Pepper problems

[Darlington]

Maybe someone can shed light on this problem. We're in zone 6a, almost online with 7a and our garden is thriving this year. That is, everything but the peppers. I have regular bell and the colored types including a few pimentos. Of the 18 plants only 3 have a few peppers. The rest are tall and a nice green but with almost no flowers. Tiny buds just sit there. When flowers do open, they close in a few days, turn brown to the stem, and the entire thing falls off. No peppers form. Also, I find it strange that they're dropping green leaves from the bottom. Every one of them has at least 2 green leaves they've dropped. They're spread out over 3 garden plots, not all together. We don't see any insect pests on them. Usually by mid july I'm awash in peppers and already freezing them for winter. We've had rain so drought is not a problem this year. Any suggestions? Ideas? Thoughts? We really miss our peppers.

[Jan Flora]

Are they getting pollinated?

[Greg Mortensen]

If your nighttime temperatures are too cold (less than 65), or daytime temperatures are too hot (above 90), peppers will drop their flowers. This can also happen if the plants have a magnesium deficiency. You can try spraying the blooms with Epsom salts if that's the case.

Regards, Greg

[Marie Dodge]

How can I tell? I see an occasional bee in the gardens. The squash and peppers are being pollinated so I'm sure they are also.

[Marie Dodge]

Nighttime is in the 70s and 80s. Daytime temps are in the 80s and 90s but they didn't set fruit even before the days got that high. I have Epsom salts and will try spraying them tomorrow. How much do you recommend per gallon of water in the sprayer?

[Greg Mortensen]

Use one tablespoon per gallon for starters.

[Marie Dodge]

Done! Thanks.

[Mike]

I've noticed that too but I thought the reason my garden was screwed up was because I listened to John Chapman.

[I3]

Are they receiving sufficient moisture? A common problem for fruit drop.

[Pavel314]

Peppers are generally very late here in Maryland; we don't expect any fruit from bell or hot peppers until late August.

I planted some bhut jokolia peppers this year, supposed to be the hottest in the world at twice the Scoville heat rating of the previous hottest pepper. The plants are doing well but no flowers or fruit yet.

Paul

[Marie Dodge]

Moisture is not a problem. They're watered as needed plus we've had normal rainfall this year. Peppers have always thrived and we rotate everything. I sprayed them with Epsom Salts but so far they look the same. Now I'm noticing some whitefly in the one garden. I sprayed the peppers and tomatoes with Neem Oil. Even the peppers in the nice rich soil of a converted flower bed have hardly grown. They're no more than 18" tall and were planted out the end of April.

[Mike]

Their getting enough water, I think the first problem was the Uni-grow potting soil I used for germinating the seeds became contaminated with a dampening off type bacteria. Since then I've switched to Kellogg's Palm & Cactus mix, and in a short time the pepper seeds germinate. I have had problems with Unigrow before, if the pot gets a little too damp or hot, it turns into what looks like rotting bran mush.

The second problem was the plot being overloaded with Manure, Ammonium Phosphate, Sulfur and Ironite.

[Marie Dodge]

We can't pinpoint the problem with our gardens except the whiteflies are getting out of hand in one of them. The NeemOil didn't put a dent in the population yet so I switched to Bug Be Gone. That helped. My sister's flower garden is infested with whitefly also. Several other people that don't live too close to us are also complaining about their peppers not producing. But I have a friend who lives in another county and her peppers are thriving. Today I found more green leaves below the peppers again. :*(