Zone Four might be too cool for peppers...they like it HOT!

Where is your zone 4? How much sun do they get? How were they started(inside or out)? When did you plant them? What kind of garden...tilled ground, raised bed, containers? Can you post a photo? We need a bit more info to help you.

From years of growing peppers down here in a blast furnace summer, I've notice that the most peppers like cooler feet and hot tops. They also prefer warm nights which may be your problem. How cool does it get in the evening?

This is certainly not true for peppers not liking zone 4. They do extremely well in our zone. I planted 32 kinds of hot peppers (one of each variety)and 28 sweet pepper plants (6 varieties). We've been eating sweet peppers for several weeks now and most of the hot peppers are loaded with fruit (exception being several types of habaneros). Pepper plants like extremely fertile soil but be careful not to add too much nitrogen. I use lots of compost and slightly acidify my pepper beds with sulfur powder and put a teaspoon of epsom salt into each hole when the pepper plants are transplanted.

im in z4 and my peppers are growing like weeds.have tested your soil ph. sounds like a nutrient uptake problem.
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I've grown peppers succesfully in years past here in windy, dry Wyoming. So the zone isn't the issue, I don't think. I amended the soil with homemade compost in May, planted on Memorial Day weekend, which is the normal set-out date around here. These plants were all started inside under lights in March (in fact, they were bushier before they went out than they are now). They were hardened off appropriately. They are in raised beds. Temps here have ranged from 70* to 95* since June 1st.

I've done it right, best I can tell, but they are not growing. Wierd. I'll post a pic as soon as I can.

Mel

That's terrible, I hope your Peppers rebound and provide you a decent harvest...
Because Peppers naturally shade themselves with their leaves, it is kind of a pain to get good pics quickly, and if I can't do something quickly, it just doesn't get done ;-)
I went out and snapped these pics for you, hopefully you will be blessed , hoping that it will turn around for you....
It is hard to see, but these plants (that I grew from seed) are really "bustin' a move", they are fruitin' like crazy.

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I always love your pics John!
I'm having somewhat similar issues - actually, i came tompost about mt sweet peps, but then saw this post.
Mine are having anemic growth, spindly and quite tall, at least almost 2 feet tall. I started all but 2 from seed, and like the original poster, have done everything right. Out of panic I bought 2 plants from nursery and they're doing well, sans our foggy overcast weather....

Any recommendations?

- Angela :)

Hi Angela,
I wish I could help, but I really don't know much, I am blessed with great production from my little plot, but I really can't take any personal credit.......
This is my 3rd year gardening, and I am trying to learn all I can from all of these wonderful gardeners on this forum, and though I was able to donate 491 lbs of Peppers to the FoodBank last year, one would think that I knew something about Peppers, but it simply isn't true...
Hopefully some of these awesome gardeners will be able to help you get a nice harvest ;-)

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Jon, you have the best concrete block garden I've ever seen. How do you keep the soil from drying out, do you line the blocks with anything or just get a lot of rain?

Vermontkingdom, I missed the chance to put epsom salts in the planting hole. Can I dig a little hole beside the pepper plant and put the epsom salts in there? would it burn the roots?

I have approx. 25% Clay, that keeps it very moist...

I drip/weep irrigate 15 minutes per day....

No rain during the growing season, May through October

(At least none you can count on for "consistent moisture" , so my beds are on automatic timers ...rain or shine ;-)

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Sounds like you know what you're doing, all right. That has to be frustrating! Maybe you could carefully dig up the worst looking plants and inspect the roots and soil. I've had to move pepper plants that weren't thriving before due to ants nesting beneath them. Once they were moved they took off. Maybe you have something like that going on. It's definitely weird that everything else is growing well but just your peppers are failing.

Noinwi, that is a good idea. I will do that. Since they are so pathetic, sacrificing one or two wouldn't be a big deal. I'll let you know...

Mel

Mel; It sounds like a problem I had earlier this year we had a super wet cool spring delaying the set out of peppers and tomatoes. I pulled a few plants as Noinwi suggested and found them root bound. I replanted the whole bed after loosing the roots. They now look like Jons.

Curt

i LOVE this place!! you guys answered my questions about moving/transplanting my bell peps. in addition to the ones that are all leggy and tall with no buds/flowers to speak of, i've got two more that have been swallowed up by one of my gorgeous zukes.

do you all think a container (wine barrel top) that's about 8-10 inches deep will be ok for the peppers?

thanks again everyone!

~ angela :)

Angela, one plant in that size container would probably do ok. Two would be pushing it. I know this because I consistently use pots that are undersized because that's all I have, but I also have low expectations,lol. I always start too many peppers and have to cram them in somewhere if I can't give them away. If I get two or three fruit from each plant I'm happy. I don't grow bells, but I have some large non-bell sweets that get about 6" long. Most are in 1 1/2gal pots and typically produce 3 - 5 peppers per plant. It's enough for my needs. I do get better production from hot peppers with smaller fruit in the small pots.
Anyway, dig up as much of the root ball as you can when transplanting and keep them in the shade for a few days to get them through their transplant shock. Let us know now it turns out.

I dissolve a golf-ball sized chunk of epsom salts into about 4 gallons of water and then water my peppers. I can see a big difference almost overnight. Yellow leaves turn bright green.

I 'm a newcomer to the sight (joined today).In general i've had poor luck with peppers. A friend of mine in PA says he puts sulphur in when he plants with great success.I did it this year and it appears that my plants are doing much better than in past years.I know it sounds nuts ,but it's hard to argue with success.I'll be trying epson salts next year & will compare it to the sulphur treatment. I started planting a variety of veggies from seeds this year & had very bad results with peppers (only 1 SEED propagated out of 3 separate plantings,a total of 36 seeds).The MG at Rutgers Univ.told me that peppers like 85 degree temp.to propagate & should be put in the garden 2 weeks after tomatoes.

I think it might be ground temperature. I have peppers in the ground, and in black pots that were started at the same time. Peppers in black pots are far ahead and were growing from day one in the pots. In the ground, they were lingering until we got a spell of very warm nights where the ground temperature rose quite a bit, and now the plants in the ground are starting to take off.

Mickiet, where do you get the sulfer? how much did you use? I read somewhere to put 5 matchheads in a pepper planting hole.

Didn't hear back from Vermontkingdom so put a couple tablespoons of epsom salts per a gallon of water and poured it around the base of the peppers and some tomatoes that are struggling in the heat. Peppers are looking lush, that is probably the 90 degree heat though.

Capoman, I'm thinking ground temp might be the primary issue here too. We had a warm May, but I waited to put them out until May 30, as per standard practices around here, at which time the temp dropped to 60's for two weeks. I think maybe the relative cold hurt the peppers just when I put them out and they have never caught up even with this month's heat.

Noinwi, I did pull a couple of the plants yesterday and the roots looked fine, just small for July.

Since I only have 6 weeks of growing time left (last year we had our first frost on Sept 3rd!), I'm gonna try the epsom salts today. At this point, I have nothing to lose!

Melfield, may want to put some black mulch around your plants to absorb heat. That will likely help. I am in zone 5a, and I think ground temperature has always been an issue for me, as my peppers were always late season. Zone 4 would even have a lower ground temperature. I can't believe the difference I am having in black pots. You may want to try transplanting some to black pots as well. Best I can tell, they like warmer feet in our zones. I should say I've noticed the same phenomenon indoors under grow lights, where seedlings grow much faster both before and after germination on heat mats.