I am a "noob" myself when it comes to hot pepper growing, but I recently had the same issue happen to me, but in younger plants, and I asked what was wrong on a different website. I was told that I was over-watering my plants. I dont know HOW it does it, but they said that THAT is what was causing the "wilting" effect on my leaves. Again, Im not saying thats what your problem is. I just had the same thing happen to younger Bhut's (and other peppers), and was told I was over-watering my plants. Hope it helps...
Sounds to me like you are probably over-watering your peppers. Chile peppers don't need that much water in my experience. In fact, too MUCH watering (in my experience) has lead to a decrease in the overall heat factor of my peppers previously. Another possibility is your lighting, what kind of lighting is it? HPS? What's the ambient room temp with the lights on? Your lights could be too close, or too far, and the heat from them being too close is also a distinct possibility.
Let them dry out until they start to droop / wilt. Keep track of the number of days, and next time water a day earlier. :-) I usually water every 5-7 days, but, I also have a fan on them several hours a day which helps dry things out.
My Jolokias are growing well but my leaves are yellowing at the top. I thought I might be giving them to much fertilizer so I gave them just water for a while. Nothing has changed. What do I do?
with yellowing leaves on bhuts, we've had success using a dilute (1-2 tsp per gallon of water) mixture of epsom salt. the magnesium helps promote leaf growth and improves to green :) keep us posted!
Go to a better-draining soil perhaps. I'm growing mine in Expanded Shale and they get drained before the next watering cycle. 4 foot tall, 5 foot wide plants. Maybe too much nitrogen (leaf curl now) but I don't have much of a choice there. My catfish provide the nitrates... New pics at the link. Rick
@hot.pooper The reason overwatering causes the drooping is because, as odd as this sounds, it prevents water from reaching the leaves.
Most people don't realize that while plants make oxygen during photosynthesis, they also breath it the same way we do. Photosynthesis is using the sun's energy to make food for the plant, but when it comes time to "eat" the food it has, it has to use oxygen to break it back down, same as the rest of us (look up the krebs cycle for details on how that works).
Above ground, thats easy. Photosynthesis creates more oxygen than the plant can use to break the food back down with, so the leaves and stems are always in good shape. The roots, on the other hand, have to pull oxygen out of the soil in order to breath.
If you put too much water in the soil, there isn't any room for air left, and the roots start to drown (literally). Drowning roots are too busy trying to stay alive to effectively take in water and nutrients to send up into the rest of the plant, so the symptoms of overwatering tend to be identical to underwatering with nutrient deficiency thrown in for good measure(drooping, yellowing leaves, dead spots, etc).
So, only water your peppers when they have dried out to the point the leaves are visibly drooping. If you have to ask "does it need water yet?", the answer is no. If you walk in and the leaves are hanging limp and the branches are drooping, it'll be obvious its time to water, and thats when you do so. Give it a good soak, then don't water it again until its dried out and drooping again.
Edymnion is right on. Also, ensure that you have good draining soil as bayoufilter has suggested. Soaking soil that doesn't drain well, will produce the same results as watering too much. The roots will stay soaked for too long and cause all kinds of problems as described by Edymnion above.
hot.pooper
mia97bOriginal Author
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