calcium deficiency in pepper plants - habanero puckered, curling, bumpy leaves - solution
Tips, Tricks
Shows the progression of calcium deficiency in hot pepper plants like the chocolate habanero. Planted from seed, the soil had enough calcium at first and when the plant ran out it started to put out deformed growth with twisted, curled and puckered leaves. The solution was to add 10ml/gallon of botanicare's cal mag fertilizer supplement: http://www.botanicare.net/supplements/cal-mag In less than a week new leaves appeared without any deformities. Note that the pepper plants were started from seed in bagged potting soil and in this video they are shown 2 days after transplanting to a coir fiber / rockwool cube mixture. Through out the life of the plants Genesis nutrients parts M & 1 were used at 800ppm but apparently genesis's formulation expects a certain level of calcium magnesium in it. For plants with a high cal mag requirement supplementation may be needed. Note also I could have bumped the fertilizer concentration up to 1600ppm rather than supplement with botanicare but I do not know if that would have worked as well. Note: if you are using a one part fertilizer you WILL have calcium deficiencies unless there is enough in the soil. Wiki article on calcium deficiency: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcium_deficiency_%28plant_disorder%29 "...very rarely due to calcium deficiency in the soil. The problem is in transport of calcium from the soil to the fruit. Soil temperature, water saturation of the soil (oxygen etc), and high levels of nitrogen= high vegetative growth all contribute. " http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/pepper/msg0413031513506.html Tricks for growing peppers: CALCIUM CALCIUM CALCIUM. The mild 800ppm genesis formula I was using only supplied 50ppm of calcium and peppers need 160-200ppm. Even with the supplement it was only 130PPM! Of course, this is assuming there is no calcium in your water. I am going to bump up the nutes to make sure I hit at least 160ppm calcium and also make sure I get the pH right by checking with pHydrion paper. (Ebay pH roll and pick one in the 5.5-8.0 range) Note is this had happened during fruiting it would have resulted in blossom end rot so i am happy to find it out early and correct it. Will post an update when the results come in! Note calcium can also be locked out by using a fertilizer too high in ammoniacal nitrogen. ammoniacal nitrogen makes your plants grow fast in high light environments and is common in most nutrient formulas like miracle grow. Look for nitrate nitrogen only formula or one with low ammonium nitrate. As far as NPK ratios, what you are looking for is 1.5 times as much K as N and for the nitrogen and calcium ppm to be about equal. To increase the potassium to meet the 1:1.5 N to K ratio I used Pro-Tekt silicon supplement which provided about 13ppm of K with 5ml/1tsp. Forget about the P, as long as there is some it isn't important. pH balance to 6.0-6.5 and you are all good. Add 10ml of hygrozyme if you really want to see explosive root growth. Even after all of this if your starting water has a lot of calcium carbonate (the form found in Tums which is also not a form you plants can absorb) in it that will "lock out" the proper forms of calcium that you added via supplement. So if all else fails (or you want to get it right the first time) use rainwater or purified water to start with. DO NOT USE TUMS! Its Calcium Carbonate is not bio-available to the plant will LOCK OUT the other forms of calcium that would otherwise be available. More info on Calcium: http://www.maximumyield.com/article_sh_db.php?articleID=447&yearVar=2009&issueVar=June Here is a link to a helpful article on pepper fertilization http://www.agnet.org/library/eb/441/ Update: they look GREAT but all my flowers are dropping except with the college pepper. I need to look into nute lockout and adjust the pH to 5.8-6.2 as I did have it closer to 5.5 before but I doubt that is the issue. Want to make your own? Cal-Mag is just calcium nitrate + magnesium nitrite + a pinch of chelated iron edta. A POUND of caldium nitrate will make about FOUR GALLONS of concentrate equivalent to the Cal-Mag commercial version. As far as mixing weights and measures, you are on your own. If this info helped you, more updates are comming for this growing season, subscribe here: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=pabbana this new product looks interesting, not sure how it works and may not be available in your state: http://www.supercroppers.com/products/caos-10-5-calcium-1-liter/
Comments
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Good and easy and practical advise: take 2 effervescent tablets of calcium from supermarket per 10l of water. Once dissolved, half a litre per plant, problem in my peppers with partial rot on the chilly disappeared overnight!!!
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Will you continue the 10ml. dosage during your watering? I grow weed, and always add CalMag. This is the first time I'm having to doc my Fresnos. Thanks! The vid shows my issue.
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would black strap molasses work on tomatoes
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how do chilli peppers look like when needing magnisium.
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ive been growing super hots for 6 months but they dont seem to be flowering. i am using bloom but no luck. any suggestions?
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I HAVE A FIRESUIT ON SO TAKE AIM AND PULL
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OK another addendum Ca carbonate and Mg carbonate react readily with even mildly acidic compounds as carbonates are (in solution) somewhat less stable than the aforementioned CaSO4 the mineral part of drywall and some plaster/stucco products and even in solute is quite stable chemically, so it takes stronger acid to break the molecule down and form a more dominant/stable compound/molecule.
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also the "mineral derived source is crap and misleading as CaSO4 is Ca derived from gypsum another slightly soluble non-organic compund...my bad....Stormy
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Update to below commennt, he was referring to Tums or most any antacid as most are primarily Ca2CO3 but that is the same Ca carbonate you get from limestone, dolomitic limestome, egg shells, etc.
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any every day item or food stuff that you can use? I repotted a half dead root bound habanero I got given and the new growth looks better then the older growth so maybe it was just because it hadn't rooted that some of the leaves have curled?
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I have one inside for the winter and it's doing this too. Thanks for the information.
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Only water them once a week and pour strained horse poop tea in the soil with 2 calcium pills per gallon water or pop tea. They dissolve in the tea or water. .The calcium helps so the leaves don't bubble. This is great for healthy tomato plants as well. The tomatoes need the calcium over there growth period too. Most grocery stores have the calcium magnesium Zink in one bottle in the vitamin area. This is best !
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Omg. My habaneros don't look at ALL like that. I finally know why!! Thanks!!
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i have a rectangle bed i tilled the 4 foot by 8 foot bed. put cotton compost and a humus manure(store bought) combination. I have many peeper plants all transplanted, and they suffer the curl and cracking some have little holes but i see no pests. last week i put sterile crushed egg shells, and some home made compost. they look a little bit better. Any advise would be appreciated.
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I use egg shells Once in a while I blend it and also use Epson Salt Homemade fertilizer
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Thanks for this, my Aji Limon is currently looking a bit curly, now I know what the issue is. Jeez, if it's not aphids, or fungal infections, it's calcium deficiency or SOMETHING! Ah well, all part and parcel of enjoying growing. :-)
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How does foliar feeding affect those squirrely leaves? Good to see someone else growing Thai Basil and Peppers.
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he he salvia divinorum. I wish i had some of that.
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tank you , gonna be all right I am with my pepper plants bad soo much
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Thanks, I try to get to the point. The WORST thing about youtube videos is when nothing happens for the first 60 seconds of a two minute video. Subbed you back!
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