Peppers in pots not taking off

Give them some time. put them in a place with a lot of sun, not too much wind... water less frequently - they dont like to sit in wet soil. Use liquid fertilizer, it works fast. Use an acidic potting soil (for tomatoes usually) next time... they love hot temps, and plenty of sunshine... one of the few plants here in Texas that do awesome in the summer.

Give them some time. put them in a place with a lot of sun, not too much wind... water less frequently - they dont like to sit in wet soil. Use liquid fertilizer, it works fast. Use an acidic potting soil (for tomatoes usually) next time... they love hot temps, and plenty of sunshine... one of the few plants here in Texas that do awesome in the summer.

Pepper plants don't really take off until they have warm nights, 50s is still too cool, needs to be in the 70s. Since they are in pots it would be good if you can bring them indoors at night. Don't over do the fertilizer, plants receive most of their energy from the sun.

Here north of San Francisco, on the north side of a hill, with the Sun blocked half the day by trees, and the day time temps are mid 70Fs, and night time temps have just reached 50F even, and my peppers are blooming but I started them three months ago. Do you have anything that you can cover them with? Row covers would be ideal.

How big are your plants? I'd stick with fish emulsion for fertilizer so that you won't burn the roots. The plants won't grow until you stop looking at them. I have no idea why that is, but it's true.

I could do that. Plastic is cheap. I could bring them in at night, to. They are just off the patio.

Paul

They've been getting about a cup of water each every other day. The pots are 22 inches wide so they should be draining well I'd think. I just gave them a feeding with some Miracle Grow because it's what I had. It's pretty high phosphorous - should I get something like a balanced fertilizer?

Paul

Give it 3-4 weeks. They are recovering from the transplant shock. The roots are now growing. Careful about too much nitrogen. You can give each pepper plant a drink with 1 tablespoon of epsom salts dissolved in 2 gallons of water, monthly. Don't over-baby them too much. Up to a point, the larger the pot the larger the plant.

If your plants don't look robust, or are only a light or pale green, they may be hungry: apply about a tablespoonful of nitrate fertilizer around each plant, /after several blossoms have set./ But don't fertilize blindly--if your plants look healthy enough, let them be, lest they ignore fruiting for vegetative growth.

The pepper plants will continue to grow with peppers on them. The problem you will have is that mature peppers will reduce the setting of new peppers. Mature peppers taste better. You can have quantity or quality from one plant but not both.

So, to answer your question: Don't pinch the buds.

Give them more time, they WILL take off once it starts to get warm and stay warm. They LOVE warm soil.

RELAX!

nough, let them be, lest

My understanding is that if peppers grow long enough they will turn either yellow or red. So, is that the reason there are so many green peppers in the grocery, and why colored peppers are a lot more money?

Jeff

My understanding is that the green peppers aren't fully ripe.

Like most any other fruit (yes, peppers are fruit) the riper the more delicate the more are lost to damage/rot and peppers do not further ripen once picked so they need to ripen on the plant and then since they become more delicate, unlike green fruit that's machine harvested, ripe peppers need to be picked by hand, and so the price goes up.

True.

When the plant senses that there is mature fruit on it, it stops flowering (stops making more peppers). Red peppers will develop more sweetness than their green counterparts. If you pick them green, the plant will continue to flower, and set new peppers.

On Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:32:53 -0700, Billy spuked forth:

Any pepper can be eaten green, and usually taste similar when green, but many will disappoint if not ripened to maturity, compared to green. Golden Marconis, Jimmy Nardello's, Ancongagua, Corno, on and on.

To answer Jeff about color changes, what he must be seeing are bell peppers. Peppers come in so many shapes, sizes, flavors, heats......

I love peppers.

Charlie