I'm very sorry to hear about your problems. Sometimes I wonder why I put myself though gardening, it can be very frustrating. Mice can definitely be a problem. Last winter I kept noticing fruit in the greenhouse that was on the plant the day before was now gone. A few weeks later I was moving stuff around and found a ton of fruit in a drip pan. I could have killed those mice. One year I had something eating all the leaves off my seedlings. I am not sure if it was the mice, but I put out sticky traps and caught some crickets. The damage stopped so I assumed it was them. If they have been pulled from the soil, I'd venture to say maybe mice. I've had mine survive a lot worse than losing all their foliage, losing foliage doesn't seem to bother peppers much, they just put more out. Good luck.

Pam

That sucks hotsnot. Post some pics -- perhaps somebody can help.

Regarding the seedlings, cutworms will snip right at the soil line and leave the plant without eating foliage. Perhaps slugs or caterpillars.

There's absolutely NO foliage? If so, no they won't survive. Question -- why would you have a bunch of seedlings in a shed in the middle of the summer?

Kevin

Pepper plants are extremely resilient. Never give up until there is no green left! Sorry about your unfortunate circumstances. You still have plenty of time to bounce back, just give them lots of love! Good Luck.

Tim

Please post some pictures, especially of what you suspect are virused plants.

Actually, as long as it is green a pepper can photosynthesize, this includes any stem material. I have seen completely bare stems come back to life.

It is very unfortunate, I feel sorry to hear about your situation. Like other said some pictures would be very helpful to give you some opinions.
Caelian

I will post pics as soon as I get home. To answer your question Kevin about having the plants in my shed. I needed to give them some shade. I keep two doors open to allow enough airflow in and out of the shed. When I get home from work in the eve, I take them out for an hour or so to give them light. Highs in the mid 90s would just fry the young plants. I put them back at night so I wont forget to do it in the morning before leaving for work. These plants are only an inch or two tall. They only had one set of leaves on each plant. Most of the plants eaten just have a 1/2" of stem left. A few have just a nibble out of the leaves. Ill send pics shortly. Thanks for the responses.

this makes more sense now. it's a lot easier to have a plant disappear when it's that small.

Bare branches will take a long time to recover - if they can. A fresh pot of soil to replant in and root trimming is obvious, but beyond that, it is wait and hope.

Another idea is to take a cutting of small branch and put it in a cup of water with some dirt in the bottom, add a couple of nitrogen drops and a small pinch of other food. Someone else here a couple of years ago did something similar and got the cutting to root.

Here is link to that amazing thread.

Pepper Cuttings

This post was edited by SgtPepper on Sun, Aug 18, 13 at 17:46

Naga Morich. I hope its not a virus and I may be wrong but it spread from one plant to another to another in my garden. The pics I looked at of the virus really resembles the pics of my plants.

This post was edited by HotSnot on Sun, Aug 18, 13 at 19:56

another picture of sick plant

This post was edited by HotSnot on Sun, Aug 18, 13 at 19:53

This is the seedlings that were eaten by ?????????

This is a Tabasco Pepper ( top left pic) On the rightside of the pic is a Banana Pepper. Banana Pepper leaves are a darker green. That plant was the first one to show signs of disease. The aphids hit it pretty hard and then a few weeks later the leaves began to wrinkle.

In my opinion, there isn't anything wrong with those plants. The aphids may be the cause of the leaf distortion but it may also be a calcium deficiency from what I've read. I'm not seeing the PMMV. But, I'm no expert.

As far as the seedlings, a few look like there's still some leaves. So, those should recover. Better find out what's munching on them though. Any way of getting them under some lights until they grow out of infancy?

Let's see what others may have to say.

Kevin

Going to agree with Kevin, whatever those larger plants have appear to be something mild enough for them to recover from. Also, uneven watering, and even extended cool weather, can cause the symptoms I see on your larger plants.

Steve

If those leaves are a problem, then nearly all my plants are sick ;-)
I don't see virus....

Josh

Those leaves look like they will be okay. As long as the plant continues to shoot out new ones, then I wouldn't worry too much.

Well I feel a little better from what you are telling me. I sent the pics to a virologist at LSU and hopefully he can tell me either way. If it turns out that it is just a lack of calcium or from the feeding aphids I will be thrilled. Guess I'm just paying wayyyyyy to close attention to my garden. Need more plants I guess. I will post any news I get from LSU Ag Dept. Thanks for the responses.

Put back the dome on that starter tray and keep the mices away away.