Comments on: Growing Peppers

By: reuben

reuben — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:31:26 +0000

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.

HI Reuben
Pepper maggots feed on flowers and fruit which will turn yellow and drop or larger fruit will become misshapen. Remove and destroy all dropped flower buds and fruit. I worse cases spray the plants with a pyrethrin or rotenone spray.

By: Ean D Valdez

Ean D Valdez — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:55:41 +0000

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?

HI Ean
I sounds like some kind on disease but there is not enough information to go by. Did you do any chemical spraying around the plant?

By: Evelyn Salinas-Yonta

Evelyn Salinas-Yonta — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:30:31 +0000

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

Hi Evelyn
Tomatoes, peppers and basil are warm weather plants. They will not tolerate cold temperatures and need to be kept indoors in bright (South window) light & humidity which can be difficult to attain. Even if you give it enough sun, don’t expect too much fruit production as it will never be the equivalent of growing outdoors. Don’t bother with dill and cilantro, reseed them next early spring. You can save the strawberries outdoors as you suggested. Tuck the runners into the soil as they will produce new plants next year.

By: Miloš Vachtfeidl

Miloš Vachtfeidl — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:43:29 +0000

Mám problém který bych potřeboval s Vaší pomocí vyřešit.Letošní ůroda paprik ve skleníku mne velice překvapila,papriky dosahují váhy i 400gr.ovšem jsou všechny tmavě zelené.Když jsem vyséval semena tak by měly být některé papriky žluté a jiné červené.Zatím vidím jen že pomalu od špičky začínají černat.Je to snad tím že začínají dozrávat a že se časem začnou zbarvovat?Prsím Vás snažně PORAĎTE díky.

By: Renee Poley

Renee Poley — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 02:05:59 +0000

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.

By: Gina

Gina — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 17:13:54 +0000

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?

Hi Gina
Are you sure that a bug is eating your blooms/buds? It may be that they are dropping on their own due to adverse weather conditions. see above comment 6/28 blossom drop

By: Jeff P

Jeff P — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:19:49 +0000

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.

Hi Jeff
Usually poor fruit set is due to adverse growing conditions-mainly the weather-see blossom drop. Also,pollen is very sensitive to heat and it changes chemically becoming infertile in temperatures above 95F. I don’t think picking the available fruit will stimulate new fruit. You may get larger fruit, if you cut some of the smaller fruit off. You can try to feed the plant with a higher middle # like a bloom boost or a 5-10-10 and see if that helps.

By: Lee Skiles

Lee Skiles — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:34:49 +0000

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

see above comments on 6/28/09 and 7/06/09 regarding blossom drop. A general 10-10-10 fertilizer with micronutrients works well.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 20:30:52 +0000

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??

By: Gail

Gail — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:37:38 +0000

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?

Hi Gail
Wait a little longer. Most likely, fruiting failure is weather related, if temps were above 90 degrees, they will drop flowers and fruit. Another factor may be that the plants are sooo happy in all that wonderful mushroom manure that they are getting more nitrogen than they need and are producing lots of leaves but not fruit. Do not fertilize and hopefully, they will start to produce.