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Is this cold damage??? Will they survive?

HotMamaPepperCo

HotMamaPepperCo

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Are you kidding? these plants look beautiful. You have to have frost damage in order to even think about "killing" a pepper plant. A few leafs are always going to drop here and there. Don't fret over this. They are just fine.
 
spicy_echo said:
Are you kidding? these plants look beautiful. You have to have frost damage in order to even think about "killing" a pepper plant. A few leafs are always going to drop here and there. Don't fret over this. They are just fine.
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+1 on that... it looks more like sunscald to me. Indoor light is usually less energetic  than sunlight, and the leaves develop large surface area to compensate. When we put them outside (even after hardening off) they usually drop the large leaves in favor of smaller ones that get the job done in the more intense light but don't get beat up by the outdoor environment.
 
+1 on sunburn. Other than that the plants are great. They will drop the leaves and grow hundreds more!!!
 
You guys are awesome and making me feel a lot better about things.
 
We had a pretty good spat of sun recently and after about the 5th straight day of gorgeous weather we decided to go outside.
 
1st day my Aji Lemon and Aji Pineapple began to show these spots on the leaves.
 
Two more days and now my tabasco, cayenne and Aji Amarillo showing the same.
 
But then last night temps took a turn for the worst and dipped into the high 40s and I see two leaves drop! 
 
These plants are about 2 ft tall so I really felt like we are outside of the danger zone.
 
I want to believe RE: sunscald.  Two of them showed these same markings before any cold nights, and we have had some pretty good heat.
 
So just leave them alone and don't worry???
 
Plants as developed as those should be able to handle the upper 40s fine. I wouldn't worry about night temps at this point unless there is still any chance of dropping to 40 or below. But I don't think the leaf drop was related to the cold.
 
If you want to hedge your bet and cover them at night with floating row cover material until night-time lows climb back up into the 50's that should about cover it, and it's cheap and do-able. Just remember to stake the plants first so any wind that comes up in the night won't blow them over, and weight the edges of the row cover so the wind can't get underneath them. Good luck!
 
I agree with everybody else 100%, that's sun scald. It takes about a week to harden plants off from indoor light to full sunlight. You basically just expose the plants to increasing amounts of sunlight each day until they can take full sun. For more info just search "hardening off", it's very important if you start plants indoors with the intention of planting them outside later.
 
HotMamaPepperCo said:
Will they survive their sunburn?
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I have a plant that went through 2 true freezes and lost every single leaf and is now coming back.... 2 leafs is nothing. Hell I bet every one of my peppers drop 2 leafs every other day. Don't fret. I wish mine looked near as good as yours and I don't think mine look that bad.
 
Freeze damage will turn your leaves black. It looks like they were cooked. I don't see that meaning you didn't have freeze damage. 40's is nothing for a pepper plant here and there. Now every night for an extended period of time? Yeah not good. But don't expect a lot of production from a plant when the nights are under 50.
 
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