sick looking bell pepper plants

[mtgarden gal]

hello,
approx. 4-5 days ago, I transplanted several healthy bell pepper plants into my garden. Now they look like this. It has been nice and sunny out, some rain, they are not dryed out, no sign of pests or rot. No frost at night. What is wrong and will they recover? Thanks!

[SPierce]

How did you go about hardening them off? They almost look wilted from the heat (?) but I'm not too sure

[mtgarden gal]

They had been sitting outside on my step for a week in the pots I bought them in. They had acclimated to the heat of day, the nights and the sun before I ever planted them. they looked great. So hardening off can't be the problem.

[treehopper]

they look like you fertilized them right after planting...

[mtgarden gal]

no, didn't fertilize them

[GardenRN]

Did you water them in when you planted? Maybe some of the outer roots dried out and it's just in severe shock. I'd water them really good with room temp water and then pray.

Also, are you sure you didn't accidentally do any damage to the plant when you were removing them from their pots? What was your method of getting them out of the pots?

[mtgarden gal]

PROBLEM SOLVED! thank you everyone for your responses, but especially thanks for suggesting the rootball may be too dry. I dug one up and the root ball was a bit dry, so I watered them good. Two hours after giving them a good hefty shot of water, they have perked up an incredible amount and look almost as good as new. Amazing.

Newbie lesson learned! When I planted them, the garden soil was fairly wet due to several days of rain. So I planted the peppers and thought, "well, the ground is pretty wet, so I don't need to water them. The roots will just suck up the water from the surrounding soil". MISTAKE. Lesson: Always water good after transplanting!

[rainbowgardener]

Good lesson!

[jal_ut]

Yes, the water after transplanting is very important. It settles the soil in around the root ball so the roots have good contact with the soil. In a few days the roots will be growing out into the soil, then they will not need water as often.

My peppers wilted a bit the first day after planting even though I did water them at planting. A second watering and now they are doing fine.

Glad yours are perking up.

[Patrol_4x4]

they look like you fertilized them right after planting...

I thought you had to fertilize them after planting... I think i read it somewhere... Even in the instructions of use on the seasol bottle...

Can anyone help me here?

[rainbowgardener]

No, better to let them have a little time to send out roots, get established. In general you don't want to fertilize plants that are sick or stressed, it just stresses them more. Having just been transplanted is stressed.

[gardenvt]

I had three of 14 peppers look like that and maybe worse. I watered when I planted and then we had buckets of rain come down and strong winds the next day.

It has been 10 days since I planted and those 3 have lost most of their leaves though it does look like they are growing some new ones. The other 11 look just fine.

[dtlove129]

I actually do fertilize when I plant. My whole garden got a shot of 10-10-10 tilled into it prior to planting anything. Then the trenches in my potatoes got heavy P and K when I planted. My pepper plants and tomato plants go medium doses of P and K and some Nitrogen when I planted.

I may go overboard, but my dad has always fertilized and that is where I learned from. I have yet to burn anything up and had a good crop last year, and hopefully a better crop this year.

[luvthesnapper]

I would try a light foliar feed with liquid kelp. If it is stressed, it might help reduce it. Use rainwater, of course.

[GardenRN]

I got one right? NICE! Glad I could help mtgarden girl.