Bell Pepper Blight?

[Strawberrygirl]

I have two pepper plants that have loads of fruit on them but i have noticed that the stems are turning black in places and wonder if this is pepper blight?  The fruit look ok, although some are have dark patches on them but i think this is them starting to change colour (only have 1 red fruit so far).  The leaves all look ok but a wee bit concerned about the stems, particularly where the fruit stem meets the main stem.  I know they can get blight but i'll be well peeeed off if i lose these, already lost my tomatoes to it!  Thanks all.

[Strawberrygirl]

[ed dibbles]

From my experience blight begins on the leaves first only later affecting the stems.

Not certain what the blackening stems signify but since they are full of fruit it sounds like you are going to get a reasonable crop regardless. :)

[Tee Gee]

Try easing off on the watering!

I find that high humidity at this time fetches out all sort of problems!

Keep a close eye on the fruit particulary the ones where you see stem damage, look at both the tip and the calyx this is where the botrytis tends to start.

If it does, remove the fruit cut off the diseased part and eat the rest, as they wont store!

When watering only add the water around the roots not all over the bed and this will help to reduce the humidity!

The black patches (mottling) is part of the ripening process from green to the final colour.

Best of luck!

[Strawberrygirl]

Thank you both for your advice.  There is definately no leaf damage and the fruit look healthy (at the moment) but i'll keep a close eye on them.    Many thanks  :)

[chriscross1966]

Some peppers go black halfway through ripening... the most frequent types are the ones that start green and go red, the process is the smae as for the black tomatoes, basically the red lycopenes turn up before the green chlorophyll has faded, leading to a brownish-purple black colour... the ones where the chlorophyll goes before the lycopenes  arrive go yellowish in between...