Two Week Outdoor Pepper Update

May 22, 2018 | Article Topics:

It’s been just over two weeks since all 48 plants made their transition to the outdoors full time. In that time they have been joined by another nine plants, bringing my total to 57 pepper plants — a massive jump over last year when I only managed roughly 25 plants. So how have all of the plants fared over the course of 14 days?

Well, good and bad to tell you the truth. I’m not sure if my hardening off process was rushed, but a good number of the plants suffered some serious sunburn over the first few days after transplanting to their various homes. The raised bed plants seemed to really take the brunt of the sun, while my buckets received afternoon shade from the house. The overflow plot has seen it’s share of sun and storm damage (and a full week of rain) as well, but more on that in a minute.

Pepper Plants

Both sets of raised beds are looking good, though half way through last week I was starting to get worried about them. After a first week of sun and heat, all of the plants were taken for a ride with cooler temperatures and seven days of straight rain and thunderstorms. The plants in the beds appeared to start to bend to the amount of rain they were getting, falling over a bit. Thankfully, the last two days have been beautiful and all of the plants have received a good amount of sun and moderately warm temperatures.

Pepper Plants

As you can see, everybody in the home spots have recovered nicely and are chugging along. While those plants in the raised beds look good, the bucket plants appear to be enjoying themselves the most. I’m going to assume that they didn’t get hit too hard by all of the rain since the double bucket setups drain nicely.

Pepper Plants

Overflow Plot

As good as the plants at home were looking, the majority of the 23 plants at my overflow plot were looking a bit worse for wear, especially after all of the rain they received. Unfortunately, the ground that these peppers sit in doesn’t drain quite as well as the mix I have in the raised beds and buckets. Many of the Chocolate 7 Pot varieties that I have going at this plot aren’t looking so hot. In fact, most look like they took a serious beating as evident in the photo below.

Pepper Plants

I haven’t noticed any insects or slugs around the plants. I believe that the leaf damage seen above is mostly rain and storm related — I hope. Unlike the chocolate variants I have, my Red Scorpions and Scotch Bonnets that are only feet away appear to be doing the best in this location. I’m constantly picking buds and flowers off of a few of them (Numex Twighlight for instance) in order for the plants to focus on growing and not blossoming. They all have new growth and appear to be doing just fine as seen in the photo below.

Pepper Plants

The first two weeks of the plants’ existences outside have been interesting to say the least. While some are looking rough around the edges, all of the plants are alive so that’s a good thing. I’m looking forward to seeing how they progress over the next month or so.