18-06-2003, 03:56 AM
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pepper problem! (and other ramblings)
In article , says...
JohnDKestell said:
my garden is on its' first year, so the soil isn't great, but not really too
bad either. I added blood and bone meal to the holes before planting (for
some
gentle nitrogen and potassium)
Blood meal is pretty strong organic nitrogen; it is capable of burning plants.
Bone meal provides gentle *phosphorous* along with calcium.
Peppers appreciate a goodly supply of potassium.
but am a little bit scared of trying to use some
artificial 20 20 20 on it (like some Peter's). I was thinking, maybe at half
strength or even quarter strength I could see if it helps, then dose it up
from there?
I'd say at this point see if you can get yourself some seaweed meal
(potassium,
micronutrients) or some liquified or dry powdered seaweed (Maxicrop is the
brand
I use) and foliar feed the plants.
What I do, growing peppers:
My peppers get set in a bed that's had some compost and alfalfa pellets worked
in a week or so earlier. Each planting hole gets a dose of Tomato-tone (from
Espoma) workd into the bottom. Later in the season when the weather warms
up, they get mulched with shredded leaves mixed with cocoashells and
occasional
foliar feeds with Maxicrop. The plants are always lush and loaded with
peppers.
I set 18 plants in a roughly 4' x 8' bed. Each one has one of those little
3-hoop
tomato cages set around them. If they didn't, they'd be falling over with the
weight of the peppers.
I experimented one year comparing compost mulch vs. leaf or leaf and
cocoashell
mulch. Peppers with shredded leaf or leaf+cocoashell mulch did better than
those
with screened compost as mulch. (Aside: corn and eggplants prefered compost
mulch.)
--
Pat in Plymouth MI
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)
Just wanted to let you know that I am also an Alabamian, Im growing habenaros
also for the second time. The first year my leaves were very small and the
plants were a little anorexic, This year I've been using the epsom salt spray
and also been feeding them with dolomitic limestone a few tablespoons around
each plant and watering it in, My plants have really taken off, now leaves are
very large and shinny, never seen any of them look so good. Hope this helps in
your case also .
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