Languishing peppers

Which brings up a point. Why do people further north (TX here) generically call peppers that, instead of a specific type of pepper? Dave

I'm in Western NY, and there have been years when my bell peppers have languished in the summer heat, and started to rock & roll in September when the weather cooled down. I've concluded that when experts say a plant likes full sun, that doesn't necessarily mean they like heat. In my current garden, I've planted them so they'll be shaded by the tomato cages during the hottest part of the day.

You might try shading them with window screen stapled to wooden stakes. And, be sure they're mulched. I use lawn clippings for that, adding about an inch every couple of weeks.

We are just now getting hot weather, and when it was cooler they didn't look any better. I thought maybe I was watering them too much? The eggplants right next to them are exploding out of the ground. I read up on them, and all I really found was that they like hot weather, evenly moist soil but not wet soil. I'm going to fertilize them and step up the watering and see what happens. I read up on eggplants, and found the same thing - hot weather, moist soil, go figure?

2) Did these pepper plants come from a store, or did you grow them yourself from seed? If a store, what kind? Home Despot, Wal Mart, Lowe's or another place where the plants may have been tortured in unimaginable ways?

My bell peppers and jalapenos are not doing well either, my friend's peppers are of the same type are growing like gangbusters. He had a book that said peppers need to be close to each other, leaves touching leaves. His are close to each other, my peppers are spaced apart. Being close may also provide the shade or with propagation. I am not an expert so I do not know if this theory applies to you or me.

Enjoy Life .... Dan

Here is a pic of what my peppers are doing: