23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
Agree that it isn't a disease it is just environmental damage with perhaps a bit of salt damage from fertilizers. What fertilizers are you using and how often.
Try less frequent but much deeper watering. Peppers are water-sensitive and don't like to be wet all the time. Of course you can't control the rain but you can control any supplemental watering you may be doing.
And for future reference if you find burned, crispy, lightly curled edges of leaves it usually means too much N not too little. Peppers are not nitrogen lovers so go easy on the fertilizers.
You might also what to explore the Florida Gardening forum here and ask about proper planting dates for your area. I can't tell for sure how large or old this plant is but I suspect it may have been planted a little late. But the Florida gardeners would know best.
Dave
It does occur to me - it depends on the variety and when you plan to harvest them. If you're planting the long, slender imperator, or if you plan to harvest them as babies, you can probably manage that closer spacing (or at least 2"). Thicker varieties like Danvers, Nantes, and Chantenay, not so much.
If you do scatter the seeds and thin later, make sure you cut them off at the base rather than pull them up, so you don't disturb the other plants.
Digdirt: So, FAMILY rotation isn't nearly as important as GENUS rotation? What about peppers and tomatoes? What are some diseases that may be passed on between those two?
Briefly so as not to hijack this thread, my point was that crop rotation - be it genus or family - in the home garden isn't as vital an issue as it is for commercial growers and especially so when the soil is properly maintained. Maintaining a high level of beneficial bacteria in the soil via the addition of quality compost can cope with just about any contaminant.
As I mentioned, many home gardeners simply do not have the space/option of rotating crops and yet continue to garden year after year quite successfully in the same small area of soil. If rotation is possible then fine, do what you can. If not, be sure to use good soil practices.
The most common disease peppers and tomatoes share is Bacterial Spot. The bacteria has a very short life span in the soil and debris so using only disinfected seeds, removing infected plants, and good garden hygiene at season's end allows for follow-up crops in the same area.
Most of the common fungus diseases are also airborne and crop rotation can't help there.
Dave
Thanks all, the plants remain indoors in water and will be going out Sunday or Monday after a cold rainy Saturday and next week is supposed to be much more conducive for warm weather planting. I have had black plastic covering the planting area for about a week so it should be sufficiently warmer than surrounding areas.
Root vegetables and plants like squash that have taproots don't like their roots being disturbed at all. But most everything else will be fine with disturbance. In fact, roots for the most part are much more resilient than stems and leaves. If the plant is rootbound it is a good idea to break apart the roots some. I have heard that wherever a root breaks it will grow two branches to compensate. Still, I'd only disturb around the edges - nothing major.
I use liquid fence... I spray around the perimeter of my garden and areas of my yard which are deer access points ... I have been lucky for the last two years with only liquid fence... as my garden is getting bigger I will probably invest in the scarecrow soon. Also pain of liquid fence is you have to keep it up.... if it rains you have to make sure you go back out and respray...
I also plant chilli plants in the front ( I have found chillis with bite markes in them but no bite marks in my toms yet) and this year I am going to try strong smelling herbs.... mint, thyme, rosemary... last year marigolds worked well for me.
"I also plant chilli plants in the front ( I have found chillis with bite markes in them but no bite marks in my toms yet) and this year I am going to try strong smelling herbs.... mint, thyme, rosemary... last year marigolds worked well for me."
Deer won't eat hot pepper fruit, but they do like the foliage. They don't however, like the C. pubescens species as the leaves are fuzzy. So add fuzzy leaved plants to your list. I grew the cherry tomato Velvet Red that has fuzzy leaves one year and they didn't bother it until the toms started to ripen. Then the only damage was broken branches when they went after the toms. The toms of this plant are fuzzy too, but not fuzzy enough to put the deer off.
I have a bad back and a torn shoulder so I will opt for just replanting and hope for the best. I have lots of other plants and gardens to water all summer, so that's not a problem. I understand the bug issue. I thought it would grow, but I've only grown it twice. Once at the right time and once as a fall crop. I'm always trying to push the zone.
May be with more plants, we can harvest some baby leaves and some mature leaves .. Based on all this, I wont thin anything out, however, I am going to move them from the egg container to 3/4" pots and plant outside when they grow 3/4 inches tall.
Brittany, this was the first year of growing from seed for me and I had read somewhere that I can use egg container instead of flats. I did not punch holes or prick the bottom at all. Its made of cardboard and I assumed that extra water will seep out. Next year I will not be using the egg container as I am not sure that it has enough drainage or depth.
I heard the same thing, that's why I tried them too. Yeah, I didn't like them for the long-growing starts like peppers--ended up having to transplant them into larger containers. But for greens it might work better. The roots did grow into the sides of the egg container for me, though, and it was inconvenient to try to cut apart the cells once plants were grown so that I could try to spoon them out more easily. Plastic next year, lesson learned. But, there ARE plastic egg containers out there, so maybe I'll try that.
I use thorny twigs/branches (like prunings from my roses and hawthorn trees) to prevent the stray cats from pooping in my garden beds. I plant my veggies and then lay the branches on the soil around them. Works every time.
Rodney
I think that's what crop insurance is for. We get hurricanes blowing up through here, usually the garden is winding down, and mostly it blows over the tomatoes and pole beans. Low growing stuff just deals with the wet for a couple of days... Mind you I'm no longer living in a flood plain. I was hoping this would be the year we did not get a hurricane. We've been getting them every summer and we didn't used too so frequently.
"I just saw an article that says we're in for quite the hurricane season this year. I'm really going to be ticked off if my carefully planned garden gets blown away.
I can just imagine how farmers must feel when some natural disaster ruins their crops "
They can never really predict how bad the hurricane season will be. We are way overdue for a hurricane in this area but if one hits here your garden should one of the last things you will have to worry about. Though normally the garden is pretty much finished by the time the hurricane start in this area.
Normal production would be at least 3x that amount - it can be a very large pant - so yes I would move both peppers out to separate containers each if possible. If it is Sweet Basil it too can get quite big, easily 3' tall and 2 feet wide. Other varieties are lower growing.
Dave
I have experienced very severe damage from flea beetles, to the point that they destroyed half of the leaves, which gave the plants little energy to produce fruits. Neighbors and friends recommended diatomaceous earth, and it did absolutely nothing. I generally don't use any pesticides and what I do use are organic. So, I was out of luck that year.
The picture in the initial post is nowhere near that point. However, if it gets worse I recommend row cover. For in-ground gardening, it's the best way. I've also found that if I'm growing eggplants in containers, if I put them up on cinder blocks or whatever I have handy to raise them off the ground, that works like a charm. I did that last year. Got them about 2 feet off the ground, and the container was about a foot tall. The flea beetles couldn't jump that high, I guess.