We often get questions from people, especially towards the end of summer, about problems with their pepper plants. A common reason is that folks forget how important good fertilization is for a fruit-bearing plant like a pepper plant. Luckily, you can easily use general plant food for this, which is available in many stores.

Nutrients and Deficiencies in Chili Pepper Plants

On the English website, worldofchillies, you'll find a great infographic explaining the common deficiency symptoms you might see in peppers. We've made a Dutch translation of it so you can figure out what's going on if your pepper plants aren't looking so healthy. And if things really don't work out and your plants give up, you can always order your much-needed peppers from our webshop.

• Iron deficiency: New leaves show yellow & white areas between the veins, which can spread across the entire leaf.
• Calcium deficiency: New leaves and growing tips are deformed, curled, and crumpled. Older leaves remain unaffected.
• Nitrogen deficiency: First, the older leaves turn yellow. After that, more and more leaves will start yellowing, from the stem right up to the tip.
• Potassium deficiency: The edges of the leaves, especially the younger ones, will turn yellow. These yellow and dead spots might even turn into holes later on.
• Magnesium deficiency: The older leaves will turn yellow from the tip towards the stem, but the veins will stay green.
• Manganese deficiency: You'll notice yellow spots on older leaves, and holes will start forming between the veins.
• Phosphorus deficiency: The older leaves will turn a dark green-purple color. If you don't catch it in time, it'll spread throughout the whole plant.