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songbird[_2_] · 03-06-2013, 02:18 PM posted to rec.gardens.edible

wrote:

Everything is fertilized with 10 10 10. The peppers
(bell) do not have very thick walls and I thought I had
read that this would help. There is a lot of irrigation
to the garden, so am I wasting my time and effort? The
burning issue concerns me too. Would early morning be
enough to combat that?

it may be still too early to pick them, try
giving them a bit more time to develop.

if your soil is not holding moisture well and
requires a half hour of watering each day that is
a good sign that your soil could use some added
clay and organic matter. this also would help in
holding nutrients for the plants. also top dressing
lightly with a mulch (once the soil warms up after
the spring) will help hold moisture.

I have had the soil tested many times at through
the cooperative extension office but it has been a few
years. I don't remember the exact results but there was
never anything that stood out and the 10 10 10 was their
recommendation.

if nothing stood out they should have
left it alone, but anyways...

have you had the water tested? is it
city/treated or well water?

are you watering using hoses that are
laying in the hot sun all day? if you
spray that directly on plants fresh out
of the hose that's not a good thing...
when i water i always flush the hose
first until the water runs cooler and
then use...

The soil is fairly sandy and slightly
acidic due to the pine trees near by.

use a little agricultural lime (powder acts
fastest, grit lasts longer) in your garden. if
you make your own compost add it to the compost
heap. how much you need depends upon how far off
your pH is from neutral. if you are 6.5 to 7.5
that is fine for most garden plants (other than
those well noted for needing acidic conditions).
don't add a lot all at one time, but over the
course of a few years you should be able to
gradually increase the pH. however, if your
soil is mostly sand and has little clay or
organic material to hold the moisture it can
be leached away quickly once stopped. that is
why i recommend adding a little clay and organic
material to help hold things in place and to
give the rest of the soil community more to
work with.

I have never been
able to figure out what is in the soil that causes my
tomato plants to develop wilt but they do every year. In
fact I took some dirt out of the garden, put it in a pot,
planted the tomato plant and it too has wilted.

diseases can be a problem for some plants.
do you start your own seeds? have you tried
different varieties? do you do crop rotation
or are you planting tomatoes and peppers in
the same soil year after year? if you are
starting your own seeds you could be using
infected seeds/trays/pots/starting mix, tools,
watering can, hoses or location. if your
starting process is flawed then it all follows.

what do you do for soil organic matter? do
you add compost? do you grow other crops in
the area and turn them under?

we've grown tomatoes for years and had some
problems with fungi (after flooding and heavy
rains), but not wilt. we also rotate plant on
a minimum three to five year cycle (tomatoes
first on new soil, then peppers, then beans,
peas, beets, greens, then cover crops like
buckwheat or alfalfa or trefoil. if we've planted
the same crop two years in a row it is because
i've turned the soil deeply enough to not worry
about diseases.

also, mulching lightly to reduce rain and
watering splashing of soil on the leaves. some
people even remove the lower leaves of the
plants once they get growing to keep disease
problems from having an easy start. i don't go
that far...

But back to the peppers, I put a tablespoon of the Epsom
Salt around the base of each plant and I sware the plants
are greener. How often should or can I do this? The garden
is watered twice a day for 15 minutes. The plants are just
getting flowers.

i dunno, around here both magnesium and
sulfur are at reasonable levels and we amend
enough with other materials that they shouldn't
be getting depleted.

you could be picking them too early. when we get
thin walled peppers it is those at the end of the
season when the temperatures are lower and the light
is not as strong. they are still edible up until
the frosts get them, but the flavor isn't as good
as prime time.

you could also try different varieties.

songbird