all evergreen plants.. lose the older leaves on an annual basis ... some years worse than others ... and that usually happens in winter ... when light levels ebb ... i think.. one of your problems.. is that it has outgrown the window ... when it was much smaller... it got much more light on top of its leaves ... i dont have time to find you the latin name.. but i do know.. when you get it.. and google such.. there are millions of websites on how to propagate it [youtube also] ... as you are well aware.. its not that hard.. if the whole family has the plant ... and once you cut the trunk to say.. about 6 inches.. and propagate 20 or so plants from the trunk .. the part still in the pot ... will rebud lower down ... do not swamp it... over-watering it .... in winter ... it will be much worse.. if you rot off its roots... been there.. done that.. lol and no.. a stressed plant does not need to be fed ... perhaps in late spring would be better time for a bit of plant food ... ken ps: when you cut it back to 6 inches.. that would be a great time to get rid of all the old 'used up' media... and repot it ... potting media does not last forever ...

Planterjeff, I have noticed the bell peppers are beginning to kinda come around. It may have just been all the rain and cloudy weather. Can't say for sure, but I haven't done anything else to them. Keeping my fingers crossed. The New Mexico chili peppers I planted still aren't doing so good, but that could be due to the hot humid weather. It gets hot in New Mexico (where these peppers originate, but not as humid as South Louisana, so that could be the answer to those peppers. Thanks for the input.

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

esox07 (4b) Wisconsin I'm not sure yet, It was my first time planting smth. Now its still cold outside, I'll watch as they grow and the weather, and part will be planted in a greenhouse. I plan to leave some in the apartment on the balcony just to see how it will grow inside, or in case some will die in a greenhouse.