Bell Peppers Brown Ends??

[myfirstgarden]

Thanks for the replies. Gardening and my garden would not be the same without the you guys.

I live in Chico, California, Zone 9 gardening. These come from container plants, so the plant may have drained all the calcium out. Maybe I should add more?? Like you said, maybe it is just the first, because all the others look fine. They are extremely miniature though, which I equate to them being in containers.

What sized container and how big is the plant? Pictures might help. How often and how much water are you giving them? What's your seasonal rainfall rate, under average, average, or above average? If under average I tend to think it's watering too little for the temperatures that is causing insufficient calcium uptake.

Is this virgin soil or have you grown in it previously and now it'd being reused?

Do you overwater to the point that it always comes out the bottom of the pot?

Generally it takes a while to deplete typical soil of calcium, a reason why it's low if there's a reasonable quantity of soil. Have you been fertilizing and if so, with what? Do you mean small plant or small fruit or both? What are you comparing against, I grow a bell strain that is nowhere near as big as the strain they sell at local grocery stores but it has more taste.

Given a good sized container, say 5 gallon or more you should't be seeing significant stunting of plant growth yet - they may eventually not be as big as if in a larger container or the ground and take longer to get to their final size but this may be more due to moisture fluctuations and fertilizer vs soil nutrient level issues. If you have not put any type of fertilizer on them then you might do that, not just calcium but at least something with NPK in it whether synthetic or organic, and a little magnesium wouldn't hurt either.

These are not to address the blossom end rot, just the small size.

The size of the fruit is most likely due to the size of of the container 1/2 gallon and amount of water. I water about once a day for about 10 seconds. It does not rain in the summer where I live.

Virgin soil. I may have over watered once.

I do not think I've fertilized this plant. I've been giving the bigger plants fish emulsion. What do you guys think about fish emulsion as a fertilizer?

Small fruits. It's the biggest pepper plant I have, but not sure how big they can really get. I'm comparing it to the farmers market produce.

Would it be to late to transplant the plant into a bigger pot? It already has 3-5 peppers on it.

I am also having trouble with other pepper plants. They are in one gallon containers and stunted. I bought them late in the season from a nursery about 1 month ago and still have not grown from the size I bought them. Could they have been damaged from being in such a small container for too long?

 

[dickiebird]

A 1 gallon container is way too small for most pepper plants. I use 5 gallon buckets, at least, for any plants I do in a container. I drill 4 holes around the bucket, about 1" up from the bottom.
I have a couple restaurants that save me their 5 gallon pickle buckets.
I would try and transplant what you have into larger containers. I bet you'll find major root bind when you get them out of the gallon containers!!! You may loose the peppers already on it.
Fish emulsion is good stuff!!!

THANX RICH

 

[catjac1975]

If you can transplant it with out much root disturbance you should be fine. Put it in semi-shade for a few days afterwards. Also try a water soluble organic fertilizer. Potting mix wears out before the seasons end. At this point the bigger pot the better.

 

[Dave2000]

A small plant stunted by an undersized container will still produce (a fewer # of) full sized peppers if the plant receives enough fertilizer and water, but with such a small container it is almost certainly not getting enough water to water it once a day for 10 seconds in zone 9.

With such a small container and no fertilizer added it is quite possible the plant is both receiving too little water and has depleted the calcium in the soil. All of your plants would benefit from larger pots, it is never too late to transplant but do it in late evening when it is cooler and has a chance to recover overnight before the heat of the next day, and leave it in the shade for a couple days, and water it thoroughly right after transplanted.

If it looks healthy two days later, (at least as good as prior to transplant), give it some fertilizer although I would mix some organic material into the soil added to the larger pot, perhaps fully composted manure, coffee grounds, peat, ground eggs shells, a few pine needles, etc.

I doubt you'll disturb the roots much, unless they have rotten away you will probably find that once removed from the current pot, the soil looks like just a big ball of roots.

 

[myfirstgarden]

An evening transplanting is in order!

 

[Dave2000]

http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/uploads/9250_peppers.jpg

These are two bell peppers that I recently picked from two separate plants. The pepper on the left had some liquid come out of the bottom when I squeezed it. When opened, which I was hesitant to do, there were no insects inside. What is wrong with them? Have you experienced this before? What am I doing or not doing? Thanks!

The most common problems with peppers are the abiotic physiological disorders. Blossom End rot occurs from calcium deficiency, and sporadic water and moisture fluctuations. The blossom end dries, turns brown to black and feels leathery. It can spread over half of the fruit. Sun scald is another physiological disorder that occurs commonly on sweet peppers when the fruit is exposed to hot sun. The flesh becomes light, dry and papery on areas that had direct sunlight on them.
http://www.rosebudmag.com/growers/diy-garden-clothes-young-plants

It can depend on the environmental conditions and how long the fruit has been decaying. When I get BER on bells it usually turns a creamy light tan color and is mushy, then either spreads that color or the flesh dries out to be a slightly darker, but still light tan scab.