Gareth & Tony The description you gave sounds very close to phytophthora rot. This disease actually has 3 different strains 1. Crown (root) 2. Stem 3. Fruit It can be seed borne. But you are both guilty of too much water as it takes over 2 in of water to activate this disease. Here are a couple sites for you to look at, if it's not enough mail me and I will send more. Byron At the UCONN site, I am sending main page in case you want more info on other stuff. On left scroll down and click on veggies. On right scroll down to peppers you will find this disease. UCONN http://www.canr.uconn.edu/ces/ipm/ http://axp.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/selectnewpest.peppers.html