Growing Peppers
Peppers are considered a warm season vegetable. There are many varieties of peppers ranging from sweet to hot. One of the oldest and popular garden varieties is the sweet, thick-walled bell pepper ‘California Wonder’.
Starting peppers from seed
Peppers can take 70-90 days to mature therefore, in the colder climates, should be started from seed two months before planting in the garden.
Planted seeds require temperatures of 78-80 degrees and can take 3 weeks to germinate.
Planting peppers
Before setting plants in the garden they need to be “hardened off“. This is done by setting the plants outdoors in a protected area when daytime temperatures are in the 60’s and bringing them inside at night. Gradually increase exposure each day for a week or more. Avoid direct sun and too much wind. When nighttime temps reach 60 degrees and the danger of frost has passed, plant seedlings or store bought plants in full sun (8-10 hrs) spacing 18-24 inches apart. Transplants should be planted at the same depth as grown in their container- too deep can suffocate the roots.
Don’t plant peppers where you previously grew tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant. They all belong in the same Solanaceous family and are susceptible to the same soil borne diseases.
Peppers don’t like cold temperatures. if night temperatures drop below 55 degrees or lower, they will grow very slowly, foliage will turn yellow and the flowers (if any) will drop off.
Care
Peppers prefer a well-drained, rich loamy soil. Use a starter fertilizer such as Quick Start (4-12-4) when transplanting and provide 1 inch of water per week throughout the growing season. Uniform moisture is essential. Overhead watering is not recommended especially when the plants are in bloom as it will wash away the pollen and eliminate fruiting.
Fertilize
Be careful not to apply too much fertilizer as adding too much nitrogen will give you a large leafy plant and no fruit. Once a crop of peppers is set, use an organic fertilizer with a low nitrogen ratio such as 1-3-3.
Hot, dry winds and dry soil prevent fruit set. So, if you live in a region with extremely hot temperatures look for peppers with” TAM” (Texas A&A) or Numex in their names. They were bred to set fruit in temperatures above 100 degrees.
You can also grown peppers in a container and bring it indoors for the winter.
So I’m growing Datil peppers, a St. Augustine variety of habanero. The fruits nature to grant ish yellow and the plant is ridiculously health, but something is eating the fruit from the stem down…ideas? I’m thinking slugs?
We have a jalapeno pepper in a green house in Halifax, NS. The leaves are curling and very crinkled with black areas and the plant is quite stunted. The nearby hot peppers look better but are suddenly dropping their green leaves. What to do? The small greenhouse is 8′ by 16′ and also contains tomatoes, green beans, eggplants and basil. Is this variety of plants unwise?
Thanks;
Dismayed Lola in Halifax
Good morning. I have four pepper plants this season, two jalapeno and two cayenne. I live in the Sierra Nevada mountains, zone 8, and the temperature does climb quite high here (110 sometimes). I’ve had these peppers in the ground since early May and they were doing great, thriving, and flowering. All of the plants have managed to produce a few peppers that seem to be doing well, but I’ve noticed a bit of a problem.
The new flower buds on all of my pepper plants turn yellow after they bloom and just fall off. It looks as if a tiny pepper had started within the flower bud, but for some reason it just dies. I had a pinky sized cayenne turn yellow and drop as well. The leaves on some of my pepper plants are getting yellow tinged, as opposed to the dark green I’ve grown accustomed to in years past (different location).
So I’m wondering what I’m doing wrong. The plants themselves are probably no higher than a foot tall, is the plant just too small to maintain any more fruit than it has? I water heavily in early morning every day, then let them be. They get roughly 8 hours of sun, with an afternoon interruption while the shadow of the house travels over them. The soil is heavily clay-like (red clay!), so I dug big holes in that and filled those with general potting soil (veggies and flowers), then planted all my peppers, tomatoes, and herbs in that. The tomatoes are going crazy.
I’m somewhat heartbroken over my sad looking peppers, as I was looking forward to those the most. Any input someone could provide on this issue is much appreciated, thank you!
-Taryn
Taryn what is happening to your peppers is known as blossom drop. Quite often it is caused by a lack of calcium in the soil around the plants. My potted peppers were doing this till I added crushed up egg shells and some coffee grounds to the soil. Try the egg shells around the plants and see if that helps any.
Also Taryn too much water on peppers is a bad thing for them, they will drop leaves and blooms as well as abort peppers
hi taryn
Just wanted to add that when temperatures get above 85-90F degrees and night temps are above 75F the flowers will not pollinate and will also drop. this will also happen with tomatoes.
I have 23 bell pepper plants I started from seeds. When they were about 3 to 4 inches tall I transplanted one each to its own six inch put. They were doing beautifully on deck about 6 hours of sun Temps in 80’s until transplanting. I watered when I transplanted no more than had been watering, but they wilted immediately. Is that normal. Will they come back. And how long will it take.
Dish/soap toxicity
I had problems with flies and I am not too sure what was eating the leaves of my bell pepper plants so I googled and found a soap remedy. It did not tell me to rinse off after an hour so I kept spraying plants with Dawn and water mixture. The plant leaves started turning brown and then fell off at a rapid rate. Have I killed them? Can I get them healthy again? When I figured I was killing them, I rinsed the leaves but they are still dying and I am no longer spraying with the mixture. Please help.
I have several plants growing in my garden I planted some pepper plants the package was of the 3 different colors. If I send you a pic. Can you tell me if this is a pepper plant or not?
send the pic to hortchat@gmail.com. I’d be happy to take a look.
Grow peppers
I’m a first time planter and I think I may have been a little too ambitious! Nevertheless, I bought myself some Bonnie green bell peppers, big bertha and habenero a from my local lowes and transplanted them as they were about the right size to do so.
Since then, I’ve noticed that there are white spots on the leaves of the big bertha and some yellowing. On the other hand, I can see sets of new leaves coming from the bottom of the stem and they look healthy enough. At this point there are probably 4-6 new leaves. I should let you know that I was unaware of the dangers of overhead watering and I bought my plant with two or three little peppers already on it. Yesterday bought some miracle grow all purpose plant food and found this site this morning! Also I transplanted the plant with a few matchsticks in the hole….saw that somewhere else and I am desperate for them not to die! I can also send pictures if my lack of knowledge in the area might have caused me to omit some vital details. Thanks for your time!!!
I live in So. Cal. I planted an Anaheim Chili last year and had a great harvest. I cut back the plant in Jan. and it started regrowing in March. The peppers this year are different. They are turning red when only 2 inches long and some are starting out red and all are spicier and somewhat bitter. Have any ideas whats going on?
Hi Beth
Has the weather been different this year than last year? Hot and dry weather will produce spicier peppers.
Dark streaks on peppers
I am growing two jalapeo plants for my 1st time and one plant all the jalapeo’s have black streak on the same side of each of em. What would cause that? Are they safe to eat? Thanks!
Hi there:
I live in Southern Cali and out here we can grow things at all different times of the year.
I had planted a few red bell pepper plants in March of 2011 and I ended up getting a few peppers from one plant this past January 2012 due to the warm season. None of the other peppers ever came in. I now have a few large plants that are in the same location as the original pepper plants that I believe are growing from the red pepper stems but there is no fruit on them and they are about three feet tall. They look like they have cotton on them. Do you know if this is a pepper plant?
Pollinating peppers
i have a poblano plant that is doing fairly well. At least i think it is. i have it potted inside under a grow light that is on for about 10-12 hours a day, with a couple hours of natural light thrown in. i have about 15 buds, and 4 recently bloomed. two of them i hand pollinated, two i didn’t. the two that i did both wilted away the next day. is that normal?
I read somewhere that cutting off the growing tip of a plant results in smaller-sized flowers, because it removes some hormone produced by the growing tip. Would you know if the smaller-sized flowers then results in smaller-sized fruit?
Hi Mook
Cutting off the growing tip will stimulate more lateral growth and allow the fruit to grow larger.
We are trying to grow ghost chilis for the first time. Please tell me what we did wrong.
With Batch 1: Started in Feb with a heated propogator, under a dome, in a full-sun window. We used Super Thrive. They did well but stopped growing when they reached approx 2 in. ht. On one 75 degree day we put them outside for 20 minutes (but we left the dome on). They all died. We did this because we were told that the sun would help the stunted growth problem.
Batch 2: Started three wks ago. THIS time we are using a grow light, heated propogator and dome. They are bright green and look great but have not grown at all in the last ten days. I have not used Super Thrive yet with this round. I was told not to start putting them outside until they reach at least 3 in. in ht. and not to plant them in the ground until they are 8 in. I just can’t seem to get them to that stage.
Help.
DO NOT PUT seedlings in the sun. Your idea to get a grow light was correct. YOu need to give your peppers time to start growing true leaves. DO NOT give any fertilizer. Keep them under your grow light until they have at least three sets of true leaves. THat means a total of 6 leafs plus the two pointy looking first leaves. Water them from the bottom. Go to youtube and watch this guys videos and you will have to more problems. Good luck http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_3Bv52vi9c
Wintering pepper plants indoors
I have 4 types of pepper that I started growing outside in the spring of last year. They did awesome, I mean GREAT! I recently bought a grow light that stays on about 13 hours a day and have a back room where a lot of sun comes in, almost like a green house but with a normal roof, with windows all the way around it. It normally get really warm during the day in that room about 80 degree, and then will come down to about 40/50 at night depending on how cold it is outside. I brought my plants in right before frost of last year and they seem to still do great, producing peppers and everything. I water regularly, about every 3/4 days and the soil does not stay soaked. I also have a fertilizer I mix in with the water once a month. …. My plants are dying, dropping leaves and peppers, nothing staying healthy, and it’s getting frustrating. They are curling up, discoloring and dropping, my plants are almost bare. The only thing doing well is my rosemary plant…. 🙁 help?
Bring pepper plant indoors
I have a baby bell pepper plant that has an infestation of its soil, but due to the cold weather I really want to bring it indoors in new soil and trim down its height. Will that kill the plant? I really want to keep it around to keep producing. As its my first attempt at growing vegetables
I have habanero plants and i have a bunch of peppers on the plant and they are green and it getting cold here will they still change color
I have a plant. It’s in because it’s cold out. Can I self pollen the buds. I have two bud that fell off if I put them in water will they grow?
Pepper heat and flavor
Hi There
I have grown three large Jalapeno plants that have bared lots of green fruit, i grew them because opposed to other chili’s that are just for heat, Jalapeno’s have a nice taste and just the right heat.
I tried my first home grown jalapeno recently, it was a smallish one, however i didnt get the standard flavour you would get from a shop brought jar or served on a pizza at restaurant, the flavour i like, instead it just tasted like a hot red chili, Why is this? was it because it was a small one? or when you get them at restaurants or our of jars have they had something done to them to produce this flavour?
Regards
Phil M
I have a number of red bell pepper plants that have abundant fruit. The night time lowes are going into the 40’s briefly. Will this cause problems with the existing fruit (still green) or should i go ahead and pick them for dehydration now. I would hate to lose them!
I live in Southwest Florida and I planted some Grand Bell Peppers from seeds in the end of June/beginning of July. I have approx 8 plants in a partly sunny bed in my yard. They have finally started to produce the sweetest little peppers I have ever tasted! But out of the peppers 2 of them are small, round and have almost like a light brown, ruff skin on them… any idea what that could be? I havent cut them open to see how they look on the inside. Also the Plants are pretty close together, and the peppers they are producing are on the small side. It has been very hot here mixed with a few intense rain storms… should I thin them out to see if they produce bigger fruit? ~Thanks!
Thick-walled peppers
I’ve tried growing peppers for several years, (Bell, Anaheim, New Mexico) and seem to have a recurring problem. I have good fruit set, growth seems normal, but when I cut into the peppers, the flesh is very thin. Compared to “store bought” peppers, the flesh is only about half as thick (less than 1/8″ or even 1/16″) Is there a watering or fertilizing regimen that might direct growth to a thicker flesh?
“The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Matthew 26:41
Pepper maggot
I live in Connecticut. My green peppers look perfect in size and color from the outside but when I open some of them up they’re black inside. What causes this condition and should I assume this is some type of rot making the fruit uneatable?
Hi!
The soil was not too wet,yes! those plants just dropping leaves and all the branch dry out and dye Thanks for your help
I live in NJ,I had 12 plant of habanero hot pepper and 90 plants of mexican hot pepper.they were healthy and produce lot of fruits till 8-5 we had a heavy hail storm,then 3or 4 days after they start dying I lost so far 5 habanero planes and 10 of mexican pepper planes,Do you have any idea what cause it? Thanks for your help
I have bell pepper plants, and something is eating the flesh from the peppers in large areas at a time. I have pictures I could post if that is needed, but I would like to know what insects will strip the flesh from the peppers.
Thank you for your help.
Hi Deborah
Look for caterpillars-they may be eating at night. send a picture to Kris@hortchat.com
Can anyone tell me why my bell pepper seeds are brown? I harvested them for seed saving for next year and when I opened the peppers some seeds were white and some discolored brown??? Same thing with my jalepeno’s?? Both types came from my organic garden.
Any help would be appreciated, I am new to seed saving.
I have some yellow and green bell peppers planted in a pot outside. They both have beautiful fruit on them but the peppers are BLACK. Could you please tell me what’s up with that? The same goes for my bush beans. Thank you Patty
Is it a black variety that you are growing or are they black as rotting (diseased)?
I transplanted my pepper plants into 5 gallon bucket since the temperatures up here in Washington State are still relatively cool. Should I transplant them outside when the temperatures start to warm up, or will I be fine leaving them in the 5 gallon buckets while moving them in full sun during the daytime?
Wilting peppers
My bell peppers wilt two days after watering and as soon as I water them they perk back up and look healthy. They have fruit and blossoms both on them. I water them about 1″ at a time but they don’t last over two days before looking sick again. What is my problem.
Hi, I live in SC and planted my bell pepper about 3 months ago. I have these red/orange bugs on the stem of the plant. They look like ants(not ants I’m sure) but much bigger. The are also an red/orange color. Any idea what kind of bug this is and if it will hurt the plants?
I have the same bug on my pepper plants, they look like ants, but are bigger and red/orange in color. they are covering one of my peppers and act like a beetle, but look like an ant. Please help.
Purple leaves on pepper
I planted a mammoth jalapeno plant 2 weeks ago,and the leaves have turned a totally different color. Light and shiny looking. But the stems are still green,what should I do?
What color did they change to?
Like an irredescent color. purplish brown in color. I went and bought another one and it’s starting to do the same thing!
I’m from S.E. Pennsylvania. I just planted 12 bell pepper plants three days ago. This morning,eight of the plants’ leaves were lying at the base of the bare stalks,uneaten.They are fenced in with chicken wire 4 ft. high so it is not rabbits.It’s May,29 2011. any suggestions?
Chipmunks?
Grow multiple varieties together
can you plant multiple varietiesof colored sweet peppers in close proximity or int he same large container or will they cross polinate and end up as a muddle and not produce the requisite red, yellow, etc. fruit??
I used the insect spray called Sevin. Is that bad? There is alot of pests where I live and in my Garden.
I have a big bertha pepper plant and I saw something like a bug or something on the little pepper growing. I took my nail and ran it down the side of the pepper really soft. About two minutes later a black line appeard on the pepper. It was like a Bruise. Will it go away as it grows?
Seedlings yellowing
My green pepper seeds have just sprouted. But ive noticed that the seedlings leaves are turning yellow. Some are growing brown leaves when they sprouted. Please help what is wrong this is my first time growing peppers.
First I just want to say you have a very informative website. Many of the questions I have been searching for answers for have been answered by reading your website.
I am a first time grower and am taking on the rather ambitious task of attempting to grow Hungarian hot peppers also known as banana peppers. I live in NYC and I am growing only indoors. I germinated eight seeds in late November of 2010 and now I am down to one plant left. The other plants died off when I transplanted them from medium sized plastic cups to 5 gallon smart pots. My last plant is approximately 10†tall and 7†wide. It is in a 5 1/2†X 6†ceramic pot with adequate drainage. I have a dedicated light source which consists of two 24 inch LED grow lights. (http://www.led-grow-master.com/LGM5.html) My plant is positioned 14†from the light source and it also gets ambient light. The pepper plant is situated on top of a heating mat which keeps it in the upper 70’s. The soil content is 40% Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Potting Mix, 40% Miracle-Gro Orchid Potting Mix and 20% worm castings. I water it when the top 1/4 inch is dry to the touch. I also include a few drops of fish fertilizer in the water every couple of weeks.
Now for my problems,
My plant has stopped growing in size. I have read that banana pepper plants reach at least a foot in length. Is this because I need to repot? If so how do I do this without it dying off like the others? How do I get it out of a ceramic pot without breaking the pot?
My plant grows flowers and then they fall off. It has been doing this since February. I thought this was because it was still cold outside but then found out that I need to pollinate them myself. The flowers still fall off. What could be the cause of this?
Why can’t I get peppers to start growing?
I have tiny, brown, translucent insects that crawl around in the soil. I don’t see any damage to the stems or leaves. Could they be part of the problem?
Insects (fungus gnats) are a sign that the soil is too wet.
I planted red, yellow, and purple bell pepper seeds in small containers. I read that they were difficult to grow so I put 4-5 in the same container. ALL of the seeds germinated. I have them under 2 lamps with 100 watt bulbs. I lightly water them every other day and they get about 12-13 hours of light every day. Is this enough light? When and how do I separate plants?
Planting time
i love jalapeno peppers and would like to grow some this year. i started some seeds indoors in january because the package said they can go in the ground by march in this area but the last frost is not till april 9th. did i start my peppers too early?
Grow peppers indoors
I am growing a bell pepper plant indoors. It gets 6 hours of sun sitting in front of my sliding glass door. It is planted in a 1 gallon container. I give it Dr Q’s vegetable and tomato food.The peppers are growing very small. How do I get normal sized peppers?
I decided to move my jalapheno plant inside for winter, i still have peppers and flowers on it but I seem to be loosing leaves and baby peppers whats wrong with my plant. Its only been inside for about a week and i feed it plant food the day before moving it inside. please help
I have about 5 bell pepper plants about 4 feet tall that I started from seedlings. They have produced alot of football shaped spiky bright green things on them. They haven’t changed in a month– was wondering if this is familiar to you??? Thanks- Melissa
Sunscald
I just planted red, green, yellow and orange bell pepper in my garden about a month ago. Each plant has anywhere from 2 to 6 peppers on it. My question is about how long does it take for them to start turning colors once they have grown? I have notices that a couple of the peppers look as if they are beginning to rot with a brown thinning spot located near the top of the pepper. We opened the pepper but didn’t see anything that resembled a maggot. So my questions are how long to change color and why do they appear to be rotting? Thanks in Advance.
Nutrient deficiency
I have a wonderfully prolific indoor chilli plant (nearly two years, it has survived one UK winter indoors), but it seems to have developed a serious problem. All the tiny new leaf shoots at the axils have turned black, dried up and fallen off; there are NO new leaf shoots developing anywhere. The plant has just come to the end of a good harvest (30 chillies), with some problems. It showed unusually large numbers of rather stunted chillies this time around: eg. chillies without a good shiny waxy coat, aborted-chillies both tiny and mid-sized, etc. Most of the ripe chillies have now been harvested, just a couple remain, and 8 of the plant’s ‘held-in-reserve’ baby chillies (while the main harvest was in progress, these 1/2cm fruit seemed in suspended animation) have suddenly begun growing again. So that is a good sign, at least. But as I said, every single growing leaf shoot at the leaf axils have all shriveled and died off, and I can spot no new leaf growth anywhere. The remaining leaves are generally healthy though a few are yellowing slightly and dropping. Do you know what this might be? Is there any hope? Thank you in
advance for your advice.
Yellow bottom leaves
Hi,
I’m growing my first bell pepper plant, infact is my first ever Plant. Its currently at 18inch high and has 12 buds all growing at the peak. The first bud started to grow a nice white colour, but now the bud is turning yellow and it has not blossomed. The lower leafs are turning yellow also however the top of the plant is very green. The plant currently sits in my kitchen (i’m in the uk) and has full sunlight all day and the temp never drops below 70c.
Any Ideas?
Honeydew and sooty mold
I have pepper plants in pots on my patio in full sun. The leaves are covered in a sticky substance with a blackish color to it. I recently had the first pepper come on one of the plants and it had 2 round holes in it about a pencil eraser size. What is eating my plant and how do I take care of this problem? This only seems to be affecting my pepper plants. The tomatoes and beans are doing great. Thank you.
Will it bloom again?
My pepper plants (4) are all 10 weeks old and at least three feet tall. The jalepeno and chili peppers are producing fine fruit, but by two bell peppers are not producing any flowers. They tried to produce flowers about a month ago, which all fell off probably due to the excessive rain we had, but right after that it got really hot. My question now is will these plants produce flowers/fruit after the heat wave ends or should I try to start again with new plants? I’m a little confused. I’ve had bell peppers for seven years and it seems my harvest has gotten progressively worse!
Blossom end rot
Hello,
I have a variety of pepper plants (wax, jala, serrano, anaheim) that I grew from seeds then transplanted outside. They transplanted fine and are producing flowers, new leaves and fruit. The problem I’m having is that some of the peppers are drying up on the plant. They will grow to about 2 inches long, then start at the tip and dry the whole fruit until its weak enough to pluck off the plant. The plants look fine, leaves/stems are healthy looking. I mixed the soil with organic miracle grow soil that says it feeds for 2 months. They are in full sun with well drained soil. I water every 1-2 days, the leaves don’t wilt.
I have a cayenne pepper about 7inches tall. Its flowering, should I prune the flower?
I have 3 pepper plants in one pot w/ 8” diameter. I planted them at home depot with a “gardener” who stated that would be plenty of room for them. Yet, they have no grown much and I have read that they need at least 12 inch each. Can I re-pot them even if one has a pepper and the other two have flowers?
Thanks.
My pepper plants are flowering. Should i cut the flowers off or let them grow?
I haev planted a couple bell peppers in pots since my tiller would not run to get the garden going, Oh well. figured I would try pots. the plants were doing fine until today I noticed one was all wilted. I did not see any bugs on them nor any coloring changes, just teh plant is all wilted. we haev had smoe nightime storms with heavy rain. could OVER watering cause them to wilt? I did notice on this particular one that teh pot still has the base attached and had water pooled in it.
Grow tips shrivel
I live in Southern California and am trying to grow bell peppers. So far the top leaves have gone limp and then shrivel up.
Anyone got a fix for this?
Cut worm
I’m from south TX and we recently planted bell & hot peppers in a raised bed. I’ve noticed that about one pepper per day has it’s last couple of inches on the main stalk chewed through to where the plant just falls over only to wilt. This is even after a liberal dose of insecticidal soap.
Any ideas of what the culprit might be?
Well, I found out what the culprit is…not cut worms, but leaf cutter ants…there’s nothing left of most of the plant’s leaves in the whole yard. They are even stripping several good-sized trees such as a Chinese tallow that I blame for starting the onslaught of my peppers…The ants climb the tree and in their toil in the tree has cut leaves raining down on the garden then the workers are just cleaning up everything in their path…yet strangely enough, they have not touched the tomatoes.
Better luck next year for peppers…
i live in hawaii and have a problem with pepper maggots. i have several different types of hot peppers and i noticed that they all seem to have tiny maggots in the peppers. i have searched everywhere on the web and found out they are called pepper maggots, but i cannot find a cure for this anywhere. is there anything i can do to cure this problem. thanks for any help given.
I have 3 pepper plants,Mammoth Jalapeno,Cayenne,Hot banana. I planted them over a yr ago, and they were producing lots of peppers. more than ten every few weeks.They get lots of sunshine and water and they get fertilized about every 3 weeks.They are about 10 inches apart from one another. But now the stock and the leaves have turn a sickly yellow and the peppers they are producing are very soft and the taste and hottness has been dumbed down quite a bit. They dont have any insect infestation that I can see, they drain very well after watering, no fungi on them or the soil..no nothing.Can somebody please give me advise on this?
I have a question..I have jalipeno and serano and green, yellow, red, orange peppers, strawberrys, cilantro,basil, dill, rosemary tomatoes and potatoes growing on my balcony.. I live in Kingston ny and i would like to know when winter comes what do i do with the plants in the winter time.. i have the rosemary plants in its own Pots i know i will bring them inside the house as well as my tomatoes.. but for the other plants i have them growing inside planters that are attatched on my balcony i cant bring them inside the house.. i have built cider boxes for next summer for the plants to grow in.. i would like to know if i leave them out side but put them in side the boxes i have build for them.. if i wrap them in clear thick drop cloth bags..i can put them inside with poles in the box and cover them with the plastic cover to prevent the snow from getting on them.. would that pretect the plants from frezzing in the box.. i would be wraping the hole box in this and use silver ducktape on the plastic to prevent the plastic from blowing all over the place.. but i feel.. would this keep them warm in the winter time.. i will uncover them in march or april..my thing is how would i water them or is it i should water them just a little.. and the other question is how about the little basil,dill,cilantro can i leave them out side and cover with the thick plastic as well would they make it during the winter months.. and i would like to know about my strew berrys do i have to cover them as well.. they do have long arms that are hanging over the balcone as well.. or should i cut the arms off and let them grow on there own in the summmer time next year.. or should i just let them be and they will fall off when the snow or ice hits them..i would like to know what to do with them before the winter starts its September now and its getting a little cold now.. so please give me some information in what to do before october.. so i know what to buy or get to prepare my plants for the winter to come.. thank you in any kind of help in this matter.. evelyn salinas-yonta
Mám problém který bych potÅ™eboval s VaÅ¡Ã pomocà vyÅ™eÅ¡it.LetoÅ¡nà ůroda paprik ve sklenÃku mne velice pÅ™ekvapila,papriky dosahujà váhy i 400gr.ovÅ¡em jsou vÅ¡echny tmavÄ› zelené.Když jsem vyséval semena tak by mÄ›ly být nÄ›které papriky žluté a jiné Äervené.ZatÃm vidÃm jen že pomalu od Å¡piÄky zaÄÃnajà Äernat.Je to snad tÃm že zaÄÃnajà dozrávat a že se Äasem zaÄnou zbarvovat?PrsÃm Vás snažnÄ› PORAÄŽTE dÃky.
I have several green pepper plants in my greenhouse and the peppers are starting to grow. I have managed to control the mites on the leaves by spraying them with the mist part of the noozle.
However, my peppers are not growing evenly – they look like little bumps – not smooth and round.
Can you explain what causes them to be malformed in their shape – they look healthy so far.
I iive in SC, and have planted bell pepper, sweet banana, and cubanelle. The plants and leaves are fine, but something is eating the blooms / buds only! There are no visible holes in the leaves, but it’s very disappointing to see blooms (and hope for fruit) only to see they have been bitten off! Has anyone heard of this? How do I kill it?
I have a (smallish) purple jalepeno plant and some thai chili pepper plant that are producing a few peppers. They flowered about a month ago and the peppers are doing well, though the yields are not too high (less than 8 peppers per plant. Will picking the available fruit stimulate the plant to produce more? Is there any method to cause the plant to make or keep more flowers at flowering time. Even if I can’t get more this year I’d like to know for next year.
I planted 6 Bell plants about 8 weeks ago The plants look strong green and healthy I even have peppers on three of the plants. But, I am experiencing blossom drop and in some cases the plants have aborted very small peppers. What is it I can do about this? What is the best side fertilizer I can use? I have lousy soil and I have tried to improve before planting. I have used the Miracle Grow liquied fertilizer to this date but I am not sure it is what the plant needs.
Lee skiles
My green peppers are turning black in some areas on the veggie. The plant and leaves look healthy, The pepper is solid and firm even in the black areas. Someone mentioned to me that maybe I have alot of iron in my soil. Could that be my problem??? Are they safe to eat??
please tell me the outcome of this problem, as i have the same problem on 1 of my plants now (out of 4 plants) – and have spent the last 4 hours trying to find an answer!
Thank you.
Fruiting failure
I planted 6 bell pepper plants about 6 – 7 weeks ago, which are now very full and tall almost 36″. The plants are very lush, lots of foliage, and look very healthy. There have been lots of blossoms, which eventually fall off and not one iota of fruit has appeared. The plants have been kept moist, by soaking about one inch of water a week. I am using raised beds for the first time with a 50 – 50 topsoil, mushroom manure mix. My other veggies and flowers are doing really well. I am ready to pull the plants which are taking up valuable space in my small urban garden. Should I wait it out a little longer?
Blossom drop
Hi, I have bell peppers planted and the flowers fall off. I live in Utah and I have read your posted emails. So, to get the flowers from falling off, I need to tap the flowers to pollinate them. I will try that and hopefully get some nice peppers.
Friut drop on pepper plant
Hi,
I planted a bunch of green pepper plants, one red bell pepper and one jalapeno pepper plant. They all seem to be growing well but I am noticing the black joints on them. Reading above comments pretty much assure me it is normal, but on my red bell pepper plant, it is causing all the little peppers to fall off. The areas are all dark then the “branch” seems weak and even a wind can knock the pepper with its stem right off, just when they are “babies” and not even close to maturity. I’m hoping this doesn’t repeat itself with the other plants. We’ve had almost two weeks of rain, but not sure if the ends are rotting, need more fertilizer or what. Any ideas?
Cutworm
I live in south georgia and am very puzzled. I have planted about 30 pepper plants and
they look great one day and the next all wilted. I started digging the wilted ones up and noticed that the pepper plant was cut into beneath the soil. Have heard of cut crickets. Do you thing a bug is doing this and if so what can I do.
Hi,
I planted some bell peppers about 4 weeks ago. It seems to be flowering nicely. However I’ve noticed some of the stems on the flowers are turning slightly yellow and are weak and fall right off the plant before the new pepper really starts to get going. Any ideas what’s going on? Or is it really too early for the plant?
Thanks!
Neal E.
Hello!
I planted several pepper plants in my outdoor garden. I have noticed on most of my pepper plants mainly bell pepper plants dark/brown areas at the joints where the little branches meet the stem. What, why, and how? Any help will be greatly appreciated! 🙂
Thanks
Amber H
Last year my HOT peppers were not the least bit warm. I planted Jalapenos and habaneros. I live in the Pacific Northwest and was told that it was not warm enough for them here. Please advise….I love hot peppers
Thanks, Julee
I have 3 Cayenne pepper plants and am loosing a lot of leaves due to yellowing leaves whats my problem I water daily and have tomatoes next to them and they are doing fine
Thanks,
Larry
Hi Larry
It may be that you are watering them too much. A sign of overwatering peppers is if the lower leaves turn yellow, wilt and fall off. The tomatoes may be growing at a faster pace and take up water at a faster rate.
Another issue is that pepper plants and tomatoes use the same nutrients also so they fight for nutrients. tomatoes require way more water than the peppers do. Cayenne peppers are a drier climate pepper so need less water.
Grow hot and sweet peppers together
is it recommended that both sweet and hot pepper be planted together or in close proximity. if not, what are the implications
I hope you have time to answer my question. I grow green/red peppers in my sunroom and have been for about 8 months now and I get lovely peppers but some of my plants leaves are puckering. What do they need? I feed them all jobes sticks, the bigger sticks, and a little 20-20-20- liquid fertilizer mixed in water but a lot weaker solution than the jar says to. I get lots of flowers and I pollinate with a brush. Its strange that only some of the plants have puckering because they all get the same water/fertilizer/light. I thank you for any answers and info you may give me as I really enjoy growing those peppers. You have a very interesting site and its quite helpful. Thanks for that too. Linda
Hi, I bought a bell pepper plant in the uk and as our weather isn’t the best took to growing it indoors, it has produced a couple of nice peppers, however, now the leaves are starting to droop and going a yellow in colour there is still a pepper growing and a new one on it’s way, are there any tips regarding the leaves and whether you are supposed to cut the plant down at some point to enhance next years growth or is it a case of leaving it to do its thing?
I live in central/southern AZ and something appears to be cutting off leaves and blooms on my bell pepper plant. I’ve looked up every bug, fungus, disease I can find on several Extension sites but nothing seems to match.
My plant blooms and then when the bloom fades and fruit is ready to set the bloom AND the stem of the bloom are just cut off. The same happens to various leaves on the plant, too. I find them dropped, uneaten, in the pot.
I found a few white eggs on some stems and removed it with a wet rag. Earlier in the season some leaves were chewed on but that seems to have stopped. I did find a spider sack on the back of one leaf and removed the leaf. I have sprayed with pepper spray and diatomaceous earth, I have added sand on top of the pot to discourage attracting some bugs, and nothing seems to stop this invisible critter. I tried raising bells a few years ago and something ate every leaf on my plant… so this isn’t the first time (but this is new soil and a new pot).
We live in MD and have 4 bell pepper plants started from seed in containers. It is very hot now – over 90 degrees. Lots of rain too in the early part of the season. It seemed to rain gallons every day in June.
Most blossoms & small fruit fell off during that time, and the one fruit that was getting big got the end rot thing.
Plants now look big and healthy, but a couple problems:
– in direct sunlight the plants start looking all wilted in the heat of the day, even when the soil has been watered. when moved to shade they perk back up in a hour or two.
– Plants still aren’t fruiting much. Probably due to the current temperatures over 90 degrees during the day. Maybe we can bring them indoors for a bit to get them to blossom?
– One plant has a bunch of fuit, but the end rot still seems to be a problem. Got the biggest one 2 days ago.
Any thoughts?
Black axils on the plant
I planted two bell pepper plants in big pots with miracle grow container soil in a very sunny spot. The I have a lot of nice looking peppers growing. The leaves of the plants are green and everything seems to be going great with one exception. The stems of the plants mainly where they branch out are black. I believe they have been this way since I started growing them. Am I doing something wrong? Is this really bad? What can I do to fix it? Should I be providing support for my plants?
my bell pepper plants the leaves are curling up and falling off, the plant itself doesnt look like its dying any suggestions why this is happening
I am growing a red pepper plan indoors. When I am ready to use a pepper do I cut it from the stem, or twist it off, or just pop off the pepper. I want the plant to stay alive and continue to produce, but I am new at this.
For those of you reading this page who may be interested in hand pollinating your plants, Here is what I’ve done to hand pollinate tomatoes (also known as ‘self-pollinating’)
buy a cheap vibrating toothbruch at wally world. just turn it on and vibrate each flower stem for about 10 seconds every day or so until you see fruit set. I did this with my window tomatoes and had 100% fruit set. In fact I had to cut some of the fruits off so the others would get more nutrients.
Hope this helps!
Thanks for the tip!!
are Pepper plants self pollinating? If not can I pollinate with a Q-tip? I don’t have a lot of bees around. Thanks
I have a pepper plant that came up from last year that is about 6 feet tall and about 4 feet wide there is lots of flowering on the plant and bell peppers but they are the size of peas and have been that size for about 1 month – what is wrong?
I am growing sweet yellow peppers in my greenhouse and they were doing well. However I have noticed that something is eating the leaves and leaving a clear sticky like film. I can’t see any evidence of bugs. Can you help? Thanks
I would not say a lot of rain…normal amounts. The black parts are only where the leaf meets the stem and its not soft nor sunken. The leaf just starts to discolor, yellow or black and then fall off and rot. The top 1/3rd of the plant looks great.
I planted a few different kinds of peppers a few months ago. Some are doing well, but others have a problem. From the base of the plant up about 2/3s up the stem where the leaf meets the stem it has turned black and the leaves have fallen off. The tops of the plants look great, but the lowest leaves keep keep falling off. What should I do?
Have you had a lot of rain? Are the black parts soft and sunken?
I planted green peppers a few weeks ago and to date they are not putting on any new growth but are the same as when I planted them. What do I do?
Bitter tasting pepper
Please Help! We have just harvested 2 of out first green bell peppers. They are big and beautiful, with shiny smooth skin. Not as many seeds inside as I see in grocery store ones, but other than that they look the same. They are very bitter! When you cook them in ,say, a pot roast, the bitterness becomes even more pronounced. What could be causing this? This is a new garden spot on a newly purchased piece of property that had lots of trash and old lawnmowers on it???!!! Could this have contributed? Also, a house burnt down on the site…Thanks
What is eating my bell peppers? I recently planted peppers in my garden. The plants are doing well except that over past few days something has eaten the leaves from several and only the stem is remains.
I’ve recently planted three pepper plants in Austin TX, and two of them are doing well, but one has been chewed off at it’s base and hangs over limp. There is a little white fungus around there. Is there anything I can do to save this plant?
I recently moved to South Carolina and planted a very large pepper garden (Hot wax and Jalepeno.) They are stuck in idle mode. No apparent plant growth, but flowers are beginning to show up. Should I prune the flowers to allow more plant growth?
I have had great success with peppers in Ohio,but seem to have messed up down here?
I had mites almost kill two hot pepper plants. All the leaves have fallen off, however i do see new growth at the bottom of the plant. I have controlled the mites now, but should i cut off all the empty branches above the new growth? What pruning if any should i be doing? I have banana pepper & cayenne plants.
Please tell me how I can can my hot peppers to save for the winter months. I did this several years ago, but I have forgotten how I did it. I think I boiled vinegar,but maybe I had to put something in it.
We planted four pepper plants approx 6weeks ago, along with tomatoes. We water regularly from bottom. Flowers starting, but now leaves folding inward,curling at end. No bugs are visible, and tomatoes look marvelous…. any Suggestions.
If I have three pepper plants planted close together, will this effect the overall growth of the plants?
How soon from the farmer’s market should we plant our pepper plants as they are about 10cm high and my wife picked them up 4 days ago?
I live in Arizona and have just gone through my first bell pepper season which was moderately successsful, although after planting in March 2005 they did not bear fruit until October. They still have some small fruit. Should I try and prep the existing plants for another season by cutting them back and fertilizing, or tear them out and get new seedlings?
Recently I planted some bell peppers that did really well. But all of a sudden the peppers are falling off before being big enough to harvest. Is there anything I can do?
why are my peppers rotting on the plant
We love bell peppers and have tried to grow them several times. The problem we have is that the plants don’t get very tall and though they flower and do produce peppers, they are very small in size and don’t seem to have that wonderful bell pepper taste. They are somewhat bitter. We live in North Carolina and others we know have had the same problem. Does anyone know what we may be doing wrong?
Blossom drop
My pepper plants produce buds, then I find them all over the ground……is a bug to blame? Thank you.
I transplanted Golden Bell pepper plants. The fruit looks like regular green Bell peppers until they are about to rot and fall off the plant. Is there some way to pick the peppers and cause them to turn golden so they can be put in salads?
I am wondering if there is a problem with the plants. Usually, bell peppers start out green and then mature to either red, yellow or purple depending on their variety. Either the variety is not true (as sometimes this can happen)or it could be caused by disease or environmental problems. To get a yellow color you need warm temps above 75 degrees. You can try to pick the pepper green and leave it on the counter to see if it turns yellow. From past experience I have found yellow peppers difficult to grow.