Show Me Your Pepper Plants

Here's last year's habenero coming back to life. It looks like I'll get another bumper crop. How's everyone doing with their pepper plants?

My peppers aren't looking too good. They've got these yellow streaky, splotchy variegations in the leaves. I thought they might be cold, but moving them into the sun hasn't helped. Neither has feeding them or not feeding them. Or putting them in shade or drier or wetter.

help.

I started over this year. All my peppers died in the freeze. :( But my four year old eggplant has come back better than ever and is covered in purple blossoms right now. Yay!

gymgirl, sounds like you've tried everything for those peppers. Wonder what the matter is? Have you tried some chelated iron? Sometimes that works well.

Julie, My pepper that looked dead from the cold snaps are actually coming back. These are chiltepin plants. Good luck with starting again.

While rummaging around my herb garden, I came across a short stick coming out of the ground. Could not remember what it was but decided not to pull it up. Well, it started leafing out and it's my decorative (Christmas?) pepper coming back! Go peppers!

MaryMcP,
Is there a common, shelf name for chelated iron, or do I just ask for chelated iron?

That's what it's called. Manufactured by various vendors. Adding a little Super Thrive helps too. The chelated iron will stain your bucket - and anything else it touches - red so be forewarned. Don't overdo the CI, said from the voice of experience. I don't have any measurements, I used a five gallon bucket. Googled it, this site may help.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5717039_use-chelated-iron-garden.html

Thanks, MaryMcP!

You're welcome, hope it helps. I need to do mine too.

Help -- again!!

My okra seedlings have tiny, crystal clear eggs laid all over the undersides of the leaves. They brush off or fall off easily enuf. But, these were started from seeds and have been insIde, under fluorescent lights. The only thing buzzing around them have been gnats.

Will I have a gnat infestation???!!!!
The seedlings are ready to be hardened off for plantout. I hope I beat the birthing inside. I think it's time for them to go outside -- first thing in the morning!

Anyone know what I'm dealing with here?

You could spray them with neem oil/water/dish soap

Hey Linda, you can start okra seeds straight in the garden around here. No need to go to the trouble of babying them! The way they grow once it gets really hot, you'll get tons of okra anyway. Just a thought (and I'm pretty sure you know this anyway, cuz you're a gardening smartie!) As to the thingies on the leaves, no clue from me. I'm not a bug person. As a matter of fact, I've seen some ladybug-like things except they have yellow spots with dark bodies and they are on my eggplant plants. Are they friend or foe? I thought they might be eating aphids but they may be eating leaves! Just a little, at present. Not sure. Janet

Thanks, Janet. Yeah, I just wanted to get some seedlings going for some gardening friends who don't have a clue. And I just hate to see people spend good $$ when they don't have to....

I think your buglie is a foe. There's the good ladybug, red with black spots. Then theres's a buglie that is lime green with black? yellow? spots.

Hugs!

Thanks, Linda! I think I shall go relocate them to bug heaven today... :) J

Janet,
I sent you a d-mail!

Gymgirl,
I do have those crystal looking dots under my Okra leaves too.
I don't think is anything to worry about.
The plants don't seem to bother.
This is the first year I am growing Okra too.
I HAVE to start the plants indoor otherwise the PILLBUGS will kill them.
When the plants will develop a hard stem I will plant them outside.
Good luck to you.

My pepper plants (still inside) aren't looking too great. The lower leaves on many of them are turning yellow. I've been feeding them with Gardener's Plant Health Care (PHC) for seedlings at about 3/4 strength, along with Hydrogen Peroxide at 1/3 cup per gallon. I water from the bottom when the top of the soil feels dry (every 2-4 days). They are under florescent lights, 1-3" away, for 16 hours a day. They are planted in a mixture of 4 parts composted bark fines, 4 parts peat-based planting mix, and 1 part perlite.

Any idea what's ailing them?

Also, on some of my pepper plants, the top leaves are turning purple. I read somewhere that this might be caused by cool temperatures. The air temp in this room ranges from 66 to 69 degrees, and the soil temp was 68 degrees this morning. Is that too cold for peppers?

I do have a small fan blowing on low speed on the end of my light stand. That probably keeps it a few degrees cooler, but I think it's helping to keep the "damping off" at bay.

Mary- how many plants do you have in that container, and how large is the container? They look great!

VeggieMan- I'm sure someone will have some definitive answers for you, but I know a lack of nitrogen will cause leaves to turn yellow. There are other reasons as well that I cannot recall, though. Also, why the 3/4 strength formula? Some of those plants look big so maybe they need the full dosage. However, I am not familiar with Gardener's Plant Health Care. The plants look nice, though.

One thing I did differently this season was to put a tablespoon of bone meal in the ground, right before I planted. I have the greenest plants I have ever had so I wonder if that was the difference.

VVMan,
I think the babies are too cold. Definitely with the fan blowing on the moist soil. Turning purple is a sure sign they're a bit chilly.

In reviewing your potting mix, I'm feeling like there's a lot of peat to your mix. I'm using Tapla's 511 potting mix, modified to 311 (pine bark fines:peat (MG potting mix is what I use for the peat component):perlite.

From my own humble experience, I find that bell peppers like to be watered, but they LOVE great drainage. Perhaps an adjustment on your watering schedule would allow you to dry them out a bit. Also, a warmer environment might be called for. The fan does keep air circulating in the plants, but it also chills off too-damp soil.

So, my recommendation is dry them out, warm them up, and hold off on the fan for a minute to see if this helps. Finally, if you're due for another potting up, I suggest trying a mix of 4 parts PBFs, 2 parts peat and 1 part perlite and see what happens.

Let me know how it works out for you.

These are the bell pepper "runts" I couldn't bear to throw out, when I separated the bigger ones for planting out into the garden. I grabbed a handful of the 311 mix, made a hole, and dropped the almost bare-root babies back into the 4" pots and put them back inside under the fluorescent lights. That was about 3 weeks ago. The runts were barely 3.5" tall.

Last night, they were almost 10" tall. I attribute it to the good aeration and drainage of the 311 mix!

Linda

John, thanks for the tip on nitrogen. I think I'll try a few feedings of fish emulsion and see if that greens them up. The PHC for Seedlings is a 6-12-6 fertilizer, so a bit low on nitrogen. Still, I thought peppers generally preferred a fertilizer higher in phosphorus (middle number). I've been diluting it to 3/4 strength because it's easy to overdo it, especially with seedlings. Many here say they don't fertilize their seedlings at all until they are planted out.

Linda, you're probably right about them being cold. I'll let them dry out a bit, and turn the fan so it's not blowing directly on the plants. I'll also try putting one flat of peppers on a seedling heat mat and see what happens. As for the soil mix, I don't think I'll be potting up again before planting out, but I'll try the 4-2-1 mix in the final containers (EarthBoxes and E-buckets). I've read Tapla's threads on potting mix, but was a bit concerned that a 5-1-1 mix would not have enough peat to wick the water up in a self-watering container. I think I even saw a post where he suggested a 5-4-1 mix for such containers to improve wicking. That's pretty close to what I'm using.

VVMan,
Tapla and I worked really closely on getting his formula together for the self-watering containers that need the wicking action. Which is why he recommended the modification to a 311 or even a 411.

Yellowing leaves can also be a sign of too much water...^^_^^

Here are some of my pepper plants.
They are already outside and happy ... lots of flowers and some small fruit.

Sorry ... I forgot to rotate the picture !
The majority of the plants are abou 16" tall.
Some of the leaves look bad because we are having very strong winds for the past 2 weeks.

here is a baby pepper ... maybe 1" long ... yummy

more pepper plants, nice and green

I know what you mean about the wind, drthor. Same deal here in Houston. The wind keeps blowing my makeshift row cover off of my squash plants so the SVB moths have been attacking.

Nice job- what kind of peppers? Look like you have a hot pepper of some sort.

Here is a bad pic of a purple beauty pepper. Note how the plant seems "stunted" and the leaves have bunched toward the top. There were lots of buds developing at the top so I pinched some off in hopes of encouraging growth. Oh, and I had some yellow leaves, too, but they were on the bottom of the plant. Anyone have any other advice?

This message was edited Apr 20, 2011 7:28 AM

Eggplants love it as hot as peppers do, and they STAY hungry!

Lots of great looking peppers folks! It's one plant the grasshoppers don't eat. I've battled those buggers for several years now. Ugh!

drthor, on that last plant, I might snip the remaining lower leaves and add more soil. The plant may grow more roots along that lower stem. Just a thought.

My habenero is just one plant. The container is 15" across the top and 18" deep. It narrows a bit towards the bottom. I feed with a fertilizer called Sweet from Botanicare, it's magnesium and sulfer. The hydroponic store carries it, a bit pricey but my fruiting and flowering plants love it.

Thanks MaryMcP
I really must wait untill this wind stop before doing any trimming to my poor pepper plants.
That's all I want to do to them. The trunk is really thick and strong, so not extra soil ... I am worry to mess them up.
They really seem happy like this.
I am not very experienced, but I read that "Peppers need to hold hands", so last year I did plant them close together and I had huge harvests.
I have planted many varieties of Bell Peppers. Only one hot Pepper because I want to dry the fruits in the kitchen (even if I don't know how ...yet)
This year I am very happy because I started the plants so early and gave them lots of care and kisses.

JohnCrichton75, your plant looks just fine. Like mine is been hurt by the wind. Soon it will be happier.

Here are my peppers - Sweet Hybrid (in the square kitty litter pail and in the self-watering pot) and then Golden Cal Wonder (in the other two pots).

drthor, your peppers look great. Thanks for the tip on peppers liking to "hold hands." I like that image -- makes it easier to remember. I've just now grouped the peppers together.
Actually, seems like everyone's peppers are looking good or great. Love your "runts," gymgirl! MaryMcP, your habenero looks fantastic. JohnCrichton75, I have no idea about the pinching of buds. I don't think the yellow leaves are a problem as long as they are the lowest/oldest ones. And maybe you've already pinched them off by now.

Vitaveggieman (love your name!), it sounds like you're doing everything right! To me, anyway. I guess I'll toss my 2cents on the "too cold" side of the discussion. Just a guess. I'm betting that once it warms up, you'll see them take off. Have you repotted them at least once? Mine took off once they had some more room to grow. I left a couple in small (solo cups) pots and they're still sitting there, stalled and yes, a bit yellow. With the frequent watering you need to do with small cups, it might be hard to keep them fed. If it's too early to put them in the ground, you still might want to give them a bit more room (I'm no expert, though).

Last comment: most of us on this thread are a bit ahead of you season-wise (heat, direct son, planting out dates), I think.

LiseP,
Your peppers look great. Like mine did LAST year. This year is a mixed bag. I'm thinking of uprooting the all from the eBuckets and planting them close together in one of the 25-gallon molasses tubs. They'll be holding hands and kissing and, hopefully, making lots of pepper babies! I don't have anything to lose at this point, cause they're all in some sort of distress, so whatever I do can't hurt them any more.

Congrats on your success!

Well, Linda, mine look "okay" -- if you ignore a few holes (pillbugs? loopers?), a couple of weirdly formed leaves (too much fert?) and the one in the back on the right which has a little of that yellow mottling stuff going on. Hmmmm, maybe I won't let that one shake hands with the others! That one is in a nursery pot that I lined with weed blocker to keep stuff from crawling up the drainage holes -- but I think it's impeding drainage a bit, or else I used a heavier mix.

I think your runts look fantastic. I don't know what to make of the yellow splotchy stuff on the other plants. I'm better "too wet" on my splotchy one.

Girl,
I have to remember to take a picture of those "runts" before I plant them out. They've caught up to the ones that have been outside since March 26th, and they're healthier, to boot!

Will be setting out the okra plants to harden off this loooooooooooong weekend, and planting them Monday-Tuesday.

And, can you believe I plan to start the seeds for the fall crop in mid June?

Once I stopped running my heat for the winter, my electricity bill dropped from $364 to $65. I've been running the fluorescents on the runts and the okras from 7a-7p, so I'll have to stop yelling about how much electricity the plants are costing me!

Now, if I can avoid having to turn on the A/C during our summer scorcher, I should be in decent shape to buy more garden stuff! (I actually spend more time outside than inside, anyway!) And, since my house sits on a natural wind tunnel (add that to these Texas windstorms, and I might have to answer to why my bell peppers are doing so poorly...), I can throw open all the windows and catch the cool breeze for awhile, until it gets totally unbearable!

Hugs!

LisaP, I think your peppers look great. I started my peppers in a Burpee 36-cell coir greenhouse kit (small cells) in early March, and re-potted them to 9 oz. plastic cups or 3.5" square x 4" deep Jiffy pots in early April. I expect to plant them outside in 3-4 weeks, so I'm hoping I don't have to re-pot them again before then. If they start looking worse, I will probably try that with at least some of them. I planted way too many peppers this year, 70 seedlings, and I've only got room for about 17 myself. I'll be giving away the rest of them to friends and family.

Yes, most of you on this forum are in warmer zones than me, and I'm jealous seeing all your large plants outside so early. However, I'm building a greenhouse this year, so next year I should be starting earlier and going later, and maybe even growing some veggies year round (not peppers though!).

Oh, man, a greenhouse! I've always wanted a greenhouse, but with a tiny yard and now living in Texas, that isn't going to happen. And wow, 70 seedlings is a lot! I only grew about 8 or so from seed -- and only 4 into large pots so far. I have another couple still sitting here in small pots and one that is stalled in a cinder block (they don't seem to like the cinder hole for some reason).

With 17, you should be in good shape. I wish I had planted more, now. But as you say -- next year!

Yeah, and I've got 50 tomato seedlings as well, with room for only 10-12 plants outside. I've got a small yard as well, 1/4 acre, with most of it in front of the house, where the homeowner's association doesn't allow vegetable gardens. I've got no decent spot for an in-ground garden, so everything I grow is in containers on the deck behind the house. But the trees are growing larger, and I'm getting less and less sun back there, so I'm building a deck on the southwest side of my house, and putting the greenhouse on top of the deck (it must be elevated to catch enough sun over the neighbor's house). It's a small greenhouse (5' x 12.5' Lean-To) on a good size deck (8' x 30'), and I hope to fill most of this space with containers of veggies and edible flowers. Where there's a will, there's a way!

Here's a picture of the greenhouse I plan to get: a SunGlo model 1500D. The one in the picture is only 7.5 feet long, but otherwise looks like the one I'll have.