What's your question? Ask

Bell Pepper Plants

Q.pepper gets about 4″ tall, then droops

Zone South Florida Zone 10 or 11 | Anonymous added on March 31, 2016 | Answered

My green bell pepper plants look healthy until they get a pepper growing on them (4″long), then they droop and one plant died after I took the pepper off of it. Why? I live in South Florida, I think Zone 10 or 11. I’ve bee growing bell peppers for 4 years now and this has happened a few times before. I have sandy soil but have added compost and organic fertilizer to the garden. I water around 4pm daily. I pulled off the 1st pepper and the plant died. Now my 2nd plant is doing the same.

A.Answers to this queston: Add Answer
Downtoearthdigs
Answered on April 1, 2016

Pepper plants may wilt if not given proper support and, given that this seems to happen after your plants bear 4 inch peppers, I'm leaning towards this explanation. Peppers have thin stems that can droop once fruit has set. I would place stakes in the ground near each plant and tie the plants to the stake once fruit sets to prevent this drooping.

How does the foliage look? Yellowed or dotted with brown/black spots? If so, maybe we need to explore fungal wilt. Check out the following article and let me know if this sounds like what may be happening:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/pepper/pepper-wilt-on-plants.htm

Has it been extremely hot?

Any sign of an insect infestation? This article will identify some of the more common pepper pests:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/pepper/common-pepper-plant-problems.htm

For more information on growing peppers, please visit the following link:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/pepper/growing-peppers.htm

Was this answer useful?
00

Log in or sign up to help answer this question.

Did you find this helpful? Share it with your friends!

You must be logged into your account to answer a question.

If you don't have an account sign up for an account now.

Looking for more?
here are more questions about...
Bell Pepper Plants
Join Us - Sign up to get all the latest gardening tips!

Do you know a lot about gardening?
Become a GKH Gardening Expert

OK