9 Pepper Growing Mistakes to Avoid This Season - How to grow peppers - Pepper Geek
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 พ.ค. 2024
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In this video, I will go through 9 common pepper growing mistakes to avoid. From overwatering to allowing leaves to lay in the soil, I wanted to share some of the issues we have learned to avoid over years of growing peppers.
While there are many other things that could go wrong, this video covers the basics that many first time growers will encounter when growing chiles. If you have any additional questions about your pepper plants, feel free to leave a comment!
Check out our eBook, Growing Perfect Peppers:
peppergeek.com/ebook
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When to plant peppers (video):
• When To Plant Pepper S...
Fertilizing peppers (article):
peppergeek.com/fertilizer-for...
Recommended growing supplies:
amazon.com/shop/peppergeek
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Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
0:40 - Planting on time
1:43 - Moving outdoors
4:07 - Planting location
5:08 - Overwatering
6:36 - Container size
7:41 - Checking for pests
8:32 - Improper fertilizing
9:10 - Bottom pruning
10:02 - Harvesting on time
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Thanks for watching Pepper Geek!
#growing #peppers #mistakes #gardening #tips #chilis - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
kudos for naming your hardiness zone. It's easily the single most important piece of info when one is looking for ideas, advice, tips, and tricks.
Another reason to pick your fruit before they over-ripen is because they send a signal to the plant that the growing season is complete and the plant can then begin to shut fruit production down. If you pick the fruit right before they are fully ripe, they won't get that signal and they keep on producing.
Whoa!? That’s good to know
Thank you
@@alixconte4433 just a heads up, that's true for most edibles. A plants purpose is to reproduce so if you don't pick them they think they've set seeds, done their job and shut down.
is that a good or a bad idea getting the pepper before ripen?
@@NERO-ez1mn It's a good idea. You harvest more fruit that way. It doesn't need to ripen "on the vine" to finish ripening.
I’m an experienced pepper grower. Just wanted to say great video! You hit the nail on the head!
Thanks, appreciate that!
I successfully overwintered 1 Jalapeno and 1 Cayenne plant this past winter. They are both outside currently on their second year and producing quite nicely. :) All of your tips have been wonderful help in my journey to grow peppers.
That is awesome! Glad we’ve been helpful
I live in Ontario Canada, this is my 3rd year growing peppers. I have the first plant i grew 3 years ago in my front window, it has been producing fruit for the last month.Picking my first ripe red pepper for supper tonight.
Hello fellow Ontarian! I’m growing peppers for the first time this year!
@@redinthethevalley me too !
do you guys know if i can pick my apache peppers when theyre green ? or should i wait until they red ?
thank you! As a beginner gardener, trying my hand at pepper plants and very challenging to grow!
I start my chills at Christmas here in the UK as we have a sort growing season
Interesting...we'll have to try that with a plant next year to see how big we can grow one of the massive chinense varieties. If we had more space to continue up-potting, we would start earlier too!
Same here,on Christmas day! 😀
In a hot climate it's important to plant peppers in a location where they get some shade part of the day. This is especially important for dark leaf varieties and large leaf varieties like ghost peppers. Six hours of direct sun is plenty for most varieties, especially if temps are going to be going up into the high 90s daily.
In Texas "as much sun as possible" is a death sentence for peppers. Intermittently shaded areas, meaning areas that get shaded at some time during the day, (about 20% of the day) seems to work best here in zones 8 and 9.
Thank you for the great concise info! Much appreciated.
I don't know if anyone mentioned it, but watering on top of your plants really doesn't get affected by the sun. From what I understand, the water will evaporate before the leaves 'cook'. It's more about mildew, mold, and pests. Kind of like what you had mentioned in your bottom pruning section.
Thx kindly. New grower here. Pretty excited too, haha
Glad to hear it!
Great information, thank you!
If shade is thrown on your garden, nevermind the haters
Very good information. Thank you for sharing.
Very good info thank you sir!
Great video man, lots of good info for newbies like myself. Have a dozen seedlings from seed and doing well. Will take your info on board.
Wow! That was so helpful! Thank you.
Great video. Thanks for the info.
Great tips! I've been growing chillies for probably ten years and am always trying to up my game. I just found your channel and have been impressed by your content. I'm growing many new varieties this year and need all the help I can get.
Hi. 1st time grower. Have a apt balcony with only afternoon sun, and am growing ghost and fish peppers. Probably making every mistake in the book, but I'm hooked!!! Hopefully I'll improve next yr
That is part of the fun! Try new things every year, make new mistakes and correct the old ones
I really wish there were more gardening shows oriented towards hot places like Central Texas. e: lol "hard cold spell in June or July" I wish
I'm in coastal SC. 30% shade cloth has been my savior
I'm in central Texas and it's hot most the time so I'd guess it's pretty easy
If you’re into peppers you tuber khang starr is in that region. Great for learning how to grow in really hot climates
I'm in zone 10, I can relate. Really though it rarely freezes here so it's kinda a free for all in hot climates. I still have okra going crazy and it's early October.
I'm in central Texas and I just grow hydroponically since Temps variate so much.
If you ever do a masterclass, I’d be the first to sign up!
Good recommendations with a great deal of details. Thanks
I grew peppers last year for the first time. 17 varieties and 100 total plants. I gave away almost another hundred as it felt like every seed germinated. Now I’m totally hooked.......I plan to have around 300 plants this year and currently have 95 varieties of seedlings started.
Impressive! You'll be busy in the garden this season for sure.
@@PepperGeek I found it very relaxing and a great pastime last year. I grow all my peppers in pots and have built 8 raised beds 4’x8’ in which I grow vegetables. I’m just wishing I’d have started this hobby years ago. All the best with your ‘21 pepper harvest and keep up the great content.
Great advice. Thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks loved the video. Starting peppers my first time and I started them indoors it's been fun :)
Fantastic 👍. Thanks for sharing. Robbo
I live in new England and your guys channel has come in clutch more times than i can count with my peppers
Awesome tips. You never cease to amaze me. Just clipped all the lower leaves on the bell and habenero peppers that overwintered. Thx a lot!
So many helpful tips and trix. Earned my sub! Growing peppers for the first time this season and so far has been an amazingly fun journey.
So glad to hear it! Growing peppers is one of the most rewarding and exciting hobbies :)
Loved your videos..one of the best pepper growing tips among all the channels I follow.. Please make a video on Overwintering the established pepper plants. we have winter coming here in southern hemisphere now..
Thanx man peppers did amazing this season
Thank you for the C° conversions
Thanks for the great tips! My first peppers, Jewel Tones, grew fabulous from seeds. I’m struggling with all the others as we get our urban homestead going.
Thanks for sharing ! 🌹
This is my third year growing veggies and peppers and I’m glad I found your channel. The quality of your videos make me surprised you don’t have a few 100k followers. Love your videos 👍
Hot Topic ..... thanks for great advice.
Good point about the grow light
I wish I could subscribe more than once, love this guy. he's going to make this year's hot peppers a success!
Terrific video. Thanks for the direct-to-the-point presentation.
Just sowed my pepper seeds (indoors) last night.
I don't set out peppers in our hoop house until Memorial Day, zone 5b.
Last year was the first time growing hot peppers: cayenne. They got 5+ feet tall., with amazing production. Sold them to a local chef, so we're planting more this year as a trial. I hate to give up the hoop house space for my beloved sweet peppers, but maybe I need to, with hot pepper long growing season.
New sub. Fine information.
Thanks for sharing I tired peppers lady year and failed miserably lol the grass hoppers were my problem though
All great tips! I have had the most success with banana and jalapenos so far. Going to give the bell peppers another whirl this spring and pay closer attention. I have had a lot of issues with blossom end rot taking out most of them so hopefully all the tips I have learned will give me better success this time
I am a 2nd season grower, and last season being my first, I made so many of the mistakes you mentioned including starting very late. I live in Georgia in the U.S. and didnt even get started with germination until June, and made many mistakes that killed off like 98% of my plants, and had to keep starting over until I began to get things correct in july, and because of this, only about 20 out of around 60 plants even produced anything before the freeze hit and killed them all off, and the majority of the rrest began flowering but died before any peppers could form.
This time around, I got started with germination back in November, and since I already had very good indoor grow equipment, I as able to get about 50 plants germinated and growing successfully and now almost half of my plants are outdoors, but I use a grow area that has shade cloth spread over it to where the plants get direct sun early in the morning, but by around 3pm when the temp is at it's max here, the cloth provides 50% shade so they arent hit too much. It worked great last season so Im gonna do it like that again this season
Lol they're sprouting now in late August over here 🌱🤏
No indoor growing equipment 😱 🤷 damn
I'm gonna be getting greenhouse set up soon . Great video! I'm moving to Upstate NY.
I saw multiple videos of yours that have been very helpful and I also wanted to say that you're very professional in what you do!
I'm glad your videos reached me in Switzerland and your work is helping me with my first time growing chilli peppers!
Thank you for what you do,
I wish you a big and spicy harvest 🔥
That is great, we’re so glad you found us. It has been amazing seeing the variety of countries from which pepper growers are tuning in, and I think this is a first comment from Switzerland. Good luck with your plants this year too!
I’m watching your videos from Romania! Thank you very much for your excelent tips!
Awesome! Glad you enjoy, cheers
Hey Cal, love your videos. So super helpful. Uncle Dan and I are planting a lot of peppers this year but no hots except for jalapeños. Will keep you posted. Your tips are awesome! Miss you! Shelley
Hey! That sounds great, would love to stop by and check out the garden this year at some point. Miss you guys too :)
Thanks. I just planted 4 types of pepper seeds yesterday. My first time & I'm a gardening newbie
I like what you say about removing lower leaves/branches. I completely agree!
It’s so hard to figure out what to do without trial and error. Some people say the bottom leaves, some people say top the peppers and others say both. 🤔
@@DragonflySailsHomestead I do both!
About point 8, mulching helps also, my leaves are clean even with tropical rain pouring!
Pepper Geek is by far the best website I found to help with learning how to grow hot chili peppers.
Going by their advice, I have had some very encouraging results. Fox Farm Trio is a godsend, especially if you didn't decide to start growing in March or April. I am hoping we have an extended pepper season, because my Ghost Peppers just started to sprout flowers. It won't shock me if there isn't enough time, but all the rest of mine are doing great!
My Pepper Line Up: Poblano, Jalapeno, Mammoth Jalapeno, Cayenne, Super Chili Pepper, Habanero and Ghost Pepper.
Keep it up Pepper Geek!
Thanks for the content. Great stuff. As a first year grower, I caused the untimely death of a few seedlings by transplanting from seed starting tray too soon.
I HAD thumbs of death. Since I am now able to grow lettuce sprouts and sprouted 18 Cubanelle pepper seeds I renamed myself about two days ago. I now have hospice thumbs.
Anyway, I have three gallon buckets. I was going to ultimately grow the plants in them. Are the buckets too small? I saw a video earlier that said so but you said it's fine. I also moved the seedlings from the sprouting cells to Solo cups earlier today. The leaves were small as were the roots but the seedlings stopped growing. Tips?
Great tips. First started growing peppers this Spring and definitely learned my lesson about over watering once Summer hit here in FL.
I'm in Florida, too. What are you growing? We are near Tampa. This my 1st year here, and I am having notable success with Jalapeños, habaneros, banana peppers, lemon Jalapeños, and bell peppers.
@@rafika816 I'm in Pinellas and have a bunch of peppers. First time growing, but I'm having great success from my Habaneros, Candy Cane, and my Mad Hatter pepper plant is a few feet tall. The others, various hot peppers, are doing fine too. I have mine under a shade cloth in the afternoon to protect from the sun
Second year growing them here. Well only because I was given the plant last year and it grew well. I tried by seeds and failed thinking the seeds just needed to be in the soil moist and they never came up. Until I watched a video of your about heating them with a pad. So thanks for the videos.
Another tip to get more fruit, especially if you don’t have a lot of pollinators, is to vibrate the flowers with your finger for about ten seconds. This mimics what a pollinator does since peppers are self-pollinating (have both male and female in same flower)! Works for tomatoes too!
do you mean shake the flowers or or literally vibrate the inside of flower with a q-tip or something. I don't have very many bees where I live.
You would be correct . Same as with egg plant flowers. You could use an electric tooth brush or simply vibrate the pod (outer part of the flower) with your finger
I use wife’s tiny makeup brush,dip in water and get damp…works great!
@@poolman8676 Just have to shake the flowers, for about 10 seconds. If your tomatoes are caged, you can really just shake the cage!
@@timtorkelson7201 That would work, but you really just need your finger!
Ibam planting mine in trays on my glassed in porch. It is about 70 daytime and 50-60 at night. They get some sun but not hot.
Great pepper tips. Thanks!
I love growing peppers!
love ya gardener scott!
You are so dedicated to peppers that you look like one 😅. Thank you so much for the great information 😊😊😊😊
I’ve been growing peppers for 3 seasons and have been looking for a channel like this for 2 of them. I’ve made all of the mistakes listed in this video. I was hoping for a great 2021 season, but I didn’t even have a garden this year because we moved and I’m building a new garden and greenhouse from scratch. Everything from water supply to a raised area on top of an old heavy equipment yard. I’m spending this season on the build and researching or watching as much on Peppers as I can. Thank you for the vids and keep it up please!
That sounds great! Can't wait to get deeper into home gardening projects like that here. Glad you found/enjoy our channel
I grow my chili’s in a similar manner that I grow my cannabis. I have my seeds germinating now. I’m gonna try going some indoors too
😅
Hmm...any success?
@@rafika816 great success outdoor this year with my dragon cayenne hybrids, jays ghost x scorpion and trinidad scorpions. no room for indoor chilies unfortunately. i could maybe squeeze one in a 5 gal under my de1000 though
I've been growing peppers for the last two seasons and it's always good to learn something new and I live in old England lol
I agree! We try to learn something new as often as we can. Lots of other growers out there in different climates who have tried different things. Half the fun of gardening is the personal experimenting!
@@PepperGeek that's so true because I'm from the UK pepper plants are grown indoors or a greenhouse but I still grow some outside and was quite successful with the outdoor pepper last season
I started mine yesterday zone 5-6 . After they are Good and established I put them in my unheated glassed in porch. That way I can bring them in at night. Wish me luck!. Just found your channel recently.
Glad you found us, good luck!
Awesome video! Clear, concise and very informative! Perfect for new growers
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed :)
Great vid
Thanks :)
So glad I found your channel! I live in Massachusetts, where the weather does what it wants. Basically we have Summer and winter haha, the fall is beautiful but so short! This is my 4th year growing peppers and last year wasn’t a good one for me, I don’t know what I did wrong but didn’t get much, only jalapeños did good. So anyways, we had a heat wave for the last 2 weeks, and now this memorial weekend we have cold and rain. I have some peppers in my raised beds and a bunch of them in pots. Last night and today has been below 50. You mentioned if they get cold, they won’t like it. I wonder how long do you think the recovery would be. I am ready to feed them after the 3 days of rain and cool weather and wonder if there is something else I should be doing so they do well after. I guess I should have waited to plant them, but it was so warm and the farms around here had what I needed and was worried they were going to sell out like last year. Thank You!
We are in CT, so dealing with the same heat wave and cold/rainy weather now! We left most of our plants outside in the cooler temps since they are pretty well established and close to our apartment building (so the temp is a bit warmer). However, the extended cold and wind may lead to stunting the plants for a week or so. It shouldn't be detrimental, but after the weather clears and warms up, just keep an eye for any issues. They will need some time to use up all of the excess water from the rain, so I wouldn't water for a while!
I would very much like a video on pests, pest control and diseases. Had a lot of rust last year and have an unknown pest on my over-wintering plants right now that neither Sevin or Neem seems to eradicate. Some tips on this would be great.
Yeah really, the neem oil did absolutely nothing. It's like an almost attracted more aphids on my squash and cucumber plants. Uneven started treating it early. Neem oil seems to be very overrated, at least for me.
I looked up a guide for planting peppers in Melbourne where I live in Australia and they said November, it's now Xmas day and I planted some seeds outdoors. It has got to that point in summer where there are no cold nights and it is a particularly wet year too so should get plenty of water. I'm really not bothered if it doesn't work but thought it might be cool if I could get a few chilis. It doesn't start dipping to 10C at night here until May probably so I'm hoping there's enough time for them to grow and mature.
Thanks! Went straight to the Carolina Reaper lol Starting late but Maybe I'll get something
One tip if you're getting plants from a local retailer.
CHECK FOR PEST THERE !
Almost brough home a cayenne plant that had a bunch of aphids on them.
Tfw you start contemplating having one cute little pepper plant and find out you'll have to wait ten months. Yay for being out of season.
Look online, have a pepper plant seedling shipped
I am in 8b and I start my peppers Feb 15th. I pot up and in the green house by April and in ground in March.
Lucky! You probably get some monster plants with that longer growing season
I use tomato fertilizer spikes early in the season and so far it's been great. No idea what I'll use later in the season though!
Recommend Alaskan fish implosion & bone meal!! all you need with exception of a wee bit off Eason salt diluted in water once or twice during season. Been growing super hots for over 10 yrs and have great success…even in Minnesota.
Epsom not Eason…
Great channel not to much bla bla before info. Mine is more about tropical plants but i am a member here now
So I live here in California and I planted the store bought peppers around the first week of May. The weather's been crazy here getting down to low 40s at night. When you say the plants will suffer, how do they suffer specifically? Awesome video and awesome knowledge sir. Thank you so much. You gained another subscriber. If anyone can answer that question, I greatly appreciate it.
Cold weather doesn't really happen where peppers originate. So they begin to 'panic' and shut down some functions. They will slow or stop growth, and begin to lose leaves if left out in the cold for prolonged time. As long as warmer weather is around the corner, they'll perk back up quickly. Thanks for the sub!
Besides bottom pruning, any other pruning strategies for optimising fruit yields?
Hi mate just found you and subscribed, Really great information in your video's and very nicely done im in Adelaide in Australia it gets pretty cold in winter around 10 Celsius at night and bloody hot in summer i have lights and heat pads in a verandah with some shade blinds . I have the soil at 20 Celsius is that ok in winter or could i bump it up higher if so to what temp .I am growing Hotter range chillis Ghosts etc👍
Are you buddy's with Khangstarr? Both your guys videos are great. Thank you.
Haven’t really chatted with him yet but familiar with his videos - he is an inspiration!
thankkkkk you
hi nice vid👍🏾
last year i had a chocolate habanero plant and a jamaican yellow scotch bonnet plant in 5 gallon buckets outside.
topped once when young resulted in two very bushy 60cm plants with plenty of fruits.
i had like 67 scotchbonnets and 53 chocolate habaneros.
chocolates are too hot for my liking
(its basicly a stinging hot lava sensation in your mouth)
but the scotchbonnets....wow that flavor🥰
i also helped polinating the flowers.
this year i have 1x carolina reaper
1x red trinidad scorpion and 2x yellow scorpions also in 5 gal buckets with good soil.
they are about 20 cm right now.
but somehow i doubt it will be as good as last year here in germany.
dont worry too much about your plants.
just try to keep em semi dry and off from too much wind and you will most def have some nice pods to harvest.
help polinate and you will have more than you could eat in a year😉
Thanks for sharing, I'm excited for the scotch bonnets we have growing this year 😍
I planted a carlifornia reaper seed indoors -and its now 2 years old -it made peppers the first year and mostly keeping the same size. What hit me is how restistacnde prone it is . It could be sold as plant in stores since it "dont care"
I'm trying the Carolina reapers for the first time this year ,up to now I have 100% germination,and my little seedlings are healthy with 6 leaves on now ,they sound powerful at up to 2.2 million scovilles
hi there, i am growing a few types of peppers and i have a question: one of the is caramel pepper, i think it is a bell pepper type. i have one fruit on the plant (lots of flowers but no more fruits) and it is growing really slow. do i have to wait until it is ripe, or should i pick it, and hopefully the plant will produce more peppers from its flowers? thanks in advance!
I planted Habanero seeds that I got from a store bought pepper, They seem to be growing. Hope I get a good yield.
Nice. Store bought peppers are usually strong, disease-resistant varieties.
I would like to know has anyone ever tried this before. I have a pepper plant and the bottom leaves fell off as I was repotting. So I decided to take those fallen leaves and put them in a bottle of water and roots started to grow. I took those rooted leaves and planted them in its own potting soil and now I have several nice plants that are growing from those leaves. I would like to know what they produce fruits in other words peppers. Thanks
That’s awesome, I was wondering if this was possible, kinda of like cannabis clones
I Live in south Texas it’s hot 8 months out of the 12
Christmas is hot here 🙄 lol
It’s so hot that my peppers get wrinkly?
I have to water them daily if not every other day because they get so exhausted out there to the point their leaves just kind of get droopy.
But they get plenty of water 🥰 and their growing big ❤️
New subscriber here! Can't believe there's a whole channel dedicated for planting peppers, this is amazing! I'm planting generic peppers from the grocery right now, and it's already around 2 months old and about a foot tall. It hasn't branched out significantly, and I'd say there's still just one main stalk. (Not sure if I should prune or not.) But my main problem is: birds. I started planting back in October, but somehow, when my plants get to a certain age, birds just flock over and eat the leaves. If I didn't have this bird pest problem, I could have probably harvested chili as early as January or February. Are there any natural repellants you could recommend?
I've already tried putting my potted pepper beside my potted mint 'cause birds apparently hate the smell of mint, that didn't work. I tried putting garlic cloves in the pot 'cause birds hate the smell of garlic, but the garlic dried up and lost its pungent smell, so birds came back. It's so frustrating. :(
Hm we've never had birds eating the leaves, though they will eat some peppers (if they are small enough). Maybe try getting one of those fake owl statues to scare them off? Or maybe try hanging some shiny metal on a string near the plants, I think they don't like the bright light reflections. Hope this helps..
@@PepperGeek Thank you so much for the tips! I've read those bird scarer things, and a lot of people say they work, so I'll try that soon. :) Thank you!
I've never had success with them. I only like the sweet bell peppers, and never get more than one or two.
Grow em year round in south Florida
Oh yeah, you guys are lucky to never get a freeze!
You haven’t seen my set of Mars hydro TSL2000s 😂 I have two per 6’ table, they get plenty of sun, I’m sure outdoors is a welcome retreat!
Purchased two tsl 2000s a few months ago and they're awesome. Those things will burn you a new eye socket.
I made a mistake using a homemade pepper spray and it attracted moths/ worms in my jalapeños. There weren't a lot, but if you're making hot sauce you could wind up eating some!
Good tips! What is your opinion on pruning peppers, particularly in terms of toping to create more side growth?
It certainly works in my experience but obviously sets your plants back as they then need to regrow. I think a good rule of thumb is to top once you see the first Y, and if you start indoors like I do and want to try this, start them a month earlier than you normally would. If you have unlimited season it's no issue, top away.
@@LateNightYinzer pepper plants naturally will Y at around 8 inches tall and create 2 "heads" or leaders.... no need to prune tops... only bottoms imo... happy gardening...
Do both and decide for yourself
Was that picture a Nora? I planted them the first time this year, lots of paprika!
I have a pepper that recently sprouted and cotyledons have opened. But the thing is, I have it in a red solo cup. How far should the pepper have developed before moving it into a pot? It's been outside ever since sowing.
First time viewer - Subscribed. I have 4 pepper plants this year that are all of the sudden appearing like they have sunshock. They have been in the same place all summer. Could it be that they have been too wet due to rain all week? The soil has great drainage. When I pull them from the Sun and place in the shade, the leaves come back. Keep up the great videos. I'll be back!
Thanks for subscribing! We had this same thing happen to some of our plants. They endured rain for ~7 days, then it was 90°F and sunny and they got some sun scald. No avoiding it really, but the plants should be just fine.
@@PepperGeek well it turns out that they were overwatered, the leaves a soft to the touch and still wilted. The soil about 6" deep is soggy. They are potted and the soil seemed to be great for drainage early in the year - lesson learned. I carefully replaced some of the soil in the pots and aerated the roots. If they don't come back again, lesson learned. Fingers crossed.
im trying to grow one in the baltics do you know if i have a chance of getting any peppers?
Mother of God... I've never seen the chapters feature before. This is amazing.
My best peppers are in my greenhouse and my 3 gallon pots
I planted a whole flat of reaper but too close together,the plants are full of pods and the sun can't get down to most of them,will they ripen or should I take a few plants out? Cut the tops off some ? or just hope they will ripen?
I have a question and I've seen other indoor growers looking for advice for the same issue. What's the problem? Well the skin on peppers is matte, not glossy. I'm not seeing this with my greenhouse peppers, but I took some plants in to grow over winter and while they are blooming and fruiting like crazy and their foliage is glossy, dark and healthy, the pepper pods are not shiny, but matte. Does anyone have any idea what the problem is? I can say that the plants are all small in height and I am intentionally keeping them in 3" pots to develop varieties that don't need a lot of root space. I have peppers in the greenhouse in small pots too and their pods aren't matte, so if pot size has anything to do with the issue, might it be due to the wet/dry soil interval? I'm guessing. I water about a quarter inch several times a day and the plants soak up everything in seconds, but they're never bone dry. How about air moisture? Humidity? Could that be the problem? I run a dehumidifier and keep the AC fan running all the time all summer to move air around. It rains in the greenhouse everyday, due to condensation, very high humidity and cool nights. I think I'm going to try an experiment: I have a grow tent in the basement for greens and those plants are lush, with high humidity. I'll move the peppers down there and see if the new fruit are glossy, instead of matte. If they are, then I'll know if air moisture is the cause.