Help - Pepper plant problem

[Michael A.]

My Scotch Bonnett hot pepper leaves are looking like the attached picture one by one...no other plants (approx 10 other plants) are doing this...i have noticed a ton of ants at the base of the plant..are they undermining the roots and causing this? Please advise

 

[Beth_B]

I'm guessing aphids. Look at the stem and undersides of the leaves, do you see tiny, sticky bugs? They can be cleaned off with diluted dish soap.
The ants are actually beneficial; they eat aphids.

 

[Corzhens]

I'm guessing aphids. Look at the stem and undersides of the leaves, do you see tiny, sticky bugs? They can be cleaned off with diluted dish soap.
The ants are actually beneficial; they eat aphids.

I am with you. That's the manifestation of aphids.. the attack of ants which eat the eggs of the aphids. But wonder of wonders, when there are ants, the aphids seem to progress faster. So I think they are co-existent and that they are a combination when it comes to reproduction. Try spraying the plant with a few drops of liquid dishwashing soap mixed with a glass of water. Don't forget to rinse the plant after 10 minutes for the soap will kill the leaves.

 

[Beth_B]

I'm going to correct myself here, I answered before drinking coffee.

"In some situations ants tend aphids and feed on the honeydew aphids excrete. At the same time, ants protect the aphids from natural enemies."

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7404.html

It's lady bugs that eat aphids, not ants. When I lived in Colorado and had a serious aphid problem you could purchase bags of about 1,000 lady bugs to release in the garden. It really helped. I've never seen aphids since moving to Michigan.

 

[headfullofbees]

That's not aphids.
Aphids are sap suckers, which cause new leaves to contort.
Further, the leaves would be likely to show damage all at once, not serially.
It's also extremely unlikely that none of your other plants would be affected.
Also, ants tend to use aphids to farm leaf sap, which would be a sticky mess on the underside of leaves, so are not beneficial.
I think the ants have picked up on the fact that your plant is stressed and that's why they're attacking it.
Also, although I'm far from certain, I think the original problem may be nutrient based.
Where is the plant growing, and what has the weather been like?

 

[CanadianLori]

Welcome to the forum!

If it's not aphids, get thee to a supplier of Calcium. Can't stress enough of how these hot peppers eat it up. I've only been growing hot peppers about 15 years now and this is the one really important lesson I learned. Calcium!

If they don't have it at your local nursery, a head shop (marijuana growers supply) will have Cal/Mag for sale.

 

[Beth_B]

I didn't know that about calcium being so important to hot peppers.
Well I hope Michael comes back to elaborate, I'm happy to be proved wrong. Either aphids or deficiencies in nutrients, should be easy to correct either way.

 

[headfullofbees]

I hesitate to blame nutrient deficiency with any certainty until I am aware of the plant's position, growing and watering regime.
Further, a number of peppers can be disproportionately affected by relatively minor temperature variations.

 

[Chuck]

I'd like to see pics of the overall plant and the underside of the leaves. I don't think it is aphids but there are small white objects on the leaf in the picture which remind me of soft scale insects. Need better pics to be sure

 

[Michael A.]

I'm in Hawaii so the temp variation is really small..they are on the side of the house that gets morning sun....used to be on the side with afternoon sun but moved them to the other side so the dog wouldn't run them over....i have see the aphid eggs before and I use about 1/2 teaspoon of dish soap in a large spray bottle of water to take care of it...the other 10 plants(not scotch bonnets but still peppers) have just a few leaves that have that but not as bad and doesnt seem to be spreading...that plant itself has had a ton of leaves fall off but other two in the pot(it is a huge pot from costco) dont seem to be affected that bad either...here is the plant....the one to the right seems to be doing fine....thoughts?