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Vegetables

Bell Pepper Growing Guide: Planting, Care & Harvest

A thick-walled sweet pepper left on the plant to colour up red or yellow, needing a long warm season and support for the fruit.

Bell Pepper

Capsicum annuum var. grossum

Growing calendar

Typical timing for central Japan (Kanto region). Shift it for your own climate, and record your actual dates.

Sow / plantGrowingHarvest

Guides

Common problems

Start from what you can see on the plant.

Pests and diseases (49)

Problems recorded for this plant, most serious first.

Bacterial Wilt

Disease

Leaves wilt while still green during the day and recover in the morning and evening; after a few days of this the plant dies. Cut the stem and stand it in water and a milky white bacterial ooze streams out in threads.

Fusarium Wilt

Disease

Lower leaves wilt during the day and recover morning and evening, and this cycle repeats as the plant dies back. Cutting the stem reveals characteristic browning of the vascular tissue.

Powdery Mildew

Disease

White patches appear scattered on the upper leaf surface at first, then the whole leaf is coated in a white powder. Leaves later yellow, brown and die back, and reduced photosynthesis cuts growth and yield.

Late Blight

Disease

Dark green water-soaked lesions appear on the leaves and expand quickly into brown dead tissue. White mold forms on the underside and at the lesion edge, and dark brown lesions spread to stems and fruit.

Tomato Spotted Wilt

Disease

Brown necrotic spots and ring patterns appear on the leaves and the growing tips shrivel and darken. Fruit develops concentric yellow rings that make it unmarketable.

Bacterial Canker

Disease

Leaf margins scorch and die back, and splitting the stem reveals browned vascular tissue. Scabby, bird's-eye lesions form on fruit and shoots.

Cucumber Mosaic Virus

Disease

New leaves show a yellow-green mosaic, crinkle, and the whole plant becomes stunted. Fruit colors unevenly and grows misshapen.

Sclerotinia Rot

Disease

The crown, stem or head rots in a water-soaked way and is covered in white cottony mycelium. Black sclerotia later form inside and on the surface, and the plant wilts and dies.

Southern Blight

Disease

The stem rots at soil level and white silky mycelium spreads over the crown and the surrounding soil surface. Brown sclerotia the size of rapeseed then form and the plant wilts and dies rapidly.

Potato Virus Y

Disease

Mosaic, crinkling and vein necrosis appear on the leaves and the lower leaves die back. The plant is stunted and yield falls; some strains leave necrotic rings on the tuber surface.

Tobacco Mosaic Virus

Disease

New leaves show a clear light-and-dark green mosaic, become wavy and stay small. Growth stalls and fruit fails to size up properly.

Anthracnose

Disease

Light brown to dark brown round lesions with sharp margins form on leaves and fruit, slightly sunken in the center. In wet weather salmon-pink slimy spore masses ooze out on the lesions.

Pepper Mild Mottle Virus

Disease

Leaves become faintly variegated and mottled and crinkle slightly. Fruit stays small, is bumpy and unevenly colored, and fewer fruits set.

Tomato Mosaic Virus

Disease

Light and dark mosaic appears on the leaves, which narrow, twist and crinkle. Fruit ripens unevenly and browns internally, cutting both yield and quality.

Damping-off

Disease

The stem pinches in at soil level, turning water-soaked to brown and thin, and the seedling topples over. Infection before emergence makes the stand uneven with missing plants.

Bacterial Soft Rot

Disease

The crown or the head becomes water-soaked and soft, then collapses into a slimy mush. The rotting tissue gives off a distinctive foul odor.

Root Rot

Disease

Fine roots rot brown to blackish brown, growth stops and the lower leaves yellow. The plant wilts easily in the daytime and eventually dies outright.

Root-knot Nematode

Pest

The plant wilts in the daytime and does not recover with feeding or watering. Pull it up and the roots carry beaded chains of galls of varying size with few fine roots.

Gray Mold

Disease

Water-soaked brown lesions form on flowers, fruit and leaves, densely covered by a fuzzy gray mold. Fruit rots and drops, and decay continues in storage after harvest.

Verticillium Wilt

Disease

Only one side of the lower leaves yellows and wilts, and the symptom moves up the plant. Stem vascular tissue turns pale brown and the plant dies without ever growing well.

Bacterial Spot

Disease

Small water-soaked spots appear on the leaves, later turning brown with yellowing around them. Fruit develops water-soaked or scabby spots from which rot spreads.

Leaf Spot

Disease

Small round brown to gray-white lesions appear on the lower leaves, the centers turning gray with tiny black specks. As they multiply the leaf yellows and drops early.

Ring Rot

Disease

The bark of branches and trunk becomes rough and warty, serving as the inoculum source. Fruit develops round brown lesions that soften and rot in concentric rings.

Necrotic MosaicNecrotic MottleZonate Necrotic SpotNecrotic Ring SpotNecrotic RingspotFalse Black MoldCalyx End RotMosaic DiseaseFruit RotFruit RotPlant-parasitic NematodesGray Leaf SpotWhite Leaf SpotSeptoria Leaf SpotFusarium Wilt and Damping-offBacterial DiseaseRugose Leaf MosaicBacterial Leaf BlightVein YellowingAscochyta BlightChlorotic NecrosisChlorotic MottleChlorosis DiseaseBlack MoldBlack BlightBlack Dot Root Rot

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