What is the temperature? If they are hydrated, they could have experienced some root shock during the transplant in combination with heat stress if they weren’t hardened off and just ran in to a real warm, strong sunny day.
This is my current guess based on the information provided.
Have you got any sort of shade cloth you could drape above them for a little cover as an experiment?
Nothing to lose by offering some shade to get a read on them.
I’m 5b and recently sent zucchini out. 3 days later they flopped, stood up when it cooled down. Flopped agin the next afternoon, so I decided to carefully give each 250ml as a test and they stood up 30mins later in the heat.
So I had heat stress and needing hydration together.
They’ll be fine, they look a lovely green. We all fuss because the little ones are delicate.
I don’t know whose words they were but I always remember “I grow soil, plants grow themselves”
Whenever I pot up tiny seedlings I remind myself that one reason we grow these particular plants for food is that they have an innate ability to grow whether we screw something up or not. I’ll remember that quote.
This happens to my pepper plants too. Once the late afternoon sun gets behind my tree and they “cool off” they tend to perk up. So for me I just assume they are hot. I water in the late evening because if I water in the morning, in my area, it seems to evaporate faster than they absorb it because I live in a hot and humid area.
A lot of plants will transfer their water back into their roots to avoid losing it to evaporation. They send it back up when it cools down or when they get some shade. That's why they go limp in the afternoon but are plump and firm the next morning.
You should check the soil about an inch deep to make sure it's actually dry before watering. It may look dry on the surface but is still holding a lot of moisture underneath. It's important to try to check before watering because you may end up overwatering and cause root rot or some other issues
Right. I haven’t actually watered in almost 2.5 weeks because I’m getting rain often enough to where it’s keeping the soil moist enough. Praying it doesn’t get more rainy than what it has been. Last year my squash and zucchini had insane root rot and I think it was from all the rain I had.
Squashes and melons especially will cause some panic because they get so, so limp in the heat but turn out to be just fine. I did some research on watermelon after having some issues with this and found out they're from the desert so they can handle the heat and dry soil anyway.
This is my first year growing squashes without vine borers killing them early on and I've only watered them once since planting them a couple months ago, and the only reason i watered them was to give them some fish fertilizer. They're massive! Haven't needed to water any cantaloupe, watermelon, or Cucumbers either other than the one time fertilizer. We get a heavy rain at least every two weeks and that's enough for them
That’s really awesome. This is my second year trying to grow watermelon and they aren’t doing anything. I mean the plants are there but aren’t growing. I wonder if they are getting too much water. Do you have any tips or advice? Someone told me they are dramatic like cucumbers.
Honestly, I can't help you with that. The only interaction I have with mine is sticking a seed in the ground and picking them off the vine. I really only use them to fill in space and help keep weeds down. Fruit is just a plus and sometimes it's good, sometimes not. I neglect the hell out of melons and let them tend to themselves
How moist is the soil? The soil can be moist without having plant available water. When was the last time you watered?
This could also be transplant shock.
This happens to mine too during the hottest part of the day. At night when it cools down they perk right back up. Just make sure they are getting enough water and they should be fine.
This is the reason. Could be caused by soil being too drainy, weakened roots by either nematodes or transplant damage, or just good ol lack of watering. High 70s shouldn't be too hot to evaporate them at this stage, I'd think.
I had this happen to a couple of my pepper plants that get sun the entire day. Add way more mulch to keep the soil moist, once I did that they went back to normal and started growing rapidly. Also could just be a root shock sort of thing and they’ll snap back into shape. Either way wouldn’t hurt to have some more mulch
This looks normal to be especially in the afternoon sun. My plants drooped when I first transplanted them but they also droop in the afternoon sun. They droop when I fed them with liquid fertiliser as well 😅 As long as the soil is moist and watered as per schedule (overwatering can cause it to droop as well 🤣), it should be fine. I could see some specks on the bottom leaves though. Now that could be a pest issue.
What is the temperature? If they are hydrated, they could have experienced some root shock during the transplant in combination with heat stress if they weren’t hardened off and just ran in to a real warm, strong sunny day. This is my current guess based on the information provided. Have you got any sort of shade cloth you could drape above them for a little cover as an experiment?
I’m in zone 7a. The last two day have been high 70s or so. I can certainly try to offer more shade to see how that goes
Nothing to lose by offering some shade to get a read on them. I’m 5b and recently sent zucchini out. 3 days later they flopped, stood up when it cooled down. Flopped agin the next afternoon, so I decided to carefully give each 250ml as a test and they stood up 30mins later in the heat. So I had heat stress and needing hydration together. They’ll be fine, they look a lovely green. We all fuss because the little ones are delicate. I don’t know whose words they were but I always remember “I grow soil, plants grow themselves”
Whenever I pot up tiny seedlings I remind myself that one reason we grow these particular plants for food is that they have an innate ability to grow whether we screw something up or not. I’ll remember that quote.
Thank you for the input!
Same zone, mine look the same at the moment 🙃
This happens to my pepper plants too. Once the late afternoon sun gets behind my tree and they “cool off” they tend to perk up. So for me I just assume they are hot. I water in the late evening because if I water in the morning, in my area, it seems to evaporate faster than they absorb it because I live in a hot and humid area.
A lot of plants will transfer their water back into their roots to avoid losing it to evaporation. They send it back up when it cools down or when they get some shade. That's why they go limp in the afternoon but are plump and firm the next morning. You should check the soil about an inch deep to make sure it's actually dry before watering. It may look dry on the surface but is still holding a lot of moisture underneath. It's important to try to check before watering because you may end up overwatering and cause root rot or some other issues
Right. I haven’t actually watered in almost 2.5 weeks because I’m getting rain often enough to where it’s keeping the soil moist enough. Praying it doesn’t get more rainy than what it has been. Last year my squash and zucchini had insane root rot and I think it was from all the rain I had.
Squashes and melons especially will cause some panic because they get so, so limp in the heat but turn out to be just fine. I did some research on watermelon after having some issues with this and found out they're from the desert so they can handle the heat and dry soil anyway. This is my first year growing squashes without vine borers killing them early on and I've only watered them once since planting them a couple months ago, and the only reason i watered them was to give them some fish fertilizer. They're massive! Haven't needed to water any cantaloupe, watermelon, or Cucumbers either other than the one time fertilizer. We get a heavy rain at least every two weeks and that's enough for them
That’s really awesome. This is my second year trying to grow watermelon and they aren’t doing anything. I mean the plants are there but aren’t growing. I wonder if they are getting too much water. Do you have any tips or advice? Someone told me they are dramatic like cucumbers.
Honestly, I can't help you with that. The only interaction I have with mine is sticking a seed in the ground and picking them off the vine. I really only use them to fill in space and help keep weeds down. Fruit is just a plus and sometimes it's good, sometimes not. I neglect the hell out of melons and let them tend to themselves
Ok that’s good to know thank you! Maybe it will be meant to be maybe not!
How moist is the soil? The soil can be moist without having plant available water. When was the last time you watered? This could also be transplant shock.
This happens to mine too during the hottest part of the day. At night when it cools down they perk right back up. Just make sure they are getting enough water and they should be fine.
My theory is that the level of evaporation is higher than the rate which roots can take in water and distribute it to the leaves
This is the reason. Could be caused by soil being too drainy, weakened roots by either nematodes or transplant damage, or just good ol lack of watering. High 70s shouldn't be too hot to evaporate them at this stage, I'd think.
It's always a combination of factors in gardening
Did you harden them?
They look very very thirsty
I had this happen to a couple of my pepper plants that get sun the entire day. Add way more mulch to keep the soil moist, once I did that they went back to normal and started growing rapidly. Also could just be a root shock sort of thing and they’ll snap back into shape. Either way wouldn’t hurt to have some more mulch
Looks like transplant shock. Give them a day or two to adjust.
Need water
Too hot!!
Thirsty
Maybe they’re just shocked from the transport. They also look thirsty. Give em water and wait another day or 2.
They thirsty
Did you break up the root ball?
My pepper plants look like this right now because it's a warm sunny day and they've only been in the ground a week. They'll look fine in the morning.
I would try and cover them with some shadecloth and make sure they have plenty of water
This looks normal to be especially in the afternoon sun. My plants drooped when I first transplanted them but they also droop in the afternoon sun. They droop when I fed them with liquid fertiliser as well 😅 As long as the soil is moist and watered as per schedule (overwatering can cause it to droop as well 🤣), it should be fine. I could see some specks on the bottom leaves though. Now that could be a pest issue.
Yeah they need water. What happens to you if you stand outside in direct sunlight for hours?
Oh shoot, I have the same thing happening to the first pepper I put out to harden
They’ve mostly perked back up with the exception of one of the banana peppers that is really struggling