Growing "aji dulce" or sweet pepper in Bangkok

[Polanskiman]

2 minutes ago, CLW said:

The hint from some other member seems to be correct.
It is some kind of virus that infects nightshade family plants transmitted by insects.
However, to completely eradicate this disease is almost impossible.
As you said you have to spray insecticide regularly and something with quick effect.
That's why neem probably has a lesser effect than others.
The suggested Abamectin is a good choice because it is derived from fungi and considered less toxic.
However, to avoid all this hassle most professional growers choose varieties that are resistant against these virus diseases.
Maybe for your next grow you should choose those.

The other chemical, Starkle G / Dinetofuran, I would be careful.
It is a strong systemic neonicotinoid and not approved in the EU and Switzerland.
I would not want to have it in my food.
I use it only in some cases for ornamental plants on my balcony because it has a very long period of action.
Just telling you, I understand that you want to protect your plants.

I am not really a grower. I simply planted some seeds that my mother brought back from Venezuela. It was more like an experiment so this was a one time shot. If the peppers survive and I might end up growing them in a tent later but yes I agree it is better to grow local varieties and those that are resistant to certain pests/diseases. The pepper I have, since not being a local variety, is certainly more susceptible to local infections.

 

Anyhow, thanks for the reminder about Starkle G. I created another thread about Jasmin trees some time ago and a poster did recommend to use Starkle G but he also clearly mentioned that Sparkle G is not for food plants which confirms what you say so I was a bit surprised when ELL suggested to use it for the pepper. This said I looked at the product description (http://www.sotus.co.th/site/en/products_detail.php?kw=174&pw=1) and it says it can be used on vegetables. I am now unsure what to do against the gnats larvae that are in the soil. What would you suggest?

 

 

[CLW]

I am not really a grower. I simply planted some seeds that my mother brought back from Venezuela. It was more like an experiment so this was a one time shot. If the peppers survive and I might end up growing them in a tent later but yes I agree it is better to grow local varieties and those that are resistant to certain pests/diseases. The pepper I have, since not being a local variety, is certainly more susceptible to local infections.
 
Anyhow, thanks for the reminder about Starkle G. I created another thread about Jasmin trees some time ago and a poster did recommend to use Starkle G but he also clearly mentioned that Sparkle G is not for food plants which confirms what you say so I was a bit surprised when ELL suggested to use it for the pepper. This said I looked at the product description (http://www.sotus.co.th/site/en/products_detail.php?kw=174&pw=1) and it says it can be used on vegetables. I am now unsure what to do against the gnats larvae that are in the soil. What would you suggest?
 
 

I think Chia Thai and East West Seed have resistant varieties of peppers available to home gardeners.

In Thailand it is approved for vegetables (USA and Japan AFAIK as well).
You could use Metarhizum anisoplae or Beauveria bassiana for biological control of grubs and gnats.
You can search for more information on the Internet.
Both substances are also available in Thailand, maybe even online.

[Polanskiman]

8 minutes ago, CLW said:

You could use Metarhizum anisoplae or Beauveria bassiana for biological control of grubs and gnats.

Can you recommend a specific product?

[CLW]

Can you recommend a specific product?

For example this company:

https://www.thaigreenagro.com/

Or

http://www.appliedchemthai.com/

[Polanskiman]

16 minutes ago, CLW said:

For example this company:

https://www.thaigreenagro.com/

Or

http://www.appliedchemthai.com/

Great thanks. I see they are selling the products of those companies in Lazada.

I also found this: https://www.lazada.co.th/products/kokomax-i542573-s624732.html?spm=a2o4m.searchlist.list.1.5af45172ubV6Hs&search=1

Seems to be a mix of both Metarhizum anisoplae or Beauveria bassiana. Would that be good?

[CLW]

Great thanks. I see they are selling the products of those companies in Lazada.
I also found this: https://www.lazada.co.th/products/kokomax-i542573-s624732.html?spm=a2o4m.searchlist.list.1.5af45172ubV6Hs&search=1
Seems to be a mix of both Metarhizum anisoplae or Beauveria bassiana. Would that be good?

About a mix I am not sure sure.
I hear it for the first time.
Sometimes mixtures of biological agents cancel each others effect.
Therefore I would try only a single ingredients unless you can find some other suggestions

[Polanskiman]

30 minutes ago, CLW said:

About a mix I am not sure sure.
I hear it for the first time.
Sometimes mixtures of biological agents cancel each others effect.
Therefore I would try only a single ingredients unless you can find some other suggestions

Noted with thanks. I just bought this one: https://www.thaigreenagro.com/en/shop/cut-off-cutoff-tm/

 

Let's see how that works along with the Abamectin. By the way since both are sprayed can they be mixed or should I separate the spraying?

[CLW]

Noted with thanks. I just bought this one: https://www.thaigreenagro.com/en/shop/cut-off-cutoff-tm/
 
Let's see how that works along with the Abamectin. By the way since both are sprayed can they be mixed or should I separate the spraying?

I would do it separately.
Spray abamectin on the leaves and make a soil drenching with the bio-pesticide.

[ELL]

I do not want start discussion about Starkle G and will do not recommend it as permanent solution to all. This is just quick help to safe your existing plants and it less toxic as other insecticide. This is safe for humans , can use for vegetables and the only reason than it banned in some countries , because have negative lethal effects to bees. Look  at description here. http://www.sotus.co.th/site/en/products_detail.php?kw=174&pw=1

Sorry if i mention wrong, i sprayed only abamectin weekly and Starkle G use once , just put some granules in soil and cover soil with coco coir. As I suggest before, based on my experience, grow all new plants in closed environment like greenhouse and avoid using soil as much as possible,

[Polanskiman]

Thought I gave some update on my peppers after treating them as suggested above. The plants have now resumed their normal life! New leaves are coming out every day and they seem to be healthy and normal. See pictures below where we can see the different with older leaves that were affected by the insects.

[Polanskiman]

Further update:

 

Out of the 15 plants I have 2 are exhibiting some strange signs. I don't see any pest/insect so this seems to either be a disease or a nutrient deficiency. Anyone care to tell me that the problem is and what remedy would be?

[Polanskiman]

No one?

[Polanskiman]

Hello,

I started experiencing the same thing than before. Young leafs are crooked and shrivelled. The only problem now is that the plant has been flowering for some time and I am unsure if using Starkle G is advisable. I read that it should not be used during bloom. So what options do I have?

[rice555]

Hello All, the UofF(university of FL) has info of about bellpepper

plant and nutrient problems, with pictures. It looks more like you

have a nutrient problem. Are you using what you got of what I sent you? If it's what I sent you, what's the EC you are using? If over

EC 2.5, lower to EC 2.0 for a while. For a fast change, dump the

nutes and run water for a day and then add the lower EC nutes.

You are still doing a recirc system? I haven't been on TV much in

past months. 

Somewhere in one of the hydro threads I posted a link to greenhouse

pepper production in Canada, it had a very good pictorial on nutrient

deficiency.

For bugs, I use woodvinegar spray 1 time a week.

Do you have good air flow around your plants?

Scoop1 said he got in contact with you, he's the man!

rice555

 

[Polanskiman]

Yes I am pretty confident this is not a nutrient problem/deficiency/overdose but rather a pest issue. This happened also when the plants where young and I nearly lost them all. Exact same symptoms. EC in use is 2.5 at present.
I examined the plants and I did see some white and black dots in the underside of the leafs. Khun Veerapol from Wesco has advised I rotate Imidacloprid and Abamectin. Currently using Abamectin and it seems new leafs are coming fine. Still need to wait a week or two to make sure of this. Yes air flow and sun are definitely not a problem.
I am not doing any recirc, drip or any of those systems. Too complex for the small space I have. I have even been forced to move the plants to the street in front of my house so definitely no automation possible. I need to fertilize manually. 

 

Picture is date February 5, 2019:

 

Picture is date February 28, 2019:

 

Picture is date March 20, 2019:

[CLW]

Have you ruled out virus disease?
It's up to you, but why don't you try some biological control and plant strengthening agents first? With that amount of chemicals I see no point to grow own vegetables. Then you can buy it from the market already.
BTW, virus disease is transmitted by insect vectors and can not be cured. The only was is to use resistant or tolerant varieties.

[Polanskiman]

I haven't ruled out anything. Not being an expert and not having all the equipment it's also difficult to know exactly what the issue is. The point here is not really to produce "organic" vegetables. The point is to try to grow pepper. That's it. I am not a farmer and don't intend to sell or start a production of peppers. Really this is just a home experiment because my mother brought me some seeds from Venezuela. If it was not for that I would have never started all this. It's more of a challenge than anything else really.

So back to the issue. I did see some insects under the leafs. It was not a major outbreak but I guess they could be the reason for this. When I had this issue earlier in December I treated the plants as advised and the plants just bounced back like if nothing had happened. Plants grew up until now without a problem and I didn't treat them with any chemical for nearly two months as I didn't want to. But I guess the same thing is happening again. Perhaps the initial Starkle G dose in December has worn off. Considering the plants have been flowering I don't want to use Starkle G anymore.

 

So what biological control and plant strengthening agents do you advice?

Edited March 20, 2019 by Polanskiman

[Scoop1]

On ‎11‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 6:16 PM, Polanskiman said:

Hello guys,

 

Started to see some pest on my sweet peppers. See pictures below.

 

 

What treatment do you recommend?

Hi All , they are spider mites and I seen one of your plants that had severe mite problems and they are very hard to get rid of , 'Kelthane' is what I use and you must wet underneath the leaves thoroughly

Cheers

Scoop

[Scoop1]

On ‎9‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 6:48 PM, anon2736434 said:

Well masterblend wont come cheap here so here are a couple of very similar products.

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/10-20-30te-1-i169905297-s211591182.html?search=1

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/7-13-34zn-1-i221631174-s338178089.html?search=1

The difference in npk amounts will not be seen in your plant. Unless wesco-yara-haifa have something to match masterblend I dont think you will find anyone who will make custom nutrient batches unless buying very large amounts. Being terrible in math even I with the help of the almighty net have figured out how to make basic nutrient recipes since living in thailand.

 

Good morning , try reading this post it may help you , just need some paper, a pen and a calculator , its not that hard!!

 

Posted July 7, 2012 

Cheers

Scoop

[CLW]

I haven't ruled out anything. Not being an expert and not having all the equipment it's also difficult to know exactly what the issue is. The point here is not really to produce "organic" vegetables. The point is to try to grow pepper. That's it. I am not a farmer and don't intend to sell or start a production of peppers. Really this is just a home experiment because my mother brought me some seeds from Venezuela. If it was not for that I would have never started all this. It's more of a challenge than anything else really.

So back to the issue. I did see some insects under the leafs. It was not a major outbreak but I guess they could be the reason for this. When I had this issue earlier in December I treated the plants as advised and the plants just bounced back like if nothing had happened. Plants grew up until now without a problem and I didn't treat them with any chemical for nearly two months as I didn't want to. But I guess the same thing is happening again. Perhaps the initial Starkle G dose in December has worn off. Considering the plants have been flowering I don't want to use Starkle G anymore.
 
So what biological control and plant strengthening agents do you advice?

For organic you could use various Neem extracts, white oil and entomopathonogenic fungus or bacteria. I'm posting two pictures separately.
Conventional products I would say pyrethrins such as Cypermethrin. They are relatively low toxic. Unfortunately natural pyrethrum is not available in Thailand.

You could also built a small net enclosure around your plants if you have space and time to do it.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[CLW]

Okay, stupid application Tapatalk doesn't want to shoot a picture today, crashed three times already. I'm writing now.

Buverin aka Beauveria bassiana
Metazan aka Metarhizum anisoplae

Available from Applied Chem Thailand
www.appliedchemthai.com

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[Polanskiman]

For organic you could use various Neem extracts, white oil and entomopathonogenic fungus or bacteria. I'm posting two pictures separately.

Conventional products I would say pyrethrins such as Cypermethrin. They are relatively low toxic. Unfortunately natural pyrethrum is not available in Thailand.

 

You could also built a small net enclosure around your plants if you have space and time to do it.

Neem extract I have used in the past and honestly it was kind of useless. It might be ok for prevention but not for treatment. The others I haven’t.

 

For the enclosure it’s a no go. No space for that. My plants are in the street already [emoji23]

 

Buverin aka Beauveria bassiana

Metazan aka Metarhizum anisoplae

 

Yes Beauveria bassiana you suggested that one in the past and I started using it again along with the Abamectin. Let’s see the results. I did a complete drench of all plants with Beauveria bassiana and sprayed the plants with Abamectin already 2/3 times in the past 10 days.

I haven’t used Metarhizum anisoplae though. Might give it a try if the above 2 that I am using now don’t work.

[CLW]

Neem is slow acting and it depends what brand / formula you are using. I had good results with thrips.
The abamectin might not go well with the other biological control methods but that is just a guess.
It just came to my mind, have you looked into making homemade spray from tobacco?
In your case with very limited number of plants and small effect to the environment, I would stick to Pyrethrins. Fast acting and low toxicity.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[CLW]

Fourth column, this is a list of all active ingredients you can apply for your pest problem.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[Polanskiman]

The plants have been recovering with the Beauveria bassiana and Abamectin. Here are the 2 only peppers that have come out. A bit pathetic considering all the flowers the plants have been producing for the past month and a half. I should have had several hundreds of them...

 

For those wondering about the size, it is the normal size for these peppers. 

 

[Polanskiman]

The full harvest![emoji23]

[Polanskiman]

After much effort, time, money and love I have come to the realization that my sweet pepper plants (Aji Dulce) will most probably never bear any fruit due to the fact they are not adapted to the high temperatures of Bangkok. It's just too hot here. I have researched quite a bit and the sweet peppers I have thrive at temperatures between 20-28C max.

 

The plants have been unable to produce fruits although they have produced an insane amounts of flowers. They still do by the way. Unfortunately flowers keep dropping. This means the plants are constantly in a vegetative state and they have grown quite large compared to what they should normally be if they had bear fruit.

 

If anyone is willing to try to make these plants bear fruit please let me know and I will give them to you for free otherwise I will be cutting the plants shortly. I suppose having them in a greenhouse with a lower temperature would probably make them fruit but being where they currently are, it will simply never happen. Send me a PM if you are interested.

 

If anyone can recommend any other fruit/vegetable to grow under the current heat please let me know.

 

 

Edited May 8, 2019 by Polanskiman