I’ve not had a good start this year with my pepper plants. Now they seem to be suffering from sunscald. If you don’t know sunscald is basically just another term for sunburn on your plants.
I started my pepper plants from seeds 2-3 months ago. But I don’t remember exactly when because I had to start over a few times. I have a cat that seem to enjoy digging up my pepper sprouts and playing with them. So I’ve had a particularly difficult time getting started this year and I felt like I was falling behind.
I Rushed To Plant Outside
That cat is one reason why I rushed to get my plants outside. But by doing that I did not give them the time they needed to get used to the sun.
The other reason was because I got an aphid infestation inside last fall when I attempted to over winter a pepper plant I liked. So my thinking was I did not want to mix the indoor and outdoor plants anymore.
Hardening Off To Stop Sunscald
Grow lights are no were near as strong as the sun and most house windows have UV ray protection. So plants on the inside get a lot less exposure to UV light.
What your suppose to do when moving a indoor plant to the outdoors is to slowly increase the amount of direct sunlight it gets. Then they can adapt to the sun. Kind of like getting a tan for people I guess.
But I opted for just sitting them in front of a window. It was not enough.
I Did Not See Sunscald Last Year
Last year I don’t remember seeing any sunscald. But I took my plants out and set them on the porch a little bit each day. I also don’t remember having any indoor aphid issues in the spring. So maybe I worried about aphids for nothing.
Lesson Learned
I’ve learned my lesson and I hope my plants don’t die. I read somewhere that when this happens make sure to give them a good amount of water and they will grow back. So I’ve been trying that.
I guess time will tell.
Update: 7/24/2023
Most of my plants ended up recovering but they are all kind of on the small side. I guess their growth was stunted. But it looks like I’m going to get a few peppers at least and some seeds for next year!
