White powder on leaves

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Brian
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White powder on leaves

#1

Post: # 46629Unread post Brian
Wed May 12, 2021 11:26 am

I have several bell pepper plants that I started from seed this year and a few of the larger plants leaves look a little discolored and they have what looks like a white powder on the bottom sides of the leaves.

Is this an aphid issue or something else?

What should i do to resolve? I can attach pictures if necessary.

Thanks!
Brian

Brian
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Re: White powder on leaves

#2

Post: # 46631Unread post Brian
Wed May 12, 2021 11:39 am

2021-05-12 11.28.11.jpg
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GoDawgs
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Re: White powder on leaves

#3

Post: # 46633Unread post GoDawgs
Wed May 12, 2021 12:29 pm

Is it really a powder that can be wiped off? Or is it stippling or laid eggs. Hard to tell from the photo.

Brian
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Re: White powder on leaves

#4

Post: # 46634Unread post Brian
Wed May 12, 2021 12:41 pm

I tried to wipe it off....its stuck on there pretty good. It doesn't come off. the harder I press, it seems like i just flatten the powder. So more like eggs?

Brian
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Re: White powder on leaves

#5

Post: # 46635Unread post Brian
Wed May 12, 2021 12:42 pm

I have seen a few very small bugs flying off the plants when I water. There are not very many, but i've seen them. very small, like gnats

Brian
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Re: White powder on leaves

#6

Post: # 46643Unread post Brian
Wed May 12, 2021 2:28 pm

Upon much googling...i believe this is powdery mildew, fungus, or pest...whatever it is, I am going to spray a water/neem oil mix on it to see what happens.

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Rockoe10
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Re: White powder on leaves

#7

Post: # 46663Unread post Rockoe10
Wed May 12, 2021 8:58 pm

The gnats are probably fungus gnats. They like to eat the mold and fungus that grow in moist soil, where little air circulates. Try getting some air blowing on it. That will help with the fungus and the bugs
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bower
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Re: White powder on leaves

#8

Post: # 46701Unread post bower
Thu May 13, 2021 5:00 pm

This also looks a lot like, yet another case of edema. Especially if it can't be scraped off. Eggs or bugs should be removable, but little water blisters are not. I had edema on peppers for a couple of years and mistook it for insect eggs, sprayed soap, neem etc but eventually those leaves would just yellow and die. Or sometimes I just removed the leaves as a purge of "millions of eggs". Only after I got edema on tomatoes, I started to know what I was looking at. I recall the blisters were often clustered around the veins as in your pics.
So I wouldn't discount getting the peppers some daylight as a preventive of more of this - it won't cure what is already damaged. But they will recover when they get outdoors.
Another way to test if it's insects or not: remove one of the affected leaves and place it in a jar covered with a couple layers of cheesecloth, that would prevent small insects from flying out but would allow enough air in there for them to hatch out of the "eggs" if such they are. Week or two max to get a result. If no insects, edema is a likely bet.

If you have any fungus gnats, I would take that seriously as they can really damage the roots of your plants if allowed to multiply. Mosquito bits or dunks of Bt-i is the solution to that. You can soak a dunk and then water the plants with it, but must repeat a few times since it is most effective on one of the larval stages. Use a yellow sticky trap on the rim of the pot to catch adults - this also helps to monitor their population. Just one female can lay a lot of eggs though, so don't delay watering with the dunks if any are flying about.
The yellow sticky trap might also catch a mystery pest, if it exists. :)
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brownrexx
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Re: White powder on leaves

#9

Post: # 46765Unread post brownrexx
Fri May 14, 2021 5:30 pm

Do you have a magnifying glass? That might help you to identify the problem.

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MrBig46
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Re: White powder on leaves

#10

Post: # 46875Unread post MrBig46
Sun May 16, 2021 2:48 am

I think it's intumescence (edema). As soon as the growing conditions change, this problem disappears.
Vladimír

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Re: White powder on leaves

#11

Post: # 46941Unread post mama_lor
Mon May 17, 2021 2:28 am

If they're inside it's most probably edema. The only other thing it could be (outside) are spider mites, but the distribution is odd, and peppers aren't usually that attacked.

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