pepper issues

[marty lester]

hi out there-

i live in Austin, TX and i just can't seem to grow jalepeno peppers well. i have them in a pretty sunny area (about 6-7 hours a day) and in decent soil with mulch. they form buds, but after a few days they usually fall off. often, the buds look like they dry up before falling off. i have tried watering more and watering less, but no clear solution has emerged. i hit the peppers with seaweed every other week and liquid organic fertilizer every couple of weeks.

for what it's worth, i can grow the heck out of herbs and tomatoes in the same areas (not competing with peppers), so i know it's a decent place to grow stuff.

any suggestions? thanks in advance,

marty.

[Frank Logullo]

Offhand, I'd cut back on the fertilizer. Killed a couple of mine in deck pots last year by fertilizing too early.. Frank

[Doug Kanter]

Every resource on earth says peppers like sun, but I've always gotten my biggest harvests from plants grown in dappled sun, and sometimes even light shade with no direct sun at all during the day. Makes no sense, but hey....there it is. Can you give yours some shade somehow? Maybe suspend some dark window screen over them or something?

[bamboo]

Read about this insect cause at the link below.

[bamboo]

Hi temps also cause bud drop. above 95F

[marty lester]

thank you all for the help. it has been extremely hot here the last few days. maybe some shade is in order on one or two plants as an experiment.

marty.

[Valkyrie]

Next year before you plant your peppers get a box of book matches. When you put in your plants drop a book of matches in the hole, water, cover with about an inch or so of soil and then in goes your pepper plant in the usual manner. I can't remember what it is in the matches, sulfur or whatever, that the peppers love and keeps the blossoms from rotting off or dropping. My garden sat in full sun all day and many of those were in the triple digit temps during July and August. I usually had at least a dozen different varieties of peppers and always had bumper crops. This also worked well with eggplant.

Val

[Doug Kanter]

Sulfur makes sense, since it's sold in powder form as a remedy for some plant diseases. (Also good for dusting bulbs that are to be stored indoors over the winter, so they're less likely to rot).

[bamboo]

Epsom salts will provide both sulfur and magnesium which is the basis for chlorophyll. A spoonfull in a gallon of water applied as a foliar drench is enough.