On Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:59:05 -0700, Billy
wrote:
Penelope Periwinkle wrote:
"OhioGuy" wrote:
I have 6 pepper plants growing outside my kitchen window, on the East side
of the house where they are sheltered from the hottest afternoon sun.

How many hours of sunlight are they getting? Since the house is
blocking the afternoon sun, I'm guessing that it's a heavy shade.
If that's true, they would need a bare minimum of 6 hours of
direct sun to produce worth a hoot. The fact that they're growing
tall makes me think not enough sunlight is the problem, as well.

If the plants look like buggy whips, I would agree, but if they are
filled out, four feet doesn't sound unreasonable. I'm on the north side
of a hill in a forested area and my jalapenos grow to three feet
with good production.

Different pepper varieties grow normally to different heights.
Length of season, available nutrients, etc can effect the height
of individual plants. Corno Di Toro plants easily hit 5 and 6
feet around here, and several of the C chinense varieties get to
5 feet if we have a warm fall.

Two feet is about normal for several of the varieties OhioGuy
mentioned, but he doesn't mention how bushy they are, or the size
of the stems. He also says that they are protected from the
afternoon sun. So, how much sunlight they're getting is the first
thing I want to know.

I've grown peppers in limited light situations, the house I used
to live in had an enormous pecan tree smack dab in the middle of
the yard, and the yards on either side had large trees, too. It's
doable, but they did take more tending and fussing to get good
production. If OhioGuy has a full sun location he can put the
plants in, I would heartily recommend he do so.


While temps above 100 F will cause plants to expend their energy
on pumping water for evaporative cooling, low temps would mean
not enough energy to set fruit.

Only, they're not really expending energy to transpire. The
evaporative process itself is what draws most of the water up. As
I understand it, and it has been more years than I care to admit
to since I took any ag courses, the transpiration and heat drives
other metabolic processes that normally shut down at night. I
want to say it has something to do with using sugars for growth
as fast as it's produced instead of storing it; but I could be
conflating peppers with potatoes.


Penelope

--
You have proven yourself to be the most malicious,
classless person that I've encountered in years.
- "pointed"