Chilli's rotting.

I have noticed that quite a lot of my cayenne chill's have started to go brown and soft, some in the middle and some at the ends. This has never happened before and was wondering if anyone had any ideas whats causing this.

 

Hi dalbuie, have these been under glass all the time or were they outside at all during the lousy summer?

 

They have been in the greenhouse all the time Sarraceniac, I grew them from seed, tooo cold to grow them outside up here.

 

If they were outside I would have thought they would have simply been drowned.

But you have been growing them for several years and clearly are capable of not over-watering.

I would, at first sight say that they had developed a rather nasty fungal disease called fruit rot. It can strike at any time. Can you post a photo?

The main thing to remember is not to plant next year's chillies in the same pots let alone the same compost. If you have some that are OK this year then just cut your losses and use these few. But I suggest new pots and compost for next year and get rid of all pots from this year.

I reserve the right to be wrong (?) but you are too late for this year anyway. If you have been using the same pots for some time then I am 99.9% certain. If you use fresh pots every year then I would still bet 98%.

 

Dalbuie, I'm willing to bet its the rotten weather, even in a greenhouse the humidity is high, too high.
If the plants remain damp for any lenght of time, fungal problems are likely.
Vetilate when ever possible, but I know sometimes that allows more damp in than it lets out.

 

Most of the chilli's are in grow-bags, a few in pots , I think I will replace the pots for next year.
I think that it probably is high humidity pete. the greenhouse is covered inside with condensation in the mornings. I have invested in a electric fan heater as it is getting quite cold here already especially at night. Hopefully that might help a bit.
Thanks.

Carol .