Unhappy peppers and chillies

[Monika]

My sweet peppers and chilli peppers don't look a all happy. They are in 9-inch pots, have been watered regularly without being waterlogged, the greenhouse is well ventilated and dampened down regularly and, of course, the last 10 days or so it's been nice and warm, so why are the leaves looking "tired" and slightly yellow? Is it the compost (peat-reduced commercial potting compost), I wonder? Any suggestions? They are starting to flower but just look "sad".

The tomatoes were potted on in the same compost at the same time and appear fine.

[hilary]

Hi Monika,

Do you know the night time temperatures? i suspect they are still the problem. Ours have dipped to well below 10 recently and we still have a cold north wind so the squashes are looking pretty sad.
My peppers are green but growing very slowly and nowhere near to flowering.
You could try a seaweed spray which I use a general pick me up.

Hilary

[Monika]

Thanks for that, Hilary. I don't think the night temperatures are a problem because I close the greenhouse down almost fully every night and, having had sun during the day, it is unlikely do go down a lot in the greenhouse. Even outside the temperatures have not dropped below 12 degrees recently.

But I will try the seaweed spray to give them a fillip!

[FelixLeiter]

I don't think the night temperatures are a problem because I close the greenhouse down almost fully every night and, having had sun during the day, it is unlikely do go down a lot in the greenhouse.

Can you be sure of this, though? Recording the minimum with a max/min thermometer should give you your answer. The wind this last week has been a demon, and will quickly take away accumulated heat overnight. "Almost fully" closing the greenhouse at night may not, I suspect, be sufficient.

[retropants]

mine haven't grwon much either. they each have one small bud at the centre, but look quite pitiful really. they are in an unheated greenhouse with one broken roof vent (missing)

[Monika]

Felix, we do have maximum/minimum thermometers, both inside the greenhouse and outside. The minimum outside has been around 6/7 C lately but in the greenhouse it has not dropped below 10C which, I would have thought, would be enough for night time for peppers. Some plants are now merrily flowering but still not looking very strong!

[PLUMPUDDING]

I've got the same problem Monika, they don't seem to be growing despite being in the greenhouse border in good soil and the temperatures haven't been too low at night. They have a few flower buds on and one has a fruit on it, but they aren't putting on much growth at all. I thought they were waiting for a bit of sunshine, but they are very slow this year. The cucumber, melons and tomatoes are growing well though.

[Catherine]

Hi Monika
I have the same problem. Also my courgettes are completly stationary nothing has happened since I planted them out four weeks ago, they have very small courgettes, (probably the size of a tiny chillie) but not going any where, and my dwarf beans have not moved either. When I planted out my courgettes I had them covered with open ended plastic cloches for quite some time before the weather warmed up. Now the leaves are going yellow.