My cayenne peppers have been looking good and producing nicely - however they're not turning red but rather appears that some are beginning to rot - they're turning black in areas and fold really easily where the black streak would be. I went ahead and picked a handful of the ones that are doing so, mostly to allow the plant to focus on maturing the rest, hopefully. Haven't had a single one ripen as they're supposed to yet.
Looks like blossom end rot. Found this on the interweb: Control of blossom end rot is dependent upon maintaining adequate supplies of moisture and calcium to the developing fruits. Tomatoes should not be excessively hardened nor too succulent when set in the field. They should be planted in welldrained, adequately aerated soils. Tomatoes planted early in cold soil are likely to develop blossom end rot on the first fruits, with the severity of the disease often subsiding on fruits set later. Thus, planting tomatoes in warmer soils helps to alleviate the problem. Irrigation must be sufficient to maintain a steady even growth rate of the plants. Mulching of the soil is often helpful in maintaining adequate supplies of soil water in times of moisture stress. When cultivation is necessary, it should not be too near the plants nor too deep, so that valuable feeder roots remain uninjured and viable. In home gardens, shading the plants is often helpful when hot, dry winds are blowing, and soil moisture is low. Use of fertilizer low in nitrogen, but high in superphosphate, such as 4-12-4 or 5-20-5, will do much to alleviate the problem of blossom end rot. In emergency situations, foliage can be sprayed with calcium chloride solutions. However, extreme caution must be exercised since calcium chloride can be phytotoxic if applied too frequently or in excessive amounts. Foliar treatment is not a substitute for proper treatment of the soil to maintain adequate supplies of water and calcium.
Appreciate that man! Never had a vegetable garden or even heard of blossom end rot before. I was googling for a while but didn't have any luck with finding anything. The soil is decently amended with organic nutrients and compost. Sounds like it should just be a moisture issue as we haven't had much rain. Problem is, I don't have an outdoor hookup for a hose, and the chlorine in the tap water would kill the microbial life anyway. I'll lay some water out and let all of that evaporate and give 'em a good dousing of water tomorrow.
definintely some kind of rot or mold. might also be a ph problem with the soil. to get the cayenne to focus on ripening the fruit it is currently bearing, pinch off any new growth that comes off of a branch that is already bearing a fruit, and pinch off any new growth that is taller than the rest of the canopy. Cayenne's will also turn red after being picked. depending on what you are using them for, you could pick them and hang them on a ristra (google) to allow them to dry and ripen at the same time. I used this method last year. As soon as a pepper gets a hint of color change, I picked it (leaving a bit of stem left), then strung a thread through the stems to make a ristra and hung them out to dry on my front porch. Once they turned red and dried I diced the peppers up into small pieces and placed them in brown paper bags on a windowsill to fully dry. Once fully dry and crispy you can grind/mash them however you want, and you are left with home-made crushed red pepper spice, perfect for pizza or really any occasion.