Thought I knew how to grow bell peppers, but this stumps me

[Francis Barnswallow]

A few weeks back I transplanted my bell pepper seedlings into containers with all having the same soil.

Now their height is around 5 inches tall, some around 8 inches tall. Here's the thing. Half are doing just fine, but the other half have leaves that are curled up and not doing well. What gives?

[PunkRotten]

Don't know. I have a plant like this too. Actually for months it has barely grown. It stands at like 5-6 inches and doesn't do anything. It looks healthy just doesn't grow. I was thinking the heat might be stunting it. But I have never heard of that. Curling leaves usually is a symptom of the plant not taking up nutrients properly because they is a problem with the roots. Like they are rootbound or in the wrong kind of soil like clay. But you say the soil is good. I really don't know but I am curious to find out too.

[Francis Barnswallow]

I also have a bell pepper plant planted months ago that is huge (about 4 ft. tall) and has tons of blossoms. But it's been doing that ever since I planted it..........just blossoms, not one pepper yet.

[rainbowgardener]

I usually think plants getting "stuck" like that, sitting there looking ok and not growing, is some kind of problem with the roots. I usually suggest you dig it up (for container plants that's really not hard, you can basically kind of slide it out of the container) and take a look at the root system.

People are always hesitant about that, but with a little care you can do it without harming your plant. If everything looks good just pop it back in. But you may find you have a nice healthy looking little plant with hardly any root system.

The large plant with the tons of blossoms is a different issue. IF it has had blossoms for a long time but no fruit, then I presume it is dropping the blossoms without setting fruit, called blossom drop. Blossom drop is a stress reaction. Peppers are pretty prone to it, especially when temps are above 90 or above 75 at night.

[jal_ut]

I have had plants do that when I started them in those Peat Pots, then planted them pot and all. It seems the roots won't go through the pot. Same soil in all the pots? It has to have something to do with the roots.

In transplanting, the roots sometimes lose firm contact with the soil. It is going to take firmly pressing the soil down and water deeply and often for a while if this is the case.

[rainbowgardener]

Francis, Punk - did you try looking at the root systems of your stuck plants? What did you find? We recently had a thread of someone writing in about their okra plant stuck like that. It was suggested that it might be rootbound. OP looked at the roots and said "nope, not root bound, it only has 1-2" of roots." That's what I mean. Plant with tiny root system like that can't grow and develop because it can't take up enough water/ nutrients. But sometimes, they do surprisingly, sit there and look ok (though small and not growing) for a long time.

So what did you find?

[PunkRotten]

I have 2 peppers same variety both in the ground and both have the same condition. I was thinking about pulling them out but I was maybe thinking about putting one in a pot. I don't but maybe later today or tomorrow I will pull them out and report back.