Lack of light or nute deficient?

Stoney

Have lights on them 16 hrs a day, have given them ferts twice (once just recently). I'm thinking if it's not the type of pepper plant (which is what I was wondering if possible) then it must be the baking soda lowering the PH of the soil (which I only used the one time).

Could be. I've never used baking soda on soil so your plant has to be intaking it with waterings.
I don't know how harmful it is.

Stoney

That plant may be sensitive to it's conditions, watering, nutrients, lighting. You did mention mold, and the soil seems damp, moisture may have been a part of the issue. You may have also altered the PH of the soil.

Haven't had enough coffee to take any guesses, but when i see a plant like that i tend to repot and hold off a little while on nutrients and excess moisture. It's a band aid fix but it's easy and usually works.

Steve

This post was edited by sjetski on Wed, May 7, 14 at 9:44

I recall a yellowy pepper that folks have grown - I believe it was something like a Charleston? Bruce grew it, I think, and can tell us more. A couple others grew it, too.

Anyhow, when new top-growth is yellow, it could be too much Nitrogen. Not common, but certainly a possibility. So, tell us more about the fertilizer specifics.

Josh

Seems to be that you made the soil alkaline (pH too high) with the baking soda, causing iron chlorosis. A container is poorly buffered and its pH changes easily.

For something as mild as this, I would probably just leach the soil thoroughly and re-fertilize with a balanced fertilizer containing micronutrients. If it still doesn't clear up after that, include 1 T of phosphoric acid per gallon of water each time you water. That can be obtained at many garden stores.

Sounds like good advice to me.

Why phosphoric acid, though?

Dennis

Yep, I grew Charlestons one year. I had two or three of them and all three grew with significantly "yellower" foliage than any of my other varieties. Here is a photo of one of the Charleston's next to several other varieties.
Bruce

Organic acids like vinegar or lemon juice tend to be oxidized by bacteria and rendered ineffective, bringing the pH back up to where it was.

But it's most likely that OP will be able to fix the problem with just some leaching and fertilizing. It looks like a very mild case of chlorosis.

Certain peppers have dfferent foliage color. For example, in my experience, Gypsy and cubanelle have lighter green foliage whereas Poblano is darker green. Another one : Habanero has lighter yellow/green foliage. Purple flowering peppers have purplish green foliage. So NOT ALL light green is due to Nitrogen deficiency. I have potted close to 15 varieties in the same potting mix already, same fertilizer but they all have slightly different color.

Thanks for the replies guys! I'm going to attempt to repot and see if that helps.I think it's already starting to turn slightly. I guess we'll see if it's the environment or the plant :D

Personally, I have found that off colored leaves typically are not a problem and repotting for that reason might wind up causing more harm than damage. If there is leaves dying or noticable slow growth or some other malady, then maybe repotting is a good idea. But for off colored leaves, nah. And I would be careful about trying to pound the plant with nutrients as well. One thing that is pretty tame would be to try some Epsom salts. Water with a 1/2 TSP per gallon of water solution.

Yeah, Bruce, Epsom Salt.
I foliar sprayed my pepps and matoes with it yesterday.
Some of my peppers were abnormally yellow. They are well fertilized and everything. So, we will see the result of ES.

BTW, how often should/can I repeat it ?