Merrifield Garden Center Forum

As best that I can tell, I have "elephant foot" problem in bell peppers grown with drip irrigation under plastic in a field. About 10 plants have suddenly wilted and died in various locations in a .2 acre field of peppers. When we removed the plant and inspected the root and stem, it almost exactly matched the web pictures and description of "elephant foot" in bell peppers. Causes seem to be build-up of salt from several sources. We may have over applied water, sevin for cut-worms, and fertilizer at the base of some plants. Our drip emmitters are 12" apart and the peppers are 18" apart. Randomly, some emmitters are close to the base of the pepper plant. Our plan is to pull back one side of the plastic and pull fresh soil up to the base of all plants. We may leave the plastic back for a couple of rain events to wash and cleanse the soil. We are open to other suggestions.