Eggplant and Bell pepper leaf problem - (pics)

14 years ago

I planted some eggplant and bell pepper seedlings in my newly constructed raised beds earlier this spring. (The beds were filled with a "garden soil" blend - topsoil, compost, sand - delivered from a local soil yard)

Initial growth looked good and was normal(and those leaves still look normal), but in the past few weeks the new growth began to curl as can be seen in the pictures. I have seen no insects or holes in the leaves. The plants are beginning to set fruits, but I can't imagine they will yield well with this problem they seem to be having.

Any ideas what it is?

Thank you for your time -

Carl

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Comments (16)

mauirose
14 years ago
Looks like thrips to me.
tim_the_gardner
14 years ago
I could be wrong, but it looks like it may be a "Mosaic" viral infection.

I dont see any damage from chewing insects... no evidence of sucking pets present... no discoloration indicating a nutrient deficiency.

I did notice the newer growth seemed to be more affected. I'm not sure why that is, but if I had to guess - it would be because the virus has been recently introduced. Aphids, or other small insects can transmit this virus easily.

Just a possibility - I can, and have been, totally WRONG in assessing the cause of such problems.

Best of luck!

Tim
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Thanks for the replies. I live in Kingsburg, CA zone 9. It isn't sun scald as the infected peppers have all been on the inside of the plant and well shaded, also my peppers that do get sun scald are always on the west side of the plant where they get the hot afternoon sun. and these have all been on the east. And the trails are evident. A leaf miner is the closest thing I have come across so far when looking for information but haven't found any where where they attack anything but leaves. As far as humidity, I don't know ha ha. I don't go outside when it's hot, Right now it says the humidity is 40% is that high. It doesn't feel sticky outside. I am only out in the garden between 5:30 am and 7am. We have been in the high 90's and low 100's but I don't think humidity is usually much of a problem here. Everyone says we have a dry heat. Unfortunately i don't have a "good" garden center near by. And I have heard of extension services but thought they were only for large farms. Thanks, I will have to check into that. Until I peel away the outer coating, the fruit itself is perfectly healthy and then starts to wilt and get soft where I remove the costing within 30 minutes or so. I think it is some kind of critter.
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tim_the_gardner
14 years ago
Hey Carl - I just noticed the post indicating it may be thrips. It's really hard to see them if they are on the plant, let alone in a photo. One way to tell is to take a affected leaf and tap it while holding a bowl of water under it. Some of the thrips should fall off, and into the bowl of water. You can take the bowl inside with a good light, and magnifying glass to see what pests are present - if any.

FYI - a white bowl makes it easier to see the tiny bugs, rather than a clear glass bowl.

Let us know what you find out...

Tim
crs4
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you for your suggestions. I checked leaves from 2 different plants, and on each I found a single 2mm cream colored bug. I don't know if it is a thrip(see below), but I'm guessing that this is not a heavy enough case of whatever this insect is to cause the damage I am seeing.

The problem seems to be affecting both my traditional as well as asian eggplants. My grape tomato leaves don't look right either but the adjacent Celebrity and Romas are fine. Hot peppers, squash, cukes and melons are all fine so far. I don't remember gardening being this tricky when I was a kid... : )

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west_texas_peg
14 years ago
I hope you are able to determine what is causing your problem because some of my peppers are having the same problem.

Eggplants are fine...other than the darn holes in the leaves from the hail we had last week...who says pea-sized hail is not a problem!

Peggy
dave_f1 SC, USDA Zone 8a
14 years ago
It could be thrips, could be a virus, could be nutritional, etc. When I first saw the malformed, cupped young leaves I thought calcium deficiency. That's exactly what I've seen on apple leaves. So that's a possibility maybe. If that's what it is, it can be caused by fluctuating soil moisture, excess of nitrogen, potassium, or magnesium, and other things. Good luck. Dave
tiaria
13 years ago
Hello Carl,

I was wondering if you ever found out what was affecting your plants. My toms, eggplant, and peppers look exactly like yours. Was your yield reduced, did they recover, what did you try?

-maria
fiddlechick
10 years ago
San Antonio, TX

We're having an identical problem this year, with eggplants (two varieties: Ichiban and Gretel), tomatoes (four varieties: Juliet, Celebrity, Phoenix and Mortgage Lifter), and two kinds of pepper (an anaheim called Big Jim, and pimiento).

I would post pics, but they look *exactly* like the original poster's photos - new leaves are curled/distorted in the same manner shown in the pics above. No visible insects, no discoloration or mottling on the leaves.

I supposed it could be a soil deficiency, but we have good soil that we add fresh compost to every season.

The Celebrity, at least, is supposed to be resistant to mosaic virus. The fact that there's no discoloration on the leaves would, to me, point away from mosaic virus. But I'm relatively new to gardening and relying on photos I can find on the internet.... I supposed there are a lot of other viruses it could be.

Suspect possibly spider mites, though I see no evidence of them at this time. (We had a major infestation last season, but not until later in the year when the plants were more established - we didn't know what we were doing, and composted the plants at the end of the season. From what I read online, they can survive the compost bin just fine, overwinter just fine.) We are now trying a foliar spray with seaweed/molasses from our local organic garden supply, hoping that this will help. But not very optimistic.... Not even sure spider mites are actually causing the problem.

Posting this hoping someone has some ideas.

This post was edited by fiddlechick on Sat, Apr 26, 14 at 1:56
seysonn
10 years ago
OP already has found insects !!. So the virus is not the cause.
I suspect APHID or Spider mite.
A would spray with a pesticide .
Slimy_Okra
10 years ago
Fiddlechick,

If you've ruled out thrips and viruses, the only possibilities that remain are:
Calcium deficiency
Boron deficiency
Herbicide injury

This post was edited by Slimy_Okra on Sat, Apr 26, 14 at 12:22
fiddlechick
10 years ago
Thanks, folks - I really appreciate these replies.

We don't use herbicides, and have a tiny urban garden surrounded by other folks unlikely to be using herbicides.

Do you feel that mites are not a possibility? I'm unfamiliar with thrips, as we've not had a problem with them here to my knowledge. So my mind went to mites, which we have struggled with in the past, though never so early in the season. I presume they'd need to be treated differently.
fiddlechick
10 years ago
An update - brought some leaves to the plant genius at our favorite local nursery, and he said it's a response to the relatively cool nights we're having this spring in South Texas (the weather has been all over the place). He didn't think it was any sort of insect pest. So we'll see how it goes. I hope this is all that it is - will post another update later in the season.
joy.jess
9 years ago
Hi fiddlechick,

Has your plants improved? I'm having the same problems with my Ichiban eggplants. They have been fine up until couple days ago.
mrsearthluvr
9 years ago
wow, I'm having exact same problems!!! I've researched and researched until my head spun !!! I truly appreciate this forum and all of you , just joined and I now know (as all other possibilities have been exhausted) that the weird weather we've been experiencing is the culprit. I hope all manage to make it through. Much Appreciation!!
User
9 years ago
Do a Gardenweb search for Chilli Thrips. It's a fairly new invasive pest working it's way up from the Gulf. It hit me for the first time this year in the Highland Lakes area. Many of the big box store starter plants were even showing CT damage around here a couple weeks ago.

Here's a recent thread on them...
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/pepper/msg0511302622994.html?27
SunshineZone7
9 years ago
Could be 2-4-D herbicide damage. People use "weed and feed" on their lawns all the time and the drift affects sensitive plants.

Eggplant and Bell pepper leaf problem - (pics)

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Eggplant and Bell pepper leaf problem - (pics)

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