Transplant shock in my pepper?

Jethrobodeen1581 · Mon Jun 29, 2015 1:18 pm

I transplanted this bell pepper about a week ago and today it looks like this. Is this just transplant shock, and if so, should I put it in a little bit of shade so it can recover?

Jethrobodeen1581 · Mon Jun 29, 2015 2:11 pm

They're is plenty of drainage holes on the bottom and sides of the bucket. I put it and my catnip in the shade because they were bother planted and the same time and doing the same thing and the catnip looks a little better now

applestar · Mon Jun 29, 2015 3:31 pm

Where are you located? Peppers tend to do better with a bit of shade anyway even here in NJ. If you are further south, then I suspect more so. Remember that it gets hotter in the bucket.

Even after it settles in, you may need to provide a bit of shade for the container.

If you are further north, then I have found that peppers do better in containers but need extra feeding and watering. It's hard to get nice thick walls on bell peppers.

Soj · Wed Jul 01, 2015 12:14 am

What's in that bucket? It looks overwatered. Overwatering can cause wilting. I suspect that you have a perched water table in that bucket - take some wicking material - like one strand from a CLEAN mop - and stuff it up into one of the drainage holes using a chopstick or something similar. I wouldn't be surprised if it starts draining once its wicked.

Jethrobodeen1581 · Thu Jul 02, 2015 5:49 pm

I think it was overwatering. I'll give the wick thing a try though also

Soj · Thu Jul 02, 2015 11:06 pm

The medium in the bucket can make a difference, too. I've found that its much harder to maintain even moisture in those 5 gallon buckets - I don't use them any more. You want an extre-free draining mix in them. If you used bagged potting mix or something high in peat, its probably not nearly free draining enough.

I don't have a suggestion for what would work in a bucket like that. My not-brief-enough experimentation with "gritty mix" and "5-1-1" was a failure, and I don't have results for any of the mixes I'm trying now.

Try the wick thing and see if it doesn't drain out that perched water table. I think poking it up in there 6" or 7" ought to do the trick. I think one ought to be enough.