A colleague noticed whitish specks on the leaves of a pepper plant growing on my window ledge. After examining them with the foldscope (in situ, without a slide), they appear as droplets. But of what? Any ideas?


 <img alt="pepper leaf specs 1 magnified 140x" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-29373 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="29373" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"1.7","credit":"","camera":"SM-G930W8","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1513870109","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.2","iso":"1250","shutter_speed":"0.16666666666667","title":"","orientation":"6"}' data-image-title="pepper leaf specs 1 magnified 140x" data-recalc-dims="1" height="225" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_29372/pepper-leaf-specs-1-magnified-140x.jpg" width="300"/>


 To help give context, here are three different views of what we observed.


 <img alt="pepper leaf with mystery specs" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-29374 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="29374" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"1.7","credit":"","camera":"SM-G930W8","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1513870277","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.2","iso":"125","shutter_speed":"0.016666666666667","title":"","orientation":"6"}' data-image-title="pepper leaf with mystery specs" data-recalc-dims="1" height="225" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_29372/pepper-leaf-with-mystery-specs.jpg" width="300"/>
 <img alt="pepper leaf magnified" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-29375 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="29375" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"1.7","credit":"","camera":"SM-G930W8","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1513870305","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.2","iso":"100","shutter_speed":"0.016666666666667","title":"","orientation":"3"}' data-image-title="pepper leaf magnified" data-recalc-dims="1" height="225" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_29372/pepper-leaf-magnified.jpg" width="300"/>
 <img alt="pepper leaf specs 2 magnified 140x" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-29376 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="29376" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"1.7","credit":"","camera":"SM-G930W8","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1513869910","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.2","iso":"1000","shutter_speed":"0.25","title":"","orientation":"6"}' data-image-title="pepper leaf specs 2 magnified 140x" data-recalc-dims="1" height="225" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_29372/pepper-leaf-specs-2-magnified-140x.jpg" width="300"/>


 -Paul Stinson




 PS We tried lifting some of the droplets with tape, to make a slide, but we couldn’t make out the shapes until looking at them directly on the leaf.

What are these specks on my hot pepper plant leaves?

Paul Stinson

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