newbie in this forum...growing peppers but black spots on leaves?

12 years ago

Hello,

We are trying to grow some hot pepper plants (in containers) but its been a bad season for us... my pepper seedlings won't grow. Even our housekeeper wanted some of my seeds to grow some herself and they have not been doing too well either. I suspect I need to buy soil from a different source next time we try.

After I decided to give up and concentrate on other veggies, our housemaid planted seeds for several different hot pepper varieties in late December. They germinated fine but just wouldn't grow much. It was brand new soil that they were grown in so I only fed them with a liquid seaweed fertilizer after a couple of weeks after they germinated. Then my housemaid put compost on the top of the soil after a month. But they wouldn't grow. She is from Ethiopia and her family grows hot peppers a lot so she just assumes it is the soil that is the problem.

Well, in the last month, 2 of the seedlings finally grew a little bit and we potted them up about a week ago. They were kept in a shaded area for 2 days just so they could have some rest during transplant shock before putting them out in the sun.

They haven't grown at all and a couple of days ago I noticed some small black spotting on some areas of the leaves. And today there is more. Also, there are tiny white dots on the leaves as well if you look at the photos. Can anyone tell me what this might be and how to help the plant survive?

this is one of the plants:

and this is the other:

this is both of them in the Smart Pot:

Also, I have no idea what variety of hot pepper this is because our housemaid did not label her seedlings.

Also, just for more information... we tried to grow pepper seeds from different sources...so they did not all come from one store/seller.

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Comments (7)

tsheets
12 years ago
I don't know if it's the problem at this point or not, but, top soil / potting soil is not the best thing for container growing. I think potting *mix* is what many use. It's what I use, and I add a fair amount of perlite to make it a little lighter. I'm definitely not an expert on container mixes. Hopefully, someone better equipped to talk about that will come along soon. :-)

Can you take a picture of just the white spots? It's hard to tell what they are this far away.
User
12 years ago
I'm not familiar with gardening products available in Dubai.

When you say soil, are you using gardening "soil" in your pots versus a commercial potting mix? If regular gardening soil, in pots it gets too compacted and retains too much water, two things peppers hate.

Bill
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User
12 years ago
LOL tsheets, great minds think alike or is it fools seldom differ ;-))
ticodxb
Original Author
12 years ago
I am sorry I should have specified what I am using...

I am growing these in a fabric pot and I am using a commercial potting soil mixed with desert sand (it is red and they call it Sweet Sand here), and compost. I did not scoop up soil from the garden :)

The website for these fabric pots (Smart Pots) says it is ok to use a heavier mix because moisture evaporates more than a plastic container would.

I don't know if it makes a difference but I am using the same mix to grow tomatoes, zucchini, eggplants, and cucumbers and the tomatoes and zucchini are doing well (all are in Smart Pots as well)... the other ones are still young but seem to be doing fine so far.

Lets see... just in case it makes a difference... the weather temperatures are a little bit erratic... the highs have been in the upper 70s to mid-80s and the lows have been from the lower 60s up to the mid 70s.
tsheets
12 years ago
I don't think the temps are a problem.

You may want to check in the container gardening forum. They will probably have suggestions on the medium/fabric pots.

Here is a link that might be useful: Container Gardening Forum
capoman
12 years ago
The mix is likely not optimal but "sweet sand" may point to high pH as the term sweet usually means alkaline. Might want to check pH. pH problems can often show up as spotting on plants. A soil less mix usually works best between pH 5.8 and 6.2 pH. If your potting mix is an organic mix, it should be a tad higher such as 6.5-6.8. Peppers prefer mediums that are slightly acidic.
thismembername
11 years ago
Hey,
what ever happened with this?
did it spread and take over?

I'm having the same issue now