My inexperienced knee jerk reaction would be "Verticillium Wilt", a nasty disease that I hear many people talking about but offering no cures. Here is but one of the many links you can find by Googling the name: http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/3000/3053.html The problem is that other factors can cause these symptoms, or so I've read, so how can you be sure? I have a JM that is showing some of these symptoms and it's confusing to me to what I should do. I'm thinking about sending in a soil sample but even if it tests positive, once this fungus is in your dirt it sounds like it's there forever. You're screwed! So you're kind of damned if you do or don't. Scary. I suppose the best thing we can do is cut off the affected branches, dispose of them carefully and then sterilize your pruners. And then baby your tree as much as possible and hope it can overcome it. Or if it's really bad, rip it out and plant something that's immune to the disease. Unless it's something totally different ... Sorry for the wavering ramble, but I'm also confused about this myself. Maybe someone else can offer more seasoned advice. If only I had the investment money to fund the creation of a fungicide for Verticillium Wilt ...

wonder if the black matting is cooking them on 90 degree days ... have you used this product before???? its not only super heating the soil .... which keeps it hot deep into the night .. it also reduces a recovery period ... and may be why.. lower limbs are more affected ... and the hole is so small.. i wonder if water is getting to the plant efficiently .... i dont watch video of inanimate objects... lol ... it is interesting how you labeled the plants on the black stuff ... ken

adamwr33, Yeah, that sounds like WAY too much fertilizer, especially in a pot. I have to constantly fight with myself to not over care for my plants. This is a common trap that many new and even experienced gardeners fall into. We want out plants to grow to the best of their ability in the best of possible conditions, so we fertilize when growth slows or we see vegitation dieing, we spray with insecticides (man made or not) at the slightest sign of a pest and we jump on all the odd solutions to any problem with the fruit (BER etc). Many times, these "solutions" can cause a lot more problems than the good. Fertilizer can cause a reduction in harvest, or even kill the plant, and insecticides can kill beneficials. In a lot of cases, the problem is not a problem at all. Sometimes leaves yellow or wilt and plants drop blossoms. Sometimes a few of a pest is okay (they can actually draw beneficial predatory insects to your garden that will keep down other pests). As a technical and fairly controlling person, I find it VERY difficult to just sit back and let the garden grow, but it is something that needs to be done. It almost always works out for the better. "Mother Nature" (for lack of a better term) will take care of the plants, they will adapt and be that much stronger for it. Of course, there are cases that fertilizer, insecticide, etc may be needed but only sparingly.

isgen: Yes, that nick is a reference to Pike Fishing. I use a close version of the 5-1-1 mix that has been discussed many time on this forum. It sounds like what you are using is close to that as well. But the mix should be heavy on the bark part. I made up a bunch of the 5-1-1 mix a few years ago and am running out of it now. I don't know what I will do in the coming years. The only source I can find for bark is a very mixed size so I have to put it through two different sized sieves to sort out the pieces that are too big and too small. My back just can't handle that any more. But it is good stuff for growing peppers. I see you in the same growing season as me. I think your problem with getting pods was a result of our short growing season and you should probably be starting seeds indoors prior to March first in order to have plants that are mature enough to put out in late may so that you time to get them to production by the end of the growing season up north. I start mine in mid February.