Biology Several races of Xanthomonas affect peppers. The organism survives in the soil on infected plant residue and on some weed hosts. It is also seed borne. It can be present on greenhouse surfaces, trays, and equipment which are not properly sanitized. The bacteria can enter the plant through stomata and wounded tissue. High humidity and moisture encourage disease development. Period of Activity Transplanting through early flowering and fruit set. Bacterial spot prefers temperatures of 24- 30�C (75- 86�F). Abundant rainfall and high humidity aid infection. Scouting Notes Disease symptoms can appear in the greenhouse during transplant production or in the field. Once symptoms appear, it is difficult to manage this disease. Fruit lesions are not always present. Symptoms often appear different depending on the race of the bacteria, the pepper cultivar, or the growing conditions. Thresholds None established. Management Notes This is a very common disease, which can appear throughout the season, but is of most concern the earlier it appears, as it will have more time to cause economic damage. Use disease-free or disinfected seed. Do not plant diseased or unhealthy transplants. Avoid working in fields when foliage is wet. Some pepper varieties have tolerance to some races of this disease. A preventative program using registered fixed copper fungicides can reduce disease problems if used during transplant and early field production to keep bacterial populations low. Overhead irrigation and wind-blown or splashing water can spread the disease.

Sorry, but fluoride is among reasons for leaf burn. As stated in the article by George (Doc) and Kay Abraham which was linked to (just above), "Easter lilies, dracaenas, spider plants and marantas actually have been proven susceptible to leaf scorch injury from too much fluoride in their soil." Among the several sources of fluoride which affect those senstitve plants is perlite (AKA sponge rock), fluoridated water, and some fertilizers. So, dormilona, what plants are affected? Beyond that, probably most common reason for leaf burn in potted plants is insufficient water to the top of the plant. That can occur from multiple reasons, among them these: -- dry potting mix; and/or -- excess water at the roots; and/or -- erratic watering; and/or -- recently transplanted; and/or -- excessively low humididty.

William, Because soil friability and drainage varies, and because water percolates down into the soil and evaporates from the soil at different rates, no one can tell you how to water on a 'schedule'. Every one of us on this forum probably has to water our gardens at different rates and for different time frames because our soil and our weather varies. All I can tell you is to keep the soil evenly moist. My peppers get one good soaking weekly from a soaker hose and I water them until the soil is moist about 6" down. How long that takes will vary depending on how dry the soil was when I started, etc. My peppers are in heavy red clay that has been very heavily amended for 10 years with lots of organic material, so it is fairly ideal soil in that it holds moisture pretty well but also drains well because it is a raised bed. I would put all the peppers in the same bed because they do have similar fertility and water needs. Last year was just your 'lucky' year and either the aphids didn't find your plants, or you had 'clean' aphids that hadn't picked up any diseases yet to vector, or your pepper plants had great disease-resistance. This year, your luck ran out. If crookneck squash are falling off, that usually means pollination failed to occur, which is puzzling since the zucchni are pollinating just fine. However, there are a couple of other things it could be as well. First, if by chance, you planted your crookneck squash early and the plants were exposed to very cool temperatures for a few days, that can cause them to be stunted and nonproductive for their entire life. Secondly, it might be one of the rot diseases that sometimes appear on squash and, if it is, it likely is choanephora fruit rot. You'll see this rot in high heat, high humidity conditions. With it, you'll see immature fruit form but then shrivel, turn a very light tannish-brown and will decay or rot. Once this happens, there is not much you can do. There are no organic or chemical controls for this. I just remove and compost all the bad squash, cut back on moisture if possible, and hope that the next squash that pollinate don't have the same issues. To prevent this kind of rot on future plants, plant in raised beds which drain more quickly so the plants don't stay too wet, space the plants far apart to allow for good air circulation, and water less often, preferably with drip irrigation or soaker hoses that put the water into the soil and not on the leaves. Once again, my squash plants get watered once a week deeply and that's it. To much moisture causes all kinds of issues in a veggie garden and I go to the opposite extreme and probably keep my garden a bit too much on the dry side to avoid the diseases. To return to the pollination issue, be sure you're seeing bees and that pollination is occurring. It could be you had bees, they pollinated the zucchini squash and then something happened to the bees and they didn't come back and pollinate the crookneck. Be sure you aren't using any insecticides that might have killed or discouraged the bees. The female blossoms have tiny squash at the end of each blossom. If they aren't being pollinated, they'll turn brown and fall off. The difference in fruit drop caused by a lack of pollination versus fruit rot is that the baby squash don't enlarge and just brown/fall off if it is a lack of pollination, but the fruit begin to enlarge and grow some before turning brown and falling off if it is fruit rot. Dawn

Unfortunately some of what you are now seeing is due to the spray you used. Especially in the last 2 pics. Too often new gardeners tend to over-react to some holes in the leaves - which happen for all sorts of reasons and most of the time are not an issue - and spray something. Leaves on plants can lose up to 1/2 of their leaf surface without any problems so if you spray many times the spray does more damage than whatever made the holes could do. That is just as true for homemade concoctions as it is for commercial ones. Indeed in the hands of the under-informed the home made concoctions can do more damage than commercial ones do. In other words, just because it is made from products you have at home doesn't mean it is safe to use on the plants. I don't see any actual discoloration issues in any of your pics but they are usually nutrient issues rather than pests. The holes in the leaves could be caused by all sort of pests - slugs (have to do nite time patrol to find them) , beetles, tiny caterpillars, even birds. But you have to look carefully for them and ID them first before you spray anything. Most of the time you can find whatever is doing it and just squish it with your fingers. But if you don't see them it doesn't mean you have to spray something. He may already be done and gone and if you do spray the odds are you are just killing good guys that are trying to help. You remove the damage leaves and continue to monitor it and look for the bad guy. So no need to panic and no need to spray unless it is a really really bad infestation and you know exactly what is doing the damage. Then you find the least damaging control for that specific bad guy. So in your pics remove the bad leaves off the cuke and nothing more. Remove the very worst of the leaves off the peppers but leave the ones with only minor damage. Leave the beans alone for now. Put the bottle of oils away as the oil only works if it coats the insect but when it coats the leaves it causes them to burn and blacken and prevents photosynthesis. If you feel you must use a home made spray then I suggest you stick with the soapy water mix of 1 T of mild soap (baby shampoo, Murphy's Oil Soap, liquid Ivory, etc.) in 1 gallon of water, shake well, spray the bugs only and avoid coating the leaves, and only spray in the early AM and never in the bright sun or the heat of the day. Spraying then is almost guaranteed to damage the plants. Hope this helps. Dave