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Help!! Peppers turning black around the stem and rotting

C

cycle900

I need some help with my pepper plants. I have several varieties of super hots and some of them are rotting around the stem just as the begin to ripen. I have had this problem in the past and it seems to affect the smaller pods just before the turn. The larger ones appear to be ok. It is almost like they take too long to turn ripe. It starts off as a black area just around where the stem and flesh meet. It is also present on the inside of the pod around the stem and seed. I will attempt to get some photos up later. Any ideas on what may be causing this and how to correct it?





Thanks!!!
 
I like this stuff:
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i even use it on my squash when i get a little end rot kicking in.....
 
Examine the stem's connection to the node, my guess is that it is very week and strangling off the pepper so it stopped growing for a period of time then started to rot, just as if you had picked it and left it sitting out at high temperature though perhaps not as wrinkly as it may have still received a little water from the plant.

However, pictures of the pods on the plant still from a top-down angle might help.
 
Falling off would be consistent with my theory that the stem may have had a crack in it where it finally broke the rest of the way off. When it happens to mine I attribute it to something bumping the pepper too hard (probably me or a bird) or strong wind in the past.
 
I don’t think it has anything to do with the stems being damaged as it is affecting ALL of my pepper plants. About 15 of them. Most of these are in 10 gallon containers with miracle grow potting soil. I have been giving them a little fertilizer i addition. Also I there are some leaves that are turning yellow and falling off. I am really starting to worry my crop this year is going to the toilet in a hurry. They were looking amazing and growing like weeds until a week ago. I live in KY and we had several days of storms and soaking rains. I am wondering if all the water and soil saturation is what is causing my problem. Every single pepper has the black spotting and rot directly around the stem. I am going to try the calcium but anyone have any other ideas? Is it possible it is just from overwatering? Maybe some sort of root rot or fungus? It seems I had the exact same symptom a few years ago on a habanero plant that had standing water in it for a while. Thanks!!
 
I agree, seems like overwatering is causing fungus and/or root rot. One thing you could try is flushing them out by giving them a LOT of tapwater straight from the tap (not sitting to aerate first), dump a gallon on each plant or whatever the pot will hold, let it drain out then repeat. Seems counter-intuitive but that may kill some fungus and bacteria or flush out the soil then you might try to limit how much rain they get. This is assuming you have city/treated water. Next add back a little fertilizer including N/P/K/Cal/Mag

Not sure if this is enough to save them but it's basically what I did with one of mine that had soil too compacted and didn't drain well. That plant of mine is still lagging behind the rest but is recovering.
 
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