I'm growing red and yellow bell peppers for the first time this year. The first ones are just now getting up to full size, but about half of them have these awful-looking black spots. This one in the pic is one of the worst.
Please tell me what it is, and what I can do to prevent it...if anything. :)
Many thanks,
Deb
are they in full sun? they might be getting sun scorched and then the spots turn into mold? That looks pretty bad!! I hope you can figure it out.
They are in mostly full sun, between 11am and 3pm. In my yard, I have to search for sunny spots, so too much sun never occurred to me! LOL.
I did a little Googling and found Blossom End Rot, which sounds like it might be this; whaddaya think?.
If your peppers don't have any shielding from the sun they could get burnt on really hot days. I'm not super familiar with blossum end rot but I thought that only affected the side of the fruit that had the blossum? not in random spots like yours? I dunno, hopefully someone with more experience can chime in!
I see from the picture that you cut the pepper in half. Do you see a worm inside? Sometimes insects will deposit an egg inside, & later it hatches into a small worm.
It's Blossom End Rot (BER) most usually found on tomatoes, but also found on peppers.
Usually caused by a lack of calcium.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/3000/3117.html
This message was edited Jul 5, 2010 2:57 PM
I actually didn't cut that one in half, but it was the worst affected one. Most of them have one spot on or near the bottom.
I did cut it open after and there was no sign of anything inside.
Thanks for the info about the sun, too! I didn't realize peppers could get too much.
Paulgrow, any suggestions how to get calcium into the soil asap?
Deb
Definitely looks like BER. I just posted this on another thread in reference to what causes BER...
The jury is kinda still out on BER. Some say it is inconsistent watering. Some say it is a calcium deficiency. What I think from my experience is that it is a combo of at least the two. I also only see BER in the earliest fruits if I see it at all. The plants seem to "outgrow" it and the later fruits are fine. I think that calcium is available in adequate amounts in most soils and that younger plants do not absorb calcium from the soil adequately.
I think there are many factors that can limit a plant’s ability to absorb calcium: fluctuations in soil moisture (too wet or too dry), excessive nitrogen in the soil, root damage, a too high or too low soil pH, cold soil (as evidenced by BER being more prevalent when plants are young) and soil high in salts.
Some ways to try and prevent it?
- allow soil to warm before planting
- maintain soil pH at or near 6.5
- use fertilizers that are low in nitrogen and high in phosphorous.
- maintain consistent levels of moisture in the soil throughout the growing season
- water deeply to get water down into the root zone
- use mulch to minimize evaporation and help maintain consistent soil moisture
Read the link I posted from OSU for remedies.
I stopped my BER on container grown tomatoes by adding a little calcium
I soak egg shells in a jug of water for a week and water it in. No problems since.
Locakelly: Thanks for all that info!
Paulgrow, thanks, and I will check out that posting.
Thanks everyone for your quick help!!
Deb
