Pep up my peppers?

The Cat's Other Mother 5/12/2011, 10:58 pm

For some reason, my pepper plants seem kind of runty, while everything else in my boxes are growing gangbusters. Do peppers like something they might not be getting? The are in the same boxes with the tomatoes and eggplants, with plenty of sun. They are putting out flowers, despite being small.

duhh 5/13/2011, 2:19 am

I planted my peppers in Feb and they stayed pretty runty until this past week. All of the sudden there is all sorts of new growth! I think they just wanted it a little hotter.

MikeP 5/13/2011, 11:35 am

I'm actually considering keeping my seedlings indoors one more week on a heat mat, as nighttime temps are still about 45-50 around here, and daytime temps haven't made it past 68-70 more than a couple of times.

Tril 5/13/2011, 12:04 pm

UGH... 45 - 50 has been our daytime HIGH until today. I actually saw 66 on my car thermometer about a half hour ago. Smile

Still hitting the high 30's at night. Wintah and July. I'm sure looking forward to July.

Squat_Johnson 5/13/2011, 12:34 pm

Planted the same day, my peppers are about a fifth of the size as my tomatoes. They are slow to grow, but will catch up somewhat when the temp gets hot.

WendySue67 5/13/2011, 1:56 pm

Is there any truth to a story I heard about crushing up eggshells, putting them in a pitcher of water to soak for a day and then watering your peppers with it? I have heard this will really pep up peppers but I have never tried it.

ashort 5/13/2011, 2:26 pm

duhh wrote:I planted my peppers in Feb and they stayed pretty runty until this past week. All of the sudden there is all sorts of new growth! I think they just wanted it a little hotter.

This! I planted in Mid March and they have just now started to really grow... side dress with some more compost or give them a compost tea drench or give them a shot of MG if you wish, but IMO temps are what matter!

quiltbea 5/13/2011, 2:29 pm

I haven't heard about the eggshells, but I've heard one should add a Tablespoon of Epsom Salts or Dolomitic Limestone to the soil for more magnesium, but haven't tried that yet.

I'm going to try it this year unless I hear differently from gardeners who have more experience than me

The other tip is to plant a few carrot seeds around the peppers. They like each other and the carrots won't have gained much size before the peppers are mostly harvested.

**camprn** 5/13/2011, 6:26 pm

Squat_Johnson wrote:Planted the same day, my peppers are about a fifth of the size as my tomatoes. They are slow to grow, but will catch up somewhat when the temp gets hot.

+1 They really do like it warm and can really be heavy feeders. If you have some homemade compost you could topdress with that Very Happy

westie42 5/14/2011, 2:08 am

Peppers dont really like night time temps below 50 so waiting on the mat is ideal. Mine won't get set out for another week. Peppers like heat even better than tomatoes do especially at startup time. In my opinion the delay will pay benefits.

Tril 5/14/2011, 9:00 am

This is good info... Since our daytime temps have been in the 50's, I don't feel bad or like I'm behind on getting some of my plants in the ground. I'll keep babying them in the house for now.

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