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health Wilting leaves with black spots

K

konflict

I'm not sure what has caused this problem. Initially I thought it had gotten too much sun but now after 2 days of being in indirect sunlight it is looking a little worse than before. I also noticed small black spots all over the uppermost leaves. I almost hate to admit this but it's what I had to work with at the time but this plant is in one of those self-watering containers you can get at wally-world and now after the fact I'm kicking myself for using them to begin with. There was a bit of standing water in the bottom of the pot and when I found the plant in this condition I removed the standing water in the bottom in hopes that the soil was too saturated and that the roots were unable to breath.

Maybe someone else has had a similar issue, but I'm concerned about all the black spots and how the plant could dive into this unhealthy state within a day. Any ideas?


Bolivian Rainbow w/ Wilty Leaves by dt3kt, on Flickr
 
"Any ideas?"

first thing i would spray it with neem and ivory soap mix
it may be a fungal/bacterial spot type of issue

looks a little wet also
 
It looks like an insect problem. Looking at the leaves you can see a bunch on the bottom of them. Hard to tell from the photo but it looks like possible spider mites. You need to spray these immediately as the infestation looks quite severe. Good luck
 
I gave this guy a good spraying yesterday afternoon with some insecticidal neem oil spray and as a precautionary measure some disease control too. The only change I can see in the leaves is that they now seem to be more of a black/charcoal color than green and all the individual black spots are pretty much gone. I had a separate issue with another plant last week and was advised to use some CalMag on that plant and since I have all my plants in pots. I just gave them all a bath with the CalMag mix. Could it be that there is too much calcium/magnesium in the soil for this guy? Here's another photo and apologies for the quality and size (for clarity), it had been raining most of the day so the leaves are kinda saturated.

 
For anyone that's curious, I did a soil test on this plant yesterday and the results were interesting. I don't know how reliable this home soil test was but according to their scale I have a lot of surplus of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in the soil. Potash tested ok and the PH was good. I've read a few things on the net about correcting too much phosphorus with a foliar spray of iron and zinc. Is this correct? If so, would it work since I have a surplus combination of Nitrogen and Phosphorus?

I hate to bother you all too much with questions but I'm a first time grower of peppers hotter than jalapenos and I've learned a lot from you guys/gals already from reading all your threads. I'm almost thinking that the solution to this plant is to pull it, dump the soil and start fresh with another seedling, which is already bigger than the ailing one.
 
welcome to the asylum,

lots of us are guilty of loving our plants too much

try backing off on the fertilizer regimen for a while

and see if that may help as the nitrogen and phosphor stuff

are likely (i would wager)something you put there?

they like the ferts but not too much too fast! :eek:
 
millworkman said:
Looks a little like root rot to me. How often have you been watering it?
Click to expand...


About once a week on average I guess. It does seem like this pot is retaining more water than the rest of them. All of the others except this one and one other are doing sooo much better. I was hoping he'd bounce back after a few days but it seems he's quickly going down the drain. I just took this photo. He's shameful :-(

 
Ok, I feel disgusted to even show how bad this plant is but here is a comparison photo. On the left is obviously the sickly fellow and on the right is a backup plant that I seeded 2 months after the sickly one. Such a difference between the two and I'm amazed at how the "replacement" has the distinguished purple leaves. Anywho... here's the shame, haha!

Comparison photos


Healthy Bolivian "replacement"


... btw... growing this things are quite addicting!!! Nobody warned about this haha.
 
Ok, but dont toss it. Chop all the leaves off and the stem down to about 6 inches, then pull it up. Stick it in some new soil in a much smaller pot and watch it grow all over again.
 
Was the pot out in the rain, or were you watering it from the top?

I'm just wondering why there was so much standing water in the bottom.
Self watering pots are great in theory, but i) of course have no drainage so only work if the top is kept dry and only watering from below, ii) harbour snails and slugs inside eventually.
edit: So I'd only use them if only bottom watering and there's no chance of rain getting on them, and if they had a cap to cover the hole at the bottom to stop snails and slugs getting in there.

Don't feel bad, your other plant is awesome. I've done similar things with a big pot that isn't even the self watering type, too big a regular non self watering pot with poor drainage will kill a chilli plant the same way.
 
Do like Millworkman says. Don't give up on it! When you pull it up check for root rot that'd be caused by too much water. Get the nasties off and repot it into something smaller. It'll take some work but it'll be a plant you can be proud of when it comes back to life.
 
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