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I am growing bell peppers (from seed... they are supposed to be orange) and now have a pretty large plant. I am wondering if it was a mistake to give the plant a tomato cage. Several of the very early peppers that are small and green have dropped off the plant, with or without their husk. They are just little sticky green balls at this point. Should I take the cage away and let the plant grow on the ground? Any other tips? It is growing close to a tomato plant.
Peppers want to stand upright. You don't want them lying down; the fruit will not ripen properly and will get soft spots where it touches the ground. They need lots of sun. Is the plant being shaded by the tomato?
Tiny little fruits shriveling up or dropping off sounds to me like they aren't being pollinated. But I'm confused by the word "husk." Bell peppers don't start off in a husk, to my recollection. Do you mean remnants of the flower are clinging to them?
Peppers want to stand upright. You don't want them lying down; the fruit will not ripen properly and will get soft spots where it touches the ground. They need lots of sun. Is the plant being shaded by the tomato?
Tiny little fruits shriveling up or dropping off sounds to me like they aren't being pollinated. But I'm confused by the word "husk." Bell peppers don't start off in a husk, to my recollection. Do you mean remnants of the flower are clinging to them?
Here is a picture showing the early fruit and the pod on the right. Maybe husk is not the right word. They grow in these little lantern-looking things.
The fruit is not shriveled, it's very healthy, just not ripe at all.
Was going to say they don't look like peppers. Did you grow peppers somewhere else?
No, unfortunately, I planted pepper seeds in two places and the only one that germinated was a tomatillo! I'm in a community garden plot, so somebody must have left some tomatillo seeds behind or the seed company put the wrong seeds into the package I bought.
Not sure where you are, but up here with our short growing season, I buy seedlings for my peppers and tomatoes.
That probably would have been a good idea. My tomatoes have grown very well from seed here in New Jersey. I started them in May and they have had a lot of sun.
I saw a technique somewhere on the web, where you put the seeds into a bag with a moist paper towel and then you see which of them germinate and you plant those, instead of just taking your chances and throwing several into a hole in the soil.
might be too late to grow much from seed this time of year in Jersey..but not for seedlings..
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