In article ,
"Marie Dodge" wrote:

"Penelope Periwinkle" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:47:55 -0500, "Marie Dodge"
wrote:

I've already mentioned the problems with our Bell peppers this year.
Whitefly and spider mite but these may not be the whole problem. I've look
online and can't find these symptoms anywhere. These peppers came from
three different places, some I stared myself last spring. Within a week of
planting them out their leaves looked "strange." Instead of being smooth
and
flat, they started to look like seer-sucker, kind of 'puckery' and the
plants failed to make normal growth.


This is probably aphid damage.

I dug out my old microscope and found some kind of beige colored mites under
the leaves. Also, the whitefly nymphs at still there. Nothing the Ag agent
recommended worked on either of them. Numbers are down, but they're still
infesting the plants.

As the weeks passed they made buds but
all flowers and buds fell off along with the bottom leaves. Leaves were
still green when they fell.

You don't say what part of the country you're in, or what your
cultivation techniques are, but too much or too little water, cool
nights (50F) or hot nights (~75F), or too much nitrogen can cause
flower drop. Aphids and spider mites can spread diseases, too which
can weaken the plants cause the flowers to drop as well.

I'm in the mid south, zone 6 where summers are long. hot, humid and often
lacking rain. The garden is in sun most of the day and contains a lot of
organic matter in the form of last years leaves and rotted down weeds,
kitchen waste etc. There are few weeds and I pull them as soon as I see
them. Plants are watered as needed. I've been gardening for many years and
never experienced anything like this before.

Now over a month later I'm seeing small yellow
spots with dark brown centers and leaves are curling upward slightly.

Are the leaves curling long ways, or tip to stem?

The long way but they also look puckered, like seer-sucker material. Today I
see they're yellowing.


Unfortunately the symptoms you're describing could be for several
diseases from bacterial spot to Cercospora. Could you post pictures on
a site like Photobucket so we can see exactly what you mean?

Yes,.... I'll take some pics of the plants and get back here with them.



It's
getting paler between the veins. The plants are tall, spindly, leaves are
sparse and only a handful of peppers were produced from 18 plants. In the
past few weeks the spider mites and whitefly infested them completely and
every spray I used failed to make a difference. Ideas anyone? Thoughts?
Suggestions? What disease can this be?


The problem with spraying is that it kills the insect predators as
well as the pests, and the pests bounce back faster. The best way to
control aphids is to release lady bugs and stand back. They won't
clear out the aphids over night or kill all the aphids, but they'll
keep them under control.

There are no aphids. Just white fly and spider mites. The underside of the
leaves were completely covered on some of the plants. I tried lady bugs some
years ago when we did have aphids, and they were gone the next day...
leaving the aphids behind.



I'm also wondering what you're using for fertilizer. I ask because
aphids are attracted to plants given high nitrogen fertilizers.

What aphids? There are no aphids. I can't afford fish fertilizers. We're
retired and on a limited income.


By this time other years we'd have so many peppers we'd be giving them
away - and from no more than 6 to 10 plants.

It's been a slow year for my plants; pepper, tomato, and egg plant. I
was hand watering at the beginning of the season because of drought
and watering restrictions, and I think they just needed more water
than hand watering could supply. Once we started having rain, they
took off, and are producing enough to make up for lost time. The
tomatoes and eggplants are coming in thick and fast, and the peppers
aren't far behind.

Rain would certainly help since I've been watering them twice a week with
the hose. But as long as the whitefly and spider mites are infesting them
I doubt they'll produce much. Nothing recommended got rid of the
infestation.





Penelope

--
"Maybe you'd like to ask the Wizard for a heart."
"ElissaAnn"

Perhaps worth a try.

Bill
..............

http://www.seedsofchange.com/enewsletter/issue_28/issue_28.aspProtect

Your Crops Sanely and Humanely
Hot Pepper Wax
Capsaicin, the ingredient in hot peppers that gives them heat, is a
powerful feeding deterrent and will even kill many insect pests. Hot
pepper wax is a formulation containing capsaicin, which can be sprayed
regularly on plants to prevent damage from aphids, whiteflies, spider
mites, thrips, leafhoppers, scales and many other soft-bodied insects.
It can also be used as a feeding deterrent for rabbits and deer. Waxes
in the mixture help the spray stick to leaves making it last up to two
weeks. Be sure to respray newly emerged leaves during that time period.
And don't worry, the pepper spray washes off easily enough that it won't
linger after harvest.

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA