I say it could be from heat, the guy at the botanical garden says from the
coolness, and we're probably both right. As someone else said in another
message, peppers are finicky. To add to the confusion, many of the seeds and
plants we buy as consumers were bred for commercial use. They're often field
tested only in the regions where they're most likely to be grown. This could
mean California, Florida and Mexico, but not places like upstate NY. The
same peppers you're having problems with may perform like a champ in another
part of the country. And, there are even MORE random factors. I'm in
Rochester NY. Since early May, we've had about 5 days of what you'd consider
true summer weather. There's been plenty of sun and a perfect amount of
rain, but plenty of nights down to 40-45 degrees.

I'll break the law here and plagiarize a bit from the first chapter of the
late Henry Mitchell's "The Essential Earthman". He gardened in Washington
DC.

"It is not nice to garden anywhere. Everywhere there are violent winds,
startling once-per-five-centuries floods, unprecended droughts,
record-setting freezes, abusive and blasting heats never known before. There
is no place, no garden, where these terrible things do not drive gardeners
mad."

Great book, by the way.

"Ross" wrote in message
...
Well THANKS Doug and all the others.
And can you believe I just joined the Farm Bureau who offers discounted
soil
tests - and now I lost the papers on it....

The guy at the botanic gardens said it may be partly from the cool nights
we
have been having here too.

Ross

From: "Doug Kanter"
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Date: Sat, 03 Jul 2004 20:32:14 GMT
Subject: peppers with a problem

Without knowing the pH of your soil, my first guess would be the lime.
If
you don't want to buy a test kit and check the soil CAREFULLY yourself,
there may be a cooperative university extension that will do the tests
cheaply.

If you had NOT applied the lime, my next thought would be temperature.
Although peppers are sold as sun-loving plants, there have been years
when
my peppers produced very little all summer, and then went gangbusters as
the
weather cooled in September. As a result, I now plant some in the sun
and
some dappled shade.

All the organic stuff you're adding is fine, but you still have to be
aware
of the soil's pH.


"Ross" wrote in message
...
OK, sorry-
Garden size 20' x 20'. The bag of lime was about 20 pounds. Hydrated
yes I
think, they were smaller than pea size granules.

I've been building up the soil with composts manure, straw, and leaf
mulch
for 5 years.

Location Chicago, 1.5 miles from the lake.
Weather has been good since the peppers went in June 1. Only one or 2
nights
below 50 degrees. Lots of rain and sun. 70 to 85 degree days, some
wind.

The plants look worse now than when I planted them.

Sounds like it was the lime?

Ross



From: "Doug Kanter"
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2004 13:08:36 GMT
Subject: peppers with a problem

You didn't provide enough information.

1) Where do you live, and what have temps been like for the past few
weeks?

2) A whole bag of lime? How big a bag, compared to a 5 lb bag of rice?
And,
into how much soil did you put this lime?

3) Coffee grounds into where? The pot in which the peppers are
growing?


"Ross" wrote in message
...
My peppers are just sitting there.

Years past they have done extremely well here. I do rotate them.

The tomatoes tomatilos beans broccoli herbs garlic flowers and
berries
are
all doing fine.

Yes I have been putting lots of coffee grounds from Starbucks into
the
soil
this year.

Should I assume that the peppers have a problem with that?
Is it too much nitrogen? Too acidic? I also put in a whole bag of
lime
to
cut down the acidity. Is it the lime?
What's your guess?

Thanks,

Ross