Beginner Gardening: Are vegetables annuals?, 1 by dyzzypyxxy

dyzzypyxxy wrote:
CatladyDane, if the containers are sitting on the soil, or if you put any garden soil in the containers your pepper plants might also be declining due to nematodes. They like peppers. Even though the plants aren't dead, they probably won't recover if they are infested. Nematodes are microscopic worms that invade the roots of the plants and block nutrient uptake. You can see if they have this problem by partially pulling up a few roots of one plant. If the roots are all knotty and look sort of like strings of irregular pearls that is root-knot nematode damage. Get rid of the plants!

I'd wait to replace the plants if you're going to, until the end of Feb. (last frost date, hopefully). Plant some cool-season veg like lettuce or peas, maybe? Needless to say, discard the soil and clean the containers thoroughly if there were nematodes.

The peppers may also just be declining because of the cooler nights. In which case they might come back and give you another crop in the spring. If you check and don't find nematode damage, I'd leave the plants in, give them a rest (cut back to minimal watering) and wait until about the end of Feb to give them a shot of fert and get them going again.

My pepper plants are in an Earth Box well up off the ground, but I've been covering them up whenever the nights get below 50.

Elaine

This message was edited Dec 29, 2011 4:57 PM