disease-pests What's wrong with my peppers? Yellow, curling leaves. White streaky pattern. Peppers drying on plant

[FigPapa]

Hello everyone.
 
I am a novice gardener (2 years experience) living in Southern California (Zone 10B). I have 2 Shoshito pepper plants and 1 Habanero pepper plant that I started from seed 2.5 years ago. They are in ~5 gallon containers and get full sun all day. I water them to runoff once every 2-3 days. I didn't prune them for most of their lives until about a month ago, when I cut them back to encourage bushiness. I'm not sure if I pruned them correctly.
 
They haven't been doing well for a few months. The leaves curl. Some have yellow and brown patches. Most also have small yellow spots. Some leaves have a zig-zag pattern of white streaks. 
 
About 3 weeks ago, I noticed that these plants were infested with aphids. I manually removed most of them and sprayed with a soap/vinegar mixture. I don't see aphids now. I wonder if they have done lasting damage.
 
On the habanero, some of the peppers have dried out on the plant. This has especially happened on one side of the plant (the sun-facing side), where they don't have any canopy cover. I wonder if the peppers are getting sunburned.
 
Despite this, the shoshitos and the habaneros have been yielding peppers. The shoshitos are tasty, but seem to start drying out on the plant at a small size. I wonder if the yield is smaller and less delicious than it otherwise could be.
 
What's wrong with my plants?
 
Many thanks in advance!

 

[Bookers]

That doesn't look like fun at all. I hope you get it in order. Healthy wishes to you and your plants...

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[PaulG]

Did the leaf and pepper issues start before you sprayed
with vinegar? The sites I looked at recommended 3 Tbsp
per gallon of water for pest control, but there is a lot of
variety in what folks recommend. I would suggest doing
a google search on using vinegar as a pesticide. Vinegar
is acidic, and I'm not sure peppers are acid-loving plants,
like rhodys, etc. If you mixed it too strong, the possibility
of burn is great.
 
How long since you amended the soil in the containers or
added fertilizer? Just lots of variables that need to be
known to really decide what's going on. It could be bac-
terial leaf spot that has progressed to become firmly
established on the plants.
 
Maybe someone who grows down in your area can weigh
in with their experiences in your climate.
 
Good luck getting it straightened out.

 

[CaneDog]

Seems like transpiration issues with canoeing leaves and the leaves are thick and narrow also, like when the nature of the leaf changes due to the intensity of the sun in order to slow transpiration.  It looks like there's sunburn on leaves and pods, which could have been exacerbated by the vinegar spray, especially if you sprayed during or leading into sunlight hours.  A few places, especially the very bottom of the last picture looks like leaf-miners. 
 
Seems like the newer growth is looking better, but still showing canoeing, so maybe light intensity and/or transpiration is still an issue, though I don't see the same burning.

 

[skullbiker]

The white lines in the bottom leaf in yor last pic is clear evidence of leaf miners.

 

[FigPapa]

Thanks for all your good wishes and advice! 
 
 
@Bookers How sweet of you! Thanks. 
 
 
@On Fire! The leaf and pepper issues started long before I sprayed the vinegar. In fact, it's probably been a year (I didn't know much about gardening and didn't take good care of them until now). I sprayed the vinegar about a month ago after I noticed the aphids. So I don't think the vinegar is the issue. Still good advice to be careful with acidity.
 
I added fertilizer two weeks ago (Dr. Earth's Organic Tomato Vegetable Herb 4-6-3). 
 
Not sure about bacterial leaf spot. How would I treat that?
 
 
@CaneDog Leafminers!!! The white streaking is definitely leaf miners.    I'm going to look up how to treat them. 
 
You're also definitely right about the new growth looking better. That makes me think that the leaves are fine until they get messed up by leaf miners, sunburn, or perhaps another mystery infection.
 
Good point about spraying and sunburn. You're right - I was spraying in the morning. I won't do that anymore. How do I fix transpiration issues? Is it a good idea to move them to partial shade? Does shade usually help stressed plants recover?

 

[FigPapa]

@Skullbiker Yup, it's leaf miners! Mystery solved. Looks like I have to do some squishing.

 

[FigPapa]

What's the best way to deal with leaf miners? I've read about using neem oil or a vegetable oil / soap mixture. What's everyone's preferred method?

 

[CaneDog]

Thankfully, I don't see anything suggesting leaf spot.  Getting into a location with partly dappled sunlight or with some shade at the heat of the day might help.  They should adjust to current conditions given time, provided they're root systems are healthy, and my guess is they've already made most of the adjustment by now, but using shade to reduce the shock when they're first adjusting can help a lot. 
 
One thing that throws me is I'd normally expect the sunburn damage and transpiration shock to occur when moved into real sun from indoor lighting; moved into significantly more intense sunlight; or with a quick change in weather conditions to more intense sun, particularly early in the season. I don't see indication any of these things has happened recently in your case.

 

[FigPapa]

CaneDog, you're actually right. I didn't mention this, but I actually moved them from a more shady location to their current full sun location a month ago. I'm amazed by how much you can read from the plants. 
 
I will move them into dappled shade for now.
 
Thank you!!!

 

[CaneDog]

Great!  They're already looking stronger in the new growth, so probably well along their way already. 
 
I'll defer to others on how to best treat the leaf miners as I haven't had to before.

 

[skullbiker]

What's the best way to deal with leaf miners? I've read about using neem oil or a vegetable oil / soap mixture. What's everyone's preferred method?

Neem oil and Dr. Bonners soap.

 

[Takanotsume]

I also have big issues with leaf miners and they honestly don't seem to be deterred by neem oil as I've seen them visiting my plants within hours of me spraying them (The same concentration keeps away the whiteflies and aphids, however).
 
It does kill their larvae eventually but they'll still live long enough to start boring holes in the leaves which makes them prone to fungal/bacterial infection in humid areas. I tend to just dig them out of the leaves with a thin stick or needle the moment they reach a size where they can be seen clearly as a small green/yellow speck at the end of a trail because they reach adult size in less then a week and like caterpillars the extent of their damage ramps up very quickly if they aren't dealt with swiftly.
 
I'm feeling like I need to use something with an extra strong odor like peppermint oil to keep them away from my plants entirely.

 

[FigPapa]

@Takanotsume Sounds like your leaf miners are a real pain in the behind. My understanding is that leaf miners can be the larvae of many different species (such as moths, flies, beetles, etc.). So I wonder if your leaf miners are especially resistant to neem oil because they're a hardy species. I have heard that peppermint oil is really good for keeping all sorts of pests off. If you try it, let us know how it goes.
 
As an update on my plants, I did the following:
 
- Moved them to partial sun.
- Pinched off most of the heavily damaged leaves.
- Squeezed other damaged leaves to try to squish the leaf miners inside them.
- Sprayed with neem oil this evening.
 
Will follow up here in a few days.
 
Thanks for all the helpful advice everyone!