Zone 9a
In a spot that gets approx 8 or more hrs of sun
In a 2 gallon fabric pot filled with mixed garden soil + fertilizer, I also sprinkled a small amount of 10-10-10 about a month ago, but made sure nothing was touching the plant itself.
Watering whenever the soil a finger lengths down starts to feel dry.
We are currently getting a LOT of rain. Been raining and storming on and off for the last three days, so it’s been pretty consistently moist.
Another pepper plant of mine died from this a month or so ago, and I still don’t know what caused it.
I don’t think anything can save the plant at this point, but what is happening and how can I prevent it in future?
Any help or suggestions welcome. I’m a relatively new gardener.
by SelectCurve
4 Comments
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In a huge pot outdoors, a fingers length in isn’t very far for moisture. Especially with a mulch-heavy soil mix and heavy rains. They might be drowning.
The close up of the stem isn’t clear to me, and I can’t quite tell if that’s rot or something nibbling on the stem.
See the little bumps at the bottom of the stem? Those are the beginning of adventitious roots. You can either mound the soil up on the stem to encourage it to root or you can plant it deeper. Pepper plants are incredibly resilient.
On prevention, you might have a cutworm issue. Spray the base of the plants with BT or you can put a toilet paper cardboard roll around the base to form a collar, stopping the cutworm from accessing the stem.
Definitely agree with Grdnlovinggoatfarmer, it looks nibbled and there’s starting roots above the damage, how long or if they’ll take unknown but worth a try. This planting season I couldn’t get my banana peppers or cubanelles to sprout, I got a full flat of Bell going though, last year I lost all my peppers to an unknown mystery, they just disappeared from the garden, strange thing is it didn’t just happen to me also happened 50+ miles away across a river both gardens securely fenced, pepper plants were there one day gone the next like they never existed. Trying again this season with my Bells, hopefully they won’t disappear and I’ll get to have stuffed peppers…