jball3009
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Joined: Fri May 01, 2020 12:19 pm

Pepper leaves turning translucent after transplant

Hello,

Last week I transplanted my peppers into 5-Gallon fabric pots last weekend using Happy Frog soil (which they already had in their 1-Gal pots). I watered them lightly and started hardening off. 2 Hours the first day, 3 the second, and I started noticing white areas on the Reaper and Ghost peppers (Cayenne are fine)

I don't know what I will do if I lose the only reaper that made it this far, please help.
The biggest leaves are very fragile, and you can see through them.

Thanks in advance!
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reaper.jpg
ghost.jpg

PaulF
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Location: Brownville, Ne

I would guess it is sun scald. Maybe wind damage but I say sun. No matter how they are hardened off being in the bright sun will cause this bleaching. They should grow out of it.

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Hi :D. — oh PaulF got a post in before me :shock:

Those damages look like sun burn. even though you were trying to be careful, I guess they were still more tender than expected. If there has been sudden temp drops or excessive wind, that would have affected them as well.

But don’t worry — just cut off the badly damaged leaves and let the plant recover. Damaged leaves will attract pests and will be susceptible to diseases. If needed, provide a bit more wind break or night time protection.

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I agree. Now that the sun is more intense and the weather is warmer. You may need to reduce the exposure time when hardening off. I have similar problems so I prefer to start everything in the sun in the first place. I do keep cuttings under the bench and when I pot them up. I keep them under the bench for a week to get over any transplant issues and I still have to harden them off slowly. I start with them under my trees and shrubs. Some of them will stay there until around Nov-December when the sun is milder and then they are easier to harden off. Otherwise, I would only harden them off gradually from under trees and on a cloudy day move them out for an hour in the early morning and then gradually extending the time. I still manage to lose a few so I don't harden all of them off at the same time.

For the orchids which do burn easily, I will hide them between other plants or keep them under lighter shade cloth until they can go out to the full sun. Orchid leaves won't look pretty in the full sun and they will get more leatherly, but once they are acclimated they will bloom better than in the shade. Some orchids can take 80% sun as long as they get some protection from the mid day sun. I use shade cloth, trees and I have a light meter so I know my 70% shade cloth is around 5000 lumens and the 50% shade cloth is around 8000 lumens and full sun is 11,000 -15000 lumens depending on the time of the year. A light meter is helpful if you have houseplants and you want to know the best place to site them or how much light they need. It is useful for hardening off to find the best locations and times to gradually increase the light incrementally.

pepperhead212
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Location: Woodbury NJ Zone 7a/7b

Definitely sunscald, and surprisingly, the chinense peppers, which are some of the most tropical peppers, seem to be the most prone to it. I really don't get this on any of my other peppers! And no matter how gradually I harden them off, I always seem to get a few of these spots on some of the habanero leaves, but they outgrow it quickly.



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