I planted just 2 pepper plants in late May. They were about just under 1.5 feet tall when I bought them, and one is a yellow bell type and the other a mild hot pepper.

Anyway, from the start they were slow to grow. Also from the start, they began losing all their bottom leaves. They have even lost their mid height leaves as well, so that all they have now is the top 40% of the plant with leaves. They do have a few peppers growing on them, but they are smaller than they should be at about 2 feet tall now. They also have not really gotten thicker.

They get about 5 hours of sun, maybe 6 at the most per day, but its direct sun. They get watered 2-3 times per week and now have mulch covering the bases to keep the moisture in hopefully. The temps have been in the low 70's to low 90's from the time of planting til now.

I also have some tomatoes planted among the peppers, and I just opened a thread about a few of the tomato plants' leaves curling, as well as not being very thick. Any ideas as to whats going on here? I planted peppers a few years ago with about the same amount of sun, and even less as the year progressed and the sun dropped lower in the sky, but those plants grew pretty well and didnt lose a lot of leaves.....