raised-bed Problems growing peppers in my raised beds

I do not have a picture of my peppers to post but I did find this on Google which represents what my peppers look like. Here are the details that I can share. I am hoping someone can give me advise moving forward to avoid this.
 
My raised beds are now two years old. Soil added was originally 1/3 sphagnum peat, 1/3 vegetative compost and 1/3 perlite. I have amended it with stuff like black cow, mushroom compost, homemade compost, blood meal, bone meal, green sand and rock phosphate since. The first year a few pepper plants would exhibit what you see below. This was in a single bed with about a dozen sweet banana peppers. After the first month of all the peppers looking great about 4 of them started to look like this. The leaves formed when it was healthy continued to look fine where new growth looked like this. I let things be for the rest of the grow with the peppers unaffected grew three times the size while the others remained stunted to nearly the same size. New leaves never got larger then an inch or so. Affected and unaffected were all within feet of each other.
 
Since then all peppers plants I grow in my beds end up with this. So I did a few experiments.
 
I grew two peppers hydroponically outdoors in the same general area and 4 indoors. All of them grew exceptionally well and produced lots of fruit. I then grew peppers in solo cups until they were about 6 inches tall, outdoors. The only thing I noticed with them were whiteflies under the leaves. I had to spray neem oil every few days to keep them away but they always came back. When I transplanted them they would end up looking like the picture below within a week or two.
 
Some more facts to add:
 
I had a few soil tests done by IFAS to assure that it was not a nutrient problem. The tests came back positive for all nutrients with the only thing of concern was the PH which is about 7.6. I know 6.5 is more ideal but I don't think this is where the problem is. If you disagree please let me know. I can try to add sulfur to see if that changes anything. I don't believe this is high enough to cause a calcium lockout.
 
The soil drains well and doesn't stay wet or too moist so I don't believe water is an issue.
 
I see in this picture that there might be some mites on this plant. I do not detect insects other then some aphids or whiteflies that I take care of right away. They may come back a bit later but never in large quantities as I keep on top of killing them when present. Could they be transmitting a disease to cause this?
 
I am dumbfounded to be honest.
 
25ba46b4-3c56-40e8-8148-65f001a5fa7d.jpg
 
can't see mites without magnification. get a jewelers loupe
if your nutrients are good on the soil test and the soil is draining you should be good there.
I can't say if pH 7.6 would be problematic, I'm sure someone else will chime in...
best of luck!
 
Edmick said:
Looks like mites
This. Broad mites more likely than spider mites, which make the little webs. Azamax works well.

Unfortunately the deformed leaves will never heal but after a few treatments new growth should normalize.
 
I had the same problems up in N. Central FL, and nematodes in the soil appeared to be the issue (other than aphids and white flies which you can see).  Since I switched to container growing, I have not had that problem.  Maybe if you line the bottom with water-permeable fabric, and change out your soil, you might see an improvement.
 
Herbicide drift can seriously deform new growth and stunt plants. Gnarly curled tops are pretty normal for that. Any chance of that in your area? Neighbors use round up?  Although not sure that explains the selective nature of the deformity...meaning not all peppers where affected.
 
Good luck man.
 
Looks like broad mite damage. You should be able to see them with a magnifying glass under the leaves. They are whitish almost transparent and move very quickly for theii size.
 
I zoomed in on above pic.

Its loaded with 2 different pests and possibly even a third unless that bug is eating 9ne of the others.
 
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