Question
hi,
I had recently grown bell pepper plants from seeds in a carton box filled with soil, and consists of 12 plantlets in the box. Its placed in the shade. I water them regularlry. Its 2 months old now. Now it shows a white cottony mold like under the leaves of the plants. This cottony thing contains tiny black seed like stuff. My plants looks very unhealthy. Please help! When should I transplant them to a new pot or directly to ground? Is it a fungus?
Shall I apply fungicide? Or Shall I apply a Neematicide?
I live in Kerala, India

Answer
Shafreej,

It sounds like your plants have a fungus and it may have been caused by not enough light and possible poor air circulation around the plants.  Remove all the affected leaves and transplant each plant into larger pots (using new soil) or plant them directly into the ground if the temperature is around 20C or more.  Pepper plants need lots of sunlight and heat so make sure they are getting at least 8 hours of sunlight.  Make sure there is at least a foot between plants so that the air will circulate around the plants as they grow larger.

Try this first, and after a week or so if plant leaves still have the fungus you can apply a fungicide.

Good luck with your plants and if you have any other questions please let me know.

Catherine Abbott
Your-vegetable-gardening-helper.com