Why pepper plants wilt

If you have very heavy clay soil, you can amend it with compost to increase the amount of well-draining organic matter. For mature plants, water when the top inch or so of soil is dry. This is also a problem in some hydroponic pepper plants without proper aeration or in Kratky-style hydroponics when aerial roots are kept under water. Any time you transplant a chilli, the plant goes through an adjustment period as it gets settled in its new location. This is more likely to happen when it has to adapt to very different conditions or if the roots are damaged during transplanting.

While some level of transplant shock is unavoidable, you can minimize it by doing the following:. The last point is important because pepper plants started indoors have only ever been exposed to the gentle conditions of your home, always within a stable temperature range, little to no wind, and with some relatively weak lights compared to the sun.

When you take pepper plants outside for the first time, the sun could be strong enough to cause damage to the leaves, and they could wilt or start to flop over from the wind. If you take them outside and transplant them, it can seriously stress out and weaken your pepper plants. Hardening off means gradually exposing plants to the conditions outside. This is true even if there is plenty of the nutrient in the soil!

For more information, check out this article from Research Gate about how nutrient availability depends on soil pH. To find out if your soil pH is off, you can buy a test kit online or at a garden center. You can also send a soil sample to your local agricultural extension. For more information, check out my article about soil testing. If your soil pH is within an appropriate range, then another place to look is at the nutrient levels in your soil.

This can also be determined by a soil test see above. As mentioned earlier, adding compost or manure to your garden is one of the best ways to add nutrients to the soil, while also providing new organic material. You can also use chemical fertilizers, which can supplement the big three nutrients NPK, or nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium , along with some other nutrients, such as iron, magnesium, sulfur, zinc, or copper.

Be careful about adding too much of a supplement to your soil. If you identify a magnesium deficiency and add too much Epsom salt magnesium sulfate to your soil, you can end up with a calcium deficiency instead. This means that having too much magnesium in your soil can prevent your pepper plant from absorbing calcium.

This is true even if there is plenty of calcium in the soil! The take-home message: nutrient balance and nutrient levels are both important for the health of your plants. For more information, check out my article on over fertilizing your plants. If you think your watering, soil, and environment are on-par, then the next thing to do is to look for pests. Sometimes they will be obvious when you look at your plants, but other times they will be hidden.

Here are a few common pests unfortunately, this is not an exhaustive list by any means! Aphids are little bugs over a dozen could easily fit on your fingernail.

They can be green, black, white, brown, or other colors. They suck the juices out of stems and leaves on plants, and excrete a sweet secretion honeydew. Even though they are small, enough aphids can cause serious problems for a plant — after all, a plant can only produce so much energy, which the aphids are draining away. If you notice that a pepper plant is infected with aphids, you can try to wash them away with a hose, or you can spray them with a solution of water and dish soap.

Be careful — aphids can spread from plant to plant, so if only one plant is infected, you might be better off removing and destroying the plant, instead of risking the whole garden!

Then, they will return to haunt your garden in future years when you apply your compost! For more information, check out my article on how to get rid of aphids.

Cutworms are actually the larvae of moths. They feed on young, tender plants by wrapping themselves around the stem and chewing through it. For more information, check out my article on how to get rid of cutworms on plants. Applications of insecticides containing imidacloprid or spinosad may effectively control psyllid and thrip populations in pepper plantings. Thrip infestations may be controlled with the application of insecticides containing dimethoate or flonicamid as well.

There are no chemical treatments available to home gardeners for nematode infestations. Pepper plants are vulnerable to a few viruses, but wilting usually caused by tomato spotted wilt virus TSWV , the symptoms of which vary, depending on the stage of growth at the time of infection and the cultivar.

Typically TSWV infection causes spotting, bronzing, necrosis of leaves, and may cause ringspots on fruit. In early stages of infection, leaves take on a bronze appearance and the entire plant droops or wilts. Necrotic spots develop on the leaves and eventually the entire plant becomes stunted and wilted. Peppers infected later in development may only show symptoms on part of the plant, because the virus is unable to move into mature portions. Correcting the problem by providing drainage for the containers' soil improves the health of the pepper plants and allows the roots to revive and provide the moisture and nutrients the plants need.

Wilting pepper plants may indicate a need to amend heavy soils with sand and organic material in outdoor gardens, or change your potting mix in containers. Peppers are susceptible to a variety of insect pests including aphids, spider mites, stink bugs, thrips, flea beetles and pepper maggots.

Many of these damage the structure of pepper plants, or suck nutrients and vitality from the plant, and result in wilting or drooping of their leaves. Checking your pepper plants for signs of insects and taking measures to eliminate the pests may revive the plants.

Yellow sticky traps, insecticides and natural remedies are available at home-improvement stores and gardening centers.