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health Whats wrong with these peppers?

P

pure_bordem

I have 24 potted  indoor plants and for the most part everyone is coming along fine. However, these guys are struggling and I am unsure why. Two of them suffer from leaf curl and death starting at the tip of the leaves. The other is very droopy. They (and my healthy ones) all have the same soil, fert, water, light, etc.
 
Any ideas?
 
http://imgur.com/a/xeYmN
 
Sometimes leaf curling and problems at the tips indicate fert burn. If it's the same thing you're using on everything else, and they are fine, I don't know. Do you have any of the same varieties as the affected plants, that are doing well? If not, maybe those type are more sensitive to the ferts. I'm just guessing though. 
 
The best of the three is one of my two Bhuts, the other Bhut is fine. The second curled one is a Fatalii pepper and the droopy one is a Piment d'Espelette.
 
Basic organic top soil, not really sure whats in it. I added some microbe mix in the hole to help with transplant. Otherwise, there is some NPK on top.
 
  It just looks a little packed.But I cant run my hands thru it to tell. ;)   You could try repotting it with basic potting mix and see if it recovers
 
Yeah, looks like packed mud. Those roots need to breath. Lighten your soil up like randyp said and see if that does not help. 
 
id suggest promix type soilless mix for your first newb grows... its going to be far more forgiving.
 
once you know what you are doing, start making your own seedling mixes.
 
your soil looks dense and very low in porosity and very high bulkdensity.
 
you want a pore space of at least 50%. good permeability, wetting and good respiration. for a potting mix at least.
 
pure sand is like 35% pore space. clay is actually far higher, but its extreemly poor at exchanging gases and permeability.
 
perlite is like 90+ pore space, hence why we use it to fluff soils. compost with shredded wood and shit is like only 10% pore space, so you need to at shit loads of sand and perlite to get it up to 50%.
all of the above does not explaine the poor contition of your plants however. its just a good bit of knowlage to have.
 
your leaf tips look as though they were burnt...literally, or damaged mechanically, as though the vascular tissue was crushed or cut.
did they grow into a light bulb, or fall over, or wilt very very badly or something?
 
your leaves are clawing a bit, but not a huge amount. its probably deficient in something, but i dont have my papers with me to guess as to what it could be. ill come back later on... im too busy atm to find them.
 
queequeg152 said:
id suggest promix type soilless mix for your first newb grows... its going to be far more forgiving.
 
once you know what you are doing, start making your own seedling mixes.
 
your soil looks dense and very low in porosity and very high bulkdensity.
 
you want a pore space of at least 50%. good permeability, wetting and good respiration. for a potting mix at least.
 
pure sand is like 35% pore space. clay is actually far higher, but its extreemly poor at exchanging gases and permeability.
 
perlite is like 90+ pore space, hence why we use it to fluff soils. compost with shredded wood and shit is like only 10% pore space, so you need to at shit loads of sand and perlite to get it up to 50%.

all of the above does not explaine the poor contition of your plants however. its just a good bit of knowlage to have.
 
your leaf tips look as though they were burnt...literally, or damaged mechanically, as though the vascular tissue was crushed or cut.
did they grow into a light bulb, or fall over, or wilt very very badly or something?
 
your leaves are clawing a bit, but not a huge amount. its probably deficient in something, but i dont have my papers with me to guess as to what it could be. ill come back later on... im too busy atm to find them.
Click to expand...
 
I cant afford the fancy expensive soils nor can I buy them in stores around here so I had to make do with what I had. Still, I will keep in mind mixing perlite in the future. As for burnt, no light bulbs, nothing fell, no one has really ever wilted. I cycle the lights and keep a gentle fan so they are good there.
 
Soil looks too wet and compact. This can cause all sorts of misleading symptoms. Potting soil is cheap enough at any big box store that sells it. Even basic bottom shelf potting soil is likely to save your plants from a gruesome death.

In soil that dense, it probably stays wet for a long time. What is your watering schedule?
 
pure_bordem said:
 
I cant afford the fancy expensive soils nor can I buy them in stores around here so I had to make do with what I had. Still, I will keep in mind mixing perlite in the future. As for burnt, no light bulbs, nothing fell, no one has really ever wilted. I cycle the lights and keep a gentle fan so they are good there.
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You don't need any fancy expensive soils. I am always using the most common soil sold in supermarkets (10, 20 or even 50 liter bag), and I am mixing at home with sand and perlite. Don't know in USA, but I doubt the perlite is expensive. And sand... is just sand. Nothing expensive.
 
suchen said:
Soil looks too wet and compact. This can cause all sorts of misleading symptoms. Potting soil is cheap enough at any big box store that sells it. Even basic bottom shelf potting soil is likely to save your plants from a gruesome death.

In soil that dense, it probably stays wet for a long time. What is your watering schedule?
Click to expand...
 
I water when when they are dry (I check the soil with my fingers). Probably 2-3 weeks?
 
 
rghm1u20 said:
Yo don't need any fancy expensive soils. I am always using the most common soil sold in supermarkets (10, 20 or even 50 liter bag), and I am mixing at home with sand and perlite. Don't know in USA, but I doubt the perlite is expensive. And sand... is just sand. Nothing expensive.
Click to expand...
 
OSUPepperGuy said:
2 cubic feet of perlite is 16 dollars at home depot.
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I did not know about perlite at the time and queenqueg152 recommended Promix which is expensive to me.
 
If there is a local farm supply, the one by my house sells pumice at about $6 (may be 16, but totally worth it - sorry I am constantly medicated :)) for almost 2cf. Super good pricing for the pumice which to me is a better option than perlite anyways.
 
You can grow, with the help of liquid nutes, in complete perlite/lava-rock/pumice. But that is because those mediums allow tons of air to the roots. So be liberal when adding pumice, lava rock, or perlite (or any combination) to your base soil mix.
 
@queequeg152  has it right as I see it. I agree with everything he said, even the part about the burnt leaves (even though it was argued against. I don't mean to push the subject, just giving my opinion). The first thing I thought of when I saw those leaves was it looks just like my plants that I put out into the sun too soon without acclimating them (hardening off). They also look like leaves that I have seen on my plants after I let the soil dry out for too long. Usually sad leaves will come back if the soil dries and you water it soon enough. But if you miss that window, the leaves can end up looking like the pictures you provided. The only other time I have seen leaves like those were when the leaves were wind burnt, but these plants are pretty hardy to wind, so it would take a LOT.
 
Just to eliminate as much as possible, have you ever used insect spray on those affected plants?
 
   It just seems to be missing some fluff.3 bags for 10 bucks at most grocery stores worth a grain of salt.
 
I too did not know about perlite. Never wondered what the white stuff in potting soil was lmao. 16 dollars is a lot when you're just trying to grow some damn peppers but 2 cubic feet of perlite is A LOT. (to me) 
 
pure_bordem said:
 
I did not know about perlite at the time and queenqueg152 recommended Promix which is expensive to me.
Click to expand...
OK, I just wrote what I am using, cheap and useful.
 
OSUPepperGuy said:
I too did not know about perlite. Never wondered what the white stuff in potting soil was lmao. 16 dollars is a lot when you're just trying to grow some damn peppers but 2 cubic feet of perlite is A LOT. (to me) 
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Maybe you can find less than 2 cubic feet. I buy usually a bag about 2-3 liters, for around 2$. But I am a gardener grower, not using pots to grow.
 
mrgrowguy said:
If there is a local farm supply, the one by my house sells pumice at about $6 (may be 16, but totally worth it - sorry I am constantly medicated :)) for almost 2cf. Super good pricing for the pumice which to me is a better option than perlite anyways.
 
You can grow, with the help of liquid nutes, in complete perlite/lava-rock/pumice. But that is because those mediums allow tons of air to the roots. So be liberal when adding pumice, lava rock, or perlite (or any combination) to your base soil mix.
 
@queequeg152  has it right as I see it. I agree with everything he said, even the part about the burnt leaves (even though it was argued against. I don't mean to push the subject, just giving my opinion). The first thing I thought of when I saw those leaves was it looks just like my plants that I put out into the sun too soon without acclimating them (hardening off). They also look like leaves that I have seen on my plants after I let the soil dry out for too long. Usually sad leaves will come back if the soil dries and you water it soon enough. But if you miss that window, the leaves can end up looking like the pictures you provided. The only other time I have seen leaves like those were when the leaves were wind burnt, but these plants are pretty hardy to wind, so it would take a LOT.
 
Just to eliminate as much as possible, have you ever used insect spray on those affected plants?
Click to expand...
 
 I wish there was such a thing around here ha-ha. Could have made my life a lot easier. Only spray I have done is a garlic/tomato leaf spray to kill some little buggers and that was on all my plants. Also, I am indoors and my lights are high so wind and light burn not possible. Might just be too much water?
 
Also, is it possible to add perlite after the fact to the pot?
 
You will have to wash out the soil and add new mix to get perlite in there. Basically re-pot. I know you are weary about the shock to transplant again, and you should be - good for you, but sometimes a little mess is necessary to make clean. A little stress now is better than a plant that dies to the original problem (of course you need to know what it is first - the hard part). Can use vitamin B1 or superthrive to help ease the process. (go very light on superthrive if you use it, though it is kind of expensive by volume)
 
I wanted to ask about the insecticide thing because I know some products need to dry before they can be put back under the lights (indoors included) or they will burn leaves. The good thing is if it is burn from spray, then the plant will rebound. If it is a watering/soil thing and you figure it out, then the plant will bounce back. If it is a disease or virus, the plant will not bounce back, most likely. 
 
I wish the best for you and good luck!
 
PS: if it were the pesticide thing, I would have referred you to this: 
 

mrgrowguy said:
When I spray my plants, I like to soak them with the insecticide thoroughly. I wait for 5 minutes, then I wash the top side of the leaves off with non-chlorinated water with just a tsp of H2O2 in a 1L sprayer. I try to get as much of the excess insecticide off as possible (focusing on the newest growth). I have never had a problem with brown spots or wilting after spraying for bugs ever since.

 
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