Pepper leaves bubbly and curled down - Ask Extension
Can you help identify what’s wrong with my lemon drop pepper plant? Leaves are bubbly with yellow edges and curling down. Occasionally a bottom le...
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Pepper leaves bubbly and curled down #611940
Asked January 30, 2020, 7:56 PM EST
Can you help identify what’s wrong with my lemon drop pepper plant? Leaves are bubbly with yellow edges and curling down. Occasionally a bottom leaf or two will fall off. Plant is grown indoors in my basement with indoor potting mix, slow release fertilizer (24-8-16), and a few coffee grounds/orange peels. I try to keep my LED grow light around 700 uMol for 16 hrs a day but sometimes I don’t lift in time and plant gets closer to bulb at around 1000-1500 uMol. Overall, plant is still alive and even tiny buds are appearing. But it looks sick and hoping rest of leaves don’t suddenly drop and die.
Lincoln County South Dakota
Expert Response
Could be a few things and we'll need more info. Is this one of several plants or alone? The reason I ask this is sometimes herbicide can come in on potting mixes and compost, originally transported in from grasses and manure that can make up the mix. If you have used the same bag of mix without incident in the past we can rule out herbicide (unless there is some in your fertilizer but commercial products containing 24-8-16 probably wouldn't). At first glance I don't this it is herbicide injury but it will be interesting to see how symptoms progress as it is one of the most common reasons for plants to suddenly decline.
I think the other, more likely problem is some form of Mosaic Virus, which could have come in on the seed/plant, though tobacco products, or on one of the tools used in planting/transplanting. There are a number of Mosaic Virus that infect peppers, with a varying array of symptoms.
Last, check under the leaves and search for aphids. If they come in on a plant and are allowed to reproduce your plant will suffer considerable damage as their numbers multiply exponentially and sap the plants strength. They are also carriers of different pepper diseases, including a couple of Mosaic Virus strains.
