It doesn’t seem to be too widespread... I was going to say sunscald if it’s on just the one side. The side with most sun, perhaps?

If somebody can tell me what I’m doing wrong that would be great. One of my cayenne pepper plants, pepper ends, are shriveling. The other plants are fine and are not doing this. The entire plant looks healthy, the leaves are perfect the stocks look good, there are no signs of wilting or discoloring. I am a beginning gardener. SOS

Aaarrrgggg. That’s what I was afraid of. I’m actually in San Antonio, Texas and this is the first time I’ve ever tried to grow anything. My parents live a bit south of me and have been very helpful with suggestions. (I come from a long line of Aggies, so I’ve got lots of advice!) I think if we plant them in mid-September, as long as we can get some “good growth,” we should be able to have some cucumbers before the first frost. Not sure if that’s true, though. So I should probably dig this plant up? It’s growing next to two tomato plants that seem to be doing quite well, with no signs of Aphids.

Here is what I would do: * Unpot the plant(s). * Melt a drain hole through the bottom of the pot at the sidewall. * Place a plastic or clay pot upside down in the bottom of the pot the plant is in. There should be at least 1/2" between the rim of the overturned pot and the inside of the sidewall. Cover the drainhole(s) in the overturned pot with insect screen or a piece of plastic. The cover is only to stop soil from falling through the drain holes. (See D below for a sense of how much excess water this simple trick will eliminate) * Insert a wick through the hole in the bottom of the pot. If you wish, you can melt a second hole through the bottom opposite the first; then, a single wick can be used. I use 100% rayon mop strands for the wicks. They work VERY well; so well in fact, that they allow me to water plants in the 5:1:1 mix on a schedule, which is supposed to be taboo. * When you water, water thoroughly so you wet the entire soil column. Tip the just watered pot at a 45* angle (see B above) so a drain hole with a wick through it is at the lowest point (see E above). The wick should hang at least 3" below the pot bottom until it stops draining. It should drain all or almost all of the excess water the soil holds. See the mophead in the image below (along with some of the repotting tools I use). The following sequence shows a wick set-up for pots with a single drain hole. The wick works better when the hole is through the bottom at the sidewall. I honestly did not think a cast iron plant would be fussy in their choice of soil composition. Most plants commonly grown as houseplants (other than cacti and some succulents) do not vary much in what they want insofar as a grow medium and moisture levels. They almost ALL want a medium that is evenly damp or moist with plenty of air porosity to drive root function. Where they DO vary is where the limits to what they will tolerate lie. The most commonly grown houseplants all tolerate indoor conditions. Some are known to tolerate low light or dry soil conditions better than others, but very few will tolerate the watering cycle that includes a large fraction of roots completely inundated for such long periods. A well-made 5:1:1 mix will (structurally) last much longer than media based on peat/ coir/ compost/ composted forest products, and can generally be watered almost at will without serious consequences in the form or limited root function or poor root health. The reason a 5:1:1 mix with too much fine material can't offer the same benefits as a 5:1:1 mix with an appropriate fraction of fine material is exactly the same reason that adding a bit bark and perlite to a poorly made commercial mix doesn't work. It is essential the the volume of particles larger than about 1/8" make up somewhere around 80-85% of the mix. Examples: A) If you have a jar of peat and add an equal measure of pine bark thinking it will improve aeration, it will be a failure because there is more than enough peat to fill all pore space between bark particles. B) If you have a commercial grow medium you feel is holding too much water and try to amend it with pine bark and or perlite, thinking it will improve aeration, it will also be a failure unless you add so much bark and perlite that, combined, they make up a fraction of the medium by far larger than the original soil you started with. In fact, adding pine bark and or perlite to a water-retentive medium continually DECREASES o/a air porosity until reaching "threshold proportion", where there is no longer enough fine material to fill pores between the coarse material. From that point on, adding additional coarse material significantly increases o/a aeration. Al