What's going on with my peppers?!

O

Ohenry

Hey, I am new to growing peppers so hopefully some of you experts can help me figure out my peppers diagnosis!

I re-potted my plants about a month ago with some miracle grow. Ever since the repot and sending them outdoors, the new growth on my plants are wrinkled and deformed. The peppers names are the jwalla pepper and a Caribbean blend that I am not yet sure of. I first thought it was a cal mag deficiency, but after feeding them some of it, there hasn't been a change. Does anyone else have any ideas on what is going on?

http://imgur.com/NxT5quv
http://imgur.com/1xeFSJx
http://imgur.com/UCNtnSu

I did find some "fleas" hanging inside the leaves today.. Is this a bug issue? Thank you in advance!
 
Did it just rain or did you water before taking the pics? Soil looks very wet. Over watering can cause yellowing and leaf curl. Are you using straight Miracle Grow potting mix or did you add anything to it? Were the bugs on the undersides of the leaves? Did you find any spider web like threads?
 
What did these "fleas" look like and were they hanging out inside the young leaves or were they on the under side of the leaves? Those young leaves do look an awful lot what mine look like when I'm fighting thrips. 
 
Wicked Mike said:
What fertilizers have you used, and how much/how often?
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I have not used any fertilizers yet. I wanted to get a good diagnoses before I purchased anything. Any good ideas?

The "fleas" look like fruit flies, and they are hiding inside the leaves near the base. There will be one or two just hanging out on the stem.
Scorched said:
Did it just rain or did you water before taking the pics? Soil looks very wet. Over watering can cause yellowing and leaf curl. Are you using straight Miracle Grow potting mix or did you add anything to it? Were the bugs on the undersides of the leaves? Did you find any spider web like threads?
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I did not mix the soil with anything.. Should I have? Also, I did not find any spider webs.

In terms of the water, it was just watered and I only water them every 3-5 days pending on the dryness of soil.
Rymerpt said:
Welcom to THP
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Thank you!
 
If you're using Miracle Grow potting mix you should be good for nutes for a good month or more. If you get a lot of rain you might need to use some sort of fertilizer sooner as the nutes in the potting mix will wash out. What you use for a  fertilizer depends on if you want to go organic or chemical. I like using chemical ferts for containers. Foliage Pro is a really great chemical fertilizer. It has all the major and macro nutrients plants need. One bottle goes a long way. You can use Miracle Grow if you want. Some people say it has too much nitrogen but I've seen many people use it and have great success. If you want to go organic any quality fish emulsion or kelp/fish emulsion will work. You can use epsom salt sprays to supplement magnesium. There are some great all in one organic nutes. One I like and am using this year is Urban Farms. The Texas Tomato Food is awesome. Has guano, worm castings,kelp, high in calcium and has a ton of other great stuff. Works for containers, soil or hydroponics. They have a few different types on their site. Anyway it all depends on how you want to go and what your budget is.
 
Not sure about the bugs without a close up pic of them. You say they look like fruit flies so they might be fungus gnats? Might be nothing. A few shouldn't hurt anything but if they start to multiply and you notice a bunch then it could be a problem. If it is fungus gnats, they like wet soil. You could water from the bottom so the surface stays dry or you could cover the surface with play sand or perlite. Keeps the adults out of the wet soil where they lay their eggs.
 
Scorched said:
If you're using Miracle Grow potting mix you should be good for nutes for a good month or more. If you get a lot of rain you might need to use some sort of fertilizer sooner as the nutes in the potting mix will wash out. What you use for a  fertilizer depends on if you want to go organic or chemical. I like using chemical ferts for containers. Foliage Pro is a really great chemical fertilizer. It has all the major and macro nutrients plants need. One bottle goes a long way. You can use Miracle Grow if you want. Some people say it has too much nitrogen but I've seen many people use it and have great success. If you want to go organic any quality fish emulsion or kelp/fish emulsion will work. You can use epsom salt sprays to supplement magnesium. There are some great all in one organic nutes. One I like and am using this year is Urban Farms. The Texas Tomato Food is awesome. Has guano, worm castings,kelp, high in calcium and has a ton of other great stuff. Works for containers, soil or hydroponics. They have a few different types on their site. Anyway it all depends on how you want to go and what your budget is.
 
Not sure about the bugs without a close up pic of them. You say they look like fruit flies so they might be fungus gnats? Might be nothing. A few shouldn't hurt anything but if they start to multiply and you notice a bunch then it could be a problem. If it is fungus gnats, they like wet soil. You could water from the bottom so the surface stays dry or you could cover the surface with play sand or perlite. Keeps the adults out of the wet soil where they lay their eggs.
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This is really sound advice.  
 
A photo is needed to accurately diagnose bugs, but in small quantities, and outdoors they are rarely a problem. 
 
by the time the bugs get to a level to where they can hurt the plants significantly, the predator that eats them shows up to bring balance to the garden. 
 
The only time you have a problem is when you don't have those predator bugs coming to your garden naturally.  
 
I would focus on the basics as stated above.  
 
Scorched said:
If you're using Miracle Grow potting mix you should be good for nutes for a good month or more. If you get a lot of rain you might need to use some sort of fertilizer sooner as the nutes in the potting mix will wash out. What you use for a  fertilizer depends on if you want to go organic or chemical. I like using chemical ferts for containers. Foliage Pro is a really great chemical fertilizer. It has all the major and macro nutrients plants need. One bottle goes a long way. You can use Miracle Grow if you want. Some people say it has too much nitrogen but I've seen many people use it and have great success. If you want to go organic any quality fish emulsion or kelp/fish emulsion will work. You can use epsom salt sprays to supplement magnesium. There are some great all in one organic nutes. One I like and am using this year is Urban Farms. The Texas Tomato Food is awesome. Has guano, worm castings,kelp, high in calcium and has a ton of other great stuff. Works for containers, soil or hydroponics. They have a few different types on their site. Anyway it all depends on how you want to go and what your budget is.
 
Not sure about the bugs without a close up pic of them. You say they look like fruit flies so they might be fungus gnats? Might be nothing. A few shouldn't hurt anything but if they start to multiply and you notice a bunch then it could be a problem. If it is fungus gnats, they like wet soil. You could water from the bottom so the surface stays dry or you could cover the surface with play sand or perlite. Keeps the adults out of the wet soil where they lay their eggs.
Click to expand...

Great advice! Thank you!

Just to clarify, do you think the curling of leaves is due to bug investation or lack of nutrition?
 
I don't think it's nutrition. Besides the leaf curl they look good. I wouldn't add any fertilizer until at least a month has gone by since you transplanted into the Miracle Grow soil. There's plenty of nutes already in the soil. Leaf curl can be caused by many things. Stress from temp fluctuations, too much water, and sometimes it happens just because. Can just be superficial. One of the problems with growing in containers is too much water. Miracle Grow potting mix is fine to use and many pepper growers use it but it's not the best draining medium out there so it's easy to over water . In containers there is basically perched water at the bottom. There are entire articles on this and techniques of how to prevent it. Not going to go into it here. A simple way to help prevent too much water (which can cause leaf curl and yellowing) is to take a strand or two of an absorbent mop head and thread it into one or two of the drainage holes in your container. Just need to push in an inch or two so it's touching the soil. This will help to wick away the perched water that accumulates in containers.
 
If you're only seeing a few bugs here and there I really doubt they're your problem. I'd take a wait and see approach but if bugs get worse you can try an organic spray like Safer. Sold at most stores. They also have pyrethrin sprays which are natural. Just follow directions.
 
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