Hi everyone, I’m hoping to get some input on my pepper plants. Last year all my vegetable plants were explosive in growth and produce. This year they’ve been a bit stressed by the early heat we’ve had (southern Ontario) but otherwise doing well. Everything from cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, potatoes, carrots, lettuce, garlic, and onions are doing well.

My pepper plants, on the other hand, look terrible.

Initially I thought they were just extremely stressed from the heat, but I noticed a few of them (not pictured) are doing fine. What clicked in my head today is that the ones that are doing ok I grew from seed, and the rest are from garden centres (a semi-private one and a commercial one).

From my zero-level knowledge and subsequent Googling the answer is:

  • Too much heat
  • Too much water
  • Too little water
  • Exposure to herbicide

It’s the last one that really raised my eyebrows, and seems to fit based on photos.

Anyone have any insight on this? Thanks in advance.

  • @[email protected]English
    3•2 months ago

    Sometimes transplanted plants struggle to throw roots into the soil they’re placed into, especially if the soil isnt super loose amazing primo grade A soil.

    I’ve had some plants that I’ve transplanted into shitty soil that struggle to root into the new soil and so kind of just fester at their current size, whereas plants sown directly into that soil grow better.

    This is actually pretty common for me with my fish peppers when I use a soil that has too much fibrous wood content.

    • @CeeBee_EhOPEnglish
      1•2 months ago

      So I decided to sacrifice one of the gnarlier plants to see what I can find. Here are the images:

      https://postimg.cc/gallery/N2XxkkY

      The roots did shoot out beyond the bulb, there was a lot of pulling and tearing as I was lifting it out. But I also noticed that some of the stems are woody and brown. My neighbour said that she noticed the “stinging bugs” are exceptionally bad this year.

    • @[email protected]English
      1•2 months ago

      Yeah I always throw some potting soil with some slow fertilizer mixed in around the edge of the hole before the plant, before filling in after transplanting and honestly it’s good to sorta mash down the roots a bit so they really press into the soil but absolutely transplanted plants are not a guarantee. Doubly so if the roots have all wrapped around the inside of the pot and looks bound.

      Also definitely agree that too much wood is an issue. But I bet they were not getting enough water past the mulch and just couldn’t get good root growth, with it being anaerobic and nitrogen removing from all the slow decomposing fresh wood mulch.