselves and it's been a while some had burnt tips, but that seems to improve since I learnt I have to water the soil, not the plant...as you can see on 2 of the plants, while another is really rippled and seems to die.
 
 



http://imgur.com/eSQ7y7T (dead leaves)
http://imgur.com/1hCyRyV (the best plant)
http://imgur.com/DHz0mpf (the "burnt" plant)
http://imgur.com/0GnXwNT (my 2nd best plant)
http://imgur.com/h0xBtFr (one of the plants that died overnight)
 
What can I do?
 
Thank you for the help.



 
 
EEk, that's a tough one...its always hard to get rid of plants for the greater good.
 
Hopefully some of the more experienced growers have good insight on this. Very complex situation. Though, the "burnt" plant looks like its leaves have been desicated via harsh or too much wind, but since they are indoors, thats ruled out unless you had a fan thats too close?
 
Best of luck. Keep your head up and focus on the majority of your grow for now.
 
Plants don't just die overnight. What it looks like you have is too high humidity (have a fan?) and possibly nute burn too. Use plain water for a couple weeks but ONLY water when they show signs of needing it, drooping and/or very light pots. What soil mix are they in? It looks very wet. That is generally the go to for growing problems indoor, too much water. Your plants should be fine if you lay off caring too much for them. That last one still has green leaves, it'll be fine.
 
Yes, I have a fan and funny enough, the first to die are the one close to the lightbulb/fan.  I did use only water for a couple weeks since I suspected nute burn too but no change really.  I slacked off on the watering, once per week, even if the soil is flour-like in consistency.  When I water, I put water on the soil till it gets out under the pot.
 
Soil mix, I'll come back to you later on this, it's a tropical one.
 
What is a correct humidity %?  I have a water bowl around the plants that evaporates every few days because I thought room was too dry... as I said, it's around 40-55% humidity.
 
sys6x said:
I've been growing those peppers indoors since september/october of last year in my bedroom with a fan and a 125w CFL bulb @ 6400K and all of a sudden, overnight, I have 3 of them dying with all leaves fallen on the soil...didn't change anything in the routine, temperature at 23-24c, humidity at 40-55%, nitrogen and nutrients..watered every 5-7 days and a light cycle of 19 hours with 6-7 hours of "night" time.
Click to expand...
 
If they've been in the same soil since September, I would imagine there is a bit of salt build up. A good flush (3-4 times the volume of the pot) followed by a weaker regime of feeding should help, if that be the case.
 
Correct, same soil.  Shall I add new soil too?  as it tends to compress...
 
Could all this be caused by fungi?
 
nah just taking  it out of pot doesn't hurt it.
 
like so:
IMG_20140320_202907.jpg
 
I had the EXACT same thing happen to ALL of my plants last year, they all looked like your dead overnight plant in just a couple of days. 19 plants bit the dust. One day they were healthy and just starting to flower, then bam...dead. No bugs, no feeding change, just dead overnight. I'm still looking for answers myself.

Edit: they were outdoors and had good sunlight and shade.
 
I had some that looked like what your plants did, but mine was from a chemical burn from a pesticide meant to kill aphids and spidermites, won't use Garden Tech. Worry Free again as it not only killed the aphids but burned the leaves right up.
I didn't have that problem with Seven Spray both are rated for veggies.
 
Bob_B is there an "OK" distance?  some are 10cm far, some are 1m far and indeed, there is a difference based on the distance...the farther it is, the slower it is to be affected.
 
No pesticides used by the way.
 
Martian13 said:
I had the EXACT same thing happen to ALL of my plants last year, they all looked like your dead overnight plant in just a couple of days. 19 plants bit the dust. One day they were healthy and just starting to flower, then bam...dead. No bugs, no feeding change, just dead overnight. I'm still looking for answers myself.

Edit: they were outdoors and had good sunlight and shade.
Click to expand...
 
Really interested to find what caused that myself.
 
I had some plants exhibit the same symptoms as that pic, but that was from very high winds. Plants died in a day or two, but the winds were REALLY high. Can't imagine what could cause the same indoors, in as little time as that. I'm thinking over/under watering and nutriner burn, or too less nutrients, take a while and you will notice it sooner.
 
I have had plants die in the span of 2-3 days from overwatering.
 
2-23-2014 Black Jalapeno
Zvqfd63h.jpg

 
8 days later on 3-3-2014
 
CUYNhaWh.jpg

 
When I picked up the pot to remove it, it weighed a TON.  Soil felt dry for first 1" but when I removed the plant I'd found that the bottom 8" were fungus filled, sopping wet, and the roots of the plant had turned all brown and slimy.
 
I'd killed it with water.
 
When in doubt weigh the damn pot! Sometimes the top layer of soil will dry out but the bottom will get saturated if the drainage gets clogged!!!
(All 5 overwinters I have killed this year have been from overwatering, for what it's worth. I have 27 surviving still. My latest casualty was a 2012 yellow Scotch Bonnet.)
 
I agree with millworkman - that is some serious fertilizer burn, sys6x. And as he said, back off the fertilizer and only use water for a few waterings. When you do return to using fertilizer, use less than suggested by the manufacturer. Common mixes are one teaspoon per gallon of water, and not every watering. Don't use more than 1/4 tsp. to 1 gallon of water to start, and no more than every other watering. Note the affected leaves will not return to normal, but the new growth coming in should be fine.
 
Dead overnight…. I've had what seemed like that happen to some plants, the cause being a soil fungus. The stems shriveled up, leaves went kaplooey - one day things seemed fine, the next, not. Here's a guide to using hydrogen peroxide to clear things up: http://www.using-hydrogen-peroxide.com/gardening-with-hydrogen-peroxide.html 
 
Hey guys,
 
Seems like that's exactly what happened, a mix of too much wind from my fan AND too much water.  My pots are indeed VERY heavy.even if the top soil is dry.  Should I remove the plant from the pot and aerate the soil and add some soil underneath?  As for wind, should my fan turn as much as the light is on, or less?  should it be a constant fix airflow or should it be set on auto-rotate?
 
For now, instead of watering weekly, I water every 10 days and it's way better, I got 2 big plants now and the rest is stable.  I also noticed that some leaves are very riddled, some others are flat and well outlined, some are really choppy..any reason for that?
 
Thanks again!
 
sys6x said:
Hey guys,
 
Seems like that's exactly what happened, a mix of too much wind from my fan AND too much water.  My pots are indeed VERY heavy.even if the top soil is dry.  Should I remove the plant from the pot and aerate the soil and add some soil underneath?  As for wind, should my fan turn as much as the light is on, or less?  should it be a constant fix airflow or should it be set on auto-rotate?
 
For now, instead of watering weekly, I water every 10 days and it's way better, I got 2 big plants now and the rest is stable.  I also noticed that some leaves are very riddled, some others are flat and well outlined, some are really choppy..any reason for that?
Click to expand...
 
I've tried repotting 3 of them that did it to me this winter, unsuccessful each time. by the time the leaves are shriveled and crisp, seems the war is lost. I've also tried washing the roots under cold water before re-planting in fresh soil; no help. Moreover, when they finally do die, I have to discard the soil; not risking another plant in there.
 
If you could catch it before the leaves get crispified, while there's still *some* leaves that can do photosynthesis, you might get lucky.
 
Another thing I have not tried is taking a cutting to clone it; not sure if that would work at that stage, either. It may work out better, if the branch is healthy and still alive.
 
The trick to watering overwinters follows - 
 
#1 Do not water until they get completely dry and start to wilt a little.
#2 Add a little water - varies by pot size, but I generally do 1/4" of water for the "surface area".
#3 Let the plant perk back up; then watch for it to wilt again. Track the amount of water AND the *time* it takes to wilt.
#4 Cut the water you used in #2 in HALF and the timespan you found by #3 in HALF, and set your watering schedule.
 
The downside to this is if you miss a day or two you *may* dry the plants too much, so if you are taking off for a weekend or whatever, you don't have as big of a margin of error.
 
But, a dried out plant is *much* easier to resurrect than one which has no roots left from root rot. These things will lay dormant for a long time as long as their cells aren't destroyed by frost.
That link in #18 didn't work; try this one for more info on Hydrogen Peroxide:
 
http://www.quickgrow.com/gardening_articles/hydrogen_peroxide_horticulture.html
 
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