Hi all,
I have a problem with one of my Trinidad scorpions this year, potentially due to over-fertilization. It was very healthy last year, producing well. It was cut back to a stick over winter, re-potted at the start of spring into a larger pot with new potting mix (and here's where I think I went wrong) and some organic fert - http://www.yates.co.nz/products/fertilising/organic-based/dynamic-lifter-plus-fruit-food/
I repotted some other chillies in the same way. 1 x bhut jolokia cross (overwintered), 1 x red hab (from nursery) and one other scorpion some weeks later.
Things were good for a while with heaps of new growth. But around the time the plants started putting out flowers, growth slowed.
The bottom leaves on the scorpion started yellowing in the veins and forming lesions in the margins, around which remains a green area. These leaves continued to yellow and eventually fell off.
The bhut x formed lots of buds but then stopped growing, with no buds opening or dying off. It showed no yellowing leaves or other problems.
The other plants seemed to slow in growth as well, with the hab's flowers refusing to open (first ones opened today).
TS center, bhut x lower right;
Yellowing leaf on TS;
Some other leaves that fell off for comparison;
Two leaves that I took to look at under a micrscope;
Good pic of the distribution of the green spots / lesions;
After a while of slow growth and these leaves yellowing I suspected the over-fert and went ahead and repotted all of the chillies with fresh soil. This went much better than I expected. I found the scorpion and bhut had filled their pots with roots. I removed the majority of soil, but the scorpion had such a large root ball I think it retained a significant amount of "hot" soil.
Within 48 hours flowers were opening on the bhut. I thought "sweet! Problem solved!” Over the next few weeks growth took off on all of the chilies and I can see that I definitely had too much fert in there.
However the scorpions’ leaves have not stopped dropping, if anything they have accelerated. Yellowing veins, margins stay green and form lesions. Brown spots in veins. Affects lower leaves in sequence. Dark shiny spots in margins on other leaves
Microscope pics of lesions;
So my question is, are these problems still the over-fert? I can't find any matching symptoms in my searching. Or is there another problem here that was compounded by the over fert?
I'm going to try leaching the soil today, giving it a massive flush with water for an hour or two outside with the hose. Don't want to have to repot again.
Thanks for your time, I look forward to your speculation.
I have a problem with one of my Trinidad scorpions this year, potentially due to over-fertilization. It was very healthy last year, producing well. It was cut back to a stick over winter, re-potted at the start of spring into a larger pot with new potting mix (and here's where I think I went wrong) and some organic fert - http://www.yates.co.nz/products/fertilising/organic-based/dynamic-lifter-plus-fruit-food/
I repotted some other chillies in the same way. 1 x bhut jolokia cross (overwintered), 1 x red hab (from nursery) and one other scorpion some weeks later.
Things were good for a while with heaps of new growth. But around the time the plants started putting out flowers, growth slowed.
The bottom leaves on the scorpion started yellowing in the veins and forming lesions in the margins, around which remains a green area. These leaves continued to yellow and eventually fell off.
The bhut x formed lots of buds but then stopped growing, with no buds opening or dying off. It showed no yellowing leaves or other problems.
The other plants seemed to slow in growth as well, with the hab's flowers refusing to open (first ones opened today).
TS center, bhut x lower right;
Yellowing leaf on TS;
Some other leaves that fell off for comparison;
Two leaves that I took to look at under a micrscope;
Good pic of the distribution of the green spots / lesions;
After a while of slow growth and these leaves yellowing I suspected the over-fert and went ahead and repotted all of the chillies with fresh soil. This went much better than I expected. I found the scorpion and bhut had filled their pots with roots. I removed the majority of soil, but the scorpion had such a large root ball I think it retained a significant amount of "hot" soil.
Within 48 hours flowers were opening on the bhut. I thought "sweet! Problem solved!” Over the next few weeks growth took off on all of the chilies and I can see that I definitely had too much fert in there.
However the scorpions’ leaves have not stopped dropping, if anything they have accelerated. Yellowing veins, margins stay green and form lesions. Brown spots in veins. Affects lower leaves in sequence. Dark shiny spots in margins on other leaves
Microscope pics of lesions;
So my question is, are these problems still the over-fert? I can't find any matching symptoms in my searching. Or is there another problem here that was compounded by the over fert?
I'm going to try leaching the soil today, giving it a massive flush with water for an hour or two outside with the hose. Don't want to have to repot again.
Thanks for your time, I look forward to your speculation.
