Whats damaging my plants?

[TheFanMan]

some of my plants aren't looking too good.
most of the newer leavers seem to be puckering and a lot of the edges are going raggedy.

if you look at the back right leaf you can see the spots in it and rough edges

this one looks eaten, not sure if its related to the others looking bad.

in this one you can see the puckering, spots and bad edges.

bad edges

puckering, holes and missing bits.

puckering

does anyone have an idea what is damaging these plants? i really want to get on top of it.

 

[patrick]

Pretty sure it's some kind of nutrient deficiency. You might try adding some calcium. Check your pH too.

 

[Bootsieb]

I agree- you have to balance your PH for Calcium uptake to happen, iron is also helpful. I'd put in some Calcium Lime.If your soil is too acidic, it will cause Nute lockout.You need Ca to grow, so do they.

 

[darkb16a1]

I'd be also careful with the usual nutes, this reminds me overfertilization and roots burn. Adding calcium should not do anything wrong, go easy with other nutes.

 

[armac]

Look at calcium but also be careful with over fertilizing, we have a tendency to love our plants to death.

My problem at least.

 

[TheFanMan]

ok ill def look at calcium, whats the quickest way to get some into these guys? ill also see what the ph is at.

 

[Indiana_Jesse]

............Just to let everyone know, thrip damage looks just like that as well, even the resulting puckering usually associated with lack of calcium. The thrips cause the damage when the leaf is just newly formed and very small, as the leaf grows out, it grows out very deformed. Look very very very closely at the newly forming leaves on the growing tips of the plant, you may see very very very very small yellowish sliver like insects. It's amazing the aesthetic damage they can cause! I am experiencing this right now, and experienced it last year too in a greenhouse setting. Once I leave plants outdoors the thrips seem to disappear. It may be a nutrient issue as well, but I encourage everyone to look for thrips before concluding nutrient overdose or deficiency.

 

[TheFanMan]

gave these guys some gypsum today, hope it helps them.

 

[darkb16a1]

Gypsum is ok and may fix soil issues, but in general plant does bot absorb Calcium via roots well, in such case a spray of weak solution applied to the foliage is usually faster to fix the deficiency. Note that the problem will disappear o nly for the new leaves, tissues in the current leaves are already damaged, so don't expect the current foliage to look any better.

 

[theghostpepperstore]

............Just to let everyone know, thrip damage looks just like that as well, even the resulting puckering usually associated with lack of calcium. The thrips cause the damage when the leaf is just newly formed and very small, as the leaf grows out, it grows out very deformed. Look very very very closely at the newly forming leaves on the growing tips of the plant, you may see very very very very small yellowish sliver like insects. It's amazing the aesthetic damage they can cause! I am experiencing this right now, and experienced it last year too in a greenhouse setting. Once I leave plants outdoors the thrips seem to disappear. It may be a nutrient issue as well, but I encourage everyone to look for thrips before concluding nutrient overdose or deficiency.

+1... I have been dealing with the very same issue. After treating for Cal def plants in the greenhouse are still looking the same. My plants that are isolated to my grow room have no issues and all other variables are the same (soil, water, fertilizer). I have seen lots of thrips in the greenhouse. My seedlings look very similar to these plants.

 

[TheFanMan]

i also have a couple of leaves that seem to be going shiny and shriveling up.

the middle leaf on this plant is really shiny (it has the same shine as snail slime) and it is shriveling up. related to the other leaves puckering?

 

[TheFanMan]

Gypsum is ok and may fix soil issues, but in general plant does bot absorb Calcium via roots well, in such case a spray of weak solution applied to the foliage is usually faster to fix the deficiency.

what solution would you suggest?

 

[darkb16a1]

what solution would you suggest?

I personally use standard soil calcium rich fertilizer as a foliar fertilizer. Usually a 30% of the recommended dosage is strong enough. Try this: http://www.planetnatural.com/site/cal-mag.html .

 

[Capsicum]

what solution would you suggest?

What soil are you using?

What fertilizer and how much/often are you using it?

Once you answer those questions I will be able to help you.

"Usually a 30% of the recommended dosage is strong enough"

Yes I agree.

BTW: I find gypsum to be a very effective Ca and S source for container growing plants. Using a simple water soluble fertilizer at low strength then adding gypsum and epsum salts, you will have all needed micro/macro nutrients. It can be more work applying each of these, a reason I switched to a complete water soluble fertilizer with all needed Macro nutrients. But that is not to say you are over or under fertilizing.

If you answer those two questions I can get a better understanding of your fertilizer program/media used, and then go from there. We can then find where the problem came from and go from there.