I've got a couple of pepper plants that are producing and the plants looks great (no sign of insects, spots, or yellowing) but the leaves are drooping and some are sort of cupping one way or the other. This is especially true of one pepper (Big Bertha).
I know plants droop in summer heat and sun, but even at 8am the plant leaves are drooping. Watering does not help this. They have plenty of water and in fact, we've had rain the last couple of days so possibly a little much water. I did move the peppers (they are in pots) from one fairly sunny location to an even sunnier one in the past week, but they were drooping even at the old location.
Any thoughts? Thanks.
droopy pepper leaves
When I notice my pepper leaves drooping I give them a light misting of water. All my veggies are container grown. this picture was taken about 2 weeks ago. The peppers are in two earth boxes resting on asphalt. I think the plants are about 6 inches taller now.
You can imagine that I don't this problem in zone 4, but I have a sister that used to lived in San Antonio. It could just be that the plants are too hot. Dirt in a container must get hotter than dirt 6-12" below ground. Maybe shade would help too. Oh how I miss TexMex food. You're so lucky!!
Merrymath,
Those look awesome! What variety are you growing?
LiseP, I wonder what size pots your pepper plants are in and if they are big enough. Also what type of soil you are using...is it compacted? well-drained but yet moisture-holding? too soggy? Is it peat based and has become dry too often and now the peat won't absorb water?
I'd check those things and give us a little more info.
Good to hear your plants are in good shape otherwise! Makes ya feel good, doesn't it!
Shoe
Your thread caught my attention as I have a couple of large pepper plants in big pots that are doing the same thing but delivering fruit. They are receiving adequate moisture. At first I thought they had one of the soil wilts but now in thinking about it, I will bet HelenVT is correct when she said " Dirt in a container must get hotter than dirt 6-12" below ground. " Bet we are cooking the roots at these high temps. I will move them to afternoon shade and see what happens.
The pots are 13 or 14" across, so seem to have a luxurious amount of pot room compared to Merrymath's (which look great, btw), but they would get hotter down here in Texas, of course, and with not much relief at night either.
Interestingly, I have a smaller pepper plant that is also in a 13" pot and it is perfectly perky, so I'm thinking that yes, it's the pot size. Even though the plants may have enough room as far as nutrients and stability and such goes, the larger plants' roots may be pushed closer to the pot walls and thus getting too hot, while the little guy has more soil to insulate. Suppose I could throw a few ice cubes around the edge of the pot on really hot days? I wonder if that could be a technique for cooling off soil/roots.
Shoe, the soil is a combo of a little peat, quite a bit of vermiculite, some shredded pine bark I think, a scoop of compost and the rest potting soil. It was as light and friable as I could think to make it when I planted the peppers, so I don't "think" that compaction is a problem, but it could be, I suppose. I do go pretty easy on the peat and make sure it is sifted and mixed in well and have been consistent in watering, so dry peat would not be it.
Merrymath, I must have channeled your post without even reading it, as I did go out this morning and misted (well, showered) the leaves. I'll check them in a bit and see if they are better. My plants are taller and with less dense foliage than yours but I'm just glad they are producing. The one has 4 peppers the size of billiard balls now and the other has about 16 small ones just starting. They are plants left over from a spring garden where they weren't getting as much sun as they are now.
podster, you're correct, dirt in containers will get hotter (and colder) than the ground temperature. Also keep in mind some containers will heat up more than others depending on the material, thickness of material, single-walled vs double-walled, etc.
LiseP, your 13" pots will need to be that depth also (I'd go no lower than 12" deep). And keep in mind that the smaller growing varieties/cultivars will more easily grow in pots much better than the larger growing types. (Referring to plant size, not fruit size.) What happens is there is quite a bit of transpiration through all those leaves, really sucking the water through the plant. If there is not enough soil to contain enough moisture the plant goes through wet and dry stages, often damaging the feeder roots.
By the way, Merrymath's peppers are in Earthboxes, a self-feeding, self-watering system so hers aren't going thru the wet/dry syndrome.
All in all, it sounds like you're going to get some peppers, so congrats there! Oh yeh, perhaps you could mulch the top of your containers, helping to slow down evaporation as well as at least keeping the top of the soil from direct exposure to the sun.
Shoe (who also needs to be mulched and protected from the sun, yet another extremely hot day here!)
Hmmmmm...
So, containers getting hotter/colder could be why my cabbages and other brassicas do so well in my eBuckets. They must stay colder in the winter, and just love it!
Thanks for the clarification!
I planted 3 types of sweet peppers .... California Wonder, Red Beauty, and Golden Summer. I think I did a no-no. I planted them all together. I also planted one of each in a Tomato Tree Planter. i would discourage anyone purchasing a tomato tree planter ... with the heat waves the tomatoe tree planter requires at lease 3 good waterings each day.
The bucket of peppers were from a July 9th harvest.
Don't forget, the color of the pot makes a big difference too. The darker the color of the pot, the more heat it will absorb, while lighter colors will absorb less. Also, reflective materials are better then non-reflective for materials in cases when heat is a big concern.
Hot hot hot. You can actually put insulation inside the container, just cut some pink board to fit, and a piece to set the container on if they're on a patio or other heat absorbingt surface.
FYI for those not familiar with the commercial earth box. It has wheels .... therefore the plant container is not resting on a surface.
Thanks for all the input.
realbirdlady, I've never heard of pink board. Is that a garden center item or something that would normally go into a wall or attic? And is it flexible enough to go around the walls of a container? Could you put it around the outside of the container? My plants are sitting on dirt, at least, which I would think would be cooler than a patio.
merrymath, your peppers look gorgeous. I can't wait for mine! Thanks for the pic of the earth box.
rockgardner, my pots are light colored - white/off-white or a light sage green, but thanks for the reminder.
shoe, the one pot with droopy leaves is 11.5" high and the other is 10.5" high. The smaller (perky) plant turns out to be a jalapeno. Maybe I shouldn't be trying to compare that one with the other two (?).
I finally got a photo of the plants (front three). The sides of the box are 16" high, for scale. The jalapeno is on the left, the orange pepper is in the middle (4 peppers on it), and the tallest and droopiest is Big Bertha on the right. That one has around 16 peppers just starting on it (largest is smaller than a marble) and there is a mushroom growing on the soil under it that wasn't there yesterday, so it's clear they are getting a lot of water and humidity (rained all day yesterday).
Both plants were sort of left for dead earlier when they lost leaves to a tomato worm attack and I had stuck them out of sight and forgot about them. Since then, they have come back pretty well and I'm watching them every day now. Maybe they will just never quite recover from earlier neglect, but if they can still produce after all of that, I'll just be happy with that!
Correction - the mushroom is growing under the middle plant.