Why do pepper leaves fall and what to do?

In many summer cottages, various varieties of pepper are grown. You can often see that the leaves of this culture begin to fall off. Today we will talk about why this can happen, what to do about it.

Often the leaves on peppers begin to fall due to poor growing conditions.

• Insufficient lighting. It should be noted that lighting errors can appear not only when planting in open soil, but also when growing on a windowsill and in a greenhouse or greenhouse. Pepper is considered a very photophilous plant. He needs 12 hours of daylight. The best option would be a diffused type of lighting. If the vegetation experiences an acute shortage of light, then it will rapidly shed its leaves. It will also become very stretched, the trunks will be too fragile and thin. To protect the culture, you can use special fitolamps.

• Incorrect soil composition. Peppers should not be grown in normal soil. For these plants, you need to prepare a special substrate, which consists of calcined earth, clean sand and humus. In this case, the soil should have a neutral acidity. If it is too acidic, then dolomite flour can be added (about 200 grams of such a composition will fall per square meter of planting).

• Low temperature. Peppers are heat-loving plants, they are very difficult to tolerate drafts and cold. Daytime temperature should be 23-25 ​​degrees Celsius. At night, it can drop to 14 degrees. A cold snap can provoke a weakening of young plants, they will lose the ability to extract nutrients from the ground. If you are growing peppers in greenhouses or indoors on a windowsill, it is also important to ensure that the temperature inside is optimal.

• Wrong care. Improper care also leads to the fact that the culture begins to shed foliage.

• Irrigation errors. Pepper is a moisture-loving plant. However, it will also react negatively to excessive waterlogging. The leaves first wither, become too soft and then fall off. This culture has a not very deep, but at the same time branched root system, so the plants get moisture from the top layer of the soil. Peppers are recommended to be watered often and plentifully. Before watering, the liquid must be defended for two days. Water temperature for irrigation should be 20-22 degrees Celsius. In this case, moistening should be carried out after the top layer of the soil has dried to a depth of no more than 2 centimeters. The procedure is best performed in the early morning. Water should be poured only under the root. It should not fall on the foliage, otherwise burns will appear on it. If you are growing vegetation indoors in containers, then you should take care in advance that the containers have special drainage holes.

• lack of fertilizer. If the pepper does not receive enough nutrients, then its leaves will turn yellow and fall off. The plant very quickly sucks out the necessary elements from the soil, making it poor. It also leads to slower growth and development. If the leaves fall off at the top, then you need to make complex mineral dressings. They can be purchased ready-made from garden stores. If the lower part begins to fall off, then nitrogen must be added. To restore the nutritional value of the soil, various complex fertilizers are used, as well as urea and ammonium nitrate.

• Wrong pick. This procedure involves transplanting vegetation with pinching the root. The pick must be carried out as carefully and carefully as possible, otherwise the pepper will quickly begin to shed its leaves.

Pepper is often affected by harmful insects and a variety of diseases, which can also lead to leaf shedding. To begin with, consider what diseases can damage the culture.

• Phytophthora. In this case, young plants are primarily affected. First, dark and dense spots appear on the foliage, after which the foliage begins to gradually fall off. The causative agent of late blight is a harmful fungus. To cure the culture, it is recommended to immediately apply chemicals (“Barrier”, “Barrier”).

• Fusarium wilt. This disease is common among nightshades. It provokes rapid yellowing and leaf fall. The causative agent of the disease is a fungus. When infected, all affected parts are immediately carefully removed and burned. Then the plants are treated with a solution of “Fundazol”.

• Septoria. When pepper is affected by this fungal disease, white spots appear with a brown outline. The development of septoria begins from the bottom of the plant, first it damages the old vegetation, and then goes on to the young green parts. Over time, the spots become more and more, the leaves begin to gradually fall off.

• Alternaria. The disease is otherwise called “dry spotting”. First of all, it damages the leaves and stems. Alternariosis also begins to affect the culture from the bottom, gradually moving up. Brown spots can be found on the leaf blades. Over time, they will begin to increase in size and merge with each other, then the leaves will fall off.

• Cladosporiosis. The disease has a second name brown spotting. Its causative agent is a fungus. When infected, spots of light green color appear on the inside of the foliage. Darker spots can be seen on the outer part. Then the leaves will wither, dry up and fall off. The disease is transmitted through contaminated soil. At the first signs of cladosporiosis, it is necessary to spray diseased plants with copper chloride or another agent that contains copper.

Also, peppers can be severely affected by various insects.

• Aphid. It lives on all above-ground parts of the culture. Over time, the leaves become pale yellow and begin to simply fly off the stem. To get rid of aphids, you can spray the vegetation with a tincture of tobacco dust (500 grams of the substance per 10 liters of liquid), the composition is infused for a day. Additionally, you can add a little laundry soap there.

• Spider mite. This pest is a small sucking insect that lives on the underside of leaves. Damaged parts quickly curl and fall off. To combat the spider mite, the chemicals “Fitoverm” and “Akarin” can come up.

• Thrips. Most often they settle on sweet bell pepper. They affect the lower parts first. Leaf plates gradually begin to lose their rich color, then the stems are damaged, flowers and ovaries are deformed. In the final stages, the leaves fall off. To avoid the appearance of thrips, you should periodically loosen the earth around the plantings, remove all weeds.

Leaves on peppers can fall off for other reasons.

When young vegetation is placed indoors, it is practically not affected by drafts, temperature changes and rain. In order for seedlings to take root in open ground, it is necessary to periodically harden it.

The following factors can lead to leaf fall:

• the use of cold water for irrigation;
• nutrient deficiency;
• unfavorable weather conditions for culture;
• state of stress after transplantation to another place;
• transplanting too early to a permanent place in the soil;
• direct sunlight;
• the development of diseases and the appearance of pests that are characteristic of open ground.

In greenhouses and greenhouses, a special microclimate is created in which diseases and harmful organisms develop easily and quickly. In addition, the limited space and insufficient ventilation will also affect the state of the culture. Various reasons can lead to the fall of leaf plates in greenhouse and greenhouse structures:

• swampiness of the earth;
• the development of fungal diseases;
• density of landings;
• drafts.

To avoid damage to peppers, it is worth remembering some important preventive measures.

• In the process of planting young seedlings, their root system should be straightened as carefully as possible so as not to damage.
• For planting, it is recommended to select only those areas that are well ventilated and adequately lit.
• When planting, you must follow all the rules of crop rotation. It is impossible to plant this crop in the same place on the site for 3-4 years. Also, do not plant pepper after other nightshade representatives.
• Nutrients need to be applied regularly.
• Plants should be watered only with warm water or water of medium temperature.

Many experienced gardeners recommend disinfecting the soil immediately before planting young seedlings. To do this, you can use various biological means (“Baikal”). Do not allow plantings to be thickened, otherwise the vegetation simply does not have enough nutrients from the soil.

For planting, it is necessary to select only high-quality seed material in proven agricultural stores. Before use, it must be treated with fungicides. It is better to immediately select varieties that have good resistance to diseases and pests. If you use containers for planting seeds repeatedly, then before each such use they must be thoroughly washed with a solution of potassium permanganate or alcohol.

Seedlings should not be adversely affected by drafts, they should only be planted in places where they will be completely protected from. When planting, it is necessary to ensure good drainage and proper timely watering of the soil.

After each watering, the ground around the bushes should be well loosened. It is also necessary to remove all harmful weeds from the site in a timely manner. If you grow a crop in a greenhouse or in a greenhouse, then regularly such structures should be opened and ventilated.