Leaf Curl Cause?

16 years ago

This is my first year at growing peppers. Before I get started I do not know what type of peppers there are because I bought an assorted burpee Alarm Hot pack of seeds from walmart. About a week ago I noticed ants on 3 of my plants. Knowing they farm aphids like I have seen on my out side Carnivorous Plants I moved all the peppers to my porch and inspected them. The ants were indeed busy moving the green aphids about from plant to plant. I treated the plants with insecticidal soap spray and I no longer have aphid problems. I expected the some of the leaves on the plants to have damage but not like whats going on now. The leaves are are curling and not looking to good. I inspected for spider mites and haven't seen any. I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say its either mites or a deficiency of some sorts. I have not fert these plants for about 2 weeks and when I do I use it sparingly. I'm hoping some one can point me in the correct direction so I know what actions to take. Photo link to a 15 pic high resolution album is below.

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/577903700OSCmyP

You can scale the photos by the links to the top right hand corner of webshots. Thanks in advance!

Take Care

-Jeremy-

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Comments (13)

thenewmidwestchilehead
16 years ago
Looks like a potassium deficiency. Give them a couple of teaspoons of bone meal each and work into the soil. They will straighten out in a few days.
tsheets
16 years ago
I have had things like that before and the plant pretty much grew out of it. Whether it was environmental, pest, or whatever, I didn't change anything (except spraying for aphids when I found them as you did). Other than crinkly leaves (which isn't out of the ordinary for some plants) yours look pretty healthy.
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jmoore3274
Original Author
16 years ago
Hey thanks for the reply's! I had a feeling it was a deficiency problem. Ill throw some ferts on the plants and see if they straighten the leaves back out! Thanks for the help every one! I appreciate it!
jean001
16 years ago
I'm not at all certain about that. Aphids can do that sort of distortion.

Check again on the undersides. You might not see anything where the newest leaves look fine. But those with distortions on the newest growth may still have aphids.

Even so, I would fertilize. You shouldn't skimp on potted plants.
willardb3
16 years ago
Find out what's wrong before your fertilize or you will increase bad symptoms.

Do you know the Ph of your growing medium?
jmoore3274
Original Author
16 years ago
I did some tests on the soil. Tested the PH with two different kits. Used electronic and chemical PH tests. Both say the PH is around 6.8 - 7.0. The electronic PH tester also has a fert tester and it says the fert level is low. Any pointers on what fert to use? Thanks for the help so far!!
taz6122
16 years ago
The electronic fert tester does NOT work. I fell for that one too. The PH tester works fine.
jean001
16 years ago
As for fert, any all-purpose fert for veggies, synthetic or organic.
cyrus_gardner
16 years ago
I have about 10 varieties of peppers. only one variety, MANZANO, has curled and very dark green leaves.
The curled leaves are the young ones.

ALSO, the rabbits like to munch on MANZANO pepper leaves. A baby rabbit, on occasions, ate couple of small/short ones. It has not touched any other kinds.

So far I have learned 5 things about MANZANOes;
1- It has black, 2- Leaves are: fuzzy, 3- darker green, 4- and they curl 5- and rabbits like them. haha

SO MAYBE CURLING IS NOT A PROBLEM ?
mrcarlo
16 years ago
MOST of the time curling is due to over-watering,(i learned the hard way).I just watch till the leaves begin to wilt,then water in the evening..cured that problem.
hathery
16 years ago
Jeremy, did your leaves straighten out after you fertilized? My new growth on my Numex Pinata looks exactly the same way...I'm wondering if it's aphids, a deficiency, or due to the torrential downpours we've been having lately here in Wisconsin.
jmoore3274
Original Author
15 years ago
Hey sorry i haven't answered in a bit. I got the issue figured out. Seemed I had a mite problem that I took care of. I had a fantastic season with something around 45 assorted plants that produced heavy yields. Thanks for the help guys.
thenewmidwestchilehead
15 years ago
What did you use to take care of the mites?