Pepper Problems

[phkc070408]

Historically I've had problems growing peppers. I do OK (just OK) with Hot Peppers and Purple Bell Peppers, however the other colors of Bell Peppers (green, Red, etc) don't do well. I also learned this year that purple peppers turn color when they are small and can still grow and get larger.

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I paid for a soil report at the end of this year and got the following results. See attachment.

I feel my soil is a bit clayey and not brittle enough. I plan on removing some of it and replacing it with vermiculate and Perlite. Please comment.
I have a bunch of eggshells and would like to know if I should add them or not. I feel I should hold off since my Calcium is excessive. Please comment.
I have a bunch of coffee grounds. I feel I should hold off on them since the PH is just right. Please comment.
Are there any other recommendations you can make?

Note that my cucumbers, eggplants, and Tomatoes did well this year.

 

[Meadowlark]

What were the readings for total nitrogen?

• Soil clayey and not brittle: your soil will benefit greatly from the addition of large amounts of organic matter.... composted animal manure and/or green manure and chop and drop cover crops
• eggshells: you don't really need them, but you do need organic matter.
• coffee grounds: again, you don't need them but greatly need organic matter to improve that soil

I find that the addition of Epsom salts greatly enhances production in my peppers in high calcium soil. Did your tomatoes show any signs of Blossum end rot?

 

[phkc070408]

I'll have to check up on the Nitrogen Reading. IIRC, they don't test for that because they say the test is unreliable, but I'll have to re-read it and double check.
No Blossom rot (I had that last year when my tomatoes were in pots, so I'm aware of it)
I do have a bag of Epson Salt.
Regarding the Organic Matter, shouldn't I stay away from that for now, since I'm over-loaded with nutrients?

 

[Meadowlark]

...Regarding the Organic Matter, shouldn't I stay away from that for now, since I'm over-loaded with nutrients?

No, on the contrary, your clay soil really needs organic matter and if the nitrogen level is low, which I suspect, using a legume for plant-based organics will loosen that soil.

 

[YumYum]

Adding organic matter will help to dilute the excess of your nutrients. Your zinc level is really high for some reason at 35 lbs per acre. Too much zinc can cause an iron deficiency, which they didn't test for iron.

Adding animal manure will further raise the phosphorus level. Growing a cover crop for green manure is probably your best option other than maybe growing a trap crop (maybe turnips) that you remove from the garden which will pull some of the nutrients out of the soil.

They don't test for nitrogen where I get my soil test either. I could request it I guess but nitrogen moves fairly quickly so they just assume you need some extra and so do I. If you are a total organic farmer then I could see the nitrogen results being very handy but I'm not. I use synthetic and organic stuff.

 

[Ruderunner]

No, on the contrary, your clay soil really needs organic matter and if the nitrogen level is low, which I suspect, using a legume for plant-based organics will loosen that soil.

Question on using legumes, are you referring to chop and drop of the plants or suggesting using ground up dried beans?

Just curious as I can pick up dried beans for cheap.

 

[Meadowlark]

Question on using legumes, are you referring to chop and drop of the plants or suggesting using ground up dried beans?

Just curious as I can pick up dried beans for cheap.

Yes, chop and drop of the plants. The primary pathway for nitrogen transfer from the legume to the soil is through decomposition of dead legume plant material. (Texas A&M)

 

[k3kr]

Historically I've had problems growing peppers. I do OK (just OK) with Hot Peppers and Purple Bell Peppers, however the other colors of Bell Peppers (green, Red, etc) don't do well. I also learned this year that purple peppers turn color when they are small and can still grow and get larger.

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I paid for a soil report at the end of this year and got the following results. See attachment.

I feel my soil is a bit clayey and not brittle enough. I plan on removing some of it and replacing it with vermiculate and Perlite. Please comment.
I have a bunch of eggshells and would like to know if I should add them or not. I feel I should hold off since my Calcium is excessive. Please comment.
I have a bunch of coffee grounds. I feel I should hold off on them since the PH is just right. Please comment.
Are there any other recommendations you can make?

Note that my cucumbers, eggplants, and Tomatoes did well this year.





View attachment 100730

Using this thread to ask for help with my pepper plants curling up

 

[MiniOrchardDude]

Did you recently fertilize? Leaf curl with brown tips is a sign of to much N.

MOD

 

[k3kr]

Did you recently fertilize? Leaf curl with brown tips is a sign of to much N.

MOD

No
The soil I used had no fertilizer
The added Soil was old and unused soil from other containers
Pic related is a leaf from the plant

 

[cntrlwagdnr]

I grow a lot of different varieties of peppers and chilies in the same raised bed. I hear you pain. Some do very well and others not so much. It seems to depend on the variety. This year we did incredibly well with most of them - except for color bell peppers. We got some others by accident that are called "snackers" and are like small bell peppers - they did great. The Carolina Reapers were late but eventually prolific. The Mad Hatters are always very prolific. They look like a Bishop's Hat but are extremely mild - less hot then a bell pepper and are quite small. But they are delicious either green or ripe (red) and very crisp. Great for slicing in sandwiches, salads or in omelets mashed potatoes etc. I call it the chili hater's chili, because they have tons of flavor and no heat. They also freeze extremely well with no blanching or anything. I just wash and dry them, freeze them on a try and empty them into a bag. Latelty I have been vacuum sealing them, but I make the bag a lot longer than it needs to be. So I can snip off the end, take some out and reseal a number of times. (Works great for other things too, so you don't have to always try to vacuum seal and freeze in usable portions. We now do it with a lot of bulk purchaced forzen items.) Our one Mad Hatter planr plant produced well over 1,000 chilies this year! - it 's mind blowingly prolific.