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What might cause a plant to do this?

S

slickyboyboo

What would cause some leaves to curl, and others not to? This is a Moruga, and I have a Congo Black next to it, and both look this way. My Reaper and Purple Jal next to it have all normal leaves.
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Probably bugs. I can actually see what appear to be aphids in the picture if i zoom in. I could be mistaken though.
 
Edmick said:
Probably bugs. I can actually see what appear to be aphids in the picture if i zoom in. I could be mistaken though.
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It's not bugs, that's dust and clippings from cutting grass. I keep a close eye out for any aphids or other bugs.
 
slickyboyboo said:
It's not bugs, that's dust and clippings from cutting grass. I keep a close eye out for any aphids or other bugs.
Click to expand...
 

Check top and bottom of leaves magnifying glass.  Thrips are almost impossible to see cause they are so damn small.  I got a hand held illuminated microscope from Radio Shack a few years back.  Might have been thirty bucks.  Worth every penny.
 
I got the same on my plant, it's caused by overfertilizing and I believe it needs Calcium. I have no bugs as well. I can post a picture later today.
 
My money is on bugs. I know you've probably been very vigilant on pests but not all pesticides kill or control all pests. Best of luck man. I hope it works out.
 
This is my plant:
 
 
Checked again, no bugs at all. I will start with adding Calcium fertilizer as this seems to be a Calcium Deficiency (checked multiple threads here).
 
hogleg said:
I have to agree with AJ, good chance its thrips. They hide, run, and jump faster than you can imagine.
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i have a lot of experience with thrips.  i can see them through microscope.  they move fast but too bad they mess with the wrong pepper plant... LOL
 
 
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in this case i would suggest that you get cheap microscope like this one 
 
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i bought it from aliexpress for only $2.80 USD.   with this microscope attached to iPhone,  i can see mites, whitefly lava, thrips, ... blah blah
it's a MUST HAVE gadget.
 
 
I checked already by the Jewelry Magnifier purchased from ebay, I've used to repair watches. Still couldn't find anything and I can recognize mites even by my eyes.
 
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stankar said:
I checked already by the Jewelry Magnifier purchased from ebay, I've used to repair watches. Still couldn't find anything and I can recognize mites even by my eyes.
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wow... that's great.  my eyes are not good.  without 60x zoom factor, i can't see mites at all.
i wish i could have decent eyes like yours.
 
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Looks like broad mites to me. They severely messed up some plants last season. Broad mites are not visible to the naked eye. Try flicking a leaf over a white piece of paper and look for small specks that move.

The sign I'm seeing here is that the major veins of the affected leaves are not straight.

AzaMax (derived from neem) has been pretty solid for me in combatting them.
 
slickyboyboo said:
What would cause some leaves to curl, and others not to? This is a Moruga, and I have a Congo Black next to it, and both look this way. My Reaper and Purple Jal next to it have all normal leaves.
fc428afe2e92907ed7484f7d5ffdbd7c.jpg
Click to expand...
 
 
stankar said:
This is my plant:
 
 
Checked again, no bugs at all. I will start with adding Calcium fertilizer as this seems to be a Calcium Deficiency (checked multiple threads here).
Click to expand...
 
By the way when my plant looked like that last year, I also added calcium. It exacerbated the problem by helping to encourage new growth, which the broad mites munched to unrecognizable crinkles.
 
I would highly recommend beginning treatment for pests in addition to anything else you plan to do, even if you can't see them. They will not go away on their own, and if there are no pests, you'll inoculate your plants against them.
 
My MOAs are doing the same thing. Both are in different potting mixes and get different nutrients. Neither one is even remotely close to each other and none of my other peppers have this curling. Other than the odd leaves mine are doing fine.
 
ShowMeDaSauce said:
My MOAs are doing the same thing. Both are in different potting mixes and get different nutrients. Neither one is even remotely close to each other and none of my other peppers have this curling. Other than the odd leaves mine are doing fine.
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+1
I've had this curling on various plants through the years. Not a pest to be found and they produced fantastically. The plants I can remember were:

Red Hab
White Fatalii
SB7J

Since they were producing just fine, I chocked it up to being a trait. Maybe I'm way wrong. But that's been my experience.
 
There's a few things you could have, thrips, spider mites (both hard to see), or some type of sharpshooter bug like I had this year. They hide extremely well, fly off the plants when you get close, and not many can wreak havoc on a plant under your nose. The plants I have that are effected with glassy winged sharpshooters, all the new growth looks like that. If you have crepe myrtles or vineyards on your property or close by, it's probably sharp shooters. They got into my myrtles and now they're on my peppers. 
 
Some chinense also just have wrinkled leaves. 
 
It usually isn't calcium deficiency, 95% of the time your soil has enough calcium.
 
Here is the thing.  Maybe it is a calcium or other deficiency that only hit select plants.  You can try to correct and wait.  But you can run down to Radio Shack, grab you a little microscope, and check for thrips in an hour or so.  Worse case, you wind up with a cool new toy that you will no doubt love and likely need in the future.  Keep in mind I am a 52 year old type 1 diabetic.  My eyes suck.  So my microscope is one of the first go to tools when I have a problem.  Still, have read many healthy folk say they can not see some pests cause they are too small.
 
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