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Vegetable Gardening

Wilting pepper plant

13 years ago

Hey everyone this is my first post. Ive started my first vegetable garden this year. I have 20 tomato plants, a row of hot banana peppers, row of sweet bananas, row of jalapenos, row of bells, and some cucumbers. Its been pretty hot here lately in the 90's all week. We havent had rain in about 2 weeks, so ive watered about every 3 days. I dont know if its the heat of the day, and the FULL sun location, but all my tomatoes and cukes are kind-of drooping. (been putting off GREAT fruit:)) But, i have one hot banana pepper on the end of the row with severely drooping leaves. they feel really soft and all of them are just hanging off the plant, and slightly curled in. They are all still green, and the plant is full of 1/2'' peppers. Could this just be the hot afternoons? because at night its still doing the same thing. Any help would be appreciated!

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Comments (2)

chicky401
13 years ago
I believe it is the heat. My tomato plants are loving it but my pepper plants were doing better on the days when the highs are in the 80's. Lately we have been having 90's and reached 102 yesterday-yikes! My pepper plants had a couple of the peppers that were just starting, just before they flower, get yellow stems and fall off. A couple of the leaves got a yellow color and were justing hanging on the plant. This happened a couple of weeks ago in our last 90 degree week. Then we had 70's and 80's for about a week and they started to form more peppers. Of course after they started we got back up into the 90's. I have found that with my tomato plants they are really growing better in the heat however I have to water them 3 times a day instead of once a day. My plants are on my deck though not in the ground. My pepper plants I have been needing to water everyday in this heat where when it is in the 70's I was watering them every couple days.
Tomatoes love all the sun they can get and the pepper plants need the sun but the peppers themselves need a little shade from the leaves on the plant. I am no expert. This is my first year also but have been doing a lot of research to keep my plants happy.
shoontok
13 years ago
Could be heat. The temerature just dropped from 104 degrees to 101 degrees outside. I think i may go outside and water them now. I was out there earlier and the tomatoes looked great, and most of my other stuff. But i planted a cayenne and 4 jalapenos and one bell to close to a couple of zucchini's and i think the zukes are zapping alot of water and nutrients from those plants, although the cayenne and jalapenos are producing peppers still. This heat is insane for NY, and to think i actually worked an 8 hour shift today in this heat on heavy highway construction, i must be outta my mind! oK, YEP I THINK I AM.
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It may be bacterial wilt spread by insects, it starts slow. Wilting in the day and kind of springing back in the evening until it eventually wont spring back and turns woody. Ive had it happened to my bells and just happened 2 days ago on a cayenne pepper plant. Other plans should be fine. Good luck
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You don't give the size of your containers, but nevertheless I'll tell you what I do, and you can take it from there. My containers are at least 5-gallon and larger, all in full sun. However, my temps are closer to high 80s or occasional low 90s. I water every day, enough so that a little water leaks out of the drain holes. I will not allow them to wilt. Too much unecessary stress. This has worked very well for me for many years. Good luck.
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Some years I use an old trick taught to me by my uncle maybe 15-20 years ago. He asked me if I wanted to take home some of his jalapeno peppers one Christmas. His garden had just frozen or was about to freeze and ours had frozen long before. I said "sure" and expected him to give me a bag of peppers. Instead, he brought me a wilted pepper plant he'd pulled up days before by the roots. It had both green and red peppers. He told me if I took it home and hung it upside down in a cool, dry location, the peppers would last a long time on the plant and I could just harvest them as needed. Some of the green ones, he said, would go ahead and turn red eventually while still hanging on the plant (assuming that they were close to beginning to turn when he pulled the plant). So, I brought it home and did as he said and was able to harvest and use green and red peppers from that plant for maybe 4 or 5 more weeks. Since then, I often have harvested entire plants covered with peppers on the night before the expected first killing freeze. I have hung the plants upside down in my garage some years and in our tornado shelter other years. In both cases, some of the peppers did break color and turn red, albeit slowly. That was fine with me, though, because I did want to use them with Red Jalapeno Pepper Jelly. For what it is worth, I have done the same thing with cherry tomato plants, and have been able to harvest tomatoes from those hanging, uprooted plants for up to a month after pulling up the plant by its roots. I agree that weather (and pests) can cause all sorts of pepper problems. So can pollination issues . I have a garden full of peppers of many kinds and have been patiently waiting for them to turn their full mature color before I harvest them.
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This is from a link above. It reads well. If nothing else it is worth a notation, in my mind at least. Peppers Are Wilting: What To Do For Wilted Pepper Plants - If your peppers are wilting suddenly, developing large yellow areas and drooping (especially if this starts on the bottom leaves and moves upward) despite adequate watering, fungal wilt is probably to blame. Spotted wilt virus is a less common cause of wilted pepper plants, but if your plant’s leaves are dotted with brown or black spots or unusual yellow lines or circles and the symptoms move through the plant from the top down, it is very likely the cause. Occasionally, bacterial pepper wilt may affect your plants. Pepper plants will wilt and die quickly and upon inspection, the inner stems may be dark, watery and hollow.
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