Perhaps they need a little shade? If you can get some type of shade cloth to cover your garden they might do better. The intense AZ sun can easily burn tender veggies and can they may wilt down or grow small leaves because they lose too much water through evaporation in their leaves. The fruits can be small and not ripen or sunburn, or they may drop fruit or flowers prematurely. Also when it is so hot the plants can't always take up water effectively. The fruits can't grow as good because the water is not getting into them as well and the fruits remain small and sorta hard and the taste is of unripe fruit. I think this is why our tomatoes and peppers always shut down production in the hot summer months. The tomatoes and peppers that I used to grow under the rose bushes always did much better than the ones without cover. A few jalapenos plants we had in Phx. lived for 3 yrs that way. The native americans built ramadas (shade structures) to keep their vegggies shaded in the desert so it makes sense to try to replicate that if we can. Good mulch and watering at dusk or dawn helps too. Hope this helps ~Lenette

Hi Tam, I agree with Chris- from your description it sounds like you surely have thrips. I pulled all of my bell peppers last month even as they started to reflower b/c they started to show signs of thrip damage- new tender leaves (i.e. most yummy ones LOL) show deformity and curling and sometimes slight discoloring/darkening. Some species of thrips like the chili/chilean are extremely small and light colored, making them very difficult to see. Look closely and I bet you find your culprit. HTH Naomi

harold59 same thing happened with my peppers only with jalapeno and serrano and the same hot. I have picked a short fat jalapeno and a longer bullet shaped serrano off the same branch. Some of the peppers get about the size of a nickel and turn red, they have a sweet tast when first bitten into then feel like a match head for about 20 minutes. Guy at works claims to eat Ghost peppers but admits my peppers make him sweat. I have a cayenne plant also they are a little hot but real bitter. I planted 3 Jalapenos directly in the ground but the serrano I had bought earlier and kept in a pot in the house when it got a pepper I put it outside close to the jalapenos and brought back inside at night after the jalapenos started blooming I planted the serrano about 5 feet away. the serrano only has serrano looking peppers on it, but they are dark green before turning red. in the spring i'm going to add a bell pepper.

What grow zone are you in? What kind of fertilizer and how are you applying it? How often do you water/fertilize? The plant is in a small pot, what are your plans, to leave it in a pot or to plant in the ground?