"Billy" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"David Hare-Scott" wrote:

Paul M. Cook wrote:
"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message
...
Paul M. Cook wrote:
How is this for a strategy:

I will feed heavy nitrogen until the plants are about 20 inches
tall. During this time I snip emerging buds. After the plant has
grown to height, I reduce the nitrogen and allow it to set fruit.

I am trying to avoid the mistakes I made last year. Namely my
plants were far too small when the summer heat hit (zone 8b). The
buds tended to drop off on their own. And when the heat went away,
the nights were too cool for them and the fruit never really
reached its best. I got some nice, but small fruit and not much of
that. I want to get as much growth on these and have set fruit before
July. June here is usually pretty reasonable for peppers. My
peppers are about 9 inches tall at the moment.

How long is your growing season from last frost to first frost?


Frost? What's that?

I live in SoCal area, kind of high desert(ish). We have no frost. I
would say that the growing season for peppers (greater than 55F
nights) is probably about tax day through mid-October.

I don't know when you pay your taxes
April, 15
but I gather you are saying it is a
long season. The variations in climate continue to amaze me, I am in a
region that as near as I can tell would be classed as zone 9b (which says
your mid-winter temperatures are colder than mine) but I get the
possibility
of frost from May to September. Some years I can get 6-10 hard frosts in
a
winter, sometimes just a few light ones.

He gets none. I believe he is in Lancaster, north and a lille east of
LA. I'm in a 9b zone which can go down to 28F during the winter IIRC,
and mid 80Fs during July, August Sept. We have half dozen frosts a year,
give or take. I'm on the north side of a hill and occasionally, ice will
hang around a few days to a week. So your 9b is nothing like where he is.

I live 70 miles east of Lancaster in the San Gorgonio foothills. The high
desert gets plenty of frost in the winter but it never makes it this far
down the hill.

Summer heat
is a problem for plants like tomatoes and peppers as 3 digit days are
common from July through August and sometimes into September. Typical
summer day is 95-98F.
This year I will install an awning.

I also have a rather hot summer, typical days are 32C (87F) and several
days
of 38-42C (100-106F) are likely. I have no problem with peppers but the
humidity is often high here in summer.
Any state west of the Rockies has little summer humidity.
Paul's problem is heat. He started in May last year IIRC, whereas he
should have his peppers in the ground in Feb. or March. He is in desert
and by July he will be running high 90Fs to low 100Fs and his peppers
should be harvested already.

I wanted to get them in by March but it was just too cold at night. I got
them in by mid April. We were having cold evenings down into the low 40s.
I am hoping to get some good peppers in by July, then let the plants rough
it until September then get another crop before the colder weather sets in.