Please diagnose my pepper plants

May 28, 2020 9:03 AM

Can you tell me what is wrong with these pepper plants?

The deets:

I have 10 peppers and this discoloration/shriveling is very noticeable on 3 of them - two habaneros and one "orange sun" bell pepper.

I've only noticed it since they've moved outside to the roof. They were grown from seed inside from mid-February to about two-three weeks ago, then I hardened them off for like 5 days (probably too rapid?) before moving them to the roof as seen in the photos. I'm in Brooklyn, so zone 7b. Nighttime temps have mostly been above 60 since they moved out, except one night when it was in the low 50s. They get full sun from approx. 8am to 3pm.

Also worth noting: they are right next to a vent fan for a restaurant, which is pretty loud. I put them there because it's the sunniest bit of the roof and also slightly sheltered from wind compared to the rest of the roof, but maybe the sound/vibration is bad for them? (I'm sure there are plenty of other explanations but it seemed worth mentioning.)

posted by showbiz_liz to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

Best answer: This looks about normal to me. On peppers and tomatoes in particular, the early leaves have a big job to do in getting the plant going and they exhaust themselves pretty quickly. It's probably that plus a little sunburn. Remove damaged leaves as they show damage, close to the stem with clean scissors or snips.

The newer leaves look fantastic, this qualifies as a happy healthy plant in my garden. They're still wee, so you might consider pulling off those first few flower buds showing so they focus on root development and growth a bit longer before focusing on fruiting. You may also choose to top them to encourage more branching now down low on the stems.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:19 AM on May 28, 2020 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: That is great info! I maybe also should have mentioned that I'm very new to this and have only grown houseplants and herbs before, so any pepper tips are much appreciated!
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:23 AM on May 28, 2020

It might be sunscald. This article looks useful.
posted by Botanizer at 10:05 AM on May 28, 2020 [2 favorites]

Nthing a mix of sun damage/normal wear and tear/senescence.
posted by SaltySalticid at 10:33 AM on May 28, 2020 [1 favorite]

They look super well-drained with what I assume is vermiculite, and the soil looks good and dark, the foliage looks healthy, so my only guess is they might be getting a bit more sunlight than they might like. They are sitting on a fairly light surface, which would bouncing light onto the undercarriage of the leaves, and there are hot and reflective surfaces nearby.
posted by turbid dahlia at 7:00 PM on May 28, 2020

They look mostly fine - you had a couple dry hot days and they're a little sunburnt. I wouldn't worry about it too much. I *would* consider topping the larger ones and pushing all the pots right next to each other, because of the reflective surface beneath them and because in my experience rooftop plants just seem to do better that way. The best results I've seen on rooftops have often combined several (specific) plants per pot, which seems totally counterintuitive until you see an overgrown herb garden.
posted by aspersioncast at 5:41 PM on May 31, 2020