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Big Issues With Peppers. Help Please.

Agree. The yellowing of the leaves is most commonly a sign of overwatering. The wilting and dropping of leaves most likely comes from exposing them too quickly to the great outdoors after having been growing indoors. "Hardening off" is the process of gradually exposing them to sun and wind. When you first bring them outdoors, they need to be in shade and protected from the wind. Start with no more than 30 minutes in sun and wind then increase by roughly an hour a day until they're strong enough. Some of the bigger ones might pull though, but definitely some look like goners. 
 
Actually yeah, I think he's got multiple things going on here. Watched the entire video and heard mention of the fertilizer.
 
For future reference, and this is based on my own experience, if you are using a proper starting mix then you won't need to fertilize your plants for a good long while. Although you COULD give them a very weak liquid fert in the range of say 1/4 strength if you really wanted to. For reference as far as your soil/starting medium, I refer to my last glog update. Take note of the first pic. That is all the growth I had after 2.5 months starting with 100% coir. Had I known then what I know now that pure coir pretty much necessitates the use of ferts right out the gate then I think my results would have been much different. The rest of the pictures below that show how they did after replacing the coir with a mix of coir/earthworm castings, perlite, and cow manure compost---much better IMHO.
 
The latter pics were also from after spending about 3 weeks (1 week for the first set, 2 weeks for the second set) total exposing the plants to the outdoors. Although I took a simpler approach than what Geeme suggested. I just put them in a large flat container and placed them in an area that got shade with a teeny bit of morning sun for the entire day (I work all day) and brought them inside at night.
 
My advice right now since you have transplanted and gotten rid of the excess fertilizer is to flush with water once just in case, then water maybe twice a week with plain old water until they bounce back. Also assuming you didn't harden them off before taking them outside, I would either do what Geeme (30min increments of sun and outside) or what I did (morning sun for an hourish plus shade for the rest of the day) and bring them inside or cover them at night.
 
Good luck. I think you'll find they are quite more resilient than you think and if you provide the right environment and back up just a touch they should perk up.
 
Thanks guys,
 
I was starting to have leaf drop before they transplanted but it certainly got a lot worse when they went outside. I didn't really know about hardening off(I thought it was a temperature thing and the temps outside here are the same as what they have been in my house their whole life) so they have been out a few days without being hardened. I thought if they were sunburnt they would be purple in the leaves? That's what happened if one got too close to the fluorescent grow light they have been under.
 
As far as washing the soil, I tried to remove as much of the fert containing soil from the roots as I could when I transplanted and I transplanted into fresh fert-free stuff. Just FYI, they have all been in Fafard b3 mix.
 
So at this point, shove them where they will be in majority shade and let them dry out? That's the gist of what I'm getting here. 
 
Skeptic68W said:
Thanks guys,
 
I was starting to have leaf drop before they transplanted but it certainly got a lot worse when they went outside. I didn't really know about hardening off(I thought it was a temperature thing and the temps outside here are the same as what they have been in my house their whole life) so they have been out a few days without being hardened. I thought if they were sunburnt they would be purple in the leaves? That's what happened if one got too close to the fluorescent grow light they have been under.
 
As far as washing the soil, I tried to remove as much of the fert containing soil from the roots as I could when I transplanted and I transplanted into fresh fert-free stuff. Just FYI, they have all been in Fafard b3 mix.
 
So at this point, shove them where they will be in majority shade and let them dry out? That's the gist of what I'm getting here. 
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Consider that the temperatures may be the same but the sun produces UV rays that the plants are not accustomed to with a fluorescent.  The wind is another factor for hardening (might not be an issue if you had a fan on them indoors.)  I scorched the crap out of some of my darker plants like Bhut X PDN and PDN, and Czechoslo black in only 10 minutes when I first started hardening.  They'll start getting like a waxy shine to the leaves as they get used to the radiation.  I hope this helps.
 
If you think your soil is fine now (and i think it is) then put them in the shade with a little morning sun. Let the soil tops dry out an inch or so before watering again, and water deep until it runs out the bottom.  I think that should fix you up in a few days or so.
 
filmost said:
If you think your soil is fine now (and i think it is) then put them in the shade with a little morning sun. Let the soil tops dry out an inch or so before watering again, and water deep until it runs out the bottom.  I think that should fix you up in a few days or so.
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I agree mostly except for only checking if the top of the soil is dry.  With grow bags that deep, the top 2 inches of soil could be bone dry, yet the bottom could still have a LOT of moisture.  It's best to let the plant tell you when it needs water (drooping leaves).  But since yours are already drooping from the shock.  I would go by weight of the bags.  Pick up a bag that has just been watered.  Then pick up a bag that is almost completely dried out.  When your bags start to feel like the dry one, that's when you need to water.  And as filmost said, give them a good watering then.
 
compmodder26 said:
 
I agree mostly except for only checking if the top of the soil is dry.  With grow bags that deep, the top 2 inches of soil could be bone dry, yet the bottom could still have a LOT of moisture.  It's best to let the plant tell you when it needs water (drooping leaves).  But since yours are already drooping from the shock.  I would go by weight of the bags.  Pick up a bag that has just been watered.  Then pick up a bag that is almost completely dried out.  When your bags start to feel like the dry one, that's when you need to water.  And as filmost said, give them a good watering then.
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Oooh! Didn't even think about that. Nice catch!
 
Jeff H said:
Are the roots down that far though? Wet soil at the bottom of the bag doesn't do much good if there are no roots that deep.
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That^
 
It always boggles me when people go from seedcups to 5+ gallon containers. Progressive up-potting FTW :P
 
I don't mean to confuse things, but how cold have night temps got since they've been out? To me, they look like them may have got a bit too cold. Decks like that can allow cold air underneath. Last year, I put some out in early May they looked much the same (leaf drop, wilted mushy leaves). Some were reduced to the stem, but eventually came back. Cold nights will really slow growth too. The brown ends could be a different issue - sun or fert burn. Just a thought.
 
miguelovic said:
 
That^
 
It always boggles me when people go from seedcups to 5+ gallon containers. Progressive up-potting FTW :P
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These are smaller than 1 gallon.
hottoddy said:
I don't mean to confuse things, but how cold have night temps got since they've been out? To me, they look like them may have got a bit too cold. Decks like that can allow cold air underneath. Last year, I put some out in early May they looked much the same (leaf drop, wilted mushy leaves). Some were reduced to the stem, but eventually came back. Cold nights will really slow growth too. The brown ends could be a different issue - sun or fert burn. Just a thought.
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Mid 60s at the coolest.
 
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