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What is going on with this pepper plant? Please help.

R

Ralistin

Hello to all pepper lovers. This is my first pepper bed I am growing in about 24 years. I am excited to grow so many varieties I have never tried before and several came from Judy. I am really looking forward to the chocolate habanero. The bed is not complete yet as I started them all indoors and am letting the rest grow larger before placing them outside. You can see the entire bed in the third pic.
 
So on to the problem I am having. The first picture shows my problem plant. This is a California Wonder bell pepper and it has been wilting badly during the day even though it has had plenty of rain. At night it perks back up quite a bit but not all the way. This wilting started in the last 4-5 days. Ignore the dirt on the leaves, it had just rained hard and I usually wash the dirt off when this happens. I just put down mulch today around them to avoid that further.
 
The second picture shows two more of the same variety on the left and right side and they are doing fine. These two have been pruned so they will grow more bushy. The problem plant I haven't touched yet.
 
I am wondering if this is a type of fungal wilt. I really don't see anything wrong on the leaves themselves. The roots have not been disturb that I know of. No herbicides used in the area. The fact that the two right next to it are fine baffles me.
 
Any advice? Here are the pics. I live in South Florida in terms of zone I am growing them in.
 
pepper_zpseufgltpm.jpg

 
pepper1_zpsq2zumxqh.jpg

 
pepper3_zps674fyfuv.jpg
 
Dude looks like he needs water. If the soil is wet, slow down on watering and give it some shade. Also check for aphids or other sap drinking insects.
 
Thanks Moruga Welder, glad to be here and look forward to being part of the pepper community.
 
Cruzzfish,
 
Thanks for the reply. no insects, plant is clean. Watering has been the same for all peppers in the bed. Only this one suffers. It has rained almost daily lately but I don't think that is the issue.
 
My California Wonder did the exact same thing this year. It stayed healthy enough to produce a couple of peppers, but eventually petered out. It was finally killed by the recent flooding here. No  matter how much water or shade I gave it, it was always wilted during the day.
 
Looks like too much water and sun. Funny thing about peppers is they can't handle constantly wet roots. They need to dry out a little between waterings. If the roots stay wet they begin to rot and then cannot absorb water so plant looks dehydrated. Add hot sun to that and it cannot drink as much as it sweats.
 
Thanks all. The transplant has been in the soil for a little over 3 weeks now. All three of them side by side were planted at the same time. If it were too much water I would think the others around it would suffer in the same manner?
 
I might just pull it out and replace with my backup pepper growing indoors.
 
Ralistin said:
Thanks all. The transplant has been in the soil for a little over 3 weeks now. All three of them side by side were planted at the same time. If it were too much water I would think the others around it would suffer in the same manner?
 
I might just pull it out and replace with my backup pepper growing indoors.
Click to expand...
Yeah, soggy roots is just one of many possibilities.
If you do replace it, I would suggest you remove at least 6 inches of soil around the perimeter and below and replace with fresh soil just to eliminate any possibility of "infected" soil. In any case, good luck
 
Could be damage or diseased roots. I had a whole plant just wilt to death. Some kind of wilt rot...cannot for the life of me remember the name of it
 
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