• Do you need help identifying a 🌶?
    Is your plant suffering from an unknown issue? 🤧
    Then ask in Identification and Diagnosis.

Mystery peppers turning brown

We have never successfully grown peppers, but decided to try again at the new spot and all of our plants are doing great! Four varieties all have peppers growing. All of them look healthy except this little guy. This was given to me by a neighbor who was moving away. It was left in a really small nursery pot outside through a long cold spell here in the spring so I didn't think it was going to grow. However, I went ahead and repotted it and a few weeks ago it started to come back! It's still tiny and I don't think it's going to get much bigger. I am getting a few peppers but they have this brown streak on the side. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong? The other plants don't have this problem. The other issue is that I don't know what kind of pepper this is. The neighbor just said it's something hot.
 

Attachments

  • 00100lrPORTRAIT_00100_BURST20200828100929564_COVER.jpg
    00100lrPORTRAIT_00100_BURST20200828100929564_COVER.jpg
    145.6 KB · Views: 234
  • IMG_20200828_101052.jpg
    IMG_20200828_101052.jpg
    86.2 KB · Views: 183
scott90 said:
We have never successfully grown peppers, but decided to try again at the new spot and all of our plants are doing great! Four varieties all have peppers growing. All of them look healthy except this little guy. This was given to me by a neighbor who was moving away. It was left in a really small nursery pot outside through a long cold spell here in the spring so I didn't think it was going to grow. However, I went ahead and repotted it and a few weeks ago it started to come back! It's still tiny and I don't think it's going to get much bigger. I am getting a few peppers but they have this brown streak on the side. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong? The other plants don't have this problem. The other issue is that I don't know what kind of pepper this is. The neighbor just said it's something hot.
 
Not sure but I'm leaning toward sunburn & not anything to worry about....
 
Pepper pods can sometimes develop a bit of darker coloration like that as a response to an abundance of sunlight. It is caused by a pigment called anthocyanin. It is basically the plant equivalent of a sun tan. That is what the streaks on your peppers look like to me.
 
As far as what type of pepper it is, it looks like it might be one of the many dwarf annuum ornamental types. But that is just a guess. 
 
Thank you! I have never heard of sunburn (all my Googling kept leading me to pests, but that didn't seem right.) It makes sense. This plants has far fewer leaves and is much smaller than the other nearby pepper plants. The peppers have much less protection than the others. I might try moving it back a bit so it's not so directly in the sun. (The current spot is very, very sunny all day.)
 
Thanks again!!
 
That plant isn't doing great.  The bottom leaves are yellowing, there isn't much foliage, and it's extremely stunted.  It also looks like you've either just watered it, or have been giving it plenty of water.
.
From my own experience, this looks like a classic case of a media that's too heavy and too retentive.
 
If you plan to overwinter that plant, or maybe want to put it indoors, I will make you an offer:  I see that you are in Seattle.  I am about to leave Seattle.  I have some once used cloth pots with once used media, and you are welcome to have one of them, if you'd like to do a transplant.  The media will work well for indoors.  There are no ants in them, and there were no pest outbreaks. 
.
It's a standing offer for the next couple of weeks.  I believe that it would turn your issue right around.  It's a #5 fabric pot, so it would go straight out doors next season.
 
Back
Top