Wasn't paying attention and bought a Tabasco plant like this

[sniffs]

So I was at Armstrong's and wasn't paying attention to the top but bought a Tabasco plant that has folded leaves at the top.

I know Armstrong's all uses those peat moss cups and probably uses in-organic fertilizer.. any ideas what is causing this?

I haven't transplanted it into a new pot or anything..

https://goo.gl/photos/qSUw1aS1Qdy5v7Vf9

[imafan26]

Look under the leaves and see if there are any pest. Cupping and leaf distortion at the top is usually from that. Once you have identified the problem then select the right treatment. It looks like something is sucking on the leaves. Aphids, mealy bugs, white flies are the common culprits. Usually they will be under the leaf and if there has been a lot of feeding you might feel a sticky sap.

You can try blasting it with water to dislodge some of the pests, but usually you also have to follow up with a spray. You can use horticultural oil if the day temp does not exceed 80 degrees. You would have to spray every 3-5 days and continue hosing off the leaves until they are gone. The deformed leaves don't get fixed. Sometimes if the lower leaves are good and there are no pests there, I will cut off the top and destroy the debris and let it grow back. You would still have to do some preventive sprays in case there are other pests hanging around you might have missed.
https://www.thechileman.org/guide_disease.php

[sniffs]

I just looked and I can't see a single insect on it. At night I keep my plants inside a little portable greenhouse and have hung up fly sticky traps all on the inside.. they are FULL of little fungus gnats.. so theres not much infestation on my peppers.

A week ago I went out and bought some "Garden Safe" insecticidal soap spray and used it on my squash/tomatoes because I saw some aphids.. I didn't see any bugs on my peppers though, but I did just now give it a quick spray to kill anything that I might have not seen.

https://www.lowes.com/pd_129978-316-HG-1 ... 1797247619

[Lindsaylew82]

Is the soil adequately moist? Physiologic leaf roll can be cause by several things, like disease and insects, but I've found it more common to be related to environmental issues. For example, transplantation, under watering, too much nitrogen fertilizer, too much heat, and pots that are too small...ie....it's root bound cause its pot is too small.

[sniffs]

Should be moist, yeah. I just watered a few minutes ago and watered until I saw it start to drip out the bottom hole.

only recently was it transplanted into a bigger pot from the cup that it was living in.. wasn't root bound when I gave it a bigger home.

Only thing I've done to my plants recently was shoved a Jobe's vegetable food spike into the soil of my plants that are in the bigger pots. I didn't write down which I did but I'm fairly sure I didn't do it to the Tabasco because it was in a smaller pot(Even if I did, it was this way before I got it) and the other plants are doing perfectly fine.. seeing some good growth.

I have a 40 or 50lbs bag of Gro Power Plus but haven't used it yet.

[Lindsaylew82]

If it's physiologic leaf curl, all that plant food is likely to make it worse.

[sniffs]

What I did notice was that the Armstrong guy basically cut off all the bottom leaves from the soil to about 5 inches up..

Also there's 2 pepper plants in the pot.. Here's a picture of it inside the smaller pot before I gave it a larger 10" pot.

https://goo.gl/photos/Xsttcb2NByLgRjDc6

Both appear to be healthy and the top has a bunch of baby flowers.. is it recommended to cut these leaves off?

(I really appreciate all your help with this and my other threads.. )

[Lindsaylew82]

I would remove one of the pepper plants. 2 pepper plants together = twice the water consumption and root space...too much competition.

Its common practice to remove the lower leaves if they're diseased. You can plant the stem deeper, and it will grow more roots to better service the plant as a whole. I would NOT remove leaves from the top of the plant. You'll delay fruiting that way. I would just focus on getting the 2 plants down to 1 plant per pot in the biggest pot you can get. A 10" pot isn't big enough :/

[sniffs]

Alright, so I'll transplant this into a bigger pot.. I know you're not a fan of the 10" pots I have so I'll try one of those black 5 gallon ones and see how it goes.

I'm also going to very delicately try and separate these 2 plants.. I had some Anaheim peppers that were 4 peppers in 1 pot that I was able to successfully separate them. At first the ones I removed didn't look very good and within 10 minutes the leaves wilted but by the end of the day they were back up and looked strong and normal, so I guess they'll survive.

Also yesterday I saw a VERY weird bug on the stem of my Tabasco plant under a leaf. I don't think I've ever seen a bug like this before.. https://goo.gl/photos/M2gWGKT62c26kzeC7

I flicked it off and it didn't fly or run, it hopped. I sprayed it with the insecticidal soap and it died.

[Lindsaylew82]

Looks like some type of leafhopper nymph to me.

Look at this one:

https://bugguide.net/node/view/197824

[Lindsaylew82]

Yay! On the big pots!!!

Make sure you plant them deep after you separate them.

[sniffs]

WTF that bug looks like it's from another planet.

Yeah, I see a problem with how it's planted now.. I was just looking at the top soil and I can see roots poking through the very top!

I quickly added more soil to cover the roots but will be transplanting it tomorrow when I do my watering.

EDIT: So I read that Tabasco pepper plants don't like nitrogen rich soil..so I took a tiny handful of leaves/stems from pruning my other plants and just put it on the top of the soil..

[sniffs]

So I transplanted the Tabasco into a much bigger pot and saw the roots were really root bound. I fanned them out a bit without damaging them and planted it deeper.. Crossing my fingers it survives.

[Lindsaylew82]

Did you separate the plants? And put each one in its OWN pot? Planted it deeply almost up to the first set of remaining leaves?

If not, you should remove the worst of the two plants.

[sniffs]

I didn't separate them.. when I began gently removing the dirt around the base of the stem it looked like they are either 1 plant or fused together. I didn't take a picture unfortunately either..

Also what is odd is the little flower bulbs before they bloomed started excreting some sort of fluid..

https://goo.gl/photos/QvK1APBuHpo2vX9G6

[Lindsaylew82]

The liquid is likely just fine. I wouldn't mess with it. Don't cut them off, just let them grow. I see little peppers! That's a good sign. The leaves look ok as well, like its recovering.

I'd still take the plant down to 1 main stem. Just snip it off at ground level. The less vigorous one.

[catgrass]

You are in zone 10 and bringing your peppers in at night??? Leave them outside-bigger pots, good sun.

[sniffs]

I'm not bringing them into the house.. I have a portable greenhouse in my backyard and putting them in that. Should I leave them out of that?

Here's a pic,

https://goo.gl/photos/mb2BgrumUbwFucQs5

[imafan26]

In zone 10 peppers can stay out all of the time.

[catgrass]

Heck, yeah-leave them out! In my experience (I'm zone 9-south Louisiana), peppers in the middle of the summer do not do well, put production picks up again in the fall. Baby them along, if not real productive now, they will be.

[sniffs]

So when I first got this plant it was real lime green and sick looking with curled up leaves.

Since I transplanted it, it's super healthy looking now and green and flowering.

https://goo.gl/photos/KXzW7E2xvdmxiBfD6