this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2024
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Poisoned Pepper Plants? (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by CeeBee_Eh@lemmy.world to c/gardening@lemmy.world
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Hi everyone, I'm hoping to get some input on my pepper plants. Last year all my vegetable plants were explosive in growth and produce. This year they've been a bit stressed by the early heat we've had (southern Ontario) but otherwise doing well. Everything from cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, potatoes, carrots, lettuce, garlic, and onions are doing well.

My pepper plants, on the other hand, look terrible.

Initially I thought they were just extremely stressed from the heat, but I noticed a few of them (not pictured) are doing fine. What clicked in my head today is that the ones that are doing ok I grew from seed, and the rest are from garden centres (a semi-private one and a commercial one).

From my zero-level knowledge and subsequent Googling the answer is:

  • Too much heat
  • Too much water
  • Too little water
  • Exposure to herbicide

It's the last one that really raised my eyebrows, and seems to fit based on photos.

Anyone have any insight on this? Thanks in advance.

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[โ€“] The_v@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Your guess is correct. It's herbicide damage. Likely either 2,4-D or Dicamba. These are common ingredients in lawn broadleaf weed control agents.

When applied when it is hot, they tend to volatize and drift. Very low levels will cause the damage you are seeing.

The most common culprit is the slower release granular formulations.

[โ€“] CeeBee_Eh@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

Thanks for the info!

My wife said she put slow release fertilizer in when we transplanted them into the garden. Could that have anything to do with it?

We don't use any kind of herbicides or pesticides anywhere on our property.

The only thing we added to the garden this year was mulch and the thought occurred to me that something was in it, but every single other plant seems to be fine. The tomatoes were a tad stressed early in the season, but we had 30+ degree Celsius weather incredibly early in the season for almost two weeks that seemed to stress them, but otherwise they've grown well since and are producing a ton of tomatoes.

Every other vegetable plant is doing well. Onions, rhubarb, corn, carrots, cucumbers, potatoes, and a couple others I can't remember. So that makes me think there's nothing in the mulch itself.

Now my parents got a bunch of their peppers from one of the same places I got a few of my peppers from and they have the same issue. Is it possible the soil the garden centre used when starting the seeds was contaminated?