DIY Earth Box, Cubanelle Pepper having problems...

Ok, my soil SUCKS HERE, well, clay. So I followed a tutorial and made me a couple home made earth boxes. The habanero pepper loved it as soon as I put it in there. I have another box with a tomato plant and some cillantro, both loving it.... But this one cubanelle pepper plant is very weird... During the day it looks like its been over watered to hell, but night time comes and it perks right back up and looks somewhat normal... WTF is going on?

Day pic



Night Pic




This has been going on the past 4 days or so.

I would tend to think heat stress given that it wilts during the day and perks up at night. A lot of my veggies were doing the same thing, wilting/drooping during the day (to conserve water?), and then perking up when it cooled off a bit. I solved this with a shade cloth over the garden area, now the sunlight is filtered by 50% and the plants stay perky all day long.

That's my best guess, I'm by no means a master gardener or pepper expert, but it makes sense.

Edit to add:

As far as why only one plant is drooping...I don't know, maybe it's sensitive or hasn't established itself as solidly as the other plants.

socaljoe said:

As far as why only one plant is drooping...I don't know, maybe it's sensitive or hasn't established itself as solidly as the other plants.

Click to expand...

I'm thinking this is exactly what it is... This morning at about 10am it was high 70's, barely any sun (cloudy) and the plant was already starting to droop. My guess is just that the roots haven't taken off like the other plants and that I just need to give it time. There's no way in hell a pepper plant should be having heat stress when it hasn't even hit over 90 yet outside. The Habanero plant though, whew, that thing loves this DIY Earth Box. Growing as good as a habanero plant I did in a DWC bucket once.

wilting is a defense mechanism. it conserves moisture. plants dont have to transpire as much moisture when they wilt. they look ok though, right?

sudodaemon said:

I'm thinking this is exactly what it is... This morning at about 10am it was high 70's, barely any sun (cloudy) and the plant was already starting to droop. My guess is just that the roots haven't taken off like the other plants and that I just need to give it time. There's no way in hell a pepper plant should be having heat stress when it hasn't even hit over 90 yet outside. The Habanero plant though, whew, that thing loves this DIY Earth Box. Growing as good as a habanero plant I did in a DWC bucket once.

Click to expand...

Sounds exactly like what my squash plants were doing for about a week or so after transplanting. Once they settled in, they were fine and the growth just exploded.

Good luck with your pepper plants.

dannyboy602 said:

wilting is a defense mechanism. it conserves moisture. plants dont have to transpire as much moisture when they wilt. they look ok though, right?

Click to expand...

From the look of the soil. It looks like it needs more water. From my experience peppers use up a lot of water.

And its a cool planter you made. Earthbox must be a fancy name for "home made planter box" lol