Hi, I'm having the same problems... I purchased my cayenne pepper plant from a local nursery as well, and when I purchased it, it was remarkably healthy. It already had several fruits. I brought it home, overwatered it the first few days I had it, got a hang of the let-soil-dry-then-water thing, and haven't overwatered it since. However, mine is doing the same thing, a lot of the leaves turned from a deep green to a light green to a yellowish green, and now many of the leaves have fallen off. ...All in areas that buds look like they were beginning to form. As a matter of fact, the very tips of the leaves begin with a tiny touch of brown that seems to spread up the leaf. We've had a problem with beetles before on other plants, so I purchased some "Organicide" and sprayed the indicated amount on the leaves. And since, I haven't noticed any bugs on any of my plants nor have I noticed any additional damage on any of my other plants. Does anyone have any ideas as to what might be wrong with my pepper plant?? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Somewhat sadly, fungicides are mostly preventative. They don't kill fungus once it is established. Gurney's First Start™ Seed Starter is sterile. The ProMix stuff is peat-based, and I think it is intentionally not sterilized, but pretty certain not to be fungally infected. So I suspect that's not the problem. The fact that you have some experience doing seed starting makes this especially strange. I assume that you've kept control of the temperatures. 5 week old seedlings need fertilization. What have you used?

It doesn't necessarily appear to be sick. To me, it almost looks like it's putting out variegated leaves, which some pepper varieties do, like Candy Cane: https://bonnieplants.com/product/candy-cane-pepper/

I started out top watering but I was never sure how much to give and would sometimes see gnats which made me think I was overwatering. Gnats are a fair indication the upper portion of the grow medium is remaining too wet for too long. This can be due to the medium being overly water-retentive, the grower watering at intervals too short, or a combination of both. I will try watering and letting it drain as you suggested. How often would you recommend and should it just take a few seconds or so to completely soak the soil or should I be letting the water run through for longer? The ideal way to water is slowly, so you're evenly covering the entire top surface of the soil column. When water appears at the drain hole, stop watering and wait a few minutes (10 or so) and then add additional water. Ideally, at least 20% of the entire volume of water applied in both applications should exit the drain hole and not have a pathway back into the pot, which would be the undoing of the reason for watering to beyond the point of soil saturation. If you are still getting the sense the soil is holding too much water, the simple act of just tipping the pot to a 45* angle after watering will force additional water from the medium. A and B are the same pot, except that B has been tipped to a 45* angle. Notice the difference in how much less excess water B holds in comparison to A. This is a simple way of making a big difference in limiting the amount of excess water a planting can hold. For pots the size of which are easily managed, try taking advantage of Newton's First Law of Motion. Immediately after a thorough watering, hold the pot in one hand over the sink, lawn ..... and move it downward, then sharply reverse the direction to upward. You'll immediately note that a good measure of 'excess' water will “continue downward in a straight line” and exit the drain hole. The sharper the reversal of direction, the more water exits the drain hole. When you have repeated the exercise until water no longer exits the drain hole on the reversal of direction, you will have eliminated all excess water and your plants will regard you with a newfound sense of awe. To easily determine what watering intervals are, follow instructions (below) re making/ using a wooden tell. Proper watering is a critical aspect of any plant care regimen. Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 is a complete nutritional supplementation program from a single source. It is arguably the best 'go to' all purpose fertilizer product on the market for a variety of reasons. If you water as I mentioned and fertilize about every 3rd or 4th watering in the summer and about every 5th or 6th watering in winter, you should be fine. That will be on the low side, giving you room to increase the solution concentration if you think it's required. To keep track of when it's time to fertilize each plant, drop a marble or button in the pot whenever you water, that way you'll know what watering is 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc. When you fertilize pick up the objects and start over until it's time to fertilize again. Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Questions? Al