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Chilli leaves turning shiny-brown! Pls help!

Justify
9 years ago

Hi folks

I'm a newbie chili grower and I've just discovered that my prized plants seem to be dying - or atleast going through something aweful! :-/

Background:

My plants are growing indoors in a controlled environment. All has been going well and I've repotted them on numerous occasions as they grown.

The most recent re-potting has done something to them as their leaves are turning a shiny brown colour from the tip inwards. I don't know if its a fertilizer burn or over watering...?

The potting mix I used was (per mix batch):
9 scoops potting soil
3 scoop seedling soil mix
3 scoops perlite
1 scoop vermiculite
2 pinches bone meal

I potted them on a warm day in the sun and watered them only once till water drained out of the pot and then left them. They haven't been watered since (+- 5days) and are back indoors.

Any advice, solutions or hope?
Thanks!

Comments (9)

  • kclost
    9 years ago

    Mine are starting to do that as well on the upper leaves. Mine are outside in the ground though.. Hopefully we will get some help here.

    This post was edited by kclost on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 13:03

  • djoyofficial
    9 years ago

    Did you harden them off before taking them out into the sun? In case yiu didnt already know. Plants that are grown indoors need to be gradually introduced to full.

    I am a first year pepper grower and learned this the hard way with my first seedlings. I recall them looking similar to your pictures. They did recover just fine as new growth came in.

    dj

  • DMForcier
    9 years ago

    That could very well be sunburn, though I've never seen it like that.

    Nothing wrong with the potting medium, though I would leave out the vermiculite entirely. It will hold moisture too much moisture easily - especially indoors - so be careful watering. The bone meal won't provide much help until it breaks down, so you might consider adding a slow-release fertilizer to the mix in future.

    Dennis

  • woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a
    9 years ago

    Looks like sunburn to me from improper hardening also. Or from foliar spraying in the dead of summer and having a reaction with the sun..

    Kevin

  • kclost
    9 years ago

    Could too much BT-K cause this. Only spraying I am doing on my outdoor plants...

  • habjolokia z 6b/7
    9 years ago

    The sun burn types I've seen are white, silver and brown. My red habanero that I did not harden off properly had the brown sunburn while my Bhuts had white, the 7pots had the silver, not sure why the many different colors, they all recovered fine as I slowly reintroduced them to the sun by putting them under a tree for speckled sunlight.

  • flipback23
    9 years ago

    I had that happen to a majority of my plants when I first put them out this season. Looked exactly the same as you pic. They grew out of it and are fine now. This is my first year so it could have been from me not hardening off right or getting fertz on the leaves. But either way they are growing fine and I did not change anything in the way of water or fertz to try and help them they just improved on their own.
    Rey...

  • woohooman San Diego CA zone 10a
    9 years ago

    kclost: Not sure. But the general rule for ALL pesticides is -- don't spray when temps are above 80F OR when the sum of the temp and the humidity is >140. I know in the midwest that's tough to do with weeks on end being high temps AND humidity. What I do during those times of the year is try to find a break when it's going to be low 80's max for a few days and spray in the evening. My reasoning behind this is I know the pesticide gets degraded as the days go by and hopefully by the time the temps start to rise again, it's degraded enough to not cause foliage harm.

    Agree with Mark. As long as conditions improve, the plants do too.

    Kevin

  • Justify
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks for all the helpful replies - very much appreciated!

    Just as a side note, it was about 24*c outside, sunny day. They were only outside for about 4 hours - I left them outside as I repotted them.

    Does make sense that it could be sun burn - didn't realise they were THAT sensitive! Live and learn :)

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