Aminopyralid

[Tee Gee]

Looks like I have succumbed to this problem again!

I have noticed some of my sweet pepper have curled up at the growing tip whereas some other have not.

I think it is a result of an experimented on some of them where I altered my compost mix.

This year I am using Humax M-P and I have found it to be very fine so I thought I would add some seived rotted down horse muck which incidently had the consistency of a nice chocolate spong cake, I thought this would bulk  up the fine compost and make it more loamy.

AS far as my plan went it did just that and it turned out to be a nice compost mix but it never entered my head that there might be traces of weedkiller in the muck.

When we first arranged with the stable owners to take their surplus muck we discussed with the owners about aminopyralid and they said they would never get involved with this stuff so much so the use shredded cardboard as bedding rather than straw/hay, so we agreed to take as much as they had and even set up a tipping area with easy access to save them tipping problems.

This was around 4-5 years ago and things have been fine that is until I conducted this experiment.

My guess is the stable have bought in some contaminated feeding from somewhere and the horses have eaten it with no ill affect, but sadly it would seem their droppings become affected in the process.

This is what my affected plants look like;





Not the best of pictures but I think there is enough detail to show you what has happened.

I thought it might be an aphid problem as some aphids can cause leaf curl and I did have some whitefly earlier on in the season, but I am fairly certain this is not the case as the new growth is appearing curled up as it opens and there are no aphids around.

Most of them are on my yellow sticky traps:



Even the spiders help with my insect control as you can see here:



(I extricated this bee so it is now flying around my garden)

Sorry for the lecture but I thought some of the newbies might be interested in the scenario so I put it up.

Just think of it as another one of those trials and tribulations we gardeners have to put up now that the EU govern pesticides & herbicides!

[Tee Gee]

[galina]

I didn't know aminopyralid affects peppers.  I have several plants like this, but the aphids are visible on the underside of the leaves - soap spray to the rescue.  Get a move on ladybirds (very scarce atm)   

[ancellsfarmer]

Aminopyriad is only licenced for grazing crops not cereals, therefore your problem relates to hay given to  horses. Stock kept on straw, and fed cereals without hay produce manures that should be free of this. Cow, pig, poultry and sheep manures would be safer.

[mrrigsby]

A couple of my peppers and also foxglove seedlings were affected just like yours. No horse manure involved, but after a blast fom Provado bug gun, all recovered and continued to grow normally. Whitefly I suspect although I'm growing marigolds in greenhouse as they are supposed to confuse whitefly. Bug gun did the trick.

[Vinlander]

All I can say is it looks exactly like thrip damage.

The big problem with thrips is they dodge about a lot - you hardly ever see them which also makes them hard to kill. I tried to grow Passiflora incarnata on my house as an edible ornamental but it was thripped to death before it got 30cm high - and this was decades before 'pyralids.

On the subject of dodgy new families of 'cides, the original (cigarette) nicotine spray was still legal then. Absolutely harmless to bees if used at sunset, and absolutely harmless to us unless you literally showered in the stuff - and even if you did you knew where you were -  if it didn't kill you on the spot you'd be absolutely fine the next day and forever (unlike the nerve-gas style stuff they cook up and sell now).

I can't believe I didn't use it at the time - probably just too fiddly to boil up the stubs - not to mention black looks in the kitchen...

Cheers.