Pitiful peppers

I'm growing lots of different peppers this year. They have been through the ringer this year. I started them at the normal time late January early February.  Our normal last frost date is around the end of January. This year we had frost in late March. I think I hardened them off 3 time before they could actually be planted.  Some look great. Some are sparse, but loaded with peppers. After being planted and finally getting warm weather for a couple of weeks some of the peppers still look kind of sad.  I decided to remove all the peppers. The soil is good, and compost and organic fertilizer were added before planting. I feel it's better for the plant put it's energy into growing strong and healthy at this time then producing peppers.
It's so hard to remove the baby peppers, it just feels wrong, that's what I'm growing them for after all. What do you think?  Time will tell. Happy gardening.

I remember those healthy pepper seedlings in one of your seed starting threads! Too bad the weather set them backwards. Since you have a long growing season, isn't there still plenty of time to direct seed now?

you and i seem to have very similar problems (albeit a half-year apart).
my peppers lagged like nuts, i finally put them in the ground, three cayenne peppers gave me one pepper like a charlie brown pepper tree.
but the white ghost pepper (not like a reaper, it's like a scotch bonnet but white, i suppose?) bided its time and now that we are almost into frost time is putting out flowers. looks fabulous, great foliage. When the real cold comes i'll put up barriers and try to protect it, because i haven't had such a fine looking pepper plant in a while...

I hear you on feeling bad about the baby peppers, but that's part of gardening, isn't it. I felt bad ripping out my long beans last week-- even though they were covered in aphids and powdery mildew and had probably the best run of beans I've ever had.....Maybe you could pickle them up, then at least they're used? my rabbits would be happy to eat them....

Thanks I'm pretty sure with proper care they will bounce back. I'm hoping removing all the peppers and flowers the plant will be healthier so it will produce in the future.  I hope.

Peppers definitely don’t like the cool weather.  Really sets them back. For aphids or powdery mildew make a calcium drench with hydrated lime and soft rock phosphate or milk, about 10% milk or 5% calcium/Phos to water.  Spray on the foliage when the sun is not directly on the leaves but it is warm, maybe 60 degrees or above.  Make sure your water is tepid, not cold.  In the mornings when dew is on the leaves is best time, as leaves are taking up nutrients then.   A foliar application is a quick fix to get the plant over a critical problems and can help boost it along.   Make sure leaves are saturated, even turning them to spray undersides if there is an insect problem.  

We sometimes use a mycorrhizal/wetting agent mix as a dip for plant roots before planting.  It makes roots grow 4 x larger and faster and gets them off to a great start, but I don’t always have it.  Good soil with plenty of humates (organic matter) and minerals/live microbes will often be enough.  

Can you use a dark mulch to help add heat to roots?  Or put plastic or glass cloches over them to at as a mini greenhouse?  Just until weather warms more or maybe just at night while cool.  Sun shining on that might overheat them during sunny days.

This week it's warmed up significantly. It's supposed to be 91 today.  This time next week back down to 75.  Strange weather 🌡️🌡️🌡️

I thought I posted pictures, it's a bummer I didn't because the difference is night and day.  One of my peppers that is supposed to be a jalapeno jalapeno  never got very big, but it filled out, and has produced a lot of peppers. What kind I do not know.  They are definitely not jalapenos. They are small slim and yellow. There's a little heat, but it's pretty mild.  We have been enjoying them what ever they are.  The other pepper I didn't even write down, so I don't know what it's supposed to be.  It just started producing, so maybe I will be able to figure it out. I'm thinking maybe a poblano.  Anyway it's the biggest pepper I have ever grown.
I hope I can finally finish my greenhouse so I can try to over winter my peppers. I tried last year, and not one survived.  Maybe this will be the year.

Jen Fulkerson wrote:I thought I posted pictures, it's a bummer I didn't because the difference is night and day.  One of my peppers that is supposed to be a jalapeno jalapeno  never got very big, but it filled out, and has produced a lot of peppers. What kind I do not know.  They are definitely not jalapenos.

Sounds like you are one of the many victims of 'Jalapeno-Gate' this year! Apparently a significant amount of all seed packets labeled jalapeno were incorrect this year and have a multitude of other pepper seeds inside!

Jalapeno-Gate

Read the above link for a kind of synopsis.

I've heard a lot about pepper-gate this year as well.  I started the season with about 20 pepper plants, and the only things to produce the way I expected were the banana peppers.  I have bell types with pointed ends like a poblano, & others that make little round ping pong ball fruits.  Not one has given me what I planted except for the banana peppers.  Another friend planted jalepenos & got serranos.  It seems there's a mix up from the source.