I noticed that one of my pepper plants is putting out very deformed and stunted leaves. They look like they have been chewed on but in fact they are growing that way. It was just transplanted about 10 days ago from a seedling bought at Lowes. Should I give up on it and start over? For 2 bucks I can replace it but if it is diseased then I probably won't bother.
This is a picture I Googled of what the leaves look like.
I haven't seen this on peppers (capsicum) but on fruit trees this kind of distortion can be caused by a fungus (peach leaf curl) or a tiny burrowing insect (citrus leaf miner), I also read that viruses can cause distortion too but I don't think I have seen it.
Once the plant is damaged those parts will never be normal again but if you can get rid of it the new growth will be OK. The first two can be prevented by the appropriate spray (fungicide, systemic insecticide respectively) with a virus there is no cure. All of these problems reduce the vigour of the plant.
With an annual, (grown as an annual anyway) it might be better to start again but you need to work out where the problem came from so you don't get it again, so maybe some spraying as well would be a good idea if only to help with the diagnosis.
David
Had a similar experience last year with peppers I started from seed in my greenhouse - turned out to be aphids. They weren't visible at first, but after a few days of munching on my happy little peppers, they'd grown big enough to be unmistakable. Had to toss the whole group, along with the adjacent eggplants. Summer squashes they left alone - which my squash hating husband found quite amusing.
NT
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