Grow log by Sher · Original thread
What you can learnUseful comparison of heat stress, mineral-heavy tap water, calcium supplementation, canopy thinning, and fruit quality in a compact sweet pepper.
*The days were calculated automatically and approximately.
It looks great and glad to hear it taste great too!
Glad to hear that they taste good! I need to harvest mine, so that they'll produce more! Beautiful photos!
Love love love 💗
Is Burpee seed the only source of these peppers in the U.S. They are out-of-stock at the moment.
As far as I know, they are, @fsullom.
I need to go into my seed stash and find the seeds and plop one into my Farm
You've got stripes! I'm so envious. My older ones are a pretty mocha color, but hardly any stripes have shown up anywhere.Good show!
My bigger ones are mostly turning mocha without pronounced striping, lynnee. i think this little guy is just trying to show off!
Nice striping of color on the pepper
I see hidden peps
Sher, my oldest peppers have changed to mocha, so yours should be doing that soon. You still have more peppers than I do!
Thanks, lynnee. I was wondering how much longer it would be before they start to ripen.
Can't wait for them to ripen and show their colors!
I'd say as I also see lots of flowers
Nice
Your Mocha Swirl plant has lots more peppers than mine! I think that the Ancho Grande in the same half of the Farm Plus may be hogging the nutrients. I'll post some photos soon--peppers have been neglected in favor of strawberries, cukes, and GZ tomatoes.
I love it when we find them hidden away.
It looks great. Mine has some peppers that are finally growing after I cleared out foliage and a competing plant to improve air circulation. Yours don't look like they really need anything done now. Maybe they could use more air circulation in the middle? Maybe mike has an opinion?
It has lots of flowers so peppers are in there.
It looks happy and I do see some buds
Why do you feel you have an imbalance? If your pump is operating, that shouldn't be the case. Is one plant good on one side but not the other?
mike , my water out of the tap is 259 ppm. It was 37 in Georgia. I would expect that with all the minerals in the water, especially calcium, that I would not need supplements. However, for some reason, my plants all show calcium deficiency symptoms. Maybe that calcium is not in a form that is available to the plants? Anyway, I have to add extra calmag, and a tiny dose of bloom booster to correct potassium deficiencies. My pH usually runs around 6.5 after the reservoirs have set for a week, so I don't think that is a major problem. However, I am constantly adjusting nutrients to get rid of mottled leaf problems. I never had these problems in north Georgia. Any advice would be appreciated.
Well, to know if that's it you could start purchasing bottled spring water. I prefer to use that over distilled or RO. Those always gave me pH issues. It gets expensive running a lot of gardens, though.
Well I see at least one flower
You're going to have Mocha Swirl peppers before I do! My plants have a few flowers, but have been slow-growing. The poblanos and banana peppers that were planted at the same time are farther along.
I am fighting nutrient imbalances in my water. PH is fine. But I have learned I have to do an R&R every two weeks.
Most split into 3 branches. But they are all different.
Mine are doing the same thing, Sher . 🌶 In my experience, peppers do better with minimal pruning. I keep the lights as low as possible, prune sparingly and only from underneath to improve air circulation, and start topping only if the peppers are still growing taller after the lights are at maximum height. I also consult the photos and posts in mike 's gardens a lot!
Thanks, mike and lynnee! I usually over prune my peppers. I will be more careful this time. I am surprised that they usually split in 3. I might have known that if I would have just let them alone to do their own thing!
3s or 4s mostly. Then the bushy ones can have a dozen.
WOW!!! I had been over pruning all of mine because Khang Starr was my guru, and that's what he always does. It's good to learn that his way is not the only way.
I always prune underneath. The canopies I thin to leave space for the peppers to grow, I never felt comfortable pruning as much as Khangg.
I saw that he pruned a lot and I tried it once. Then my plant looked barren and it eventually took a down hill turn. Now I just trim out the large, older and darker leaves to make some air circulation areas.
The Mocha Swirl pepper looks wonderful!
That is wonderful. Depending on how tall or how far along it is, I usually carefully take the buds off. This helps the plant grow opposed to the energy going to the flower at first. But do not listen to me LOL. I always ask mike for his advice.
Shawn, I know that is good advice. But I simply can't bear to get rid of those sweet little buds! Maybe the next time I grow them.
Who'd've anticipated that? It's something good to know about. Insulation ought to do the trick.I feel sorry for the little pepper plant though. I need to get over identifying with my AG plants--as my grandfather always said about the farm animals, "Don't make pets of them!"
Great idea !
I know. It is a sad loss after you nurture and have such bright hopes for the little plant's future.
Yes but the good thing is that they can be grown any time of the year and restarted the same
I hope your pepper keeps growing well - I can relate to the temperature struggles!
I discovered the problem. The water Is HOT! I am going to install a spare pump and see if it helps.
Oh, it's too bad that you removed the little pepper already. I hope that the pump helps. What about ice cubes?
You can definitely grow two peppers in a Bounty, placed at opposite ends like you have them. I had many harvestable peppers on both of my Blazing Banana and Shishito pepper plants; and on both of a pair of green bell peppers. You can always take a poor performer out later.
Thank you, lynnee!
Very nice. I need to get my gardens cleaned up so I can plant some.
You're very welcome, Sher! Mine germinated right away, and I'm going to separate the seedlings this afternoon.🌶