Fourth year of failing at growing peppers

tnkrer · July 23, 2015

First year - (was first year of gardening) - rabits ate everything
second year - got a two small green peppers at the end of the season from 3 plants
Third year - 5 plants, one plant yielded 6+ red peppers and another yielded 6+ orange peppers and remaining three plants yielded zip .. Still I call that tremendous progress

So I was hopeful that I will do better this year .. and it started out quite well
but now most of them are not growing very well

Don't know what I should do .. They are looking pretty sad. I am going to spray them with bloom buster stuff to see if they will grow faster.

I treat them very similar to my tomatoes and cucumbers, which are wildly successful. The grow media runs drier for the peppers. Its 3:3:2 instead of 3:2:1. I use tomato-tone fertilizer strip. Its grown in the the earth-tainer. Is there a fertilizer that works better than tomato-tone for peppers?

AlittleSalt · July 24, 2015

There is a chance that you may be watering too much/ too often. Lower yellow leaves on pepper plants often means they are getting too much water.

I'm not sure what is in the background in the pictures, but it looks dark and provides a lot of shade. Here in Texas, shade at this time of year is the only way peppers can survive, but I am unsure in Ma 6a/b territory. Peppers are actually tropical - not heat loving. They may need full sun where you are growing them.

I would move the container to a place that gets full sun and water less. If you see wilting during full sun - notice when that happens and shade them during that time.

Lower yellow leaves will eventually drop - the damage has already been done. You can cut them off if you like - they are not going to turn green again.

That's advice from someone learning in Texas. I hope a lot of northern growers will chime in for you.

Cole_Robbie · July 24, 2015

I haven't tried am earthtainer yet. I do have fairly good luck in buckets. I had a decent pepper crop from 3 or 4 plants. I've seen a lot of great pepper plant pics in sub irrigated planters, though, I don't have any criticism of that design as a concept.

I'm wondering if salt is right about the moisture. Peppers like to dry out just to the point of wilting. If your roots are rotting because of too much moisture, it causes nitrogen uptake problems, which would explain your yellow leaves.

peebee · July 24, 2015

The one time I got a very abundant crop (too many) of peppers was when I grew Padrons in my one Earth Box. I planted 4 and did the usual fert strip down the middle. But I thought what the heck, I'll try pouring in fert down the pipe too. I didn't keep notes nor did I follow any sort of schedule; sometimes I diluted Miracle Grow(which I had on hand and wasn't going to use it on anything edible, really), sometimes I just poured Texas Tomato fert, fish emulsion, and later some bloom booster, directly in the pipe. Sloshed the box a bit. No rhyme or reason. Just an experiment. But boy, did they produce!
So that worked for me. Peppers do better in such SWCs than in the ground, for me. And yes, I agree with others here that suggest you give them more sun, unless it's very hot. Peppers like sun, but not burning hot.

Salaam · July 24, 2015

I'm in zone 5a.

I've had great luck with hot peppers in fabric pots, using potting mix only, potting mix with a little lime, and combinations of top soil, black earth, and compost. I think they like the heat of fabric pots and that the soil doesn't get too soggy because the fabric allows evaporation. Earthtainers can retain too much moisture if you don't get the mix right (I'm using mine for lettuce and brassicas this season!).

I suggest you try fabric pots in full sun. And just water when the soil gets dry and you see the leaves getting slightly droopy. In a heat wave, this could be once a day or every two days.

By the way, I think fabric pots are cheaper than earthtainers for us northerners because you can fill the fabric pots with soil and compost and fertilize less, whereas earthtainers require a mix that's more expensive.

Dewayne mater · July 24, 2015

Those yellowing leaves mean either disease or nutrient deficiency. From the picture, I can't tell. I have used Texas Tomato Food on my peppers the last 2 years and have had more peppers than an any other time and much larger plants too. I think they must be fairly heavy feeders and perhaps you might want to start adding TTF every time you refill, and maybe foliar right away?

If it is disease, then, that's a whole other diagnosis/treatment plan. The good news is, you should still have time if you turn it around quickly. Good luck.

Dewayne Mater

PS if you add "in an earthtainer" you may increase your odds of getting comments from Raybo who has been wildly successful ingrowing peppers in earthtainers.

RayR · July 24, 2015

Aside from what has already been said about sun and water...
tnkrer, is the Tomato-Tone in the fert strip the only fertilization that there is?
I've never understood the value of the fert strip for dry organics since the fertilizer needs to be in the soil where the roots are so the microbes can do the nutrient cycling. I only have one SWC which has a couple of dwarf tomato plants in it and I mix the Epsoma tones into the mix before planting out just like I do with regular containers. I would also feed liquid organic nutrients every week or two top down right into the root zone instead of down the pipe into the reservoir. Growing all my peppers organically with that system in regular containers I have no nutrient deficiency symptoms and get lots of peppers every year. I don't see why it would be any different in an SWC using organic methods.

Mojave · July 24, 2015

I find an out of balance NPK/minerals can cause yellowing. I've gone overboard on bone meal and had similar looking peppers. I'm guessing the overload of calcium and phosphorus blocked the nitrogen and iron, giving me yellow spindly plants. But it doesn't sound like you have that problem with just a 3-3-2.

Father'sDaughter · July 24, 2015

I've had decent success with peppers the last few years, but this year they are doing great -- healthy plants and lot of peppers.

I have no experience with SWC--all of my hot and super hot peppers are in plastic grow bags, and the larger chiles (Big Jim, Aneheim) and Italian peppers are in the ground. All are in the eastern end of the garden and in full sun until late afternoon.

I started them all in February and put them out at the end of May like I always do. The two major differences this year are that I used 100% Wonder Soil in the grow bags and I've been feeding them all with Urban Farms Vegetable formula. They need watering a lot less frequently than in past years when I used a potting mix/composted manure mixture, the Wonder Soil easily drains out excess water. As others have said, I don't think peppers like soggy roots.

Hopefully you can make some changes with watering and fertilizing and still get some peppers before the season ends. Which, by the way, tends to go a bit later for peppers around here than some might expect. I've had some plants set and ripen more peppers during September and early October than they do all summer!

Gerardo · July 24, 2015

I've had much improved results with peppers by reducing the initial N intake (from crab meal, alfalfa meal, and manures) in the potting mix, relative to the proportions I use for tomatoes and cucumbers.

Copious doses of compost/worm tea also seem to push them in the right direction.

Neem/DE/BT to reduce the threats to the leaves helps a lot.

Also do P/K soil drenches (using M.O.A.B. from MadFarmer at reduced doses) . The N source for me ends up being 1/2 strength Neptunes and it's more than enough to produce.

All the while insuring hydration is consistently on the slightly dry end of the spectrum.

Growing Nardellos, Big Jim, Czech BK, Serranos, Staddon's, Beaver Dam, Chocolate, Corno di Toros, Bulgarian Carrot, and Güeros this year (most in 3-5 gallon plastic containers).

With regards to light exposure, in my garden they do better with slight shading from the citrus trees than in direct sunlight.

There's a taurine saying in Spanish: "No hay quinto malo." So here's hoping your 5th attempt shall be the golden one!

cheers.

Bipetual · July 24, 2015

I don't know a lot about various nutrient deficiencies, but peppers tend to be very forgiving in self-watering containers. I think it might be possible that keeping the reservoirs full all the time might possibly be providing too much water. Maybe you could ease up on the refills a bit, as Salt suggested. You do have plastic under the mulch to keep rain out, right? The other thing I noticed is how the fruit almost looks like it has blossom end rot. It's hard to tell because the foliage isn't healthy, but I wonder if some supplemental calcium might not hurt?

Father'sDaughter · July 24, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gerardo

With regards to light exposure, in my garden they do better with slight shading from the citrus trees than in direct sunlight.

While they may need shading in hotter climates, in our neck of the woods direct sun is not an issue. Tnker and I are about 15 miles from each other, if I recall.

Delerium · July 24, 2015

Peppers like heat. Put your SWC on concrete if you have an area available. That should heat up the water and warm the soil even more. And don't water a pepper container unless the leaves drop. Let the tank go dry before filling up container.

I just posted some pictures of our peppers today. I hardly ever change the soil mix. I've had the same mix in the SWC for like 3 years with only the top portion amended with a little bit of our own homemade compost. Good Luck.

http://tomatoville.com/showpost.php?...&postcount=649

tnkrer · July 28, 2015

First off, thank you all very much for taking the time and responding with wonderful suggestions! Gives me encouragement to try again next year with few more modifications. No hay quinto malo - Fifth time the charm

Watering issues - Last year my SWC was running somewhat wet. So based on last year's suggestions, I changed the growing media ratios to 3:3:2 (peat:pine bark fines:perlite) and this is running quite dry. The top is always dry. When I poke in the soil, its damp 4-6 inches below. So I do not think that I have overwatering issues.

Sun - Where I am, I do not get a lot of sun or heat. (Father's Daughter, I am in metrowest, so probably 50 miles south of you) Peppers get sun from 10 am to 4 pm and this one is one of my best spots. Concrete would be better, but any plants on the driveway die early deaths from basketballs, footballs, baseballs, all manner of round projectile objects. The bushes behind are azalea/yew and they never shade the peppers since they are to the north of the peppers. So heat/sun wise, this is the best I am ever going to do at this house.

SWC or no SWC - With my work schedule and family obligations, I will not be able to watch and water the plants on a daily basis. So I have to make it work in SWC

Disease - No growth, yellow leaves and curled leaves - I am more inclined to believe that its nutrition deficiency

Nutrition Deficiency - I think this has been my problem. I have not been able to feed the plants correctly.
RayR, I have always done fert strip per raybo guidelines for SWCs. I also provide liquid fertilizer (Foliage pro) down the tube at 1/4-1/2 strength. This works very well for tomatoes/cucumbers. However, Now 2nd year in a row it has not worked well for the peppers, So next year, I will not do fert strips for peppers, but mix the fertilizer in. I will also drench the grow media with water + weak fertilizer on a weekly basis.
Point to note is, I grew peppers from seed and in the 4 inch pots, with foliage pro, I was able to grow them well. (Still slower compared to tomatoes, but they grew and looked happy).

Out of balance NPK - minerals - I may have overdone calcium in the mix. Last year, it seemed that I had less dolomitic lime in the mix, so I went a little extra this year.4 cups instead of 3 cups recommended by raybo in the earthtainer.

Proper Fertilization - Gerardo, I think I am going to try more P/K compared to N and see how that goes next year. Need to find M.O.A.B from MadFarmer or Dyna grow bloom

Bipetual - Fruits do not have blossom end rot. I do not have plastic under the mulch, so rain is not kept out. We did have some pretty heavy rains early in the season, but peppers were doing OK after those rains.

And now some good news - Since I started this thread and decided that my problem was nutrition deficiency, I have been spraying the plants with (kelp+fish+bloom buster fert) and the leaves do not look yellow. I would not say that the plants have turned a corner yet, but I am hopeful that they are on the rebound. I will keep spraying and drenching the root zone with kelp + water

Once again, thanks for the help

Father'sDaughter · July 29, 2015

Tnkrer, I am up in the Lowell area, so not far from you at all. I just wanted to make sure you weren't going to start depriving your plants of needed sunshine!

Glad to hear they are turning the corner. As I said, my pepper plants keep keep on producing into the fall, so you still have a shot at a good harvest!

July 23, 2015	#1
tnkrer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: MA 6a/b Posts: 352	Fourth year of failing at growing peppers First year - (was first year of gardening) - rabits ate everything second year - got a two small green peppers at the end of the season from 3 plants Third year - 5 plants, one plant yielded 6+ red peppers and another yielded 6+ orange peppers and remaining three plants yielded zip .. Still I call that tremendous progress So I was hopeful that I will do better this year .. and it started out quite well but now most of them are not growing very well Don't know what I should do .. They are looking pretty sad. I am going to spray them with bloom buster stuff to see if they will grow faster. I treat them very similar to my tomatoes and cucumbers, which are wildly successful. The grow media runs drier for the peppers. Its 3:3:2 instead of 3:2:1. I use tomato-tone fertilizer strip. Its grown in the the earth-tainer. Is there a fertilizer that works better than tomato-tone for peppers?

July 24, 2015	#3
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	I haven't tried am earthtainer yet. I do have fairly good luck in buckets. I had a decent pepper crop from 3 or 4 plants. I've seen a lot of great pepper plant pics in sub irrigated planters, though, I don't have any criticism of that design as a concept. I'm wondering if salt is right about the moisture. Peppers like to dry out just to the point of wilting. If your roots are rotting because of too much moisture, it causes nitrogen uptake problems, which would explain your yellow leaves. Last edited by Cole_Robbie; July 24, 2015 at 01:06 AM.

July 24, 2015	#8
Mojave Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: SF Bay area Z9a Posts: 821	I find an out of balance NPK/minerals can cause yellowing. I've gone overboard on bone meal and had similar looking peppers. I'm guessing the overload of calcium and phosphorus blocked the nitrogen and iron, giving me yellow spindly plants. But it doesn't sound like you have that problem with just a 3-3-2. __________________ Bill _______________________________________________ When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. -John Muir Believe those who seek the Truth: Doubt those who find it. -André Gide

July 28, 2015	#14
tnkrer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: MA 6a/b Posts: 352	First off, thank you all very much for taking the time and responding with wonderful suggestions! Gives me encouragement to try again next year with few more modifications. No hay quinto malo - Fifth time the charm Watering issues - Last year my SWC was running somewhat wet. So based on last year's suggestions, I changed the growing media ratios to 3:3:2 (peat:pine bark fines:perlite) and this is running quite dry. The top is always dry. When I poke in the soil, its damp 4-6 inches below. So I do not think that I have overwatering issues. Sun - Where I am, I do not get a lot of sun or heat. (Father's Daughter, I am in metrowest, so probably 50 miles south of you) Peppers get sun from 10 am to 4 pm and this one is one of my best spots. Concrete would be better, but any plants on the driveway die early deaths from basketballs, footballs, baseballs, all manner of round projectile objects. The bushes behind are azalea/yew and they never shade the peppers since they are to the north of the peppers. So heat/sun wise, this is the best I am ever going to do at this house. SWC or no SWC - With my work schedule and family obligations, I will not be able to watch and water the plants on a daily basis. So I have to make it work in SWC Disease - No growth, yellow leaves and curled leaves - I am more inclined to believe that its nutrition deficiency Nutrition Deficiency - I think this has been my problem. I have not been able to feed the plants correctly. RayR, I have always done fert strip per raybo guidelines for SWCs. I also provide liquid fertilizer (Foliage pro) down the tube at 1/4-1/2 strength. This works very well for tomatoes/cucumbers. However, Now 2nd year in a row it has not worked well for the peppers, So next year, I will not do fert strips for peppers, but mix the fertilizer in. I will also drench the grow media with water + weak fertilizer on a weekly basis. Point to note is, I grew peppers from seed and in the 4 inch pots, with foliage pro, I was able to grow them well. (Still slower compared to tomatoes, but they grew and looked happy). Out of balance NPK - minerals - I may have overdone calcium in the mix. Last year, it seemed that I had less dolomitic lime in the mix, so I went a little extra this year.4 cups instead of 3 cups recommended by raybo in the earthtainer. Proper Fertilization - Gerardo, I think I am going to try more P/K compared to N and see how that goes next year. Need to find M.O.A.B from MadFarmer or Dyna grow bloom Bipetual - Fruits do not have blossom end rot. I do not have plastic under the mulch, so rain is not kept out. We did have some pretty heavy rains early in the season, but peppers were doing OK after those rains. And now some good news - Since I started this thread and decided that my problem was nutrition deficiency, I have been spraying the plants with (kelp+fish+bloom buster fert) and the leaves do not look yellow. I would not say that the plants have turned a corner yet, but I am hopeful that they are on the rebound. I will keep spraying and drenching the root zone with kelp + water Once again, thanks for the help Last edited by tnkrer; July 28, 2015 at 04:19 PM.

July 24, 2015	#2
AlittleSalt BANNED FOR LIFE Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 13,333	There is a chance that you may be watering too much/ too often. Lower yellow leaves on pepper plants often means they are getting too much water. I'm not sure what is in the background in the pictures, but it looks dark and provides a lot of shade. Here in Texas, shade at this time of year is the only way peppers can survive, but I am unsure in Ma 6a/b territory. Peppers are actually tropical - not heat loving. They may need full sun where you are growing them. I would move the container to a place that gets full sun and water less. If you see wilting during full sun - notice when that happens and shade them during that time. Lower yellow leaves will eventually drop - the damage has already been done. You can cut them off if you like - they are not going to turn green again. That's advice from someone learning in Texas. I hope a lot of northern growers will chime in for you.

July 24, 2015	#4
peebee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Southern CA Posts: 1,714	The one time I got a very abundant crop (too many) of peppers was when I grew Padrons in my one Earth Box. I planted 4 and did the usual fert strip down the middle. But I thought what the heck, I'll try pouring in fert down the pipe too. I didn't keep notes nor did I follow any sort of schedule; sometimes I diluted Miracle Grow(which I had on hand and wasn't going to use it on anything edible, really), sometimes I just poured Texas Tomato fert, fish emulsion, and later some bloom booster, directly in the pipe. Sloshed the box a bit. No rhyme or reason. Just an experiment. But boy, did they produce! So that worked for me. Peppers do better in such SWCs than in the ground, for me. And yes, I agree with others here that suggest you give them more sun, unless it's very hot. Peppers like sun, but not burning hot.

July 24, 2015	#5
Salaam Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Ottawa, ON Posts: 128	I'm in zone 5a. I've had great luck with hot peppers in fabric pots, using potting mix only, potting mix with a little lime, and combinations of top soil, black earth, and compost. I think they like the heat of fabric pots and that the soil doesn't get too soggy because the fabric allows evaporation. Earthtainers can retain too much moisture if you don't get the mix right (I'm using mine for lettuce and brassicas this season!). I suggest you try fabric pots in full sun. And just water when the soil gets dry and you see the leaves getting slightly droopy. In a heat wave, this could be once a day or every two days. By the way, I think fabric pots are cheaper than earthtainers for us northerners because you can fill the fabric pots with soil and compost and fertilize less, whereas earthtainers require a mix that's more expensive.

July 24, 2015	#6
Dewayne mater Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2008 Location: DFW, Texas Posts: 1,212	Those yellowing leaves mean either disease or nutrient deficiency. From the picture, I can't tell. I have used Texas Tomato Food on my peppers the last 2 years and have had more peppers than an any other time and much larger plants too. I think they must be fairly heavy feeders and perhaps you might want to start adding TTF every time you refill, and maybe foliar right away? If it is disease, then, that's a whole other diagnosis/treatment plan. The good news is, you should still have time if you turn it around quickly. Good luck. Dewayne Mater PS if you add "in an earthtainer" you may increase your odds of getting comments from Raybo who has been wildly successful ingrowing peppers in earthtainers.

July 24, 2015	#7
RayR Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Cheektowaga, NY Posts: 2,466	Aside from what has already been said about sun and water... tnkrer, is the Tomato-Tone in the fert strip the only fertilization that there is? I've never understood the value of the fert strip for dry organics since the fertilizer needs to be in the soil where the roots are so the microbes can do the nutrient cycling. I only have one SWC which has a couple of dwarf tomato plants in it and I mix the Epsoma tones into the mix before planting out just like I do with regular containers. I would also feed liquid organic nutrients every week or two top down right into the root zone instead of down the pipe into the reservoir. Growing all my peppers organically with that system in regular containers I have no nutrient deficiency symptoms and get lots of peppers every year. I don't see why it would be any different in an SWC using organic methods.

July 24, 2015	#9
Father'sDaughter Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: MA/NH Border Posts: 4,919	I've had decent success with peppers the last few years, but this year they are doing great -- healthy plants and lot of peppers. I have no experience with SWC--all of my hot and super hot peppers are in plastic grow bags, and the larger chiles (Big Jim, Aneheim) and Italian peppers are in the ground. All are in the eastern end of the garden and in full sun until late afternoon. I started them all in February and put them out at the end of May like I always do. The two major differences this year are that I used 100% Wonder Soil in the grow bags and I've been feeding them all with Urban Farms Vegetable formula. They need watering a lot less frequently than in past years when I used a potting mix/composted manure mixture, the Wonder Soil easily drains out excess water. As others have said, I don't think peppers like soggy roots. Hopefully you can make some changes with watering and fertilizing and still get some peppers before the season ends. Which, by the way, tends to go a bit later for peppers around here than some might expect. I've had some plants set and ripen more peppers during September and early October than they do all summer!

July 24, 2015	#10
Gerardo Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: San Diego-Tijuana Posts: 2,598	I've had much improved results with peppers by reducing the initial N intake (from crab meal, alfalfa meal, and manures) in the potting mix, relative to the proportions I use for tomatoes and cucumbers. Copious doses of compost/worm tea also seem to push them in the right direction. Neem/DE/BT to reduce the threats to the leaves helps a lot. Also do P/K soil drenches (using M.O.A.B. from MadFarmer at reduced doses) . The N source for me ends up being 1/2 strength Neptunes and it's more than enough to produce. All the while insuring hydration is consistently on the slightly dry end of the spectrum. Growing Nardellos, Big Jim, Czech BK, Serranos, Staddon's, Beaver Dam, Chocolate, Corno di Toros, Bulgarian Carrot, and Güeros this year (most in 3-5 gallon plastic containers). With regards to light exposure, in my garden they do better with slight shading from the citrus trees than in direct sunlight. There's a taurine saying in Spanish: "No hay quinto malo." So here's hoping your 5th attempt shall be the golden one! cheers.

July 24, 2015	#11
Bipetual Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Illinois, zone 5a Posts: 579	I don't know a lot about various nutrient deficiencies, but peppers tend to be very forgiving in self-watering containers. I think it might be possible that keeping the reservoirs full all the time might possibly be providing too much water. Maybe you could ease up on the refills a bit, as Salt suggested. You do have plastic under the mulch to keep rain out, right? The other thing I noticed is how the fruit almost looks like it has blossom end rot. It's hard to tell because the foliage isn't healthy, but I wonder if some supplemental calcium might not hurt?

July 24, 2015	#13
Delerium Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: California Posts: 942	Peppers like heat. Put your SWC on concrete if you have an area available. That should heat up the water and warm the soil even more. And don't water a pepper container unless the leaves drop. Let the tank go dry before filling up container. I just posted some pictures of our peppers today. I hardly ever change the soil mix. I've had the same mix in the SWC for like 3 years with only the top portion amended with a little bit of our own homemade compost. Good Luck. http://tomatoville.com/showpost.php?...&postcount=649

July 29, 2015	#15
Father'sDaughter Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: MA/NH Border Posts: 4,919	Tnkrer, I am up in the Lowell area, so not far from you at all. I just wanted to make sure you weren't going to start depriving your plants of needed sunshine! Glad to hear they are turning the corner. As I said, my pepper plants keep keep on producing into the fall, so you still have a shot at a good harvest!