Return to the Hot Pepper Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
Bad leaf drop
| | |
Posted by pollace 3a (My Page) on Tue, Oct 27, 09 at 19:30
| Hi, I've got a small fleet of peppers (jalapeno, habanero, cayenne, bhut jolokia, some sort of unknown chili) and they are all grown indoors. None of them have ever seen outside. I've recently been battling the plants losing their leaves from the bottom up, first yellowing. My cayenne has a few leaves on the bottom which are yellow and purple, new growth is nice and green but slow. My habanero is a nice great plant but is showing some signs of yellowing on the older branches (veins are lighter than the rest of the leaf) The bhut jolokia's have deformed leaves and have kind of crispy edges. The unknowns are just seedlings but they keep dropping leaves off too.
I'm fairly certain there is no insect problem, and I let them dry out before watering. What I've been gathering from reading posts is maybe a pH problem... I suppose I need a soil test. I've done regular epsom salt sprays, the water flushing, everything I can think of but I'm left with just stems. One cayenne looks hilarious, it's a stem with a few tiny leaves but it's still flowering! I think I'll try lime in some and vinegar in others, just to see what happens.
If you have any thoughts, please let me know.
Thanks! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Bad leaf drop
| | |
| It's a mobile nutrient deficiency issue, most likely. it could be influenced by pH. it seems your newer leaves are doing just fine...at the expense of your older growth. Taking a wild stab guess at it, though, it sounds like you might be lacking in N...especially with the vein chlorosis being an indicator. |
RE: Bad leaf drop
| | |
| i'm also interested in hearing what the others have to say. however, i'd first check the Ph (as suggested by previous blogger) before arbitrarily adding anything. there's little to no uptake if the Ph is off. |
RE: Bad leaf drop
| | |
| What nc-crn said. FWIW, Bill |
RE: Bad leaf drop
| | |
| Spray feed them with Miracle gro (15-30-15) at half of the recommended dose and give them a few days. If you need to feed them this way again wait about 14 days before you spray them. Make sure they have good air circulation. It's not uncommon for indoor plants to loose their lower leaves. As the plants grow the new growth can shade the plants lower leaves which will fall off from lack of light. Alan |
RE: Bad leaf drop
| | |
| Sounds alot like when I had a calcium and magnesium deficiency, which was partly due to the pH being slightly off. I had to get the pH problem taken care of then supplement calcium and magnesium. |
RE: Bad leaf drop
| | |
| Thanks for the great suggestions and comments, that pretty much confirms what I had thought. I had never thought to spray the fert directly on the leaves, but it makes sense. I'll give it a shot. I expected to have some leaf drop when summer ended due to a drop in available light but this is certainly more extreme. I'll try to get something soon to test the pH of the soil. So a chemical test is best? I keep reading that the meters aren't accurate. Thanks! |
RE: Bad leaf drop
| | |
| I've found that leaf feeding is the quickest, and safest, way to get nutrients to a plant when it isn't doing well. Alan |
Post a Follow-Up
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Hot Pepper Forum
|
|
|
