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Post by brownrexx on Sept 18, 2021 12:13:48 GMT -5
I have absolutely never had any problems with my pepper plants and I grow them every year.
This year however was different. Early in the season some plants started dropping their leaves and some whole plants even died while others right next to them looked fine.
I pulled out and disposed of the diseased plants and didn't really look into it further but last week I attended my monthly cooking class and the teacher apologized because the recipe called for sweet frying peppers and she said that none of the markets had them because the pepper farmers were hit with some disease.
My 4 sweet frying pepper plats did not produce as much as usual but they are long dead and removed.
This got me thinking and I tried to ID the problem by looking at a few remaining leaves. The only thing that looks close is Bacterial Leaf Spot.
I am not positive about this but I am definitely rotating the pepper planting area next year and I sent an e-mail to the PA Extension Service to see if they knew anything.
I didn't get as many bell peppers as usual but I did get a decent amount since I grow about 10 of them
How did your peppers do this year?
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Post by octave1 on Sept 18, 2021 12:31:03 GMT -5
Same. Several pepper plants dropped leaves to the point that they were almost bare, but unlike you, I did not remove them.
Those plants are still alive and still look pitiful, but have managed to produce one single pepper each, smaller than it should be, but not diseased.
I have no idea what got them, and I suspect the problem came with the seed (I grew pepper plants from seeds I purchased), because some other varieties I am growing are fine.
The only thing I did differently this year is that I did not add Epson salt (magnesium) to the transplant hole. Can a magnesium deficiency cause leaves to drop?
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Post by brownrexx on Sept 18, 2021 14:07:41 GMT -5
From what I read online wet years like this one bring more foliage disease to peppers like they do to tomatoes but I have never had this before even in wet years.
I buy pepper seedlings from the local greenhouse and I don't remember the variety names but the orange ones died out as well as the Cubanelle. The Red bell peppers did not seem to be affected and the yellow ones were only affected a little bit. All are planted in the same area. Possibly some varieties have resistance to whatever this is. The Jalapeno looks bushy and healthy and it is right next to the others.
I don't know about magnesium deficiency since I never add any.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 18, 2021 15:51:29 GMT -5
I had this happen this year, too, with I think 3 out of my varieties of peppers. I think it is some sort of viral disease(s), as I am always seeing listings of disease resistance, esp. with mild varieties, in catalogs. I'll take some photos when I go out - some I've pulled, but some are still there, while some have no signs at all.
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Post by spike on Sept 18, 2021 16:17:50 GMT -5
I had some pepper issues also but mostly due to my own fault. Started the seeds late, the weather wasn't really cooperating and meh. But I did get plenty to not only have frozen for winter but to share out!
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 18, 2021 18:48:19 GMT -5
I took these photos this evening, showing how the worst ones got; though they were still producing some, a few got spots on the peppers, and a few had the tips darkened. The 2 Big Chili Numex are doing fine, as well as the Death Spirals and Paper Lanterns. The Korean Hong Gochu didn't do real well, but not as bad as the Giuzeppi. Diseased Giuzeppi Numex, 9-18 by pepperhead212, on Flickr A few spotted chiles from the Giuzeppi, same ones that got some leaf disease. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Big Chili Numex, 9-18. Definitely the best of the mild ones. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Death Spiral, 9-18, no problems at all. by pepperhead212, on Flickr
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Post by spike on Sept 19, 2021 9:12:16 GMT -5
I consider myself fortunate that I have never had that problem. Is there a way to stop it, or cure it, or make sure it doesn't return?
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Post by brownrexx on Sept 19, 2021 9:29:36 GMT -5
pepperhead212, I can't remember exactly what my diseased leaves looked like but your picture looks kind of familiar and I think that my leaves looked like that. I did also have some nice big bells that got mushy spots on them that were not sun scald.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 19, 2021 10:25:28 GMT -5
I consider myself fortunate that I have never had that problem. Is there a way to stop it, or cure it, or make sure it doesn't return? As with tomatoes, I don't grow the same varieties again. Curing doesn't seem to happen, whatever this is.
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Post by spike on Sept 19, 2021 11:07:43 GMT -5
Ya'll know that now that I have flapped my fat yap, I can feel the jinx incoming >,<
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Sept 19, 2021 13:07:34 GMT -5
Welcome to Florida! I know that was snarky, sorry, but I have these problems every year. Bacterial speck, bacterial spot, anthracnose, viruses. Most diseases that tomatoes can get, peppers can get, too. But they are not as susceptible, so conditions have to be worse (hot, wet, insufficient air circulation) for a longer period of time before they show up. Usually only the viruses or root rots usually actually kill the plants. The others damage foliage, reduce yield, and anthracnose particularly is bad about leaving those lesions on the fruit. If the fruit lesions are only at the blossom ends, you might have BER - peppers absolutely do get this. Check soil pH and calcium and magnesium levels, and try to maintain even watering. Things that help with disease management are pretty much the same as with tomatoes: *Planting disease-resistant varieties - this is the very most important thing you can do. Sweet peppers always seem to get diseased first and more heavily than hot peppers. Bells and other big sweets are the worst. Tiny, very hot peppers are usually just about bulletproof...it's a shame I am such a pepper wimp because I can grow those with no trouble! The disease resistances listed for peppers are mostly resistances to soil-borne disease. However, there are a few that are listed with bacterial spot resistance or viral resistance - look for those. But resistances to other foliage and fruit diseases are usually not labeled. (Believe me, if I ever see a big sweet pepper with anthracnose resistance listed, I won't be able to hit the "buy" button fast enough!) So the best thing you can do is note which varieties did well in the wet this year. *Improving air flow (spacing, paying attention to prevailing winds and windbreaks) *Good soil drainage (protects against root rots) *Crop rotation or growing in containers with clean potting mix (protects against root rots and soil-borne disease) *Pruning - taking off damaged foliage and fruit ASAP, thinning foliage to improve air flow if it's really dense; but too much thinning causes very reduced yield and more trouble with sunscald, so severe pruning like you do with tomatoes is not advisable. *Sprays. Same as you would use for tomatoes. Serenade or other biofungicides early season for prevention, copper or chemical fungicides (for those willing to use them) at first symptoms. I have never had much luck with the baking soda, milk, or other homemade fungicidal sprays. Surround probably helps, but I haven't tried it. I hope that this is just a fluke, and you guys don't start having annual pepper disease problems like I do - good luck!
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Post by brownrexx on Sept 19, 2021 13:37:22 GMT -5
Welcome to Florida! Maybe it was just due to the hotter and more humid weather than usual. I commented several times that we seemed to be having Florida weather! Strangely the mushy spots on my bell peppers was near the top so not BER. I do have good spacing and airflow so crop rotation and using some copper spray next year at the first sign of disease will be my plan.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 19, 2021 15:07:04 GMT -5
Laura_in_FL I also figured the heat and humidity, that has been worse than usual here, made it more like yours, and I am frequently hearing about worse problems with peppers down south, than up here. But, as I have said before, it seems the hotter they are, the more immune they are to many of these things, probably because they are from more tropical regions.
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Post by octave1 on Sept 19, 2021 18:09:00 GMT -5
But, as I have said before, it seems the hotter they are, the more immune they are to many of these things, probably because they are from more tropical regions. That's absolutely correct IMO. My Jalapeño plant is in great shape, no disease, no wilting foliage and an abundance of fruits. The other two varieties that appear to be immune are Jimmy Nardello pepper and an unknown (lost the tag) red bell.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 19, 2021 22:11:01 GMT -5
Some others that might seem more immune, like jalapeños, might be hybrids, too. This helps with some tomatoes, too, but not always, as we know!
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Sept 22, 2021 12:23:26 GMT -5
brownrexx, anthracnose is usually the culprit for me when bell peppers have bad, mushy spots that are neither sunscald nor BER. One of the diagnostic keys is that the fruit blemishes generally start up just as the fruits are ripening. (There is another species of anthracnose that affects green fruit, but that is not what I usually see here.) So the fruits usually have no blemishes when green. Anthracnose is a big reason that that I prefer pepper varieties that ripen quickly - if a bell pepper goes from first blush to fully ripe in a few days, it may beat the anthracnose. But if a bell pepper takes 2-3 weeks to slowly color up, chances are I won't get to eat many of those. Did your peppers look like this: plantpath.ifas.ufl.edu/u-scout/pepper/anthracnose.html? The only organic spray that is effective for anthracnose is copper, and it won't eradicate it, just slow it down. Sanitation, crop rotation, and splash prevention are key. Avoid overhead watering, especially in hot weather. Usually anthracnose starts on one or a few plants and then spreads. So at the first sign of it, strip-pick the affected plants (pick ALL fruit regardless of size and maturity), dispose of the fruit outside of the garden*, spray ALL of your plants weekly with copper, and hope fervently that you caught it in time. I have read conflicting reports about whether anthracnose can be passed on via seed, so to be safe I would not save seed from infected plants. *AFAIK it's safe to cut off the blemishes and use the rest of the fruit, as long as the rest of the pepper is crisp and not starting to mold or rot. Anyway, I have trimmed anthracnose blemishes off my peppers and used them for years and I am not dead yet.
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Post by brownrexx on Sept 22, 2021 14:33:07 GMT -5
Thanks Laura_in_FL, some of my peppers did look like those in the pictures however what I found to be weird was that some plants seemed affected but yet others right next to them were unaffected. I do not save seeds and I also used some of the peppers with small spots and just cut them out. Others looked perfect but when I grasped them the entire back side was rotten. Yuk. I did get plenty of peppers to eat and also to freeze so I am happy about that and I still have 2 plants with ripening red peppers on them. I am rotating my tomatoes and peppers to a different area next year but it really sounds like the problem this year was our bout of "Florida weather"
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Sept 23, 2021 8:39:19 GMT -5
Having some plants affected and others not is very typical with anthracnose. Hopefully you won't have such a wet summer next year. Between that and your crop rotation, with any luck the problem won't recur.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Sept 23, 2021 18:07:37 GMT -5
Were getting our last bout (I hope!) of Florida weather now! I'm going out in the morning, when the temp and humidity is supposed to be down, and give everything that is affected a dose of oil/potassium bicarb spray. Fortunately, the Big Chili Numex variety did great, on the largest plant, and is still producing well.
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