Not Sure What's Going On

[napalmxv3]

First it looked like my Bhut might have some bacterial spot infection. I picked off the worst looking leaves to gradually tame it as best as I can. But I also found some silky webbing on some of the peppers and on a few leaves and a dead white colored small spider under it.

The plant as it stands now

I found some of the same webbing on my habanero that sits next to it. But the habanero started showing some heavy leaf curling at the same time that the bhut started showing signs of BS. And the leaf curling doesn't fade at night so it doesn't seem like a heat issue.

Did the pepper Gods curse me with multiple issues or is this just one big issue with different symptoms with different plants?

 

[RichardK]

The yellowing near the edges means either -N or -Mg or both, and the leaf cupping is either -Mg or -C.

Test the soil pH, make sure it's around 6.5-6.8 and not at the extremes like less than 5 or greater than 7.

Once you are sure the soil pH is alright, you should apply some Dolomite Lime for the Leaf Cupping. You can foliar feed that also I think.

I have a plant that was looking exactly like your first photo, I tested it with a soil test kit and it turned out to be depleted in N with too much P. I gave it some Ammonium Sulfate and it's doing much better.

Hope that helps

 

[napalmxv3]

Found a few of the leaves I picked off yesterday that were a bit worse. I do hope it's merely a nutrient defeciency. I've neglected putting larger amounts of Nitrogen in since I didn't want to interupt the flowering stage. And the last fert I added had a bit of Magnesium in it, maybe it just wasn't enough. Hope I've merely overreacted!

 

[RichardK]

I have plants that were skull-f!&*#d with nitrogen and never stopped flowering or setting. I don't know why people say that Nitrogen harms flowering in Peppers. As you may know Pepper plants do NOT need to be induced to flower, they do so anyway right when the plant forks, at every node, non stop, until the plant dies, regardless of time of year, light levels, etc...

The ONLY time I have seen a plant not flower, was from insufficient light levels, and saying that it didn't flower is incorrect because it DID produce TINY buds that aborted right away. I have plants where the leaves are BLACK from too much N and P and guess what? They are clustered with white flowers everywhere.

Bottom line: Don't worry about adding too much nitrogen, it's pretty hard to do unless you are using lawn feed. And there is no such thing as a "flowering stage" in pepper plants (thankfully!) they keep on going until the end.

Note: When a Magnesium deficiency gets severe, all new growth halts, and leaves start yellowing and dropping like flies. If you add small amounts (1 teaspoon per gallon) of Epsom Salt to the watering container when you water them, they should never develop a Magnesium deficiency barring an excess of another nutrient that can block it like Potassium or the pH being too high or too low.

 

[napalmxv3]

Thanks.

I now know why when I was walking through my store's back room and saw a pallet of epsom salt I thought "I should really pick up a back on my way home."

Next watering will include some fish emulsion fert and epsom salt then!