Do you see brown spots, on your bell peppers? You might be asking yourself, is this bad and will it make the fruit unsafe to eat?
As I have peppers that are experiencing a similar brown spotting issue, I decided to investigate.
Here is what I have found:
Generally speaking, brown spots on bell peppers are typically rot. There are a variety of rots that can infect your plant. Some rots are caused by funguses and others are environmental.
In this post, I will discuss each potential cause and how to address the issue. Let’s get started!
What Causes Brown Spots on Bell Peppers?
Bell peppers belong to the perennial plant family of nightshade or Solanaceae.
A native plant of Central America and Mexico, there are over 30 species of these edible fruits.
The fruits themselves do get sick. If it is environmental-based, cut out the diseased part and eat the affected fruit. If it is disease or fungus-based, it is better to throw away the whole plant.
We will discuss each condition and symptoms, and I will provide a few basic tips on treatments on how to recognize and deal with infections and keep the infections from continuing.
Anthracnose
Anthracnose, or black spot disease, is caused by the fungus Colletotrichum.
It starts with the appearance of sunken brown spots on the pepper. The fungus will spread quickly to other areas of the fruit.
Once the spots get large enough, you will begin to see pink spores forming in them. Spores are easily moved to other pepper plants by wind and rain.
The spores hide in the soil to survive the winter. They are also tough enough to survive in compost, making them nearly impossible to eliminate.
The only way you can remove anthracnose from your plant is to pull out the diseased and infected plant and fruit.
Make sure you destroy it thoroughly and take it to the dump.
Be careful: Don’t even bother with composting it. The fungus can survive for as long as a year or more in the compost pile.
Blossom End Rot
Blossom end rot is caused by environmental problems, not fungal or bacterial problems.
It is almost always a result of calcium deficiency in the fruit. Blossom end rot is a pretty common disease and is commonly called BER by vegetable growers.
One source of calcium deficiency is too much fertilizer provided to the plant too quickly.
Some other causes of blossom end rot are uneven watering because too little or too much water can play a huge role in how the plant absorbs calcium.
Blossom end rot usually occurs when the plant is left in wet, overwatered soil. These factors together can limit the amount of calcium the fruit is getting.
After this, the fruit develops dark color, leathery spots on the bottom end. They usually start out tan then become darker over time.
The tan, leathery spots may also become sunk in, or with a sunk-in brownish leathery color.
Sometimes blossom end rot gets secondary pathogens that attack the fruit too. An example is a secondary pathogen will develop a brown, fuzzy-like growth which rots the entire fruit.
The good news is blossom end rot does not spread, so the rest of your bell pepper plants are safe.
Here are some things to keep in mind when treating blossom end rot:
- Provide your plants with a consistent watering schedule of two to four inches per week.
- Drench your plants at the base (near the roots) with calcium or kelp solution.
- At planting, amend the soil with calcium sources such as gypsum and oyster shells.
- Put mulch on top of soil to hold on to moisture.
- Choose organic sources of fertilizer, rather than considering input with a high nitrogen compound.
- Also avoid any materials with magnesium as it takes away from calcium uptake.
Sunscald
From the name, you can deduce that sunscald is the condition where the fruit gets a sunburn.
Sunscald is a result of exposure to extreme sunlight. The disease normally effects the more juvenile or more tender portions of the plant.
Unlike blossom-end rot which affects the bottom or lower parts of the pepper, sunscald effects the sides of the fruit.
Unfortunately, you can’t really decrease the amount of sunlight your plant receives.
What can you do to help alleviate this issue? Use row covers to protect the exposed fruit; they will protect them from the intensity of sunlight in the hotter months!
Wet Rot
Wet rot is another disease that’s the result of a fungus and occurs in wet or humid places.
The fungus, Choanephora cucurbitarum, infects fruit that have been injured during transportation or infected by an insect.
If wet rot infects a bell pepper, you will see some black and dark grey spots developing out the sides. You may also see silky, hairy growths on the tissues of the bell pepper’s fruit.
Eventually the fruit itself blackens all over and starts to rot. The fruit will also show wilting even if the conditions would normally be optimal.
It can also affect young fruits, generally on the blossom’s tip.
Bell pepper fruit is most susceptible to wet rot disease in early fall through late spring when moisture can be plentiful, especially in tropical areas.
Once the bell pepper plant becomes contaminated with Chaonephora cucurbitarum, there is no way to treat it; you will need to destroy the plant!
So your best option is to prevent healthy plants from becoming infected.
Check out these preventative steps to keep your bell pepper disease free:
- Maximise soil draining.
- Best to keep the leaves dry.
- Limit nutrient usage.
- Regularly keep weeds from both in-between plants and around the field.
The Takeaway
Growing bell peppers in the garden is a great way to get many nutrients and vitamins into your meals.
They are also one of the less fussy plants and can grow year-round if you give them the proper care.
However, bell peppers can suffer from several debilitating diseases.
By now, I think you have a handle on why your bell peppers have brown spots on them. You know what they signify and how you can prevent them.
Do remember to check the location of the brown spots on your fruit as this should give you an accurate enough description as to the disease causing the issue.
Once you understand the disease involved, now we can begin to eliminate the issue from your garden once and for all!