Post by Yoris on Aug 13, 2018 16:02:11 GMT -7
BSk is a cold semi-arid climate, which means it's dry in the summer and cold in the winter. However, I'll add that it's very hot in the summer, in my climate, too.
Also, we have a compact soil (clay loam or so), and strong sun with long days.
If you start your peppers and transplant them in the ground here with no special treatment (beyond watering and maybe fertilizer), you'll probably find that they hardly grow at all, and might get a few suffering, and late, fruit.
I've found a few tactics that seem to resolve this problem in my garden:
* Use containers. And, expert gardeners will say this is a bad idea (on account of fungal disease risk and drainage issues), but if we use our regular garden soil in those containers, they seem to do a lot better than if we use purchased potting mix. In fact, with potting mix, the plants might do worse than in the ground, with our sun. The potting mix might be right for some climates, but for mine, garden soil has been superior. And no, I don't even use drainage holes (which is another thing expert gardeners would go off on). Drainage holes may or may not help, but in my garden (which is arid in the summer), they don't seem to be terribly necessary. I prefer to use 10-gallon moving totes for peppers (one plant per tote). 5-gallon buckets are also good (for types like Ring of Fire). 4-gallon buckets and 18-gallon moving totes can work, with 2 or 3 plants per tote, too (but I prefer the 10-gallon for best results). You can put two plants in a 10-gallon tote, but one seems better.
* Plant in the ground (not in containers) and use a bark mulch. The peppers we've mulched have done about as well as those in containers. They fruited in a timely fashion and didn't get stunted. If this works for you, I recommend skipping the containers (since containers require more watering for survival, and since you might want a vacation for four days or something, you'll probably not want your plants to die while you're gone—so, planting in the ground is helpful if you can't get someone to water your plants).
* Grow the plants to a good size/maturity before transplanting (start them extra early). You can start them earlier than tomatoes. This seems especially helpful for later peppers. If I were starting them indoors, I would do this, but I don't get much opportunity to start them super early in my unheated greenhouse.
* Grow the right kinds. You might be surprised how favorably dollar store banana pepper seeds compare with all the fancy ones you can buy online. Don't get me wrong, there are some great fancy peppers out there, but yeah, don't underestimate your local inexpensive, banana peppers. Some good fancy ones to try include Aji Habanero, Neapolitan, Randy Sine's Evil Jalapeno, Ring of Fire, and others.
* Pick your peppers often, and especially don't let the first fruits stay on long enough to change color. The more you pick, the more peppers they'll grow, usually. This works best if you pick them when they're still green (like green Jalapenos). Green peppers most certainly are not always inferior in taste to fully ripe peppers (sometimes they're superior). It depends a lot on the breed when (i.e. what color) to harvest them. I recommend tasting any pepper you grow at all color stages, and grow those that taste good green. Of course, some peppers never are green (e.g. Banana peppers), but yeah. You know what I mean. The green peppers in the store are not ripe, FYI (but people still like them). Some breeds I particularly recommend green are Randy Sine's Evil Jalapeno and Aji Dulce 1.
Also, we have a compact soil (clay loam or so), and strong sun with long days.
If you start your peppers and transplant them in the ground here with no special treatment (beyond watering and maybe fertilizer), you'll probably find that they hardly grow at all, and might get a few suffering, and late, fruit.
I've found a few tactics that seem to resolve this problem in my garden:
* Use containers. And, expert gardeners will say this is a bad idea (on account of fungal disease risk and drainage issues), but if we use our regular garden soil in those containers, they seem to do a lot better than if we use purchased potting mix. In fact, with potting mix, the plants might do worse than in the ground, with our sun. The potting mix might be right for some climates, but for mine, garden soil has been superior. And no, I don't even use drainage holes (which is another thing expert gardeners would go off on). Drainage holes may or may not help, but in my garden (which is arid in the summer), they don't seem to be terribly necessary. I prefer to use 10-gallon moving totes for peppers (one plant per tote). 5-gallon buckets are also good (for types like Ring of Fire). 4-gallon buckets and 18-gallon moving totes can work, with 2 or 3 plants per tote, too (but I prefer the 10-gallon for best results). You can put two plants in a 10-gallon tote, but one seems better.
* Plant in the ground (not in containers) and use a bark mulch. The peppers we've mulched have done about as well as those in containers. They fruited in a timely fashion and didn't get stunted. If this works for you, I recommend skipping the containers (since containers require more watering for survival, and since you might want a vacation for four days or something, you'll probably not want your plants to die while you're gone—so, planting in the ground is helpful if you can't get someone to water your plants).
* Grow the plants to a good size/maturity before transplanting (start them extra early). You can start them earlier than tomatoes. This seems especially helpful for later peppers. If I were starting them indoors, I would do this, but I don't get much opportunity to start them super early in my unheated greenhouse.
* Grow the right kinds. You might be surprised how favorably dollar store banana pepper seeds compare with all the fancy ones you can buy online. Don't get me wrong, there are some great fancy peppers out there, but yeah, don't underestimate your local inexpensive, banana peppers. Some good fancy ones to try include Aji Habanero, Neapolitan, Randy Sine's Evil Jalapeno, Ring of Fire, and others.
* Pick your peppers often, and especially don't let the first fruits stay on long enough to change color. The more you pick, the more peppers they'll grow, usually. This works best if you pick them when they're still green (like green Jalapenos). Green peppers most certainly are not always inferior in taste to fully ripe peppers (sometimes they're superior). It depends a lot on the breed when (i.e. what color) to harvest them. I recommend tasting any pepper you grow at all color stages, and grow those that taste good green. Of course, some peppers never are green (e.g. Banana peppers), but yeah. You know what I mean. The green peppers in the store are not ripe, FYI (but people still like them). Some breeds I particularly recommend green are Randy Sine's Evil Jalapeno and Aji Dulce 1.