Droopy jalapenos

[vette-kid]

Ok I found some 17" self watering pots that effectively doubled the volume of soil over the old pot, and they are white. During the transplant I found that the roots nearest the edge of the pot were becoming brittle. Hopefully the new pots will reduce the soil temps. It's a little frustrating because from the look out the root system, that plant was doing very well until it started getting cooked. Perhaps I can try and find a spot with a little more shade, but I'm limited it seems to either too much shade or too much sun!

Two questions though, what is a safe Max soil temp? And will water in the reservoir help in reducing the temp further?

 

[CanadianLori]

Peppers drink a lot of water. I use capillary watering with mine and each 10" pot uses between 3 and 4 cups of water a day. They are in greenhouses which heat up tremendously but they do not care, as long as they get lots to drink.

 

[vette-kid]

Still seeing soil temp around 95° .Is that just too hot? It's still droopy, but much less so. Before the transplant it looked like boiled spinach by the end of the day, today it's just a little droopy, and ALL of the water in the self watering reservoir is gone! Figured that would last a few days.

 

[Chuck]

Still seeing soil temp around 95° .Is that just too hot? It's still droopy, but much less so. Before the transplant it looked like boiled spinach by the end of the day, today it's just a little droopy, and ALL of the water in the self watering reservoir is gone! Figured that would last a few days.

95 is OK. It's when it is 120+ that things start to go bad. What was happening was that the soil volume in the old pots was too small which allowed much faster heat transfer through the black plastic into the root area of the plant, which in turn led to faster water evaporation. Now with a larger soil volume if you will completely saturate the soil in the container, that is until water stands on the surface, your plants will stay cooler longer and reduce watering frequency. I fill a wheelbarrow about 1/2 full of water and place the container in it until water stands on the top of the soil. If you use a hose or drip system in a situation like this the water will wash a channel under the soil therefore not allowing a complete watering of the root system. Water comes out of the drain holes and you think you have watered properly but you haven't.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Ok I found some 17" self watering pots that effectively doubled the volume of soil over the old pot, and they are white. During the transplant I found that the roots nearest the edge of the pot were becoming brittle. Hopefully the new pots will reduce the soil temps. It's a little frustrating because from the look out the root system, that plant was doing very well until it started getting cooked. Perhaps I can try and find a spot with a little more shade, but I'm limited it seems to either too much shade or too much sun!

Two questions though, what is a safe Max soil temp? And will water in the reservoir help in reducing the temp further?

What temps do you like? What temps do you find "safe"? You are both carbon based life forms although you can give a plant silicone amendments and help it cope.

Chuck is on it. In a swimming pool you will notice just an inch or two of water stops ir heat. It is not much. But it has mass which is that small dry pot vs large wet pot range of mass. Dry has less mass, less molecules, and the overload cannot be absorbed by the fewer molecules so is passed on more quicklyto the dense wet root. Until it is not so dense anymore anyway. A fair question would be how much soil, in kg would be considered normal for a pepper..given a normal moisture level not saturated nor dry.

 

[vette-kid]

Thanks guys. I'm still very much a novice at this. This year I have managed to get much better output and we have been enjoying tomatoes, peppers and jalapenos. You guys are helping me keep it going!