I have two pepper plants (1 Jalapeño, 1 Habanero ) growing in a container. They've been in there about 2-3 weeks and are doing ok. This morning when I went out to water them, I noticed a light white circle surrounding both plants. It almost looked like powdered sugar sprinkled around them in a ring. If it helps, yesterday was the first time I watered them by sprinkling water over their leaves rather than holding the container directly at their roots. By the pattern, it almost appears like 'something' washed off the leaves and is starting to grow. I just went out to check on them, and the white 'powder' has turned yellow (see pictures below). Any idea what this is?
Possibly some kind of fungus action. ---You mention the leaf-washing watering technique: could this stuff be pollen, accumulated on the leaves and washed off by watering? I know that here there are days when I have to employ the windshield wipers to clear off the pollen coating before I drive to work.
by watering from above, you washed off any pollen that was sitting on the leaves, either from the flowers of that plant of stuff from others in the immediate area. the water/pollen dripped off the leaves at the 'dripline' and once the water soaked into the soil, the pollen was left on top. nothing to worry about as it's not going to hurt your plants
yes, the pollen will turn yellow after it gets wet! it's really bad in this area right now...we had some rain last week and, as i was walking down this alley that i use to cut through the block when i go to the post office, i noticed the water that was in the alley had this funky yellow/green stuff floating on the top of it. at first i thought it was from the bar/restaurant...they tend to throw their dirty water (from doing the floors as well as when they sanitize the equipment in the kitchen) out in the alley...no real drains there so it flows down the road to the gutter in the street. as i went further along and got up to the front of the alley/at my building i could see another puddle with this stuff floating in it. that puddle was not connected to what was in the alley...that's when i figured out it was pollen (and not some disgusting stuff from their kitchen)... i just thought of something. each year the pollen is getting worse and worse and worse...i'll bet it's connected to the lack of bees. they're not around to do their thing (eat the pollen) so all the excess is just floating around and landing on everything when it's too dry. *shakes head* what a sad state of affairs!!
This morning, there is more 'stuff', and now it's white again. Are we sure this is pollen? I'm used to my car turning yellow from the stuff this time of year. This stuff is 'fuzzier' looking, and changes colors. .... weird...
