Beginner Gardening: whats wrong with my peppers?! :(, 0 by Ozark

Ozark wrote:
Most likely, it's PMMV - Pepper Mild Mottle Virus. That's very common, and while it won't kill the plants it will cause droopy leaves, leaves dropping off, and deformed peppers with soft spots. You'll probably still harvest some good peppers from those plants, but the crop will be much reduced.

I've quit getting pepper seedlings from nurseries because PMMV is so prevalent in nursery seedlings. In seedlings, look for crinkely, instead of smooth, new growth leaves - those plants carry the virus. Unfortunately, once you've got PMMV in your garden soil, you've got it from now on. Bell peppers are badly affected by it, while some non-bell sweet peppers like Gypsy aren't bothered at all. Most really hot pepper varieties aren't affected much, but Anaheims get badly damaged.

I've had that virus in my soil for years, brought to it by nursery seedlings I bought. I just have to work around it by planting non-susceptible pepper varieties, but that's been working out fine.