How are everybody's peppers growing this year?

I planted 4 different kinds of peppers this year, for the first time, and not one seems to be doing well. I'm in zone 5b and planted them from starter plants in late April. Most other things have done well this year, but my peppers just don't seem to have changed hardly at all. They are still about 8 inches tall with nothing flowering. Any ideas?

Anyone else seeing anything strange this year?

My peppers are producing a few peppers. While they are doing better than last year, my peppers are small (regular sweet pepper), my anaheim peppers are producing green peppers quite well, but not maturing to red (bottom of peppers seem to be going rotton). I can pick the green peppers and they are fine. Jalapenos are producing about one pepper a week. The plant is small (24 inches tall). I have tried to be better with watering, but is has gotten very hot which is what I am putting it down to. I should also mention that this is only my second year growing peppers and have no other frame of reference

Well, last year's peppers were a miserable failure for me, so I don't really have any reference. This is my second year growing them and the first year I've had a SFG. I have 10 pepper plants, mix of varieties of bells & bananas. Some of my plants are growing well and have flowered. Two even have peppers on them. A few of the others haven't seemed to change much though (maybe 12-14 inches tall). I'm wondering if the sides on my beds are too high (10" sides, but only 6" MM), keeping the plants from getting enough sun when they're small, stunting their growth. Haven't really paid attention to see if the slow ones are all on the south side of the boxes for this to make sense.

I also have two baby pepper plants that my sister started from seed in these mesh bags. I planted them right in the bags since they're supposed to decompose, but I think they were root bound. They haven't grown at all! They're still in the garden because I had the space to allow them to try, but they're still only a couple of inches tall.

jillschmill wrote:I planted 4 different kinds of peppers this year, for the first time, and not one seems to be doing well. I'm in zone 5b and planted them from starter plants in late April. Most other things have done well this year, but my peppers just don't seem to have changed hardly at all. They are still about 8 inches tall with nothing flowering. Any ideas?

Anyone else seeing anything strange this year?

My pepper plants are the same as yours then! I am getting really disgusted with them. I planted mine the middle of May and there has not been much change. I don't know what to do with them. Maybe they are just waiting for it to get hot here. It has been cool and wet. Getting tired of that too.

I am in 5b and my peppers are going great guns! Loaded with fruit; no harvest yet but it won't be long. The weather has been cool and wet here. I do use Garden-Tone every two weeks on my veggies because my compost is not the best, but don't really do much else.

I don't think its the zone as much as it is the temperatures.
Peppers should be transplanted in soil temps 60*F or above.
Nitetime air temps should be 55*F or higher.
A cold spell will slow them down considerably.

Temps above 90* cause blossoms to drop and plants to wilt.

Everyone has different conditions, so our peppers all grow at different rates even in the same zones. I'm in 5a and mine are just starting to blossom but I planted late due to cold nites here.

We all play games with Mother Nature. She calls the shots.
Be more patient.

First season as an SFG'er! I have three varieties of sweet bell peppers: Red Beauty, Admiral (yellow), and Better Belle (green). I planted them as transplants on May 9th and they are now 12"-14" tall, and blossoming. I am excited because I know blossoms = peppers, but am worried that they are too small for peppers at this point, and am wondering if I should pinch the blossoms and let them grow some more before flowering. Advice?

I also have several hot pepper varieties: Sweet Yummy (yep, that that the name!), Ancho Chili, and Banana Peppers, which are also blossoming. The Sweet Yummy and Banana pepper plants have actually produced one (yea, count 'em!) pepper each so far, but I have not had a bumper crop yet. Looking forward to it though. I'd love some fresh salsa and am interested in trying the pepper jelly others have mentioned. Sounds good!

I tried peppers last year that were given to me and pretty root bound and did not do well. This year is my first year with sfg and I they don't seem to be doing well but I don't really know if it's normal or not. I have green bell peppers and red bell peppers. The red bell is about a 1ft 1/2 off the ground and has four flowers and one little pepper starting. It seems awfully small though. My other bell peppers are super short and not really growing. I have had a serriano (sp?) pepper in as long as the bigger bell pepper and started at about the same size, it's still only 6 in. It's green and has leaves but nothings happening. Sigh. I planted a gray pumpkin squash next to it not knowing what I was doing. I thought it was going to be like vines so I could just let it grow out of the box onto the grass.... grows more like zucchini which I didn't know that didn't grow on a vine either... Today I noticed that it's growing over into the pepper plant and will covering it soon... Thinking about moving it. I need hot peppers in life.

krazikandiland wrote:I planted a gray pumpkin squash next to it not knowing what I was doing. I thought it was going to be like vines so I could just let it grow out of the box onto the grass.... grows more like zucchini which I didn't know that didn't grow on a vine either... Today I noticed that it's growing over into the pepper plant and will covering it soon...

I did the same thing. Didn't realize how tall the zucchini would get. It has most of it's 3x3 area, but it's planted south of the peppers, so the pepper directly north of it was getting pretty shaded. I decided I'd give the zucchini a chance, but that the pepper was more important, so I prune any zucchini leaves that I notice shading the pepper. The pepper's growing, but a little slower than the rest. Turns out I don't think my zucchini flowers are getting pollinated anyway so it may not produce anything.

All of my pepper plants except one are growing like crazy, now that the weather is warmer. I've got chocolate bells, to-be-determined bells, hungarian wax, jalapeno, cayenne all starting to produce. Dunno what's up with that one slacker plant, but it had better get it's act together before I decide on something else for that prime square.

The only peppers I've had luck growing are Bounty Banana Peppers. I got a great harvest last year and they're doing great this year, but the other varieties just don't perform for me. I keep trying because I never know when something will take off (the first year it was a grape tomato, and last year it was a red currant tomato), so maybe I'll get a pleasant surprise this year.

Peppers always just laugh at me. By the time I give up on them and the rest of the garden is ready to be pulled and cleaned SUDDENLY there is a bumper crop of peppers all at once! Doesn't seem to matter how early or late I plant them here, they always throw me a ton VERY late in the season and I am suddenly trying to baby them and watching the evening lows to see just how many I can get before frost!

GG

PS - trying something new with them this year. Planted them in the HOTTEST part of the yard with the most reflected heat from the house, a raised brick bed that warms before anything else in the yard................

This is my first summer gardening and I am using the former home owner's raised bed. I did nothing to the soil, but added some potting soil to the holes before I put in the plants. I plan to rearrange and turn my garden into a SFG this fall. I used Miracle Grow about 3 times since planted in mid April.

Anyway, my plants are doing great! I am eagerly awaiting for my red bells to turn red, and am a bit worried one may be rotting? But 3 others are looking good with more small ones on the way. I also have some sweet peppers/pablanos? They are doing great even though shaded by the bells.





I hope they are doing better for you by now!

This is my first yr. using Mel's mix. I planted all my beds with spring/cool weather plants. Then it came time to plant peppers. No squares open, so I planted in the lettuce bed, which is mostly shaded. They are 4 ft. tall and have only got 1 pepper from 4 plants. They are very dark green, maybe the compost I added had too much nitrogen?

I had 2 more transplants, so finally beets got picked and 2 bells planted (in sun at least 7 hrs. per day). Both are only about 18 in. but are loaded with blooms, no peppers yet. They are both a very pale green.

I'm now waiting for summer veggies to come off so fall plants can go in.
But, Mel's mix is so good that I'm getting more from the summer veg. and they are not quiting.

Only 1 thing I can do. Build another bed for fall planting! yea!

My peppers(habenero, jalapeno, pepperoncini and bells) are taking their sweet time. I have a couple flowers, but the plants themselves are anywhere from 2"-12". Of course I planted at different dates since I can plant peppers and cucumbers any time during the summer months, but even the older plantings are just chillin' in the MM. They look perfectly healthy, just not growing. I blame it on the dry weather. All my plants grow visibly when it rains, not so much with tap water.

They are going crazy. Growing hot chilie III, Datails, purple beauty, poblano, and 3 sweet red bells. they are all doing great.

Mine are just starting to blossom in the last week and I even found a tiny banana pepper.

I'm thrilled. You can see it above the bottom center long leaf. The plant is bagged to isolate and save seed for next year.

I would have to say that my peppers have not done really well this year. Maybe the composts I used in my Mel's Mix may have been missing some nutrient the peppers needed or something. They have been spindly looking and not really looking vigorously healthy like some of my other plants. I'm working on my own compost now, so hopefully will have better results from that.

I do have a couple of peppers now on my Big Early Bell Pepper plants, but they really don't look "bell pepper" shaped so much - they kinda look like a combination of bell pepper and banana pepper shaped. My jalapeno and my one remaining cayenne just haven't even put on fruit yet.

My fault on the cayenne, since I tried growing them from seed and had them too far from a light source - my inexperience showing. But I don't really know why the others aren't doing better. I bought transplants for the bell peppers and jalapenos and they looked healthy when planted, just haven't "taken off" as I hoped they would.

But then, I didn't really have much luck with peppers in my last row garden last summer, either. I shall try again - maybe even for a fall garden this year!

I harvested my first Hungarian Hot Wax pepper yesterday and have lots of peppers on all my other plants.

quiltbea wrote:Mine are just starting to blossom in the last week and I even found a tiny banana pepper.

I'm thrilled. You can see it above the bottom center long leaf. The plant is bagged to isolate and save seed for next year.

So that is how you ensure a good seed? I am very interested in saving my pepper and tomato seeds this year and was wondering about cross pollination and how to get good seed to save. Thank in advance for the info!

Saving seeds:
You can save seed easily on tomatoes and peppers because they are both self-pollinating. They actually pollinate themselves as the blossoms open, but to prevent an unwary insect from walking across the stamens and distributing a cross, its best to isolate them.
One way is to separate the different varieties by several feet or more but the absolute best way is to bag them with netting. Every day or so just tap the branches to assure the blossoms are pollinating themselves.
You should bag them as soon as the first blossoms start to form and before they fully open. That insures you are choosing the earliest fruits for the future. You can remove the bag when the fruit starts to form, then tag it with a tie of some kind: a piece of yarn or strip of cloth. Something that can stay secure but not overly tight til you need to harvest it when its fully ripe.

I like to wait till all the fruits on the branch are forming so that I can save any or all of them. If one or more gets ruined by something, I hopefully have at least one from which I can save seed.

This is a Doe Hill pepper. I make larger bags for peppers, at least 18" square. Most of the blossoms start at the top so I want a bag that covers the topmost branches without cutting off circulation. For tomatoes I find 12" bags are sufficient since the cluster can be bagged easily around the little cluster of blossoms against a branch.
You can also use lightweight insect barrier cloth. It, too, allows for air and light while the fruits are forming and I'm sure is easier to sew into a drawstring bag.

quiltbea wrote:Saving seeds:
You can save seed easily on tomatoes and peppers because they are both self-pollinating. They actually pollinate themselves as the blossoms open, but to prevent an unwary insect from walking across the stamens and distributing a cross, its best to isolate them.
One way is to separate the different varieties by several feet or more but the absolute best way is to bag them with netting. Every day or so just tap the branches to assure the blossoms are pollinating themselves.
You should bag them as soon as the first blossoms start to form and before they fully open. That insures you are choosing the earliest fruits for the future. You can remove the bag when the fruit starts to form, then tag it with a tie of some kind: a piece of yarn or strip of cloth. Something that can stay secure but not overly tight til you need to harvest it when its fully ripe.

I like to wait till all the fruits on the branch are forming so that I can save any or all of them. If one or more gets ruined by something, I hopefully have at least one from which I can save seed.

This is a Doe Hill pepper. I make larger bags for peppers, at least 18" square. Most of the blossoms start at the top so I want a bag that covers the topmost branches without cutting off circulation. For tomatoes I find 12" bags are sufficient since the cluster can be bagged easily around the little cluster of blossoms against a branch.
You can also use lightweight insect barrier cloth. It, too, allows for air and light while the fruits are forming and I'm sure is easier to sew into a drawstring bag.

Wow - I love these message boards! That is so kind of you to make up this whole post to help me out...I really appreciate it and am going to try this out for sure!

Growing Jalapeno, New Mexico, and red bell peppers. All three are growing and producing, but the JALAPENO has no spice to it. How do you grow a spice'er Jalapeno?

Try giving it less water that helps herbs become more flavorful, perhaps it will help with the hot peppers. I must say though I have been watering my hot peppers a lot and they are still mighty hot so.... :scratch:

In recent years they have been breeding milder new jalapeno varieties. Did you possibly get some of those not realizing they would have little or no heat. Happened to me once and was totally disgusting now I look very carefully at labels to make sure they will not waste my effort and growing space.