Paranoid Pepper Plant Momma

[smurfalicious]

Okay, I tried searching but the massive garden thread was too much to go through! We are quite the green thumbed bunch. Anyway, I'm a little worried about my bell peppers. They're bearing fruit, which is a good sign, but I'm not sure what's normal. They started like miniature chubby little bell peppers, but now they're in a gangly awkward phase. They're maybe 3 inches long, probably 2 weeks old (the fruit) and really narrow. Will they fatten up or is this what I get?

[bmccasland]

post a photo of the suspect plant.


You could always pick a fruit and taste it. :rolleyes:

[Kathi]

Can't help, all ours were lost in the hail storm last Monday!:(

[smilingcat]

Hi smurf,

congrats for the green thumb. The fruit does start small. I would like a photo too. and any information about the color of the leaves like super dark green, yellow vein and green leafy part, green vein and leafy part yellowish, spotted yellow on leaves, dry crinkly feel of the leaves then breaks apart into small pieces...

I'm with bmccasland. Picture please of the whole leaf, another picture of the fruit.

Fruit does start very small. but it shouldn't be elongated like Jalepenos. Did you grow Jalepeno or serrano chilles nearby??

[smurfalicious]

Can't help, all ours were lost in the hail storm last Monday!:(

I feel your pain! I am currently drowning my sorrows in dark beer and morning the havoc last night's storm had on my garden. All my big leafies are TRASHED and the vines I trained to grow in between the rows are DESTROYED! I want to cry, so bad.

I will get pepper pics tomorrow. And yes, they are growing in the "pepper corner" and my two doors down neighbor has a garden and several bee hives.

[smilingcat]

I'm sorry to hear of your set back. Leafy veggies will make a comeback so be patient. This weekend, you may have to remove the damaged leaves so that the plants do not pick up any infectious disease.

keep your hopes up. :D :D

[Kathi]

Our leafy vegetables have nothing but stalks left. Some of the tomato plants are beginning to leaf out but most of the tomatoes and peppers were destroyed, no buds or flowers left. Lost my flowers in pots, and the pots, a few look like they will survive.

The hail destroyed 6 screens, the roof, gutters and downspouts. The paint on the north and east side of the house. Lots of signs going up in the neighborhood for roofing and construction companies. Fortunately, the cars were in the garage.

It was such a good growing season!

[lo123]

Fruit does start very small. but it shouldn't be elongated like Jalepenos. Did you grow Jalepeno or serrano chilles nearby??

Does that mean you shouldn't plant jalapenos and bell peppers next to each other?

[OakLeaf]

Cross-pollination affects the seed, not the fruit.

Plus, according to seedsavers.org (http://www.seedsave.org/issi/904/beginner.html) (which also answered my question about beans):


Peppers produce perfect, mostly self-pollinating flowers. Solitary bees will pollinate if a more desirable pollen is not available in the area.

Immature bell peppers will have different shapes depending on the variety.

There's also the possibility that the plants or seeds you bought were mislabeled. I've had that happen more than once! Do your peppers have a pronounced indentation at the blossom end? All bell peppers I know of do.

Sorry about your storm damage Smurf. That's so frustrating. :(

[smilingcat]

I'm bit cautious, so I prefer to keep them apart. Be it squash, zucchini, pepper plants, tomatoes, beans. some are self-polinators and its safe while others are not. Its bit trouble some to remember which is which so I do the lazy person thing and keep similar plants away from each other.

In some instances I'm not too concerned about cross polination so I plant next to each other like Serrano and Jalapenos. But my bell pepper sits far away from it. Beets, and other root vegetables, I mix them up unless I want to save the seeds for next year, those I'm pretty careful not to get them crossed.

Best thing to do is go to the library and check. I don't trust lot of people working at nurseries especially those from the big box store.

[OakLeaf]

This isn't from the big box store.

Cross-pollination affects the seed, not the fruit.

Plant or animal, sexual reproduction has certain basic fundamentals. Having a child by someone of a different race won't change your uterus. It's the same with plants.

[smilingcat]

Oh that's right. I save my seeds for planting the following year. And the seedsaver.org is a wonderful site.

My Green Zebra's, Roma tomatoes, Cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, Acorn squash, Basil, parsley, chinese long beans and few other things are from last years seeds. ME BAD... :o

Its the year after you have to watch out.