Pepper leaves browning

[RhondaK]

Hi All,

I'm very new to gardening... and decided to try growing an elevated herb garden.

While picking up dirt and herbs on a whim I also picked up a tomato plant and a pimento pepper. The plants have only been in the dirt for a week and I noticed a lot of browning on the pimento pepper plant and hit google. Looking at google it appears it could be a serious bacterial issue that affects peppers and tomatoes so I pulled it out and purchased another one which I planted today.

Now, I'm really curious if I overreacted...I have photos and as soon as I figure out how to upload them I'll add them to this post!

[RhondaK]

Here's one photo...

Here's one photo..

[RhondaK]

This photo may be too dark to see the spots well..

[AnnaIkona]

Yes, looks like a fungal disease, unfortunately.
Mixing 1 tablespoon of baking soda with about 3 cups of water and spraying it on the leaves of the plant may help. If not, there are always tons of cheep anti-fungal sprays at any home and garden store.

Good luck and welcome to the forum

[RhondaK]

Thank you Annalkona. Is there anything I can do as a preventive measure? In selecting its replacement I closely examined the plants in the store and all of them seemed to have a spot here and there. I found one with minimal blemishes and I'm crossing my fingers that it doesn't have the same fate.

[AnnaIkona]

Actually, any anti-fungal spray can be used to prevent fungus, not only get rid of it. So you can simply spray the leaves with the homemade spray I have written about before.
The spray doesn't contain any bad stuff so spraying the plants with it won't hurt them.
Sometimes when I see that one type of veggie has fungus I spray the rest of that same type of veggie with that baking soda spray, just to make sure the rest of the plants don't get fungus as well.

[imafan26]

I think it looks more angular so it is more likely some bacterial spot. It is hard to control once it starts and it can spread to other peppers, eggplant and tomatoes. I had bacterial speck earlier this year on most of my peppers and even on seedlings. I cut one of the peppers that was least affected back to the ground and it grew back healthy but the other peppers had to be destroyed. I even had to destroy infected seedlings. Sometimes sanitation is the best answer and start over. I was lucky, I did not try to keep them that long and I have had some infected seedlings which I also tossed, but the other peppers look o.k. now. The weather has been more cooperative and is drier and that helps a lot. In humid conditions I use copper sulfate fungicide. Right now my problem is mites and I may have to more peppers out because they are difficult to control.
http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/ ... lspot.aspx

[Lindsaylew82]

I agree bacterial.

I would go ahead and remove the leaves that are infected and wipe your scissors between cuts. Don't touch infected plants, and then touch non infected plants..

Mulch, mulch, mulch. Dirt splashing up on your plants from watering and rain can exacerbate fungal and bacterial problems. Covering the dirt, helps with that and also helps with heat and water retention. It's good stuff!

[AnnaIkona]

Yes, maybe Lindsay and Imafan26 are right--maybe it is bacterial. It is hard to tell from the image.
Here is an image I found online of fungus on a pepper leaf:

http://nwdistrict.ifas.ufl.edu/hort/fil ... pper-1.jpg
Take a look.

[pepperhead212]

A relatively safe spray, which will work against bacteria and fungus, is hydrogen peroxide. Use 2-4 tb of 3% (the standard solution in stores, though 10% and 35% is available for plants) per quart of water. Do not mix with any other sprays, or add a spreader slicker, as this will neutralize some of the H2O2, and only mix what you will spray right away.