What you can learnUseful comparison of two visually distinctive sweet pepper varieties and a clear example of ending a crop when unexplained wilting persists.
Actions:1 Training1 Harvest1 Finished
Useful practices
recognising normal variegated foliage
supporting a top-heavy plant with chopsticks
salvaging all fruit at termination
Problems encountered
seed coats damaged early leaves
uneven plant size
leaf curl and wilting
plants terminated before full colour change
*The days were calculated automatically and approximately.
These were terminated last night. While I wish they both had turned colors something was going on that they did not like and wilted. I pulled all the peppers from both and I was amazed at how many Candy Cane Peppers there were. I also had 4 nice sized (but would have grown more I think) Candy Apples. I think I might try them again at another time as they taste good. Here are some pictures. Machine is all clean and ready for new plants to be started. Stay tuned.
The plant IS looking better this morning. Not 100%. Still has leaf curl on some but most of the droopiness is gone. Again not 100% Here are some pictures of the plant and peppers. I wish I took a picture of the wilting plant but I did not. Here is the small Candy Apple with the three peppers that can be seen from this view.
So they were looking good this morning after the light was out all night and started to drop after it was on? Is the pump set to run 24/7 or is it on and off?
Plants looked good this morning however after the lights being on for a while they started to wilt again so I lowered the wattage on the left side of my farm.
Good move, Shawn. I have noticed my peppers do fine in a 20 watt Harvest, and I have to keep the lights raised higher than normal in my old 45 watt Bounty to keep from scorching the tops of the plants.
It waqs wilting even more so today I took off all the leaves and branches nothing was growing on. I will see if the peppers at least ripe up. I will give it another week and if nothing this will be terminated. The Candy Apple Peppers are getting big. If anyone wants some of the Candy Cane Seeds to try and see if you get different results please PM me and I can mail out a few to you.
I am so upset. Out of the blue my Pepper plant is wilting. I have no idea what to do. I fed it yesterday with nutes and mooch. I have a fan blowing on it now for more circulation. Any ideas why?
Check for all the basics.. Too much water, pump not running or water not flowing!.. What is mooch? I had this happen when adding Hydrogen peroxide and moving a plant from one environment to another..but they recovered after lowering the water level (not in AG but bubble container)All you did was feed so maybe a cable unpluged, power strip switch.. pump failure.. go with the basics first.. wilting is stress either not enough water or not enough oxygen or too large a change in something PH/PPM, root stress.May want to check the cage/roots and make sure they are not totally blocking the water flow.. maybe the plant got moved.. Good luck!
Shawn, it might be the fan drying them out. That happened to mine. I was running the fan all the time. I switched to running it one hour a day on low, not pointed directly at them, and they perked up. If the leaves are curled and dried out, you can also mist them lightly with water. I am not sure that's your problem. Just a guess based on my experience.
Pump works, water is flower, water is full. I never did and never have checked ph/ppm so I am not concerned there. Roots look good. Mooch is a calcium supplement and I have been using that for years with peppers so I dont think that is it. No bugs either...
Probably NOT it, but I mention it only because I had something similar happen with my AG Bell Pepper plant. It was also right after and R&R. The Lilac Bell and the Jalapeno were just fine and unaffected. Just the Bell was drooping and felt limp. I thought I would lose it, so as a last ditch thing, I did another R&R without nutes this time. Then, I noticed that one of the little plugs was left off, so I replaced the plug too. I don't know why, but it was better by evening and the next day you wouldn't have known there was any issue at all. I still wonder if it was too much air getting in. That plug was right next to the Bell. Or something else?Here's hoping your plant will do a turn around too!
I think I'd up the nutrients to 24 ml. I always run 24 ml Nutrients and 20 ml Mooch on a Farm. I'm having a hard time finding someone that sells the Mooch now. It's made here in Michigan, but covid hit everyone hard. I haven't got a response from them. BTW, Mooch is a nickname I gave Mr. Mucha Stash, by All Day Organics.
I had to place some chopsticks in the pod to keep it standing tall. One side is heavier. It is hard to see the striping but you can see them ... the flash kinds made them a lot lighter.
Here are a few more shots of my Candy Cane Peppers and one of the Candy Apple Pepper The Two Together: Candy Cane shots. You can really see the striping in the leaves as well as the peppers. Oh BTW, yesterday one of them fell off. Mark said it had a very good taste and it was not even fully ripe yet. Candy Apple:
It is so hard to find the peppers with all the flowers and lined leaves. Here are two of the Candy Canes. One you can already see the lines on it. You can see the way the leaves are what burpee calls "eye catching". The leaves are not all green. At first you think something is wrong but they are normal. Here is the larger of them that I could locate I am not that impressed with the Candy Apple. It has not grown much. It does have flowers but this plant wont produce much I do not think as for the size. I am going to leave it for now and will determine at a later date if I will pull it. I may wait to get a pepper or two first. Here are the two plants together. I may thin out some of the leaves on the Candy Cane (L)
I am loving the way the Candy Cane Peppers are growing. I will get pictures. We are getting ready for a storm, well several coming thru so I need to go out and move a few things so they do not fly away.I have been on the phone all morning with calls so I will be back with pictures.
Both have grown some. The back left has a ton of buds and flowers. The front right are just starting to get buds. Closer look in the leaves of the back left
I am loving the way the Candy Cane Reds are growing. Especially the leaves, they have stripes. I have to get a good picture of them, I have teeny peppers starting.
I tried to find the pepper I saw but with all the stripes on leaves, flowers and buds it is hard. But I promise as soon as I see it I will get a picture
Here are the plants as planted in the beginning .... Here they are now. Since the one was larger I wanted it in the back You can see the striping on the leaves
I was getting nervous because the leaves are striped on the Candy Cane Red. But then looking at the pictures they DO get striped so I am not worrying. Here is a picture of the two now.
"both seeds come up with the casings attached." I didn't know what the seed casting was called until now. I have a tomato with one stuck right in the middle of the stem. I keep waiting for it to fall off (even flicked it a bit), but it seems to be surrounding the stem. It's two weeks old. Think that tomato seeding will die?
Thank you, ERR0R1755! That's very helpful. And, you know, I've only had issue with helmet head on my very first garden. Chives. And, for that garden, I did NOT pre-soak the pods. I wonder if that extra boost from the start made some kind of difference?
Seed coatings and pods do have something in common - just like how the pods are able to absorb water better if soaked completely, seeds are the same way Aside from very, very tiny seeds - I always try to soak my seeds for 15 minutes before I put them in a pod.
You will see on the first one where the stuck on casing took the leaves with it Teh second one the tips of the leaves are dark from the casing as well.
Machine: Farm 24XL Vendors: Park's and BurpeeVarieties: See below for details Sponge: Park's Seeds: 2 per pod Nutes: None to start Candy Apple: We are sweet on this glorious bell pepper and its sweet, mild flesh. Early-maturing, large 5" fruits are deep red and sugary sweet in just 71 days. A flavor-rich pepper that excels in salads, as snacks, and when roasted, baked or sauteed. Grow about 28" Candy Cane Red: Sweet snack pepper with eye-catching foliage and fruits. grows 18" - 24" More when something happens. The plants have been switched
Both peppers are up (will get later this morning). I thought I would have to restart the Candy Cane one as both seeds come up with the casings attached. One of which fell off with the leaves, the other casing came off without damage.