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Have you ever seen leaves like these on a pepper?

Walti72

Walti72

Hi
 
According to the source this should be a pepperdew type pepper, I planted a few from the same packet, germination was slower than my super hots.
 
The middle bottom one is from the same seeds, and the other 4 is a ghost, 7 pot and two rocoto's
 
Of the ones that germinated the other looks quite normal, just this ugly duckling that got me puzzled, I just hope I can get it to fruit otherwise I will never know what it is.
 
Any thoughts?
 
 
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Yeah that does not look healthy. I'd either scrap it or isolate it. The only way this could have been possible prevented is by soaking the seeds in h2o2 solution, unless its bad genes but usually yellowing like that is fungal.
 
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Hi
 
Never crossed my mind that it might be a virus.
 
My thoughts was that it might might have been crossed with another plant many generations ago, and now that gene has woken up.
 
I will definitely isolate the plant and monitor it's progress, and add some nutes and epson salt.
 
Sarge, will definitely do the h2o2 for the next set of seeds I start. Will that help for any seeds?
 
Thank you for all your feedback.
 
W
 
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H2O2 soaking could potentially kill any bacteria, fungus or virus which may lay dormant in the seed. I didn't do it this season, because this is my first and I didn't know about it but from now on I will be. It also helps to soften the seed shell somewhat.
 
If you touch that plant, touch it with gloves and then throw them away before touching your others. Also maybe just wipe down the surrounding area with alcohol wipes.
 
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Peppadews aren't supposed to have variegated leaves, so it could very well be a problem.  But perhaps it isn't really a peppadew.  It could possibly be a variety like a fish pepper.  They do have variegated leaves and they turn out to be quite pretty plants.  So, if it were me, I wouldn't destroy the plant.  Perhaps do as others have said and isolate it, just to be sure it isn't a virus.  But let it grow and see what becomes of it.
 
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Walti72, welcome to the forum. I would say play it safe and keep this plant separate. Personally I don't think it's anything other than a crossed pepper. Looks like you have some variegation in the leaves there. The obvious more common variegated plants out there is the Fish Pepper, Black Pearl and Purple Tiger... but you have no purple in the leaves... so I would also go with Fish Pepper. Besides the colour variance, the plant looks good.
 
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Thanx sarge, will do that for future seeding.
 
Smokin' Hot yes, the others I grew from the same packet was fine, I think I will keep the plant isolated and see what happens.  I am way to curious to see what the fruit will look like.
 
PeriPeri, thanx for the welcome, been following your blog for a while, and saw some youtube clips where you tested a 7pod, respect :-)
 
From the time that one poped out of the ground it was strange, had a deep purple stem as in the pic.
 

 
Planning on planting it to a bigger container this weekend will keep everyone posted.
 
D
 
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If it is a virus then that is a very very unlucky plant!  The only one in the whole batch to be bitten by a bug and have it transmitted.  Unless you smoke of course - apparently TMV can be transmitted just through contact from tobacco hands to a plant - when I smoked I never ever had this issue but there many folks who swear by it.
 
I would say nope, not a virus.  A genetic mutation.  A variegated freak.  No need for the hazmat suit or Level 5 quarantine.  Virus cannot be passed in seed.  Seed is a sure-fire way of breaking the virus cycle in cultivated plants.  Clones yes, seed no.
 
It is a variegated seedling and if I were you I would treasure it!  It is a unique thing - not necessarily a thing of beauty.  Who knows maybe it even has variegated fruit - it would be interesting to cross it with Tiger Teeth or Fish Pepper - or even one of the purple variegates such as Jigsaw.
 
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RobStar said:
If it is a virus then that is a very very unlucky plant!  The only one in the whole batch to be bitten by a bug and have it transmitted.  Unless you smoke of course - apparently TMV can be transmitted just through contact from tobacco hands to a plant - when I smoked I never ever had this issue but there many folks who swear by it.
 
I would say nope, not a virus.  A genetic mutation.  A variegated freak.  No need for the hazmat suit or Level 5 quarantine.  Virus cannot be passed in seed.  Seed is a sure-fire way of breaking the virus cycle in cultivated plants.  Clones yes, seed no.
 
It is a variegated seedling and if I were you I would treasure it!  It is a unique thing - not necessarily a thing of beauty.  Who knows maybe it even has variegated fruit - it would be interesting to cross it with Tiger Teeth or Fish Pepper - or even one of the purple variegates such as Jigsaw.
Click to expand...
Not entirely true. Customs down in Australia usually will not permit pepper seeds into Australia because of some type of virus, something viroid which is alive in the seed. Even bacteria can lay dormant in seeds. Ive read bls can survive in seeds for some years.
 
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About a fifth of plant viruses can be transmitted through seed.  Mostly in Fabaceae (beans especially) and in Solanaceae, tomatoes.  The viruses that affect Capsicum are The Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV), Cucumber Mosaic Virus, the Potato Y Virus (PYV) and the Tobacco Etch Virus (TEV).  These are not transmitted by seed.  General seed hygiene such as soaking them for 125 minutes in a 5% Sodium hypochlorite solution will eliminate any virus that may be attached to the seed coat (in dust etc).  It could also be possible that the seedling was infected manually - virus on hands etc.  Seed is generally accepted as a way of breaking the virus cycle in most plants.
 
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I'm resurrecting this thread to show you some interesting pics of my 3 year old red bhut plant and to ask for advice. My plant is showing leaf variegation localised on one small branch of an otherwise very healthy and productive plant. This plant has not shown variegation previously. I am concerned because variegation can be caused by viruses. 
 
The variegation doesn't look mottled, like in the OP pic for this thread, which to me looks like a sick (perhaps virus affected) plant. The leaves on my plant look more like those on a fish pepper, in which the variegation is not caused by a virus. 
 

 

 
There is another thread showing localised variegation here: http://thehotpepper.com/topic/24439-variegated-leaves/
 
The plant is in ground and for now, I will keep it and watch closely. I don't know of any variegated chinenses. Any suggestions?
 
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To be certain it's not a virus, you should send some of the plant material to a pathology lab, ASAP.
If it is a virus you want to get rid of it and all material before you contaminate your whole property for possibly many decades. I hope it's not.
 
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RobStar said:
If it is a virus then that is a very very unlucky plant!  The only one in the whole batch to be bitten by a bug and have it transmitted.  Unless you smoke of course - apparently TMV can be transmitted just through contact from tobacco hands to a plant - when I smoked I never ever had this issue but there many folks who swear by it.
 
I would say nope, not a virus.  A genetic mutation.  A variegated freak.  No need for the hazmat suit or Level 5 quarantine.  Virus cannot be passed in seed.  Seed is a sure-fire way of breaking the virus cycle in cultivated plants.  Clones yes, seed no.
 
It is a variegated seedling and if I were you I would treasure it!  It is a unique thing - not necessarily a thing of beauty.  Who knows maybe it even has variegated fruit - it would be interesting to cross it with Tiger Teeth or Fish Pepper - or even one of the purple variegates such as Jigsaw.
Click to expand...
 
I think so too. It still has its cotyledons, so I don't think it's sick.
 
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That Bhut has a bud mutation.  It is by far the most common origin of variegation.  It occurs a lot more often that people think - especially trees - you just don't notice it in the canopy.  A good example is the pohutakawa Metrosideros excelsa - all the variegated trees in cultivation were derived from a bud mutation.  It is also not necessarily stable - many of the tress revert to the original phenotype whereby most of the tree is normal and only a few branches are variegated.
 
I'd hold onto that plant like it were gold!  You have the makings of an exceptional ornamental.
 
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