Every year I grew peppers including this year it seems that around now my plants start yellowing and lots of leaves start falling. The weather is still hot here, I'm not over watering and my epsom salt/fertilizer schedule is the same. Also my plants won't put out new blossoms even as I harvest from the plants. Will plants that are root bound do this or should they still produce?
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Plants start looking bad near end of season
- Thread starter chillilover
- Start date
its been too for them lately we have had a few heat waves, when temps get too high for too long they start to shut down and cut there losses by not producing fruit and dropping some or even all there leaves, they go into survivalmode so to speak, when temps stabilize you should see a difference
hope this helps your friend joe
What size pots are you using? The plants I have in 3 gal pots are starting to look a little rough, but the ones in the 5 gals are still loading up with pods and look great. Also, what ferts are you using? If you use a lot of chemical ferts like miracle grow, your soil could be loading up with salts. Maybe try to flush them out and see if that helps.
Good luck!
jacob
Good luck!
jacob
My bhuts and scorps in 5 gal buckets that I bought from ccn in April are doing the same. I pulled one out of the pot and it was seriously root bound so I would guess that might your problem they haven't even set one pod between the six of them and they are four feet tall. The best way to find out is pull them out of the pot and have a look.
Mine are in 1.5 and 2.5 gallon pots. Roots were sticking out the bottom a month ago. Shouldn't they still bloom once the peppers are picked off the plant though?
In theory, yes. Although I've lately kept the pods on my plants until I'm ready to eat them, and my plants are currently blooming like mad. The cayenne now has only two pods, but tons of flowers. The jalapenos have at least 9 pods each, and are also blooming. (Note all 3 plants are first-year plants.) I'm in N.E. Ohio, and we've started to have cool days, but cool nights mostly (low 50's F.) Has warmed up again these last couple of days, but I wouldn't call it hot. (Keep in mind I'm originally from Texas, so my definition of hot isn't the same as most northerners'.)
But here's the thing. I had my pots in a particular area of my back porch so that they got morning and late afternoon sun, but missed a chunk in the middle of the day. That was fine at first, but then after the summer solstice as the shadows got longer, they got less and less sun. Started turning somewhat yellow and stopped producing buds. So I moved them so as to get more sunlight again, and they've gone back to a deeper green. I then managed to get a lovely visit from spider mites, and the leaves started drooping and getting weird pockets in them. Between the cooling off, cutting back all damaged leaves, and getting them more sunshine, they started producing buds again, and as I stated already, are full of blooms right now.
So questions for you - are your plants really getting enough sun each day? - have you seen any signs of bugs? - how old and tall are you plants? The 1.5 and 2.5 gallon pots do sound like they're too small but note the roots will eventually start growing out of a 5-gallon pot, too.
I've noticed the same thing in my garden, this year and last year too. Around Sept 1, the plants start looking kinda tired; the new pods are lower quality (smaller, blander, less hot, less tasty). By around mid to late September, everything's still alive but any new fruit is just really low grade. Here in nothern virginia, there's still plenty of sun, and if anything the temperatures should be better for the plants - around 75 to 80 during the day, and still warm at night. I've been assuming that it's the angle of the sun or the particular light wavelengths making their way to the plants, that cue the plants that it's time to wrap it up. That is not based on actual "knowledge", just process of elimination - I can't think of any other reason for the plants to pack it in like they do.
AlabamaJack
eXtreme
I suppose when the grow season for people up north slows down, it picks up for me...here is a comparison of August 2009 then 5 weeks later on October 7th....
http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/12097-ajs-sunday-morning-back-yard-pepper-porn-08-30-09/page__pid__235408#entry235408
http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/12753-ajs-backyard-pepper-porn-video-10-07-09/page__pid__252992#entry252992
as you can tell, September is a good month for pod production...while all you guys up north are getting pods during the summer, I have to wait until late October to get any ripe superhots because I lose July and August production to the heat...
as far as the rootbound issue goes, all my plants get rootbound in their 5 gallon containers by the end of August but still produce (as evidenced by the video)
IMO a 1.5 or 2.5 gallon container is simply not big enough for most chinense...I use no smaller than 5 gallon and will be moving to some 7 gallon containers this next year...
by the end of the grow season (usually the first week of December) my plants look very haggered...
I describe the way the plants look as a 60 year old preggy woman loaded with children...
http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/13490-ajs-backyard-pepper-porn-videolast-one-of-the-year-11-30-09/page__pid__271617#entry271617
http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/12097-ajs-sunday-morning-back-yard-pepper-porn-08-30-09/page__pid__235408#entry235408
http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/12753-ajs-backyard-pepper-porn-video-10-07-09/page__pid__252992#entry252992
as you can tell, September is a good month for pod production...while all you guys up north are getting pods during the summer, I have to wait until late October to get any ripe superhots because I lose July and August production to the heat...
as far as the rootbound issue goes, all my plants get rootbound in their 5 gallon containers by the end of August but still produce (as evidenced by the video)
IMO a 1.5 or 2.5 gallon container is simply not big enough for most chinense...I use no smaller than 5 gallon and will be moving to some 7 gallon containers this next year...
by the end of the grow season (usually the first week of December) my plants look very haggered...
I describe the way the plants look as a 60 year old preggy woman loaded with children...
http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/13490-ajs-backyard-pepper-porn-videolast-one-of-the-year-11-30-09/page__pid__271617#entry271617
Just an observation here. My plants bloomed quite a bit, then stopped, and have now started again. Between the two, we had temps down around 50F. (I said this earlier, but it feeds my point.) The thing is that many of the bugs went into hiding when the cold came. It's gone now, but I've noticed something interesting. No matter what time of the day I go outside, I find bees doing there thing in the front yard, enjoying my Russian Sage blooms. Swing around to my back yard, and not a bee in sight, no matter what time of day it is. My pepper pots are in the back yard. So it looks like in spite of the fact that they're in full bloom again, the bees just haven't figured that out. Since my plants are in pots, I'm going to temporarily move them to the front yard and hope the bees get a clue.
All this to say I'm wondering if your late-season pods aren't smaller/weaker because of poor pollenation because of similar circumstances.
All this to say I'm wondering if your late-season pods aren't smaller/weaker because of poor pollenation because of similar circumstances.
Thought of that already, but also have a different problem with the pepper plants that I'd rather keep away from the others.
I've read that it is only new roots that can take up nutrients. Once the roots have filled your containers the plants will go hungry and it will be hard to water properly. I remember your pictures a while back and the small containers were working well. Maybe next time you can re-pot your best plants before they get rootbound and keep them healthy and producing. It's been my experience that if you re-pot too late the plant will take many weeks to recover and any pods in that time will end up being stunted.
My Thai Lime got massively rootbound a few months ago. I thought everything was fine, then all of a sudden the leaves started dropping. It was in a large container, but was dry as a bone. The soil was all root and wouldn't hold water. I had to hack the roots down and re-pot in a fresh mix. It's just now coming back. It would have been much better if I had anticipated the need to re-pot before it got so bad.