Pepper Problems

In Va, I never had a pepper problem-perfect produce! Upon moving to NC my peppers are no longer perfect.
I do square foot gardening here, because the soil is only perfect for pottery. I know it's part of the problem.
I have ammended and mixed my soil (with potting soil), but my peppers are curled, warped, and stunted in growth.
I want to grow banana & bell peppers that I can be proud of.

Are you container growing? If you are not, check out "self contained box gardens"

BocaBob

A couple of thoughts -- you are in zone 7a: Make sure you get your peppers started early indoors or set out store-bought transplants to make sure you capture the entire warm-weather growing season of 80F plus temps (optimal for peppers). Peppers, as you know, need a long, consistently warm season.

And it sounds like you have a new raised bed. Sometimes keeping the moisture consistent in a new bed can be difficult as you adjust to the new location, varied air temps, and the soil's ability to retain moisture. Consistent even moisture is important for growing peppers.

So if the temperature or moisture during the growing period is not optimal -- if you go through warm then cool temps, or moist and then dry soil -- all of these could interrupt growth as fruit develops and cause stunted, warped, or curled fruit.

No, I'm not container growing. I am doing raised beds. I have head trouble keeping moisture even & our temperatures are remaining bizarre-even in winter (fluctuating weekly as much as 20 degrees). I'm sure you can't help with the weather, but if you have advice on an additive to even up that soil I'd appreciate it.
Thanks for both replies!

gardensquare,

I use raised beds, too, and for the same reason as you. The stuff would make great bricks.

By using a moisture meter I found that one end of the bed or sometimes the middle would dry out sooner than other portions of it. Putting several inches of mulch on the beds seems to help keep the moisture more consistent.

Karen

Thank You! I will try that!

Perhaps add a bit more good ol' topsoil to the raised bed -- it might be that the soil mix in your bed is too light.

Thank You all again for your time! I did getter a much better response with purple/black bell peppers (odd)
& the banana peppers picked-up after a while.The purple/black bells were thinner walled but did really good. The "Chinese Giants" hardly grew. I'm trying again this year!

Do you have ANY space you could do container gardening? Reason I ask is because I'm growing a crop of Emerald Giant and King of the North Bells, and Largo Purple Peppers (hot) for the 1st time. I'm strictly a container gardener (eBuckets, EBs and 2 small raised beds).

I started seedlings in one-gallon milk jugs in January (a total mistake as I didn't think about the fact they would germinate and start to grow in the middle of our quirky winter!), and ended up keeping them inside under my fluorescent lights (something I had hoped to avoid because I wanted to Winter Sow ALL my seedlings outside and not have to deal with lights...another story).

Anyway, I got almost 100% germination, and the seedlings looked great. I potted up once to 16 oz. Red Solo cups and planted them deep to right above the cotyledons (read up on this and it worked GREAT!). Once they were potted up, I started feeding them every 7 days with Miracle Grow and Epsom Salts, bottom watering in the drip trays.
Under fluorescents from 6p to 7am daily.

They've only been on 2 hardening off field trips outside, 'cause our weather keeps fluctuating, which is why they're still inside. But, they're going outside this weekend....Which brings me back to whether you have room for any containers.

I'm planting all my peppers out in eBuckets, which are SELF-WATERING systems. Simply put, there's a built-in reservoir and an overturned colander wick involved in the design. The design allows the plant to regulate how much water it wants to take up. And, as long as the reservoir stays filled, that plant will be happy. And I've learned that a well-watered and well-fed (they can EAT!) bell pepper is a happy, happy, happy, bell pepper...

Here's a pic I took on their 2nd field trip about 2-3 weeks ago. They've grown to almost 2x what you see, and have started to put on buds, which is why they need to go out this weekend!

Based on your love of peppers, I'd say to with this no-fault, low-maintenance system and use your raised beds for something less demanding than your peppers..

Linda

Here's the design instruction sheet. Get your parts together and you can put one together in 10 minutes. Hope this helps!

I live in the chicago area. Started seedlings 4 weeks ago with a warm mat. My seedlings are now anywhere from, 1"-7" tall. My question is...do I continue to use the warm mat for my young plants? Do you use this mat till they are ready to go outside? merdle

Merdle,
I'd keep them on the mat or in a warm place. They'll pout and stop growing if they get cold, same as if you put them out too early and it was cold out. They'd just sit until the weather warmed up to their liking!

Hugs!

Thanks...m

I also live in NC (raleigh area). I had terrible luck with peppers last season. I planted about 10 bell pepper plants and 20 other types of plants/peppers. I got max 5 bell peppers from any plant and they were very small. The only pepper that would grow was the two cayanne plants and the one habanero. Neither of which did I really need to many peppers from. The others produced very little fruit. I started them all in early may in decent soil. Every other plant (tomatoe, squash, melon, cucumbers) did well. I am starting the peppers indoors this year and may just try pots on the deck so I can manage the water and light better to see if it helps. Maybe I did not have enough sun on that area of the garden.

Thank you shull1973! Glad to know its not just me. My other plants did really well also. I had a lot of sun. I was afraid too much. My peppers in those "topsy turvey tomato" planters didn't do much better.
Must be the weather or area.

Mine seem to have stalled...

We've been consistently warm (80s to mid 90s), though way below normal (100°+) for this time of year. My pepper plants are loaded with blossoms and tiny peppers. The more fruit set I can get before the 100s hit the better. The plants will then sulk until fall and start back up like gangbusters. Peppers are perrenial here and can produce well for several years.

Sorry to hear that, Linda. Luckily, my peppers are doing very well. Interestingly (predictably?) I have 6 peppers in a raised bed that are faring much better than the 7-8 peppers I have potted-up, sitting on my deck. These 6 peppers are taller and more lush, and have loads of buds developing in several different clusters on each plant. That's a good sign, eh?

The potted peppers also have fruit setting, but are a bit shorter in height. I am optomistic about both crops of peppers.

John, just make sure you have a good fertilization schedule for the peppers in the pots. It's harder to moderate in pots. You want to make sure you water deeply occasionally to flush out accumulated salts, especially if you use tap water. Ours is notoriously high in salts. Combine that with our alkaline soil and it's a recipe for disaster - lol. Thus I garden in raised beds. What is inthe ground is planted in areas that are heavily amended with peat and compost and whatever organic matter I can get my hands on to try and regulate the pH a bit.

I prefer to foliar feed all my plants wheter in pots or not. Organic fertilizers (think fish emulsion and such) are readily and happily absorbed through the plants' leaves and makes them very happy campers.

I have fish emulsion and Hasta Gro (Medina) which is 6-12-6 I believe. Is Hasta Gro organic? I heard on a radio garden show that it was considered organic, but had certain synthetic chemicals as well...lol. Anyway, I apply the Hasta 1x week for the most part. I will mix in the fish emuslion into my rotation as well.

Yeah, I did not consider salts accumulating in my potted veggies- thanks. Maybe I need to give them a little more food or something since they are in pots? Hmmm, maybe 1 tsp/ gal of fish emusion mid-week?

I am not familiar with Hasta Gro but will have to look that up in a bit when I get home from work. I fertilize in bed/ground veggies every 7-10 days and pots weekly. This year I am trying to not grow in pots as it is just soooooooo much work to keep them watered in the summer. I need to try twiggybud's water gardening method - lol...

My watering system is my biggest issue and it was something I should have resolved over the winter. The jerk who designed/ built our house placed the 2 outside water faucets near the front of the house. Actually, 1 faucet is on the side of the house but it is not accessible from the backyard becasue of a wooden fence (so I have to drape the water hose over the fence.) So, I will need to either move the fence up, or build an extension from the faucet to the back of the yard...then install a drip irrigation system!!

From what I read briefly, Hasta Gro is listed as organic and is recommended for foliar feeding. I will have to look into it further...