Hello garden gals and guys! Well, I spent the entire weekend in bed with some type of bug that my oldest child generously shared with me. I still feel like I got beat down with a bag of rocks and have no voice. But a farmer’s work is never done! So, here we go.
I went out into my greenhouse and noticed that the leaves on my pepper plants were white.
You know me, when something happens I go straight to Google to put in my symptoms and begin the detective work.
Well, there are a few things that can turn pepper leaves white.
Temperature
If there is an abrupt drop in temperature or if you didn’t harden off your seedlings before you transplanted them, the leaves will turn white in a shock response.
Hmmm. Well, I know that this isn’t the case for me because these seedlings have been in the greenhouse and have been properly hardened off.
Next.
Aphids
These small little destructive killers of plant joy can also cause the leaves to turn white. They attach themselves to the undersides of your leaves and suck the sap right out of your precious plants. When they do this, your plant gets light brown and white spots that eventually become holes.
Well, there were no holes in my plants and no evidence of any insects on the undersides of my leaves. So this wasn’t it either.
Next.
Powdery Mildew
I knew immediately it wasn’t mildew because that starts off as small circles that look, well, powdery. Though my greenhouse did have the right conditions for this (warm and wet), I’ve seen powdery mildew and this wasn’t it.
Sunscald
Peppers need six hours of full sun every day. Okay, no problem there. But too much direct sun, especially in the heat of summer can cause your pepper leaves to turn white. Sunscald leaves light brown and white patches on the plant leaves, and peppers as well.
My plants are in the greenhouse. LOTS of sun. Then I noticed that not only were they getting lots of sun but the plastic windows are acting as sort of a magnifying glass and were directing the sun’s rays right down onto my plants.
Bingo! So it’s sunscald.
Okay, now what? Well, if your plants are out in the garden and this happens, try not to over prune the plants because the leaves provide the shade your fruits need to keep them from getting sunscald. Since my plants are in the greenhouse in a raised bed, the only thing I can do is put up some type of shade to reduce the harshness of the rays.
So there you have it garden gals and guys! Until next time…
Happy farming!