I don't know what the person describing this cardboard trick is trying to convey.

Actually, you want gentle breezes on your seedlings to STRENGTHEN the stalk --- perhaps the person was saying put it in a cardboard box where the edges of the box just come above the top of the plant to add a wind shade, yet still allowing the plant to get toughened up?

I'd cut the top half of that box or provide some wind shade., but you definitely want to provide "some" wind. What you want is a nice strong plant when it comes time to transplant. If the stalk is a bit tweaked, but strong, you can always straighten it out when tranplanting.

Kevin

I would just put a stick or talk stall up against the stem....the plant wk eventually get a nice, thick stem and be fine. I do this and turn out giant plants. It just needs a "second stem". The above recommendation can be taken as well but I always add a tall stick to make sure it stays up straight and isn't always falling over.

Likely you are dealing with damping off and at this point you should prop it up. Also, a light breeze blowing across it will help strengthen the stem and also help with the damping off. Damping off usually comes with wet/humid environments and not enough air circulation. Many say sprinkling some cinnamon on the soil will help with the damping off fungus. It won't hurt.
Another reason the stem could be too weak is if the plant is starving for sunlight and gets "leggy" meaning that it is growing too tall too fast in search of more light. Make sure it is getting as much light as possible, either real sunlight or artificial.
Bruce

Thanks all for the advice... I ended up just leaving as is and moving to an environment with better air circulation and its doing great!

Glad to hear that.
Bruce

Hey all....

Just a follow up here on the re-potting of the peppers. The Peruvian Yellow Pepper has really taken off (1st pic)... the leaves are growing fast and seem to cause it to lean over after a big rain, but when the sun comes it, it perks back up.

The other pepper doesn't seem to be doing much... I'll give it another week and if it doesn't show signs of growth, I'll add a little nitrogen/phosporus fertilizer (2nd pic). Unless anyone has other advice?

The third one we finally repotted this weekend (3rd pic). I've never seen natural soil so soft and easy to work with.. it was like butter! They say the area is very fertile, so we'll see.

The 2nd and 3rd peppers are either a Datil, Choc Hab, Pumpkin Hab or Scotch Bonnet... its been so long since we planted the seeds that I forgot at this point.

I'll keep everyone posted.

wait, so that's just your natural soil? if so holy crap that's beautiful. not like the nasty sandy/silty mess we have around here. your peppers are gonna love it.

I agree. Great looking soil! Just protect them a bit and keep from overwatering and they should do just fine. I'd hold off on ferts -- that soil looks rich enough. One little suggestion -- put a couple toothpicks right next to the stem, in case of cutworms.

Judo: Sandy soil is actually great for veggies. You just have to keep adding copious amounts of OM to it.

Kevin

Thanks all for the feedback!

To clarify... I planted the first two in one location and the third in another. Both places have great soil, but the 2nd location had the soil I was referring to that felt like butter when I was digging it up to repot the pepper.

Kevin - both places seemed to have really fertile soil, but that small plant in the first location is the only one that doesn't seem to be taking off. How long would you wait to give it fertilizer? I was going to wait two weeks and if no growth, give a little...

Also, should I create a circle of toothpicks standing-upright, or will two suffice?

Wow, That is some really nice looking soil. Hope they thrive in their new homes.

Salavene: I don't know where you're located in the world, but if you're in the U.S.(Outside of maybe south Florida or south Texas), I wouldn't expect much growth at all for the next few months. Also, after transplanting, it takes a good couple weeks for a plant to establish itself in a new environment.

Like I said, that soil looks real good. I wouldn't waste ferts on soil that looks like it could support plants through the whole season. But, if you can't control yourself, add a little bone meal now and maybe some fish ferts in a month or so. Maybe a little kelp meal also. If you're going chemical ferts, maybe some 10-10-10 or triple 15 in a couple months.

Regarding the toothpicks, It's supposed to work with just one. But I use 2(one on each side). The theory is that the cutworms can't wrap around the stalk and snip it. It works --- ever since I started doing this I haven't lost a single seedling to cutworms.

Kevin

I'm in Medellín, Colombia and these were planted about 1 hour outside of the city.

I guess each pepper is different because two of my other plants took off right after I transplanted them. They were both seeds I found here in Colombia (Cayenne and Peruvian Yellow). Its the seeds I imported from the US that have been tough to grow (habaneros, scotch bonnet and datil)...

In any event, its tough to find the bone meal and fish ferts here, but I'll hold off on the chemical stuff for a few weeks and re-visit down the road.

Thank you for the advice, I'll keep you posted!

This post was edited by salevene on Tue, Nov 26, 13 at 12:59

Those are chinense varieties...which are going to be slower than annuums like cayenne(not sure about peruvian yellow).

In any case, sounds like you have perfect climate and soil to grow chiles.

Colombia huh? Maybe bat guano??

Good luck.

Kevin

I wish I had a better update, but the 2nd pepper doesn't seem to be doing well. The leaves are starting to turn yellow and it looks like we lost one...

I tried to research the internet for reasons, but there are so many. The thing that boggles me is that the pepper plants to the left and to the right are doing great.

It has rained a lot, but its also been sunny... its like florida weather here. These are all planted garden style.

Do you think I should just add a little 15-15-15 fertilizer?

I don't think it's a lack of fertilizer. I'd just try not to stress it any more, maybe provide some light shade and keep it watered and wait it out. If it didn't turn around in a week or so, I may try moving it to another location leaving most of the soil behind, in part just to take a look at the roots., Sometimes it seems like a random chunk of something in the soil can really upset a plant and just transplanting it will make it happy again. Kind of a last ditch effort, but, when the time comes.... :-)

I was going to say the same thing. Maybe pull it, replant in a container with a very porous mix and nurse it back to something healthy --- overwatering(which it sounds like could be easily done in your climate in the ground) can't do anything but bad at this point.

Kevin

Is that Peruvian Yellow aka Manzano ?
I have heard that they like shade.
But I also suspect ROOT problem. Mabe due to over watering, as the leaves look quite pale to me.

This post was edited by seysonn on Mon, Dec 2, 13 at 9:31

Thanks all for the advice, I took it out and repotted into a small pot to see if I can nurse it back to health. Its been raining like crazy here the past week or so, so I imagine its the overwatering that caused the problem. I replaced it with another plant that I had ready to go. Probably too early unfortunately, but only less than 2 weeks left of rainy season and we are then in the clear.

seysonn - nope, that was a habanero, scotch bonnet or datil. The Peruvian Yellow is the one in the first pic, with the big leaves.

Here is a pic of the new one I planted... much healthier.

Hi all,

Here are some updates. The one I repotted and nursed back to health is growing nicely, but not too big. Once its worth showing, I'll take a pic.

The first picture is the Peruvian Yellow Pepper that had the weak stem. Its over 2 ft. tall and starting to produce.

The second picture is the one I replanted (the last one with the toothpicks) in the spot that had the stressed plant. It started to produce a few weeks ago, but I cut all the pods to encourage new growth.
It didn't grow much taller, but its nice and bushy and is starting to produce again. Its got probably 40 or more pods on the way! I hope this little guy can support that!

Thanks all for your advice, really excited about these plants!

Looking good salavene!

If you're worried about support, make those cages with a smaller diameter.

Kevin

Oh yeah, it can support those pods. And it will get considerably larger over time. Way to go!