Indoor sweet peppers, leaf spots question.

[kenirob]

Hi everyone my name is Kenny, last month (early November), I planted 8 sweet pickle pepper plants indoors. I grow the plants under T5 tube lights, 16 hours on 8 off , temp day time is 75'f -80'f, night time 65-70'f,and they've grown quite nicely. Last week I pulled them out to visual inspect the leaves and all, and noticed what I could describe as little piles of salt crystals on the topside of the leafs. I read it could be mold. So I cut all the leafs that had the issues and also added fans that circulate the air like crazy now. Since then new leafs has come in and I'm not seeing the piles crystals but I'm noticing tiny white spots on the bottom of the leafs. Using magnifaction the spots are crystally and do not look web like. I haven't seen any moving insects on the leafs. I tried taking pictures of the leafs. If anyone has any thoughts, thank you kindly!!

[imafan26]

Do the crystals rub off and are they a bit sticky?
Do you see ants around?

I suspect they are aphids by the way they are concentrated around the veins and midrib of the leaf.

[kenirob]

Hi thanks. No insects/ants ,aphids etc... that I've seen. The crystals are pretty much coming from within the leafs themselves. Its wacky looking. They do not rub off. Under a jewelers loop I tryed to scrap one of the crystals off with a tiny blade and the crystals come off with a piece of the leaf. I've read this could be just a result of Oedema, caused by too much water intake. But I'm very open to any suggestions/ thoughts.

[applestar]

Œdema was what I was going to suggest, but you beat me to it.

Uneven watering could cause it, I believe. Mostly cosmetic, though you may want to make sure the soil-mix is pre-loaded with sufficient calcium in case the situation persists, since similar conditions could cause blossom end rot in the fruits later on.

[kenirob]

Thanks guys, I'll make some changes. I'll come back and post an update next month.