Hmm.. Thanks jean. Can't see herbicide since my neghbors on all sides do NOTHING with their yards. Mites? And here I was puffing my chest because of all the beneficials I've seen and total absence of aphids. So, which is going to be more effective and less toxic to my beneficials, soap or neem? And how exactly do i identify mites since I can't see them? Thanks again. Kevin

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.

you can spread Diatomaceous earth around the plants and make traps with a tuna can filled with vegetable oil and some kind of attractant like cat food, honey, soy sauce and bury the can in the dirt in the garden. take a toilet paper towel roll and wet it and lay on the ground next to the plant and in the morning get the roll and throw it away.

Yep, relatively young ones there. My peppers went through various stages of leaf maladies. They always seemed to snap out of them or I just realized it was a natural condition that didn't warrant any alarm. There may be a real problem with your plants but at this point, I wouldn't do anything drastic to try to fix the issue. Sometimes, you can create a worse issue. Since my plants have gotten older and have fruit on them, I have become much less alarmed when a change takes place in my plants. Probably better for me and my plants that way. I would keep an eye on them and in the mean time only change obvious things. Their color looks fine and they don't seem to be wilting.