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I recently posted about a pepper plant that I got from the local market. Lately, I have noticed circular whitish-brown spots on a lot of the leaves and this seems to be gradually spreading to other healthier parts of the plant. I've pruned the plant to get rid of the affected parts and kept it away from all my other peppers but it seems that the pest or infection is coming back.

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Any idea what this might be and how I can treat it? I'm just worried about this ravaging my whole pepper plants - got some 20 other varieties in another location.

Thanks for all the help.

Akash
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I'm sorry to say it looks like it might be bacterial leaf spot - there were signs of that on the plant when you asked your first ID question regarding it, so I imagine it was there when you bought it. The other thing I noticed was some leaves appeared eaten, so its worth inspecting the plant thoroughly, preferably with a magnifying glass, to see if you find any insects, eggs or webbing. Check the undersides of the leaves and the junction where leaves join the stem for webbing, just in case there's some spider mite. If you find anything, spray with a suitable insecticide, but if you want to eat the peppers, choose one that's suitable for edible plants.

If it is bacterial leaf spot, there's not much you can do other than remove badly affected leaves, don't allow any to drop to the soil and stay there, and when you water, keep the water off the foliage. Further info https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/pepper/bacterial-leaf-spot-on-peppers.htm

Bamboo
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  • do you think after they remove the infected leaves, it is worth putting down a topdressing of fresh soil to keep the bacteria spores in the soil from splashing up on to the leaves? – GardenGems Dec 08 '19 at 20:18
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    Not really - if there are spores in the soil, they''ll be in the topdressing within 24 hours or so anyway in a pot – Bamboo Dec 08 '19 at 20:45
  • It seems that this plant is lost for good. I removed all infected leaves and inspected new growth over the next three weeks or so. The spots appeared again even though it seems to be more controlled this time. – Akash Dec 22 '19 at 11:47
  • That's unfortunate... but I think the plant had a problem when you bought it, sadly. – Bamboo Dec 22 '19 at 12:06