Deformed leaves on Bhut Jolokia

Both last and this year's crops of bhut jolokia had a strange deformation on the growing tips. The leaves, stems and flowers had a stunted, curled and deformed appearance...but didn't seem to be the result of something like aphid infestation.

I went to the chili pepper institute website "Chili Pepper Diseases" page to try to ID the damage with visual comparison, but came up empty.

So, I decided to shoot off an email to them, yesterday to see if they had an idea of what may be the culprit.

This was the email exchange:

__________________________________________

Hi,

Please find attached some .jpgs of my dad’s bhut jolokias.

The plants are growing in raised boxes with well rotted compost + native soil, adequate moisture and sufficient drainage to alleviate the unusually wet/cool/cloudy June/July we've had in the New England area (specifically, the plants are growing at his home in Acushnet, MA).

This strange deformation occurred in some of the bhut jolokia plants, usually only at the growing tips. . Seems to effect both the leaves and flowers. There are no aphids or other insects. This didn’t occur in other pepper cultivars/species, and I couldn’t ID the issue from the link on the NMSU website:

http://chilepepperinstitute.org/chile-pepper-diseases.html

Any help you could provide, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
JC

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Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:37:46 -0600
To: JC Tetreault
From: hotchile@nmsu.edu
Subject: Re: Help to ID leaf deformation on bhut jolokia plants

Hi JC, this can be one of two things, thrip damage or herbicide damage. Please check with your local Cooperative Extension Service Office for proper id, you can actually take a leaf sample and they should be able to identify it for you.

Thanks for writing

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So, given these two options, I would expect it to be herbicide damage due to leaching from the herbicides used to treat the lawn. Perhaps the bhut jolokia species is specifically sensitive to these commercial herbicides, but not to the point where it would actually kill the plants. Though these plants are in raised boxes, it is very possible that the chemicals are leaching within the root zone that penetrates down in to the subsoil on which the boxes rest.

Setting out the plants

Once I get the seedlings going & are big enough, I put them out in my screen porch (glass in winter & spring) which acts somewhat like a greenhouse. If the nights are going down into the mid thirties to middle forties, I bring them in. It gets pretty warm during the day when the sun is out. As May gets warmer I start putting them outside for a period of time. I usually start on a weekend, so I can bring them back in after a few hours at a time. Wind can be pretty bad for them, so I make sure that I put them in a corner of the porch protected somewhat. Then I let them stay out longer each day, until they are out all day. I do bring them in at night. This I usually do for about 2 to 3 weeks prior to planting them.



I have raised beds which I've made from 2"x12". I make them all 8' long by 3' wide, so that if i ever decide to move them to another location, I can do it myself. I fill them 2/3 full with some good top soil that I get from a local farm, then fill the balance with compost (grass clippings, ground up leaves, scrap produce, aged manure, lime) that I develop myself.

I plant the peppers in two rows approx. 12" apart. This way I can lay sheets of newspaper between them, put grass clippings over that & voila, no weeding necessary. This will also help keep the moisture in. But the weeding part is a real plus. Last year (08) I watered the plants once a week. This year we've been getting too much rain and the plants are not doing too well. Although, the sun has come out & it has been nice for the last few days & they are coming back to life.

These are pictures from last year, in the middle of July.



I usually don't do anything special once I have them in the boxes, maybe look at them every two minutes to see if I have any peppers yet.

At this point, the peppers have put on quite a bit of size, and have begun flowering. This picture is from August last year.

Hot Pepper Germination

I have found that the time to start my pepper seeds in southcoast MA is mid March. I use a super fine germination mix because I found that it holds the moisture best. The seeds need moist soil not wet. The coarser mix allows the water to pass through too fast. The use of heat mats is a must. The hot peppers need a lot of heat to germinate.

It seams that the hotter the pepper the longer it takes for them to germinate. They must like staying inside that seed as long as possible to build up some heat.

Just kidding.

They also require at least 10 to 18 hours of light. So the use of grow lights is also a must. I prepare the growing containers by adding the growing medium, getting the medium wet, making a small hole in the center, placing the seed in, then covering with 1/8" of medium. I then get a spay bottle with warm water & spray the top. Carefull not to over do it. If the seeds get too much water, they will rot.

Place the trays on the heating mats, put the lights on & get ready for the show to begin. Being the pepper head that I am, I had a chair set up in front of all the trays & would sit there for at least 30 min. (sometimes longer) & wait for them to appear. I put the lights on in the morning when I got up & shut them off at night when I would go to bed; they need some shut eye also.

If everything is done right, germination usually occurs in about ten to 20 days. I've heard some peppers taking as long as 30 days. I've been sucessful in getting them to germinate in that 10/20 day period. If I had a greenhouse (heated) I could start earlier & extend the growing season well into December. Let's see what the future brings.

This year I did something different. I gave my seeds to a local farmer who has greenhouses. He started the seeds for me & raised them. Raised them to the point where they would be ready for planting. He pretty much had the same results as I did with the germination.

The Bhut Jolokia was the last to germinate & as of this writing, is still the smallest. The Bhut takes a long time to grow, which is why I would benefit from a greenhouse. It starts producing late August & gets stronger in September/October. But then the stupid frost starts coming & destroys everything. I did cover them for the first couple of frosts but the cold air does them in. So, a greenhouse would be great.

It all starts with the right seeds

I chose the Chili Pepper Institute because they carry seeds that are not common to the area. I'm trying to expose people to different varieties of peppers that offer different flavors that most folks have not tried. I'm trying to be different...

I really don't have any one else to compare to as far as quality of seeds as I started buying from them from the get go. It just made sense to me to buy from an academic institution based on my own experiences dealing with universities. They are constantly researching, experimenting, finding solutions to problems that most folks have. I've found that people in industries, go to the universities or colleges to get help & answers. Besides, I like that my money goes toward education.

Customer service is great & friendly. Whenever I've had questions & called them, they have been very helpful, give me all the time I need. The only seeds that they limit to a package are the Bhut Jolokia. I never thought to ask them why, just assuming that it is rather new to this country & they have limited plants to grow as seeds. I'm sure that it will change as time goes on. Those seeds are more money than the rest, but you get very good yield from pepper plants, for my needs and the good germination rate, the Chile Pepper Institute is a great source for unique chili pepper seeds.