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rustacator

From Bad, To Worst, To Down Too Pepper Plant Abuse.

Rusty
11 years ago

Well this pepper season started off great for me this season, Up until a month ago. When I made a bad mistake. Instead of diluting the amount of fertilizer mix I normally use on my 1 ý year old plants in half. I ended up giving my 20 babies â 14â - 24â tallâ the full dose of fertilizer. Well most of us here know what fertilizer burn looks like on the leaves. âÂÂDidnâÂÂt realize it until 2 days laterâ¦..â I decided to get them out of the sun and into some shade and do the routine flush. Well after a week later I was going to give it one more flush then put them back into the sun, but it decided to rain for days straight. Thanks to TS Debby.

Well last week I notice they are getting worse figuring the lack of sun was doing it so I put them back out in the sun without doing a flush figured they got wet enough under the âÂÂnice big orange treeâ¦â that was shading them. Well today I figured I give it another flush and then it hit me. WTF did I do!!! I thought I really done it now they are going to be screwed⦠so I decided to check the ph of top of the soil and put a five gallon bucket under each one I was flushing to check the water ph. And guess what I did wrong⦠NEVER put plants under a citrus treeâ¦.. OMG the top of the soil PH "depending where it was under the tree" was anywhere from 2- 4.5. The fertilizer test strength of most were on the breach of over fertilized and others where well over fertilized. Now for the water ph testing after flush. My normal water is like 7.5 ph and almost all the buckets flushed an average ph of 5.3 except for 1 that had termites living in the bottom of the bucket that one was a 5.9. Well my next step tomorrow when I get back home is to lime powder feed everyone. Now hereâÂÂs where IâÂÂm a newb to this I never raise the ph before in pots or in buckets⦠so my question is how much lime does it take to raise the ph 1 point in a 5 gallon bucket? I was thinking about 1 teaspoon per bucket and check ph every 2 days until I get ph to 6.5 soil and 6.5 - 7.0 water runoff. I would take them out and wash roots and plant in new soil but donâÂÂt have the time or the money to do that right now.

Also another thing I notice is that the soil was more acidic on the side the sun hits the most on the buckets and typically had higher concentrate of fertilizer than the other side.

Anyways any ideas will help a lot like always. And I will get some pictures up tomorrow of the disaster when I get time to take some photographs.

Comments (14)

  • greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a
    11 years ago

    I add vinegar so that my fertigation solution is between 5.2 and 5.8 pH - that's a great range for the absorbtion of nutrients.

    I can't remember exactly, but I think a Tablespoon per gallon raises pH about a point.
    You might want to wait for some more exact advice before adding the Lime.

    Josh

  • peppernovice
    11 years ago

    You may be micro managing a little too much. I'm not very experienced (with peppers). This is my first year growing from seed. I do however seem to be having a pretty successful season. I just watch the plants to see when they need water and give them some fish ferts or miracle grow once every 10 to 12 days. I don't really have a schedule as far as watering or fertilizing. I just watch the plants. I did add bone meal, (some say there's no need in containers)lime, osmocote, and made sure I used a good medium. I used the 5-1-1 listed here and made mine with pine bark mulch, sphagnum peat moss, and perlite. I was told early on not to get too involved. I believe this was excellent advice. I think sometimes you can create problems by trying too hard. I would suggest flushing them and try to let the plants recover. Hopefully someone much more experienced than me can chime in and give you some real advice. I just know you can turn a small problem into a catastrophe by trying too hard to fix it. Good luck!

  • Rusty
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Sorry it took so long to get up photos. it has been raining again. I gave them a tsp of lime to help raise ph some. will check in a few days but now one plant looks like i might have mold in the contaner. pulled the wooden skewer out today on my TS and notice powdery white mold on it. hopefully its not to bad of a sign of root mold. but at least its a good sign of ph balance coming back.






















  • peppermeister1
    11 years ago

    Well, those are some pretty F'd up plants. The good news is that they all seem to still be alive, and you'll get to see just how resilient chile plants can be. I would suggest, drilling a few more holes in the sides of those buckets to increase airflow. You can also make a diluted chamomile tea mixture to spray on the top of that soil to fight mold.
    Otherwise, just hang tight and let the air in.

    Here is a link that might be useful: PEPPERMEISTER! Hot pepper gardening, tips, and recipes

  • peppernovice
    11 years ago

    Things look a little rough right now, but Peppermeister is 100% correct. You will be amazed what abuse chile plants can take and still end up producing. My plants suffered through 2 hail storms in 4 days. They looked pretty bad. The leaves all had holes in them, several were blown completely over. Just keep faith and keep giving them what they need! Good luck!

  • maple_grove_gw
    11 years ago

    The soil looks really wet in the photos. Does it ever get a chance to dry out? I presume there are holes drilled in the bottom of the buckets for drainage, right?

    Alex

  • Rusty
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Well sorry for the super long update from July on this post âÂÂplus bringing it back to lifeâÂÂ, but I have been very busy and barley taken care of these since then âÂÂalmost gave up but not thrown in the towelâÂÂ. HereâÂÂs what I did to fix the problem.

    First thing I did was took out the mulch âÂÂon top of mixâÂÂ. âÂÂWhich I found out from a grower is the worst thing to have in a pot unless its stone or rubber makes ez mold to form.â Then I flushed it out, untill the top roots where showing. Then covered the roots with fresh dry soil. The next day, I took 1 TBS of lime in and sprinkled it into each bucket then gave half a fert+water dose to each one. âÂÂI basically thought âÂÂand wasâ This was my worst pepper growing season, I ever had.â Reason behind it more rain than normal. Plus it being under a citrus tree didnâÂÂt help.
    I walked away for a few days to see what may happen. And as I thought the only new peppers IâÂÂm trying to grow will die first... and of course it was my TS. Now my BJâÂÂsâÂÂor now IâÂÂm pretty sure they are its sisterâÂÂNaga M is loving it. The CJH are small âÂÂexcept 1 âÂÂnot in photosâ which I saved to baby since her mother died recently to a dog leash âÂÂehâÂÂâ¦..is doing fineâ but the last few cold snaps, and with frost, we had here set off all the super hots. And now they are producing like crazy. I know this is not to be expected this time of year even in Central FL thatâÂÂs for sure. But what can I say there mom is over 2 years old and she started out in the cold lol.

    I know they might not look as great as everyone elseâÂÂs but they all gave me about 60+ pods harvested and still growing more.â Btw harvested them before pictures and realized I forgot I had to share with my fellow pepper growers about this. And left a couple on.âÂÂ
    Sorry about the delay, I have been very busy.
    And on that note PEPPERMEISTER1 is definitely correct. It is hard to kill them. But if you put them under a citrus tree for some shade. âÂÂThey will dieâÂÂ

    P.s. PEPPERMEISTER1,
    Sorry late response. Had lots of holes in bucket to let them dry up. Just rain way too much. If I known it was going to be a wet season âÂÂand not dry like the past few yearsâÂÂ, I would of used the 5-1-1. But Im not always here to baby them. But, thatâÂÂs why I always take the strongest, healthiest and most producing, plant seeds to grow next year. After this fiasco these seeds probably grow into plants that can take a crap load of abuse lol.

    Also these pictures was taken today 11/29/12








  • chilliwin
    11 years ago

    Nice pictures, lucky plants still they are able to stay outside. Are the plants ghost?

  • DMForcier
    11 years ago

    They look happy now!

    I count twelve. I think you said you had 20. Did you lose any?

  • Rusty
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    The peppers are eather Ghost's or its sister Naga Morich. I'm pretty sure they are naga's becouse of the skin texture. The darker leave and smaller ones are Jamaican Chocolate Habanero.

    Yea i lost 9 plants this year. There are 11 in the picture. had 12 but gave my bro 1 naga. Lost all 4 Trinidad Scorpions, and 3 JCH's, and one Naga. Every year I always lose 1 or 2 but this year lost 8 babys and the JCH mother plant "

  • chilliwin
    11 years ago

    A kind of abusive ignorant, she is a baby yellow habanero she was sprouted on a different tray without light. I moved her to her big sisters' tray with light. Next morning I found her like this may be the light was too much for her. I thought she will be expired soon however still she is keep growing the stem getting a little bit green and taller. I googled to get some information but not yet found. Can she survive?

  • chilliwin
    11 years ago

    The outside container plant is habanero I abandoned her for the sake of the other healthy plants. Inside plants are preparation for the next season, now I have about 45 baby plants. May be my preparation is too early. Some of them are going to plant on the ground probably on the soil bags.

    Foto taken 01.12.2012

  • Rusty
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Hey chilliwin
    You can try to keep it going but most likely it will die. Out of all the sprouts that did that I had, I believe I had 1 or 2 out of the 6 years of germination survive, like that. They do need their baby leaves to grow but there is a slim chance it will survive.

    As far how soon you start your plants. It may be way to early. I'm not sure other members here will know better. I live in Florida so my winter isn't like your winter.

  • chilliwin
    11 years ago

    Hello Rustacator, thank you. I hope so, it will die. Just for the experiment I will keep it.

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