Peppers Rotting On Plant – Causes And Solutions

Peppers rotting on plant can be frustrating, especially after putting all that time and energy into planting and then waiting to harvest healthy ripe fruits.

The rotting of the bottom of peppers is caused by a condition called blossom end rot. When your plant has blossom end rot, it only means that there are not enough nutrients in the soil or the pH is not balanced.

Knowing the symptoms and causes of blossom end rot in pepper will equip you with the knowledge of preventing any future occurrence of rotting.

According to the University of Tennessee, the reason for blossom end rot is a lack of calcium or not enough moisture in the soil. Enough soil moisture is important for pepper plants in order for easy absorption of calcium.

As we all know calcium is responsible for the growth of healthy bones in humans, it also helps in maintaining a healthy plant. However, there are solutions that you can proffer to the issue of peppers rotting on plants. This will help restore their health and capacity to continue producing healthy fruits. So, kindly read further.

Pepper Rotting On Plant: What Causes Blossom End Rot?

Blossom end rot usually causes the appearance of dark spots at the bottom part or side of peppers. As we have mentioned, blossom end rot is caused by the deficiency of calcium in the plant. This condition takes place when the fruits of the plant don’t have healthy skin.

This is as a result of the inaccessibility of the calcium in the plant when fruits are being produced. Hence, the condition of the plant root rot occurs. The fruits will find it hard to develop new and healthy skin if the calcium contained in the plant is not made available when fruits are being produced.

As a result of this, patches of dark brown, gray, or black begin to form on each fruit at the blossom end. This happens mostly during cool weather when there’s a high rate of moisture fluctuations.

As the vegetable grows, new skin forms at the bottom of the fruit, which is where blossom end rot starts.

Sometimes, the problem might not be about your soil needing more calcium even if it is known that the issue is the plant being low on calcium. The availability of calcium in the pepper plant is very important as it is needed for the formation of the pepper fruit cell walls.

There are implications of the lack of calcium in the pepper plant. Or when the growth of the fruit is way too fast making it difficult for the supply of enough calcium by the plant.

Hence, rotting will begin at the blossom end of the pepper fruit as the walls of the cell are already dying.

Getting calcium from the soil and constantly making calcium available for the healthy production of the fruits may be the real problem. Although, solving the problem of peppers rotting on plants will be trickier because of this type of situation.

Whichever way, it’s better to begin proffering a possible solution early in order to help your plants recover.

Preventing Your Pepper Fruits From Rotting On The Plant

Your first mindset and action is to not allow blossom end rot to surface at all. It’s better to prevent it from occurring right from the onset. Chances of preventing the occurrence of a blossom end rot can be increased with the help of the following tips.

1. Avoid watering your pepper plants less often.
2. Avoid watering your pepper plants more than necessary to prevent blossom end rot.
3. Make use of proper fertilizer in the right amounts for your plants
4. Another thing to do is to reduce the amount of nitrogen in the fertilizer for your plant when it starts producing fruits. This is because nitrogen will make your plants grow more leaves rather than produce fruits.
5. Prune older leaves and leaf branches on pepper plants.
6. Before planting each year, mix crushed eggshells in the soil to increase calcium. Oftentimes, blossom end rot may not be due to low calcium in the soil.

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Solution To Peppers Rotting On Plant

If you don’t begin the process of curing blossom end rot quickly, your chances of getting a great healthy harvest from your planting period will be slim. So, get to the action quickly once you see dark bottom ends on your peppers.

1.    Pruning Too Much Foliage – Peppers Rotting On Plant

Like its being explained earlier on, the supply of calcium, other than availability, is what blossom end is all about. Hence, making sure calcium becomes available to your fruits during their developing period is important.

Pruning too many leaves from your pepper plants can be adopted. Foliage, even during stressful conditions, thrives with transpiring water.

When you prune excess leaves away from around your pepper plants regularly, the leaves on your plant reduce. This way, more water will be channeled towards the production of more fruits.

Check Out A Detailed Guide On What Type Of Fertilizer For Tomatoes

2.    Even Moisture Is Important

The total well-being of your plants can be determined by the level of moisture in your plant. Your plants will become stressed due to inconsistent moisture by getting dried out then getting watered and later becoming dried out again. So, moisture in the soil must be maintained at all times.

3.    Helping The Plants To Absorb More Calcium – Peppers Rotting On Plant

Come to think of it, the fact that the deficiency in calcium is the cause of blossom end rot doesn’t mean that the calcium needed is not in the soil. Oftentimes, it may be that it is the plants that are in need of the calcium present in the soil but can’t get access to it. So, you can adopt means of making this element available to the plants and easy to be absorbed by the plant.

Conclusion On Peppers Rotting On Plant

In conclusion, to help fix the situation of peppers rotting on plants, you can choose from the previously listed guidelines on how to help plants absorb calcium. It is certain that this article will be very helpful.

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