Peppers and Chilies Not Growing Well: Causes & How to Fix It

Check these first

• Are the stems stretched with long gaps between leaves? That is a lack of light.
• Are new leaves curled, twisted, or unusually small? Think virus or sap-sucking pests.
• Are the leaves dark and lush but there are no flowers or fruit? That is too much nitrogen.

Most likely causes

From the pests and diseases recorded for this plant, the ones whose symptoms match, most serious first. Symptoms alone rarely confirm a cause, so use the linked page to check the signs and treatment.

Other possible causes

• Tomato Spotted Wilt — Brown necrotic spots and ring patterns appear on the leaves and the growing tips shrivel a…
• Pepper Mild Mottle Virus — Leaves become faintly variegated and mottled and crinkle slightly. Fruit stays small, is b…
• Potato Virus Y — Mosaic, crinkling and vein necrosis appear on the leaves and the lower leaves die back. Th…
• Root Rot — Fine roots rot brown to blackish brown, growth stops and the lower leaves yellow. The plan…

Other symptoms on this plant

What other growers did about it

A page like this one can tell you what peppers and chilies not growing well is and what to try. What it cannot tell you is what actually happened to someone who had it on the same plant, at the same point in the season, and what they did next.

Gadenin is a free garden journal built around that. You photograph the plant, tag what you are seeing, and the entries line up by date for each plant you grow.

• Tag the problem and the app tells you how many other growers have logged the same thing on the same plant.
• Growers who make their records public can be followed, so you can read what they did and how it turned out.
• Next season your own entries come back at the same point in the year, so you check the plant before it starts.

Written byYasuGrowing vegetables and fruit in Chiba, Japan, and building Gadenin. Corrections are welcome. 15 years of growing.