New pepper leaves distorted and stunted

[TX-TomatoBug]

I grew these from seed. The seedling were gorgeous at plant out and stayed that way until recently. I don't see any bugs on them although the Purple Bell was a temporary site for aphid-farming ants until I sprayed them with homemade soap spray. The newest leaves on both plants were already distorted when that happened. Any ideas?

Yolo Wonder.jpeg

Purple Bell.jpeg

[karstopography]

My pepper plants went through that phase. I did have aphids on the undersides and tight against the new growth so that they were hard to see.

Out of nowhere, ladybugs galore moved in and wiped out my aphid infestation in about a week. The aphids are completely gone, the leaves all look normal and the peppers are thriving. Just enjoyed our first green bell pepper for 2025. It was huge and delicious sliced and mixed with some sliced onions and potatoes in the oven.

[pepperhead212]

I never had anything like that happen, even before I started spraying things I planted with that mix of Surround and potassium bicarbonate, as a prophylactic. With small plants it takes very little, even getting the undersides coated, but as soon as the peppers start flowering, I stop the surround, as it's a pain to wash off small fruits (same with cherry tomatoes). This keeps most bugs off, though pepper maggot flies are another story.

[MissS]

My guess would be either spider mites or aphids. You would need to check the underside of your leaves to find them and a magnifying glass may be needed to spot spider mites. @pepperhead212 offers some good advise.

[worth1]

I've wiped out these creatures with a spot of kerosene and mineral oil.
Without killing the plant.

[rossomendblot]

I would suspect aphids since the new leaves and flower buds is what they tend to target on my pepper plants. It's been a hot and dry spring here so far, which always seems to increase aphid activity, and I've been finding a lot of greenfly on my peppers. Greenfly can be very hard to see against green foliage and stems, especially as nymphs.

[karstopography]

My peppers grew out of the damage caused by aphids. The peppers are thriving now. Had not the ladybugs shown up, maybe the story would be different.

I think garden centers sell live ladybugs.

[rossomendblot]

I only kill aphids on my peppers when I'm still keeping them indoors overnight. After they're planted in the greenhouse I just wait for the ladybirds, hoverflies and parasitic wasps to kill them for me. I bought ladybirds once, but now my garden is full of plants which attract them, so they turn up on their own every year.

[TX-TomatoBug]

Thanks everyone! Thanks for the magnifying glass suggestion, @MissS. I examined the leaves with a magnifying glass for a long time. The only bug things I could make out were possibly thrips. Maybe 1 to 2 millimeters long, and skinny. And the leaf damage matches some of the thrip-damage images I found on Internet. Going to try soap spray treatment for 2-3 weeks.