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Bell pepper pods rotting from the bottom up

jetskee

jetskee

I have about 30 bell pepper plants of various varieties,
and all of them have some fungus/rotting on them (see pictures).

rotten1.jpg


rotten2.jpg


Can someone identify the problem and offer suggestions.
I have something similar that was affecting my tomatoes (first year growing
tomatoes) but didn't affect them as bad as these peppers.

I would say 80% of my pepper pods have this on them. I've been picking the
affected ones and throwing them out.

My jalapenos and other hots are not affected, only the bell peppers.

I have not watered these plants much...we have had a ton of rain and heat
this year, so I'm thinking the humidity and conditions are just
ripe for fungus growth, but I'm not sure.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.
 
Looks like BER.
Add Calcium to your soil.
I've been using the Vinegar + Egg Shells method pre-emptively, but there's better ways to do it.
Someone will come around and help you shortly.
 
Oooh yuck! Bad case of blossom end rot for sure. It usually means you need to add calcium to your soil but it could also indicate your pH is off and the plant can't absorb the calcium that is available. How are the plants looking? Healthy, green and robust? If so then your pH is probably fine and you need to get some calcium into the plants ASAP.

There's a fertilizer, Chili Focus, that has 5% calcium that is readily absorbed by plants. You can also crush tums or rolaids and add them to the soil and water them in good. Do the google thing and you can probably find other ways to add calcium quickly. Try to find a way to add it through the leaves, that's the quickest way.

Good luck.
 
patrick said:
Oooh yuck! Bad case of blossom end rot for sure. It usually means you need to add calcium to your soil but it could also indicate your pH is off and the plant can't absorb the calcium that is available. How are the plants looking? Healthy, green and robust? If so then your pH is probably fine and you need to get some calcium into the plants ASAP.

There's a fertilizer, Chili Focus, that has 5% calcium that is readily absorbed by plants. You can also crush tums or rolaids and add them to the soil and water them in good. Do the google thing and you can probably find other ways to add calcium quickly. Try to find a way to add it through the leaves, that's the quickest way.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Will tums/rolaids work as a foliar spray?
 
jetskee said:
I have about 30 bell pepper plants of various varieties,
and all of them have some fungus/rotting on them (see pictures).

rotten1.jpg


rotten2.jpg


Can someone identify the problem and offer suggestions.
I have something similar that was affecting my tomatoes (first year growing
tomatoes) but didn't affect them as bad as these peppers.

I would say 80% of my pepper pods have this on them. I've been picking the
affected ones and throwing them out.

My jalapenos and other hots are not affected, only the bell peppers.

I have not watered these plants much...we have had a ton of rain and heat
this year, so I'm thinking the humidity and conditions are just
ripe for fungus growth, but I'm not sure.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.
Click to expand...

I know how this feels. Lost about 20 tomatoes (entire first fruit set) to this already this year.
 
Alphaeon said:
Will tums/rolaids work as a foliar spray?
Click to expand...

I tried it a couple of years back on some tomatoes that had BER. The plant stopped producing so I never found out if it would work. I used the fruit flavored Tums so the leaves did have a nice shade of pinkish blue after I finished spraying them. If you're having BER issues go for it, got nothing to lose. Tums/Rolaids are cheep.

I've had a touch of it here and there with peppers every year but this year using the Chili Focus fertilizer I haven't seen any trace of it.

Good luck you guys.
 
Will tums/rolaids work as a foliar spray?
Click to expand...

i've heard of folks using it on other forums on their tomatoes. wouldn't hurt. their results weren't as fast since they used it on the soil and not as foliar spray. took them a few days to see results. might not be a bad idea for a quick boost of calcium as a foliar spray. if it's readily absorbed that is.

i've also read that some folks even use powdered milk on their soil with their tomatoes. but that might be a bad idea, ants and all. and if you can stand the stench when it gets too hot.

good luck.
 
patrick said:
I tried it a couple of years back on some tomatoes that had BER. The plant stopped producing so I never found out if it would work. I used the fruit flavored Tums so the leaves did have a nice shade of pinkish blue after I finished spraying them. If you're having BER issues go for it, got nothing to lose. Tums/Rolaids are cheep.

I've had a touch of it here and there with peppers every year but this year using the Chili Focus fertilizer I haven't seen any trace of it.

Good luck you guys.
Click to expand...


franzb69 said:
i've heard of folks using it on other forums on their tomatoes. wouldn't hurt. their results weren't as fast since they used it on the soil and not as foliar spray. took them a few days to see results. might not be a bad idea for a quick boost of calcium as a foliar spray. if it's readily absorbed that is.

i've also read that some folks even use powdered milk on their soil with their tomatoes. but that might be a bad idea, ants and all. and if you can stand the stench when it gets too hot.

good luck.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I was looking at it for the future. Second fruit set is fine.
 
I feel for you, man. I have a lot of experience with blossom end rot. Many other garden ailments strike earlier, so at least you know what you're dealing with. BER comes at the end, when you're all excited about eating the peppers. It truly sucks.

There's a product called "Rot Stop", which is basically a foliar calcium spray. I have personally not had great success with it, but many, many other people give it high marks in on-line reviews. It may be a way to get calcium to your plants much quicker than soil-based additives.

TomatoTone is 5 % calcium, and a good all-around granular fertilizer for peppers. However, like any other granular organic, it'll take weeks to have its effect, which is way too long for what you're facing.

I would see about picking up some Rot Stop on amazon or something, and see if it works for you.
 
Dont always get fooled into thinking that calcium is the culprit. There could be plenty of calcium in the soil, but no uptake. Remember that BER is mostly about uptake and most often led to by extreme variances in soil moisture. High PH and high nitrogen will also contribute to it. First fruit set will get hit bad, but subsequent fruit sets will likely level off. You can add a basic Tomato-Tone or Garden Tone into the soil for about 5% calcium, which is more than enough. Then put about an inch or so of mulch to regulate soil moisture. Foliar applications of calcium are probably not going to do it.
 
Thanks for the replies. My plants are huge, green, and beautiful, so I don't think PH
is the issue. A few days ago I picked and trashed the B.E.R. affected peppers.

Added some Tomato-Tone so we'll see what happens. I still have lots of
unaffected peppers, so it is not a total loss.
 
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