white stuff under leaves

sinensis

sinensis

hi everyone
 
i'm completely new to gardening (and hence pepper growing as well).
i've done some reading and watched some videos, but i still have a long way to go
 
i just got some (supposedly) carolina reapers that were already fruiting, so i don't know their history...
 
to me they look mostly healthy:
 
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however, now i am noticing that there is some white junk on the bottom of some of the leaves:
 
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sorry for the low quality of the pics. capturing it ain't easy.
 
anyway, it doesn't really look like what i'd expect insect eggs to look like. it's more like soft crud, and it's really well integrated into the leaf. doesn't want to scrape off.
 
some more data points:
 
  • i did see a couple of small, red insects on there. they were a little smaller than 1mm. i have no idea if that's related to this in any way. are those aphids? spider mites? maybe i'll try to catch one and look at it close up. they move real fast.
  • a couple of leaves look bad (but they aren't the ones with crud underneath):
 
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anyone know what i might be dealing with?
thanks!
 
 
other questions:
 
the fruits so far are fairly tiny, around 3/4" long or smaller.
i ate a red one yesterday. i liked the flavor, and it was hot, but it was not super super hot. probably just like normal habanero hot. i got the hiccups but didn't exactly die from eating it like i have from other super hot peppers.
there were no seeds inside.
 
do you think it might put out bigger peppers if i put it in a bigger pot and let it grow bigger?
what's up with no seeds and relatively low spiciness? i figured red = ripe.
 
i wonder if these are actually reapers?
 
+1 on edema. What's already there won't go away, you just have to prevent it on future leaves, I believe. Your plants look fantastic! Thick trunks and fruiting nicely. Once you get them outside and in bigger pots, I think the pod size will increase. My first indoor pods are always small and look differently than when they're growing at full speed in the ground. But the heat is always up there for supers, to me. So you may have a red hab or your tolerance might be higher than you thought.
 
Just a tip, if you find white stuff on your leaves you can always take a paper towel and wipe with alcohol, and if it comes off it's probably powdery mildew or bug eggs. Although I think it's neither in this case. Also if you find one plant with something make sure to wash your tools between working on plants. You can transfer diseases, etc.
 
Yep, adema. A couple leaves on my MOA have it too but otherwise the plant looks great. Even the ones with the adema look fine. Fresh air and some wind outside now keep it in check.
 
Wash as recommended as above.  The peppers should become most hot once red, depending on what they are.  I had a small greenie bhut jolokia drop today, so I munched on it, with no heat whatsoever.  Last season, they got very hot once orange, and then turned to red and went DEFCON 5.  Let them babies grow.
 
i've been manually pollinating them the last few days and am getting more and more fruits. i harvested most of the red ones:
 
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woohoo!
 
 
also, one of the fruits is looking kind of reaper-like imo. maybe these plants just need to mature a bit more for that reaper phenotype to come out? i guess we'll see
 
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