What’s Wrong With My Peppers?

Peppers are mostly a carefree crop. Give plants some sun and water, and you’re on your way to a harvest of brightly colored fruit in a host of flavors, from sweet to sizzling. Sometimes homegrown peppers encounter a few challenges. Flip through our gallery to diagnose your pepper problems, and learn ways to deal with—and prevent—these common pepper issues.

When healthy-looking pepper plants bloom but drop flowers without setting fruit, it’s usually not your fault. Blame this one on the weather. Temps are probably too cold or too hot. Set peppers out too early, and chilly air (nights below 58°F) causes blossoms to fall.  When day temperatures creep over 90°F and nights stay above 75°F, blooms drop. Once the hot spell passes, flower pollination should resume and peppers will form. Until then, keep plants well-watered and fertilized, so they’re ready to jump back into production. Hot peppers handle hot weather better than bell types.

If you spy dark spots—from deep purple to black—along pepper stems, don’t panic. This actually is not a problem but a natural coloring that occurs. You’ll see it most often at stem joints and where leaves and peppers attach to the main stem. As long as the rest of the stem is solid, green and healthy, you have nothing to worry about. Just enjoy the show these colorful plants put on.

Small holes in peppers are usually the work of slugs. The problem is, once slugs create an opening, other critters join the party, like pill bugs and earwigs. The wound in the fruit also invites early decay and mold. Slugs attack low-hanging fruit first, but they also slime their way up pepper plants and supports. Research slug treatments and adopt several strategies to deal with them. When pepper season is done, before frost, continue to use slug treatments to kill adult slugs before they lay eggs.