red pepper plants

ive put these in huge large buckets, they looked great for the 1st few weeks but now it seems like the leaves are shrinking and shriveling but there not dried up if u get me, they are watered everynight with the rest of my plants and fed once every fortnight, i dont think that they are over watered :confused: also after about 6 weeks they dont seem to have grown much since i brought them as small plants.

where am i going wrong?

 

Not sure about the leaves shrivelling up but peppers do take while to grow. Mine were small at this stage last year and they are again this. But at the end of the summer last year i had plenty of fruits.

 

I think that peppers and chillies should not be watered late in the day, standing overnight in damp compost is not good for them. Generally they should be watered lightly and earlier in the day so that by night time the compost will have dried out slightly, also as vegpatch says, they do take a while to put on growth, mine are slowly bushing out but not getting much taller at the moment, good luck.

 

thankyou, will try watering them in the mornings instead :D

 

Hi T Digger,

Scrunched-up, crinkly leaves that are still nice and green is a sure sign of over-watering (I've learned from my own mistakes).

 

"ive put these in huge large buckets"

You've planted them in buckets, right?

Do the buckets have decent drainage holes at the bottom - and possibly some gravel or something in the bottom inch, or so, to help the drainage?

 

good drainage holes, ive possibly been over watering them by the sounds of it, will lay off the watering can a bit especially now my water butt is empty, saves a few trips threw the house :D

 

Worth trying to gauge the weight of the bucket when it is freshly watered, and when it is dry (well, "drier" would be better ) and using that as a basis of when to water. You cold try pushing a finger into the soil to see how wet it is.

 

my pepper plants are tiny, no more than 5cm tall, dont know whats happening, they are in grow bags in a mini greenhouse. my toms are growing like the clappers though!

 

Same here, the tomatoes are growing like the clappers but the chilli plants look smaller this year then they did last year.
I find it quite hard to get the watering done first thing in the morning since I leave home at 6 am for work, so mine do get watered in the afternoon / evening.

I think I'm just have to going to get up earlier.