"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...

"higgledy" wrote in message
oups.com...
Since last Friday the weather has become extremely humid (Humidity 89%,
Dew Point 73%, Temps in the low 90's) I wonder if this is the cause of
the brown spots and bloom loss?


Not sure, but aren't peppers on the list of plants you shouldn't handle a
lot when the leaves are wet, due to the risk of spreading disease? If so,
don't weed around them etc etc....

One of the things that I've always liked about peppers is their freedom from
fungal diseases. Bugs will bite holes in the leaves and fruit - miserable
grasshoppers, but I've never had problems spreading diseases when picking
them when they were damp. But then, I've never encountered a fungal disease
in peppers in all my many years of gardening.

I've raised many varieties of peppers over the years and found that the
"hot" varieties were easier to raise than the sweet bells. Most of the hot
varieties start setting fruit on much smaller plants and produce far more
fruit. Bells often abort small fruit from small plants or produce blossoms
that fell off without setting. I've found that this is also the case when a
sweet bell on a good sized plant set a number of peppers. At a certain point
they reach their limit and drop any new fruit that happens to set. If you
want to keep a sweet bell producing, pick the fruit as soon as they reach
usable size. If you happen to like ripe bells, be prepared for about a third
of the production. That's probably why they're far more expensive in produce
section than green bells.

JPS