• If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.

If I don't move my plants into the shade will it do ok? (Houston Tx)

I have some fabric pots that I am using on some plants and I have them in daylight all day. Will this affect their growth of process of glowering/fruiting? Some other plants I have started already are in a different area and they've flowered. Starting to wonder if I am doing something wrong with these plants that are in these fabric pots. The other ones are in a semi shaded area but, in the sun for the most part too.
 
I live here in San Antonio and have been doing this for a few years. My plants do so much better in the summertime with a shade cloth. Right now I have them in full sun but in the next few weeks will place them under a shade cloth when it gets really hot. I have done well with  50-60% shade cloth canopy over them.
 
I'm in 5a and during late July/early August we get into the high 90s or more at times and I will see flowers drop from my cloth bag plants due to heat.  Once I moved them to the north side of the house it helped quite a bit.  Shade cloth is also a good recommendation.
 
It will also help you greatly if your root pouches or pots are insulated.  Shade cloth is great, but you really want to keep the roots cooler.  Cloth pouches are great for aerating, but if the air going through is like that of a food dehydrator, then there isn't enough oxygen in it, anyway, and it's going to just dry out the pot, while raising the temp.  Anything that you can put around the container that doesn't actually touch it, will help.  Cardboard, straw bales, etc.  I actually had some of my greatest grows in pots that I made from 55 gallon food grade poly drums. (that I cut in half)  That material really resists heating quite well, and it shows a direct benefit.
 
Peppers grow in some pretty harsh climates, so they don't necessarily need to be babied.  It's just that container culture has its limitations.

Good luck with your labor of love.
 
Just to add to all the replies...
I used to grow in the fabric wally mart bags. They work great btw, aerate good, but only last a season then they start to rot away.
Ive had 10 or 15 bags just sitting by the side of the house in full sun all day and they did fine through Southern Califonia summer.
I think theres a few old threads on here where we talk about it from probably 5 years ago.
I did have to water them more than Im used to, but they all survived and we get above 100 degrees here a lot in late August through September.
My watering is basically take a quick look at them just after the sun goes down and if the leaves are still wilted, water.
They regularly wilt in the heat of the day but that doesnt mean they need watering im my experience.

Im not saying there isnt a better way, just if you have to leave them in direct sun, they might be fine.
 
I'm in zone 8b and my pepper plants generally do better with some shade - full sun in the summer is too brutal.
 
I'm in zone 8b and my pepper plants generally do better with some shade - full sun in the summer is too brutal.
 
Ive had pants that loved full sun all day and others that did far better with only a few hours. STL isnt as hot as Florida/Texas ect but we get plenty hot and humid. Sun here is probably a bit more filtered too than further south. Its kinda strange when you have 2 chinenses right next to each other and one is cranking out pods and the other is dropping flowers like mad. My jalapenos get nearly full sun all day and it never seems to bother them. Lemon drops were the same way but some pods got sun burn.
 
One thing i can say for sure is the plants this year that were under a improvised shade cloth didnt seem to suffer from it one bit. When it really heats up this summer i will be using it more for my container plants.
 
ShowMeDaSauce said:
STL isnt as hot as Florida/Texas ect but we get plenty hot and humid.
 
Oh believe me, St Louis is hotter than most, if not all places in Florida, in the summer.  I've lived here for 18 years, and never seen a day over 100 degrees. Living in the midwest, I remember one particular summer, where we had 20+ days in a single month that were over 100 degrees.  :eek:
.
Where we really suffer, is the UV index and humidity.   My area has something like 250+ days out of the year where humidity is higher than 75%, and UV index numbers that I didn't even know existed...
 
I can be outside a lot in STL and normally just get a tan. Sometimes the occasional burn if im not careful. I looked like a lobster within a couple days in the Juno/Jupiter inlet area during July. Red as a beet and in a lot of pain.
 
Nights here are the killer in the peak of the summer. They are still hot and quite humid. At least when i was in Florida, the nights cooled down a great deal but we were not too far from A1A and the beach. I could walk there in a few minutes.
 
Back
Top