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Whats happening to my peppers

S

Spicytigger

Can anyone help me with this. These plants were lush and doing well. Then this started to happen. They did flower but never produced pods, then they started to look like this. I did have a bout with horn worms but I killed them off as soon as I found them. I have sprayed Malathion on them thinking it might have been spider mites. New leaves would just shrivel up and die off. It's finally cooling off here in S. FL so they should be full of pods.
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
These are all less than a year old started in an aerogarden in March of this year. Transplanted in May. Is there any hope for them?
 
Thanks guys.
 
 
In one or two of the pics, it does look like they were hit with a cold spell... What are your nightly temps dropping down to?
 
cold! or perhaps better stated "cooler than the plant expects" and possibly lower lighting conditions. many of mine are in similar state. of course, mine are all in the house. i'll have a scotch bonnet lush green and beside it a pale yellow bhut, each have the exact same watering cycle, lighting conditions and environment. shake the bonnet and it is solid. shake the bhut and leaves just drop by the dozens.
 
i am trying to super charge some of the pale yellow plants with nitrogen to see if that will encourage greening and new growth but there may be some nutrient lockout happening. or the plants may be entering into their dormant cycle.
 
I will guess root problems
 
Maybe check one of them - and examine to see if something happened to the roots.
 
Very strange to see that.
 
Lowest temps so far have been 71 F we are just starting to "cool" down... Highs are still in the mid 80s. Down here there is no real dormant cycle, they are outside and if it does get cold I bring them into the porch and cover with sheets. Cold spells only last a couple of days down here.
 
Hmmm. I was going to say COLD until you said the lowest temps are around 71. Temps have been way colder here (high 30's for a low sometimes)
The dark color on on the branches on your 4th picture from the top looks like cold damage. I have a plant that I trimmed all the leaves off and it looks the same as yours in the 4th picture. Being the fact that all the leaves are missing the plant cant protect itself against the cold compared to having leaves. cut off the dead brown parts and take it inside till it gets some leaves on it
 
If the lowest temps have been in the 70s, my bet is the malathion burned them. I had the same problem with that poison. Temps dropped into the 50s here, and my plants still look pretty healthy. The good news is that you still have some warm weather. Keep them watered as usual and they should recover. Try mineral oil instead of chemical pesticide. Hope this helps, and good luck!
 
A couple months ago it rained pretty much every day for 2 1/2 weeks, 3 of my 'adult' plants started dropping leaves like that, fortunately not all the branches dropped and I was able to more or less save them, now all the old leaves on  2 are yellow, and they arent recovering very fast.. 1 of them I had to basically cut it down to nothing but its bouncing back way quicker than the other 2. But unfortunately it is starting to get cooler and Ive noticed them all slowing down..
 
by the way, one of mine had 1 particular branch do this that had 3 pods on it, they did finally ripen although Im sure it would have been better for the plant to cut that branch so it could use some more energy for replacing leaves..
 
So long story short, maybe its water damage since you probably suffered that same rainy month?
 
Looks to me likely to be a soil fungus. Mix 1cup of hydrogen peroxide to one gallon of water, and use that the next several waterings. Actually, I'd recommend you repot first - remove as much soil as you reasonably can shake then wash off, then repot with fresh soil. 
 
geeme, would I flush the whole gallon per pot? I have about 6 plants in 5-gal pots. Also you said several waterings, how many would you suggest. I don't want to over do it with the peroxide. Should I try feeding them during or after the treatment with a high Nitrogen food to try to get them to produce leaves?
 
One more question, I'm guessing I should cut them back since the ends are all brown and looks like its traveling down the stems. How far should I cut them back. 
 
It's a possibility that the malathion may have burned them, I did go crazy spraying them for fear of spider mites but I did not go more than the recommendations on the label but I may have over sprayed at time of application.
 
I dont think it was the rain since the branches of the plants are being affected. Looks like they are turning brown and dying from the tips down the branches and into the stem.
 
Thanks for the reply's and advise. Always a learning process :)
 
I can't help out too much.... I still haven't figured out what caused this on mine last year.... temps dropped, but nowhere near frost levels.... some plants were still producing.... it didn't affect all the plants and it didn't affect the whole plant.... it would start at the tip of branches and work its way down.... we had a lot of spiders around at the time, maybe spider mites moved in under the cover of all the spider webs? No new insecticides were used, they didn't cause problems before.... no changes in watering other than reducing it with the lower temps.... but there was a lot more wind.... but by looking at mine, I'd have swore it was frost damage....
 
Looks like a virus that took many of my plants last year and there is no cure...hopefully that is not your issue but the plants do look exactly as mine did before completely browning up.
 
Still not much diff and now they have been rained on all day. Any other thoughts before I rip them out and  trash them? That will be a sad day.
 
Thanks guys
 
If its the same as mine, I cut back the branches that were browning and losing leaves.... the rest of the plant survived....
 
Burning Colon said:
cold! or perhaps better stated "cooler than the plant expects" and possibly lower lighting conditions. many of mine are in similar state. of course, mine are all in the house. i'll have a scotch bonnet lush green and beside it a pale yellow bhut, each have the exact same watering cycle, lighting conditions and environment. shake the bonnet and it is solid. shake the bhut and leaves just drop by the dozens.
 
i am trying to super charge some of the pale yellow plants with nitrogen to see if that will encourage greening and new growth but there may be some nutrient lockout happening. or the plants may be entering into their dormant cycle.
Click to expand...
I'd like to know how your "supercharging" works out. PM me and let me know, if you would...
 
Hmmm..........
 
They look done to me.  Hate to tell you that.
 
I'm in North Fl. and I can tell you that has nothing to do with "cold spells".
 
I have had to fight off heavy rain here and expect to lose some plants - they don't like wet feet.
 
No leaves and they're probably gone.  You can cut them all the way back and check for green when you do.
 
If you see green, good.  You can overwinter and hope.
 
Otherwise, plan on new plants.  Losing plants is part of the process.
 
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