A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Bell Pepper Problem

I have four bell pepper plants that in an earlier post you all told me that I was watering and fertilizing my bell pepper plants too much. The leaves were wilting/curling, falling off and had brown spots on them. I got a watering monitor that you stick in the ground root level which indicates either dry, moist and wet. The ground was extremely wet. Here is the problem, I already had bell peppers growing on them. Today I found a red pepper that I believed was about ready to be picked and found a hole in the side of it and a brown/black mushy spot on the bottom. I have about 10 peppers left that are still green (supposed to end up red and yellow) and look to be in good condition so far. What do you think?

I think you should back-off with the watering and see what happens. The blackened fruit could be blossom end rot but it may be made worse thru excessive watering. I'm not sure how excessive water affects this problem. I'd leave them be for a few days and observe. You want the meter to read moist to dry before watering again, or water when the soil dries out to half an inch. If they're in pots, do they have good drainage?

My peppers are in the ground and I know for certain I was watering too much. I have not watered for a few days. I am using the meter to check all of my soil now. Will birds get to my fruit as well? The hole was in the side of the fruit and looked like it had been pecked. If it is end rot, what is the prognosis for the rest of the fruit?

Mitzi......

Your heat in texas might be the culprit.
Lots of texans say they have losses caused by your sun ........
In zone 5 , peppers grow like grass.

Quick and gorgous.

dodge

Hi Mitzi! Yeah, water stress is the biggest problem with blossom end rot. If the leaves were turning yellow before they dried up and fell off, that was from overwatering, too. The peppers that are still on there could develop BER too, but you'll just have to wait and see. It would be great if you could post some pics of the leaves, but getting the watering right is the best thing you can do right now. I'd try to check the monitor to see how accurate it is. Maybe put some soil in a pot and check it dry, then with a light soaking, then thoroughly wet. I just don't trust everything to be accurate. I test my soil with my index finger, LOL. I have a good feel for it.
Actually, peppers like for the soil to dry out a bit more than other crops. The BER could well go away, and you may get lots of peppers through the summer. As far as I know, it's not so much heat as hot sun and humidity that affect pepper production. Once the plants get lots of bushy foliage and adjust to the sun and heat, they should produce well, barring other problems.

Mitzi I live in Irving. I water mine early in the morning have not had that problem at all knock on wood. But I know mine dry out good between waterings ,to start with I don't water that much just enough to keep top od soil moist until around noon if it dries by then you should be in good shape. I agree with Dave about the heat and sun and humidity.