Took me 3 months to figure out my peppers weren't getting enough wind

I kept wondering why my balcony pepper plants were so wimpy and dropping flowers. After a whole season of failures I finally realized the railing blocks almost all the natural breeze on my balcony. I bought a little $20 desk fan on its lowest setting and within 2 weeks the stalks got thicker and blooms started sticking. Has anyone else had a stupid basic problem like airflow totally wreck their balcony garden?

3 comments

3 Comments

matthewp521mo ago

Yeah that bit about "weak and spindly" really hit home for me. I had a similar thing happen with my basil last year on the fire escape. It was all leggy and floppy and I kept blaming myself for underwatering or something. Turns out the building next door blocks all the wind on that side of the building. I put a little clip-on fan on the railing and within a week those stems went from flimsy to sturdy. But here's the weird part - my mint on the same balcony actually started getting brown tips from the fan. So I had to move it to the other side where there's more shade but less air movement. Still working out the perfect balance for each plant.

juliaa251mo ago

And you know what, that's exactly what happened to me last summer with my tomatoes. I had them on a screened porch thinking they were safe and protected, but they were just weak and spindly and barely any fruit set. I finally put a small oscillating fan out there for just a few hours a day and it was like they woke up overnight. The stems got thick and the flowers actually stayed on instead of dropping. It's amazing how something so simple can make such a big difference. I think we just assume plants will get enough air movement but balconies and porches can be really still spots.

ivan_fisher991mo ago

Same thing with my peppers, they got so much stronger after I put a fan on them.