This was very helpful, it was 102° where I live and the leaves themselves looked very healthy, but they were still wilting. Good to know they’re just transpiring.
@@honeybee2356 they are beyond difficult to grow! at least peppers are super cheap in farmers markets! my green onions and rosemary grow sooo much easier!!!!
They need to toughen up. Otherwise, I'll only spring for hearty varieties...and even then, those suckckers need to OBEY the laws. Hint; research a prolific pepper's natural habitata, see what's there. Sea salt, water, HUMIDITY, etc. I can almost guarantee it'd be the penultimate method to grow them better than anyone within 200 miles of yourself,
Peppers are notoriously slow to germinate and grow. I made the mistake last year of cutting the top inch off. It took almost a month to recover and my fruits were way under sized from several I did not cut. Overall, I would not recommend topping peppers to increase production in any area of the US. If you want a more productive pepper crop, just plant more pepper plants. Who ever thought topping peppers was a good idea should have their head examined, or go without peppers for the season. That's my take on pepper growing tips, so don't tell me I'll get more pepper fruits. It ain't a good idea.
@@robertshorthill4153 Maybe from your experience, however I have experimented with topping some of my peppers, and leaving others un-pruned and found that not only do the plants produce more vegetation and peppers, but they often are much stronger after being topped. I believe your pepper you tried topping may have had other (probably root based) issues. Just because you had one bad experience doesn't necessarily mean you are an expert and should be making overarching statements like this.. That said, if you live in an area with a shorter growing season, you may not want to top all your plants. In addition, I have found certain varieties of peppers don't need to be topped (such as the bushier Caribbean varieties).
@@CaidanceDubstep Yes, in south cent Montana our season is very short. Topping my pepper plants set them back almost a month. A set back that ruined any decent crop from them. I will not make that mistake here again. Maybe if / when I move to LA (?) or FL (??). No thanks Cheers and good luck with your crop. Bob
Thank you for your videos, l am retired and living in Thailand (very hot) I have started to grow chillies as we eat a lot here and also as a past time hobby, the weather is around mid 30s most days with high humidity, needles to say these are very good growing conditions year round. Your videos have helped me with identifying a few plant issues......cheers
A few years ago I was having problems with wilting and I discovered that the problem was the black pots were getting too hot in the sun. I shaded the pots and solved the problem. The smaller the pot, the bigger the problem.
peppers suck they are too difficult to grow! easier to just pay $2 to buy fresh hot peppers. Never will grow these again! Cucumbers and tomatoes also difficult to grow same with herbs like cilantro. I like garlic because easy to grow little work.
Great information as always! I just moved my plants outdoors this past weekend and they are welding, every single one of them about 30. After hearing your information I knew it wasn't the water because I thoroughly watered them after potting them. The next day I saw the soil was still moist yet they were still wilting. So I'm leaning towards the sun shock you talked about. Glad it's nothing to life threatening. Thank you again for your videos and all your expertise.
I live in central North Carolina and our summers are HOT. I remember my reaper plant was terribly wilted last August and I freaked out. Posted a photo of it on r/hotpeppers and everyone was like "it's fine. I basically water torture my plants every year". Gave it some water when the sun set and it looked perfect again.
My madame jeanette comes back to life in a few minutes after a bit of water, it's impressive! It does not like a lot of sunlight. I'm currently doing a treatment for fungus in the soil, using a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water and I thought my pepper plant would suffer from it but it's blooming super fast.
*We are growing Serranos...love my new plant,growing in Los Angeles, California...108° today,and Serann started wilting,we brought her inside😊new subbie here too!* 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶
I just started about 2 months ago,this is exactly what happened to my plant so I placed it back to the shade,so far I only lost 2 flowers but Its ok..rookie in training lol
Your videos are truly amazing. i would really appreciate a video explaining the distance the pepper seedlings need to be from the light source while growing indoors in relation to the light wattage. I have a 40 watt led and i try to figure out how far it needs to be from my plants. I only saw this topic was discussed online in wattages that are higher(ranging from 100 to 500+ watt).
Thanks! We have not gone full-scientific on this topic, it is still a lot of guess and check for us, though I'm sure there is a better way to do it. For 40W, I'd probably be comfortable around 12" from the plants, maybe even a bit closer.
Forgot about over watering I was giving some of my peppers a little to much love and had to stop watering 3 of my peppers for a couple days and they perked back up
I have never grown peppers in pots until this year. My situation maybe compounded by having moved from zone 4 to 9. Jalapenos are fine. The chilies drop in full sun. I stuck them under the Gum tree. They are doing magnificent now. BTW, did you know pepper leaves, at least these two varieties are edible? I prepare them with the same recipes for Perilla leaves, Korean recipes that is, being that I have been cooking Korean for more than 30 years now.
Awesome, I would love to see a video on how to use liquid fertiliser. I’m in the process of fertilising my seedlings and I’m not so sure what I’m doing 😂
Haha! We do have a video on fertilizing, but not a specific brand/type. We typically recommend that you follow the instructions on your fertilizer. For seedlings, we start off with a light feeding (using 1/4-1/2 the recommended strength).
@@PepperGeek I do the same with seedlings, and I almost never use fertilizer at full strength. I find it better to keep feeding the smaller amounts, just more often. Many conventional farmers refer to this practice as "spoon-feeding."
I have a Mad Hatter pepper plant and no matter what I do, the leaves are always wilted. I've tried changing soils, fertilizing, moving out of the afternoon sun, watering, and probably more. The plant is growing nicely though
I made a bucket of water and weeds/leaves for fertilizer (swamp water) and watered my plants with that a few times. Quite a few started wilting and more clean water did not help. Some are brown and dead, now. I don't know if it was the "fertilizer" water, but this never happened to me before in four or five years of gardening. And it is the first year I made swamp water.
Duude, This is straight up scary! I was just checking my plants and noticed a lot of them had dropped some leafs and didn’t look to good. First thought inmy mind was “ I need to RUclips this and see what’s wrong” opening up the app, and bam, this video 2nd to the top in my feed. Is google reading minds? I didn’t even say it out loud... thanks for the video though :D
Haha, well Google knows more than we think...but we're also trying to keep our videos timely, as we know what to expect when it comes to peppers. Hope this one helped!
Many Thanks to both of you, your videos and info is direct to the point. - In the past also I saw this when the drain holes of a pot were closed and the plant was stressed to over flooded water problem. - to late. Question: Where it is possible to get pepper geek t-shirts?... this can be another way to support you :) Greetings from the far Galilee in Israel.
Hey there! Thanks for sharing, and your interest in getting a shirt. We have a page on our site with a few select items for sale: peppergeek.com/merch Thanks in advance for supporting us!
My big Bertha bell pepper plant leaves are drooping and at this point the plant had more then 27 peppers setting at the same time. It is my hunch the plant did not have enough water and fertilizer for feeding the plant. it had more then 8 hrs. of sun light with 100 plus temperatures. I gave it some water and a good water soluble feeding and pruned off all the peppers and moved the plant to a shaded area of the yard. will see what happens next.
First time I plant a pepper plant and your content is great! I have a question: it is going to rain for about 5 days. Should I get my plants back inside or leave them outside? Keep up the good Work!
How about overwatering... I didn't have a hole in the bottom of the container... now it's wilted. I put a hole in the bottom and raised it from the ground. we are getting so much rain.
That is our 'Blue Ghost pink', a crossed variety from farouchepeppers on instagram. He used to sell seeds, but no longer does. It is a very cool plant with dark foliage and purple-ish pods that ripen to a peachy color!
My plants have been wilting in direct sunlight. They’re completely hardened. In 2 gallon tubs each, watered regularly and are all over a foot tall. The leaves become soggy in sun, and in the shade the point upwards and sometimes actually flip over. I’ve been having to keep them in the shade and massage the limbs to get them to turn over and flatten out
I just started hardening off my peppers. I left my house for work and an unexpected thunderstorm brushed by my area. The rain damaged one of my plants and cause it to flatten down to the soil. I brought it back inside and it perked back up to an upright position, however the leaves are still droopy and I had to remove two of the leaves because they were halfway broken from the stem. Should I be concerned for the plant? It is still reacting to my indoor light setup, however the leaves are concerning me. There is no discoloration of the leaves nor any noticeable infestation. Sorry for the long comment but would love some advice. First time pepper grower and I took on the load of 24 at once 😅. Subscribed! 👍🏻
ok i posted on the other video before finding this one. I'm in a heat-wave area with temps over 100. One of my seedlings has true leaves out, but during the day, the leaves are bending down away from the sun. when the sun goes away, the leaves perk back up. I have this pepper under 40% shade cloth, but based on this video, i'm wondering if I should go with stronger shade cloth? I don't think the shade will help bring the temperature below 100 degrees (it's just really hot outside and will be most of the summer) and i worry about it not getting enough sunlight to grow.
I need your help. I’m in zone 9B. I have a pepper plant. It’s a sweet, yellow bell pepper. yesterday after a heavy rain, I noticed that one of my pepper plants was wilting. I chalked it up to the fact that it may have been overwatered. The next morning it was still wilted and now the pepper plant that is right next to it is starting to wilt. Also, there’s yellow markings on one of the leaves. please advise 🥹
Love your content! So helpful! Do you have recommendations for raised beds? Specifically if only part of the bed is for peppers? I worry about the other things in the bed that don't need as much nitrogen as my peppers.
I would say don't worry about the _peppers_, as they have a way of growing strong even with varied nutrition. But for raised beds, using the square-foot gardening technique helps to keep different plant varieties organized. Also, peppers benefit from some afternoon shade if you are growing anything tall.
I cut my jalepeno pepper plant all the way, down to no more than 6 in from soil. All the leaves, buds, etc. It wasn't just wilting for days on end, it was yellowing and shrinking back into soil, despite a take to aid growth and attachment to grow upwards and onwards. The plant directly behind it is green and doing not half bad. The base is cardboard, thin sheets, with potting soil and compost, leaving a thin, but CCESIBLE GROUND ROOT SYSTEM ADVENTURE. wE SHALL SEE. tHE TOMATOES DIRECTLY IN FRONT ARE LIKE GANGESTERS. Full monty growth. So big that I gotta string em up cali weave-style ever couple days, so...yeah, man!! rock on
I noticed my plants did a brief wilt after topping them. I can only assume due to the stress. They wilted about an hour after topping and came back in about another hour.
Mine were in the sun and drooped over, so I moved them back in after an hour. The leaves are nice and green and look healthy but haven't stood back up even after being inside for 24 hours. They just lay flat and even had one stem snap. I've feed them liquid fertilizer. What do I do?
From watching your video cold water did cause because My central air is on in the house and the basement is really cold so the pipes are cold and for me turning that water on and just spraying cold water on the plants wilted the leaves a little bit
Thank you so much for making these videos. I'm in a bit of a pickle. I started my pepper plants in February indoors with grow lights. I have taken them out and transplanted them in grow bags. Since then they had issues with aphids and they haven't grown very much for the last 3 months. Maybe an inch or 2 at best. I got the aphids off on time. Is the slow growing normal for Carolina and Ghost peppers? My tomatoes are 3x bigger and I started them at the same time. Any advice helps.
Yes peppers don't grow nearly as fast as tomatoes, we typically start our tomatoes a few weeks after the pepper seeds. However, aphids can also inhibit growth since they tend to feed off of the young, new leaves. Definitely focus on getting some beneficial insects into your garden area, and maybe even prepare some neem oil spray!
Two other possible reasons for slow growth -- cool temperatures (highs less than about 60F / 15C); and insufficient nutrients in the soil. I also start my tomatoes indoors 1-3 months later than my peppers (the tomatoes I start first are cold-season varieties).
@@davidniemi6553 I live in SoCal. The weather is mainly 70s and 80s at night tends to be 60s. I just recently got some Miracle Grow organics. It's a 9-2-7. I have seen a bit of growth in the last week. I also placed them in a smaller pot. I had them in 5gal grow bags, 1 plant per, and someone had said maybe it was too much for the size of the plants. Thanks for the input I'm new to growing so anything I can learn is really helpful.
@@pirrurrashon I don't think there is any harm with an oversized container, it is just more than your plants actually need right now. The weather sounds great, so that should not be the problem. Probably just needed more nutrients.
I have indoor grow for my peppers Temps at 75-80 & humidity 60-70 is my humidity to high? Growing verity of peppers for the first time. Thinking of using a dehumidifier but not sure if it's needed. (In S.Carolina)
Laying as in falling over? If they are bending and dying it may be "damping off" disease. It is caused by cool and moist conditions. Maybe find a warmer spot, and make sure they have nutrients and plenty of light.
Hi i have a question I'm from the Philippines it's hot and suddenly my pepper plant wilting due to hot but i water my plant but when i put it some water on their leaves they don't get wilt
Thanks for doing this video, I through my made hatter pepper plants. Was dieing . The fruit is soft and not getting hard. So I cut off the fruit and flower. I'm not worried because I another mad hatter pepper plants.
About a week too late for me with the video but still useful moving forward so thanks. I would like to add that for hydroponics lack of nutrients also contributes to the wilting. It essentially is the hydroponic version of not enough water in potted/soiled plants.
I have a few pepper plants I have started on heat pads under grow lights. All but one are just fine. I have one that all the leaves wilted and fell off!!! The stems seem ok. I didn’t know if it was stem rot, I did recently trans plant them and I don’t think I planted them too deep. Any ideas???
Hm - so after the seeds sprout I always shut off the heating pad. Roots like to be cool, so that could be a factor. Otherwise, can't be sure what exactly happened
I've got a quick question, I have 2 plants growing next to each other (they both have only 2 set of leaves if that's important) some people have told me to separate them, but I don't wanna damage them as they're the only ones that I have. So can I leave them or will it kill them?
Just leave them planting actually two plants close to each other doesn’t have a big effect and it will actually give your more production in less space
I like Charles' tip. The difficulty of separating plants depends on how close and how big they are. Yours are tiny so they should be easy to separate. I routinely start with at least 2 pepper seeds per cell. Sometimes I separate them, sometimes I leave them together, dependent mostly on how many I get of that variety.
Thanks for the video. I recently got my first Capsicum pepper plant and the leave are extremely droopy. I watered it yesterday and they are still drooping badly and leaves are starting to fall off. I recently harvested two peppers from the plant around 3 days ago. Not sure what else to do???
Just putting it out here i let two plants grow in the same container and they developed more roots than I thought when I went to transplant one of them I had to break them apart one of them has never recovered after a month it’s just wilted the only plan in my yard
We haven't yet, but we absolutely will later in the season when we have our first wave of peppers! For now, we have articles on dehydrating habaneros and jalapeños on peppergeek.com :)
I made powder twice with many dozens of Ghost Peppers (I had way too many to use any other way). I cut off the stems and cut them lengthwise in half or thirds (the pods tend to be triangular in cross section) and dried them thoroughly using a dehydrator which took about 24 hours. Once they were very dry and crispy, I ground them into powder with a mortar and pestle. The powder can keep for years in an ordinary spice container and I shake them out onto anything needing more kick. Note that with ghost peppers it is important to very thoroughly clean everything that comes in contact with them!
I have 3 bell pepper plants in my greenhouse planted in-ground on the west facing end that daily go through leaf wilt. The temperature in the greenhouse has been reaching up to 95F with the roof vents wide open, the door wide open and 2 fans running all of the time. I check the soil with both my finger and a moisture meter and it appears to be watered plenty but not wet. I water every 2 mornings when it is going to be a clear hot day and fertilize weekly but still get the leaf wilt by the mid afternoon each day. On cooler days there is no leaf wilt at all. I do have shade cloth covering the entire roof and 1 foot down on each side. It is a 14’9” long by 9’ wide by 10’ high aluminum with tempered glass greenhouse. Should I cover the south and west sides with shade cloth to give my tomatoes and peppers some relief from the heat? Or should I increase my watering and fertilization amounts? Also, all soil in the greenhouse was replaced with 18” deep of very rich soil before planting any transplants and the surface 1” is covered with mulch which is retaining the moisture in the soil. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. I love your RUclips videos and have learned so much from them. Thanks.
Calvin, I need help!! "SOMETHING" during the night time has been EATING all the leaves from my pepper plants leaving ONLY a pitiful looking stem!! Between dusk to dawn in 12 hours!!! WHAT DEMON is capable of doing this and how do I prevent it from reoccurring to replacement seedlings??? Southern NJ here.
@@jvcrox If I didn't live in a residential development, I swear I would sit outside with my shotgun and wait for them to get close !!!!! Whatever it is that is devouring my stuff is making me go bizerko!!!
👿 It is either a mouse or a rabbit. The rabbits have ruined our plants many, many times. You need some sort of fencing, as they can't jump very high. You could also try a decoy (like a hanging faux owl/hawk) to scare them away. Sorry about the plants, they _might_ recover though!
Where I live it would definitely be deer, especially if the plants are over a foot tall. I don't have anything that eats lower pepper leaves, but then I don't have rabbits (due to foxes). There are plenty of mice here so I'm skeptical it would be mice -- I think that leaves the rabbits as the prime suspect. Let us know whether your plants recover. I've had them recover from really bad deer chompings, though it takes a few weeks.
Hi Pepper Geek. I started my peppers too early - they are budding and have some flowers. I just started hardening off. Should I remove the buds and flowers till they are planted. This is the first year I have started my own and have always removed the buds and flowers on pepper plants I bought until they were established
I live In NW Illinios, I was about 2 weeks late in hardening my reapers for outside. They are growing great now and very full of leaves and now seeing some buds (many buds) on all seven of my plants. This is my first year growing them and not sure if they will product peppers in time before fall, cold weather hits. I'm growing in totes. I saw your video on pruning way back for the winter, but wondering if there is anything else I can do to get them growing faster. I did add some diluted Botanicare platonic care kind bloom about 2 weeks ago and wondering if this enough? thanks Brenda
My pepper plants wilted horribly after planting them. It hasnt been hot I was watering them i did put a couple of inches of cattle compost manure it dries out quickly. Idk is it possible that u can get too big of leaves at the time of planting and they got too much leaf areas too keep up with the root structure outside?
Yes indoor plants tend to grow much larger leaves as the light is less intense. Then, moving outside, the large leaves are thin and capture way too much light, causing burn, wilting, etc. The plants should adjust though!
How much should I water my reaper plant. I just got it and it's been in the process of getting acclimated. Idk whether I'm watering too little or too much since I've noticed it start wilting. I was told to just water it until the water starts pouring from the holes on the ottom of the pot. Idk whether this is accurate or if I should water it a little longer or less.
I have 2 ghost pepper and 1 reaper plant. Both of my ghosts are drooping and producing very little fruit, but the reaper is alive and very healthy with 12 peppers already. Any reason why the ghost would be drooping compared to the reaper? Are the ghosts a little more temperamental? I make sure to water them equally and they are all in the same environment, the same type of pot, soil, everything. Thanks for the video it has me thinking I need to water more often
We had the opposite problem last year with our reaper not producing much at all. It definitely varies from one variety to another, so it could just be your conditions, or the age of the plant and that it may not quite be ready to fruit
@@PepperGeek after watching the video I decided to give the ghosts more water. It helped with the drooping within an hour or so! Still a little slow on the fruit but your advice has given me alot of insight
I have a question please? Can pepper's come back if affected by temperature drops into the 40's , mine are stunted but putting on blooms? My squash and cucumbers have very yellow leaves and aren't growing fast either, is there something I can do? The compost I use has been staying pretty moist due to rain, any advice is very much appreciated, thank you so much, and thank you for all the wonderful tips
You're very welcome! Yes, peppers will recover from a temperature dip into the 40s, but slowed growth is expected. Once temperatures improve consistently, they should grow strong again. Drainage troughs can help with raised beds/garden beds to allow excess rainwater to run away from the roots. Hope this helps!
My pickling cuke had very yellow leaves also. Gary Pilarchik (The Rusted Garden) advised me on his channel to use a 24% nitrogen fertilizer and it now looks like it had a dose of Viagra. I have green leaves, more leaves and more blossoms. It should work on the squash and peppers, too.
I'd really like to get into growing peppers, but I'm wondering if it's still possible to plant seeds in late may, or if I should wait until next year. I live in the Netherlands, our first frost date is around mid november and I'm planning to grow the peppers largely indoors in small numbers. What would you recommend?
I would look for quick ripening varieties for planting this late. If you want to grow superhots, you may still be able to get a few pods, but I would keep the plants in a smaller container (1-2 gallons) to encourage early fruiting.
Thank you for the info, I recently bought a Taiwan Chili Peppers, those purple or violet colored peppers. But when I repotted it, leaves wilted or drooping. It is located on semi shaded area, currently here in Philippines and in a few weeks time, it will be summer. Kindly help, thank you.
Florida is so hot that I'm having to water my babies daily. I just moved here and wasn't prepared for this heat. When I water I was until I see water running out of the bottom of the pot and they're usually good for around 3-5 days. Not here! One day and it's bone dry. Figured that out the hard way too, came outside the other day and they were wilting bad...gave em some water and they perked right up. So now I know and water every morning now.
Your information on plant health, concerns and remedies is outstanding. It has probably saved a couple of my seedlings. Thank you guys!
No problem! That is our goal :)
6
You saved my life and my peppers to❤
METALAXYL + DIMETHOMORPH + STREPTOMYCIN
@@phanbonsaurieng i'll take the step-mom with a side of fish sauce just in case she's a bit verclampt.
This was very helpful, it was 102° where I live and the leaves themselves looked very healthy, but they were still wilting.
Good to know they’re just transpiring.
It's a good thing I like peppers so much, because they're definitely the pickiest plants I grow and always seem to need the most babying ;)
I know! Only 1 of my babies made it this year. Lol but it's better than last year and this is my 2nd year trying to grow them💚🌿
@@honeybee2356 they are beyond difficult to grow! at least peppers are super cheap in farmers markets! my green onions and rosemary grow sooo much easier!!!!
They need to toughen up. Otherwise, I'll only spring for hearty varieties...and even then, those suckckers need to OBEY the laws. Hint; research a prolific pepper's natural habitata, see what's there. Sea salt, water, HUMIDITY, etc. I can almost guarantee it'd be the penultimate method to grow them better than anyone within 200 miles of yourself,
I thought cannabis plants were high maintenance until I started growing peppers. Oh boy
Hahaha now that’s a comment
Peppers are notoriously slow to germinate and grow. I made the mistake last year of cutting the top inch off. It took almost a month to recover and my fruits were way under sized from several I did not cut. Overall, I would not recommend topping peppers to increase production in any area of the US. If you want a more productive pepper crop, just plant more pepper plants. Who ever thought topping peppers was a good idea should have their head examined, or go without peppers for the season. That's my take on pepper growing tips, so don't tell me I'll get more pepper fruits. It ain't a good idea.
@@robertshorthill4153 Maybe from your experience, however I have experimented with topping some of my peppers, and leaving others un-pruned and found that not only do the plants produce more vegetation and peppers, but they often are much stronger after being topped. I believe your pepper you tried topping may have had other (probably root based) issues. Just because you had one bad experience doesn't necessarily mean you are an expert and should be making overarching statements like this..
That said, if you live in an area with a shorter growing season, you may not want to top all your plants. In addition, I have found certain varieties of peppers don't need to be topped (such as the bushier Caribbean varieties).
@@CaidanceDubstep Yes, in south cent Montana our season is very short. Topping my pepper plants set them back almost a month. A set back that ruined any decent crop from them. I will not make that mistake here again. Maybe if / when I move to LA (?) or FL (??). No thanks Cheers and good luck with your crop. Bob
@Bob I grow in a zone 10A in FL and the commercial guys leave the ground fallow through July-August but it's on the rest of the year. Hats off to you.
After watching more than 500 videos.. I got the perfect solution... Thanks Paper. Geek
Thanks for your videos, they're very informative about topics that don't have lots of informations.
You bet, thanks for watching :)
Really helpful tips. Never expected a tropical plant to overheat in Norway, but some shade in the afternoon and they're doing much better!
zai
Thanks for saving our transplanted plants.
Happy to help!
Thank you for your videos, l am retired and living in Thailand (very hot) I have started to grow chillies as we eat a lot here and also as a past time hobby, the weather is around mid 30s most days with high humidity, needles to say these are very good growing conditions year round. Your videos have helped me with identifying a few plant issues......cheers
That sounds great! Nice temperatures there, I'd love to grow plants outdoors year round. Glad we've been helpful - cheers
A few years ago I was having problems with wilting and I discovered that the problem was the black pots were getting too hot in the sun. I shaded the pots and solved the problem. The smaller the pot, the bigger the problem.
Interesting, thanks for sharing
Soo great, Thanks for your wise
ah man wish I read this months ago as my pots are black thus causing havoc on my poor pepper plants!!!
peppers suck they are too difficult to grow! easier to just pay $2 to buy fresh hot peppers. Never will grow these again! Cucumbers and tomatoes also difficult to grow same with herbs like cilantro. I like garlic because easy to grow little work.
Great information as always! I just moved my plants outdoors this past weekend and they are welding, every single one of them about 30. After hearing your information I knew it wasn't the water because I thoroughly watered them after potting them. The next day I saw the soil was still moist yet they were still wilting. So I'm leaning towards the sun shock you talked about. Glad it's nothing to life threatening. Thank you again for your videos and all your expertise.
Thank you! Great to hear your plants are doing well, they will get used to the outdoors soon enough :)
fungal diseases under the roots of chili plants
am experimenting with shade cloth this year after experiencing sun scald last year.good info
I live in central North Carolina and our summers are HOT. I remember my reaper plant was terribly wilted last August and I freaked out. Posted a photo of it on r/hotpeppers and everyone was like "it's fine. I basically water torture my plants every year". Gave it some water when the sun set and it looked perfect again.
Haha, yep, sounds about right
Very cool man. Thank you. valuable info for a first-timer like myself.
Awesome, glad you found it helpful
Nice time lapses! Thanks for the info.
My madame jeanette comes back to life in a few minutes after a bit of water, it's impressive! It does not like a lot of sunlight.
I'm currently doing a treatment for fungus in the soil, using a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water and I thought my pepper plant would suffer from it but it's blooming super fast.
Great video, the only thing I would have added that causes common wilt is when a pepper plant has just been repotted and is a little stressed out.
*We are growing Serranos...love my new plant,growing in Los Angeles, California...108° today,and Serann started wilting,we brought her inside😊new subbie here too!*
🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶 🌶
did that save your peppers?
Thank you for the tip you gave about picking the first lot of flowers off pepper plants. Mine reflowered and all are setting fruit
:) yay! Exciting times ahead
I use shade cloth to protect the plants in temps over 100. Works good.
This has been very helpful. Thank you.
Greetings from Ukraine. Thanks for your hard work.
Well hello there! You're very welcome :)
I just started about 2 months ago,this is exactly what happened to my plant so I placed it back to the shade,so far I only lost 2 flowers but Its ok..rookie in training lol
Very helpful! Thank you for taking the time to produce this.
Your videos are truly amazing.
i would really appreciate a video explaining the distance the pepper seedlings need to be from the light source while growing indoors in relation to the light wattage.
I have a 40 watt led and i try to figure out how far it needs to be from my plants.
I only saw this topic was discussed online in wattages that are higher(ranging from 100 to 500+ watt).
Thanks! We have not gone full-scientific on this topic, it is still a lot of guess and check for us, though I'm sure there is a better way to do it. For 40W, I'd probably be comfortable around 12" from the plants, maybe even a bit closer.
Ok thanks for the reply!!
Forgot about over watering I was giving some of my peppers a little to much love and had to stop watering 3 of my peppers for a couple days and they perked back up
Great video, really helpful
Thanks, glad to help!
Mississippi and it has been a rather wet year (even for here) - I think I have bacterial wilt. Pulling the plant this morning. Thanks!!
G'day pepper geek. Thanks for another great video!
Thank you!
perfect timing, I've been giving my 2 plants identical care and one is drooping unbelievably. But its soil is pretty saturated
maybe it's the cold water shock
Overwatering can also cause wilted leaves. Let the soil dry up a bit and also check for good drainage.
Thanks for the advice
Awesome videos, keep up the good work!
Thank you this was so helpful.
You're very welcome! Glad you enjoyed :)
And I love the content thank you I will be supporting the channel
Quite informative, thanks
I have never grown peppers in pots until this year. My situation maybe compounded by having moved from zone 4 to 9. Jalapenos are fine. The chilies drop in full sun. I stuck them under the Gum tree. They are doing magnificent now. BTW, did you know pepper leaves, at least these two varieties are edible? I prepare them with the same recipes for Perilla leaves, Korean recipes that is, being that I have been cooking Korean for more than 30 years now.
Love your guys' content, just sent a coffee your way!
Thank you Chris!
Awesome, I would love to see a video on how to use liquid fertiliser. I’m in the process of fertilising my seedlings and I’m not so sure what I’m doing 😂
Haha! We do have a video on fertilizing, but not a specific brand/type. We typically recommend that you follow the instructions on your fertilizer. For seedlings, we start off with a light feeding (using 1/4-1/2 the recommended strength).
@@PepperGeek I do the same with seedlings, and I almost never use fertilizer at full strength. I find it better to keep feeding the smaller amounts, just more often. Many conventional farmers refer to this practice as "spoon-feeding."
I have a Mad Hatter pepper plant and no matter what I do, the leaves are always wilted. I've tried changing soils, fertilizing, moving out of the afternoon sun, watering, and probably more. The plant is growing nicely though
I made a bucket of water and weeds/leaves for fertilizer (swamp water) and watered my plants with that a few times. Quite a few started wilting and more clean water did not help. Some are brown and dead, now. I don't know if it was the "fertilizer" water, but this never happened to me before in four or five years of gardening. And it is the first year I made swamp water.
How often should you hit your gal peppers with Bloom boosters
Thanks for best lesson stay blessed
Duude, This is straight up scary! I was just checking my plants and noticed a lot of them had dropped some leafs and didn’t look to good. First thought inmy mind was “ I need to RUclips this and see what’s wrong” opening up the app, and bam, this video 2nd to the top in my feed. Is google reading minds? I didn’t even say it out loud... thanks for the video though :D
Haha, well Google knows more than we think...but we're also trying to keep our videos timely, as we know what to expect when it comes to peppers. Hope this one helped!
@@PepperGeek yes your videos are always relevant and informative :)
Many Thanks to both of you, your videos and info is direct to the point.
- In the past also I saw this when the drain holes of a pot were closed and the plant was stressed to over flooded water problem. - to late.
Question: Where it is possible to get pepper geek t-shirts?... this can be another way to support you :)
Greetings from the far Galilee in Israel.
Hey there! Thanks for sharing, and your interest in getting a shirt. We have a page on our site with a few select items for sale: peppergeek.com/merch
Thanks in advance for supporting us!
Amazing video! Thank you
My big Bertha bell pepper plant leaves are drooping and at this point the plant had more then 27 peppers setting at the same time. It is my hunch the plant did not have enough water and fertilizer for feeding the plant. it had more then 8 hrs. of sun light with 100 plus temperatures. I gave it some water and a good water soluble feeding and pruned off all the peppers and moved the plant to a shaded area of the yard. will see what happens next.
Did I just see a bonsai pepper plant. 🔥
Jc pENNEY
Very informative!
Thanks :)
Great information, thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
First time I plant a pepper plant and your content is great! I have a question: it is going to rain for about 5 days. Should I get my plants back inside or leave them outside? Keep up the good Work!
Thanks! they can handle the rain, but I would make sure they can drain properly
How about overwatering... I didn't have a hole in the bottom of the container... now it's wilted. I put a hole in the bottom and raised it from the ground. we are getting so much rain.
In Central Florida I keep my in the shade under a metal roof and water every other day but wilt
Awesome video! What pepper variety was that between 0:40 - 0:43?
That is our 'Blue Ghost pink', a crossed variety from farouchepeppers on instagram. He used to sell seeds, but no longer does. It is a very cool plant with dark foliage and purple-ish pods that ripen to a peachy color!
@@PepperGeek Thank you Pepper Geek!
My plants have been wilting in direct sunlight. They’re completely hardened. In 2 gallon tubs each, watered regularly and are all over a foot tall.
The leaves become soggy in sun, and in the shade the point upwards and sometimes actually flip over.
I’ve been having to keep them in the shade and massage the limbs to get them to turn over and flatten out
I just started hardening off my peppers. I left my house for work and an unexpected thunderstorm brushed by my area. The rain damaged one of my plants and cause it to flatten down to the soil. I brought it back inside and it perked back up to an upright position, however the leaves are still droopy and I had to remove two of the leaves because they were halfway broken from the stem. Should I be concerned for the plant? It is still reacting to my indoor light setup, however the leaves are concerning me. There is no discoloration of the leaves nor any noticeable infestation. Sorry for the long comment but would love some advice. First time pepper grower and I took on the load of 24 at once 😅.
Subscribed! 👍🏻
ok i posted on the other video before finding this one.
I'm in a heat-wave area with temps over 100. One of my seedlings has true leaves out, but during the day, the leaves are bending down away from the sun. when the sun goes away, the leaves perk back up.
I have this pepper under 40% shade cloth, but based on this video, i'm wondering if I should go with stronger shade cloth? I don't think the shade will help bring the temperature below 100 degrees (it's just really hot outside and will be most of the summer) and i worry about it not getting enough sunlight to grow.
I need your help. I’m in zone 9B. I have a pepper plant. It’s a sweet, yellow bell pepper. yesterday after a heavy rain, I noticed that one of my pepper plants was wilting. I chalked it up to the fact that it may have been overwatered. The next morning it was still wilted and now the pepper plant that is right next to it is starting to wilt. Also, there’s yellow markings on one of the leaves. please advise 🥹
Love your content! So helpful! Do you have recommendations for raised beds? Specifically if only part of the bed is for peppers? I worry about the other things in the bed that don't need as much nitrogen as my peppers.
I would say don't worry about the _peppers_, as they have a way of growing strong even with varied nutrition. But for raised beds, using the square-foot gardening technique helps to keep different plant varieties organized. Also, peppers benefit from some afternoon shade if you are growing anything tall.
Thank you..may I know what is the best medicine to avoid bacteria in a pepper plant?
Leaves droop daily here in FL and then perk up at night. I think it's the plants way of protecting itself from too much transpiration.
Thank u your info helps me alot
I cut my jalepeno pepper plant all the way, down to no more than 6 in from soil. All the leaves, buds, etc. It wasn't just wilting for days on end, it was yellowing and shrinking back into soil, despite a take to aid growth and attachment to grow upwards and onwards. The plant directly behind it is green and doing not half bad. The base is cardboard, thin sheets, with potting soil and compost, leaving a thin, but CCESIBLE GROUND ROOT SYSTEM ADVENTURE. wE SHALL SEE. tHE TOMATOES DIRECTLY IN FRONT ARE LIKE GANGESTERS. Full monty growth. So big that I gotta string em up cali weave-style ever couple days, so...yeah, man!! rock on
I noticed my plants did a brief wilt after topping them. I can only assume due to the stress. They wilted about an hour after topping and came back in about another hour.
I'm located in ky, so bacterial wilt may be the culprit.
Mine were in the sun and drooped over, so I moved them back in after an hour. The leaves are nice and green and look healthy but haven't stood back up even after being inside for 24 hours. They just lay flat and even had one stem snap. I've feed them liquid fertilizer. What do I do?
From watching your video cold water did cause because My central air is on in the house and the basement is really cold so the pipes are cold and for me turning that water on and just spraying cold water on the plants wilted the leaves a little bit
Thank you so much for making these videos. I'm in a bit of a pickle. I started my pepper plants in February indoors with grow lights. I have taken them out and transplanted them in grow bags. Since then they had issues with aphids and they haven't grown very much for the last 3 months. Maybe an inch or 2 at best. I got the aphids off on time. Is the slow growing normal for Carolina and Ghost peppers? My tomatoes are 3x bigger and I started them at the same time. Any advice helps.
Yes peppers don't grow nearly as fast as tomatoes, we typically start our tomatoes a few weeks after the pepper seeds. However, aphids can also inhibit growth since they tend to feed off of the young, new leaves. Definitely focus on getting some beneficial insects into your garden area, and maybe even prepare some neem oil spray!
@@PepperGeek thank you so much for your input. I greatly appreciate it 🙏
Two other possible reasons for slow growth -- cool temperatures (highs less than about 60F / 15C); and insufficient nutrients in the soil. I also start my tomatoes indoors 1-3 months later than my peppers (the tomatoes I start first are cold-season varieties).
@@davidniemi6553 I live in SoCal. The weather is mainly 70s and 80s at night tends to be 60s. I just recently got some Miracle Grow organics. It's a 9-2-7. I have seen a bit of growth in the last week. I also placed them in a smaller pot. I had them in 5gal grow bags, 1 plant per, and someone had said maybe it was too much for the size of the plants. Thanks for the input I'm new to growing so anything I can learn is really helpful.
@@pirrurrashon I don't think there is any harm with an oversized container, it is just more than your plants actually need right now. The weather sounds great, so that should not be the problem. Probably just needed more nutrients.
great video
I have indoor grow for my peppers Temps at 75-80 & humidity 60-70 is my humidity to high? Growing verity of peppers for the first time. Thinking of using a dehumidifier but not sure if it's needed. (In S.Carolina)
Im excited to know how you got these issues even you are doing all the remedies!!!...😅
It’s been 113 in the Ca foothills this week five or take. I have been taken them in lately.
My plants in my seed tray the older ones are turning yellow and laying what can I do? They not as big as yours.
Laying as in falling over? If they are bending and dying it may be "damping off" disease. It is caused by cool and moist conditions. Maybe find a warmer spot, and make sure they have nutrients and plenty of light.
Hi i have a question I'm from the Philippines it's hot and suddenly my pepper plant wilting due to hot but i water my plant but when i put it some water on their leaves they don't get wilt
Is it less bad to over-water or under-water a young plant?
Depends on the container. If it wicks then it will be forgiving with overwatering. If it's plastic then it will suffer if overwatered.
Over-watering is more detrimental overall, but it is hard to overwater if you allow each container to properly drain and dry out before each soaking.
Thanks for doing this video, I through my made hatter pepper plants. Was dieing . The fruit is soft and not getting hard. So I cut off the fruit and flower. I'm not worried because I another mad hatter pepper plants.
About a week too late for me with the video but still useful moving forward so thanks. I would like to add that for hydroponics lack of nutrients also contributes to the wilting. It essentially is the hydroponic version of not enough water in potted/soiled plants.
I have a few pepper plants I have started on heat pads under grow lights. All but one are just fine. I have one that all the leaves wilted and fell off!!! The stems seem ok. I didn’t know if it was stem rot, I did recently trans plant them and I don’t think I planted them too deep. Any ideas???
Hm - so after the seeds sprout I always shut off the heating pad. Roots like to be cool, so that could be a factor. Otherwise, can't be sure what exactly happened
I've got a quick question, I have 2 plants growing next to each other (they both have only 2 set of leaves if that's important) some people have told me to separate them, but I don't wanna damage them as they're the only ones that I have. So can I leave them or will it kill them?
Just leave them planting actually two plants close to each other doesn’t have a big effect and it will actually give your more production in less space
Put root ends in water and gently shake while gently tugging . They will come apart
I like Charles' tip. The difficulty of separating plants depends on how close and how big they are. Yours are tiny so they should be easy to separate. I routinely start with at least 2 pepper seeds per cell. Sometimes I separate them, sometimes I leave them together, dependent mostly on how many I get of that variety.
Thanks for the video. I recently got my first Capsicum pepper plant and the leave are extremely droopy. I watered it yesterday and they are still drooping badly and leaves are starting to fall off. I recently harvested two peppers from the plant around 3 days ago. Not sure what else to do???
I'm starting a grow indoor of Magiro and RSB. What's you're recommending light schedule.
Early on we usually have the lights on for longer (about 14 hours a day or so). Then we reduce as they grow to 12 hours.
Just putting it out here i let two plants grow in the same container and they developed more roots than I thought
when I went to transplant one of them I had to break them apart
one of them has never recovered after a month it’s just wilted the only plan in my yard
What about in the cold weather
Do you guys make any vids on drying peppers and turning them into a powder! I just found you today so I figured I’d just ask 😂
We haven't yet, but we absolutely will later in the season when we have our first wave of peppers! For now, we have articles on dehydrating habaneros and jalapeños on peppergeek.com :)
I made powder twice with many dozens of Ghost Peppers (I had way too many to use any other way). I cut off the stems and cut them lengthwise in half or thirds (the pods tend to be triangular in cross section) and dried them thoroughly using a dehydrator which took about 24 hours. Once they were very dry and crispy, I ground them into powder with a mortar and pestle. The powder can keep for years in an ordinary spice container and I shake them out onto anything needing more kick. Note that with ghost peppers it is important to very thoroughly clean everything that comes in contact with them!
I have 3 bell pepper plants in my greenhouse planted in-ground on the west facing end that daily go through leaf wilt. The temperature in the greenhouse has been reaching up to 95F with the roof vents wide open, the door wide open and 2 fans running all of the time. I check the soil with both my finger and a moisture meter and it appears to be watered plenty but not wet. I water every 2 mornings when it is going to be a clear hot day and fertilize weekly but still get the leaf wilt by the mid afternoon each day. On cooler days there is no leaf wilt at all. I do have shade cloth covering the entire roof and 1 foot down on each side. It is a 14’9” long by 9’ wide by 10’ high aluminum with tempered glass greenhouse. Should I cover the south and west sides with shade cloth to give my tomatoes and peppers some relief from the heat? Or should I increase my watering and fertilization amounts? Also, all soil in the greenhouse was replaced with 18” deep of very rich soil before planting any transplants and the surface 1” is covered with mulch which is retaining the moisture in the soil. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. I love your RUclips videos and have learned so much from them. Thanks.
Calvin, I need help!! "SOMETHING" during the night time has been EATING all the leaves from my pepper plants leaving ONLY a pitiful looking stem!! Between dusk to dawn in 12 hours!!! WHAT DEMON is capable of doing this and how do I prevent it from reoccurring to replacement seedlings??? Southern NJ here.
a mouse did this to some of mine I had on the counter. a mousetrap got him the next night
@@jvcrox If I didn't live in a residential development, I swear I would sit outside with my shotgun and wait for them to get close !!!!! Whatever it is that is devouring my stuff is making me go bizerko!!!
👿 It is either a mouse or a rabbit. The rabbits have ruined our plants many, many times. You need some sort of fencing, as they can't jump very high. You could also try a decoy (like a hanging faux owl/hawk) to scare them away. Sorry about the plants, they _might_ recover though!
Where I live it would definitely be deer, especially if the plants are over a foot tall. I don't have anything that eats lower pepper leaves, but then I don't have rabbits (due to foxes). There are plenty of mice here so I'm skeptical it would be mice -- I think that leaves the rabbits as the prime suspect.
Let us know whether your plants recover. I've had them recover from really bad deer chompings, though it takes a few weeks.
thank you 😍
You're welcome 😊
Thank you
What about tiny tiny white bugs on underside leaves?
Hi Pepper Geek. I started my peppers too early - they are budding and have some flowers. I just started hardening off. Should I remove the buds and flowers till they are planted. This is the first year I have started my own and have always removed the buds and flowers on pepper plants I bought until they were established
Yes, we recommend taking them off until they are outside permanently
you forgot to mention overwatering. Usually the leaves will turn yellow and if the issue doesn't resolve itself the leaves are gonna start to drop
Thanks, you're right - overwatering causes pretty much every issue in the book
I live In NW Illinios, I was about 2 weeks late in hardening my reapers for outside. They are growing great now and very full of leaves and now seeing some buds (many buds) on all seven of my plants. This is my first year growing them and not sure if they will product peppers in time before fall, cold weather hits. I'm growing in totes. I saw your video on pruning way back for the winter, but wondering if there is anything else I can do to get them growing faster. I did add some diluted Botanicare platonic care kind bloom about 2 weeks ago and wondering if this enough? thanks Brenda
My pepper plants wilted horribly after planting them. It hasnt been hot I was watering them i did put a couple of inches of cattle compost manure it dries out quickly. Idk is it possible that u can get too big of leaves at the time of planting and they got too much leaf areas too keep up with the root structure outside?
Yes indoor plants tend to grow much larger leaves as the light is less intense. Then, moving outside, the large leaves are thin and capture way too much light, causing burn, wilting, etc. The plants should adjust though!
How much should I water my reaper plant. I just got it and it's been in the process of getting acclimated. Idk whether I'm watering too little or too much since I've noticed it start wilting. I was told to just water it until the water starts pouring from the holes on the ottom of the pot. Idk whether this is accurate or if I should water it a little longer or less.
I have 2 ghost pepper and 1 reaper plant. Both of my ghosts are drooping and producing very little fruit, but the reaper is alive and very healthy with 12 peppers already. Any reason why the ghost would be drooping compared to the reaper? Are the ghosts a little more temperamental? I make sure to water them equally and they are all in the same environment, the same type of pot, soil, everything. Thanks for the video it has me thinking I need to water more often
We had the opposite problem last year with our reaper not producing much at all. It definitely varies from one variety to another, so it could just be your conditions, or the age of the plant and that it may not quite be ready to fruit
@@PepperGeek after watching the video I decided to give the ghosts more water. It helped with the drooping within an hour or so! Still a little slow on the fruit but your advice has given me alot of insight
I have a question please? Can pepper's come back if affected by temperature drops into the 40's , mine are stunted but putting on blooms? My squash and cucumbers have very yellow leaves and aren't growing fast either, is there something I can do? The compost I use has been staying pretty moist due to rain, any advice is very much appreciated, thank you so much, and thank you for all the wonderful tips
You're very welcome! Yes, peppers will recover from a temperature dip into the 40s, but slowed growth is expected. Once temperatures improve consistently, they should grow strong again. Drainage troughs can help with raised beds/garden beds to allow excess rainwater to run away from the roots. Hope this helps!
My pickling cuke had very yellow leaves also. Gary Pilarchik (The Rusted Garden) advised me on his channel to use a 24% nitrogen fertilizer and it now looks like it had a dose of Viagra. I have green leaves, more leaves and more blossoms. It should work on the squash and peppers, too.
Suva city, Fiji islands 🇫🇯
I'd really like to get into growing peppers, but I'm wondering if it's still possible to plant seeds in late may, or if I should wait until next year. I live in the Netherlands, our first frost date is around mid november and I'm planning to grow the peppers largely indoors in small numbers. What would you recommend?
I would look for quick ripening varieties for planting this late. If you want to grow superhots, you may still be able to get a few pods, but I would keep the plants in a smaller container (1-2 gallons) to encourage early fruiting.
Thank you for the info, I recently bought a Taiwan Chili Peppers, those purple or violet colored peppers. But when I repotted it, leaves wilted or drooping. It is located on semi shaded area, currently here in Philippines and in a few weeks time, it will be summer. Kindly help, thank you.
I would guess they might be too moist - try to water less. On the flip side, if it is _too_ dry the same thing may occur.
Thanks again, will keep that in mind😚
Florida is so hot that I'm having to water my babies daily. I just moved here and wasn't prepared for this heat. When I water I was until I see water running out of the bottom of the pot and they're usually good for around 3-5 days. Not here! One day and it's bone dry. Figured that out the hard way too, came outside the other day and they were wilting bad...gave em some water and they perked right up. So now I know and water every morning now.
My pepper Blossom is falling off what can i do about it