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Height issue

G

gvittman

Hi guys, I haven't posted in a while, too busy, but now I have to ask some advice.
Because of the awesome weather we are having this year, I planted all peppers outside in the middle of April. They all picked up very good, but ... they are not gaining any height at all. They are one big bush of leaves sitting on top of the soil. what can be the reason for this, and what do I do about it?
As fertilizer I use a 6-6-6 liquid fertilizer.
Something else I notice is a very small leave size. For explample the Datil and Douglah, they had big 3-4 inch leaves before moving them outside, and all new leaves are small, maximum 1 inch leaves.
There is only 1 pepper that is growing normally and that is the tobasco.
All advice is highly appeciated.
 
I would think it has something to do with the stuff you have them planted in. Since you're using a decent fertilizer I would suggest you find out the pH of your soil. Too acidic or sweet and the plant isn't able to absorb the available nutes. Good luck.
 
What kind of soil are you using? The soil may not being giving the roots enough room to establish themselves.
 
I think it's unlikely that the soil is at the root of the problem. Most of the plants are standing in solid ground, next to tomatoes which are this year growing as I have never seen before. The other plants I have in CellMax, which I also use for germination and till the plants go outside.
My link

Any other ideas?
 
How about a little test? Replant one of the short peppers into a pot with some good potting mix. See if it changes anything.

Have you tested the pH of your soil? The only way to eliminate that as a potential problem is to get an answer.

You can get all the answers/suggestions we can give you but if your only response is "I think it's unlikely...." then what's the point of folks trying to help? You have to put forth some effort.

Good luck to you.
 
Hi Patrick. The Cellmax has a Ph in between 5.8 and 6.5 (I add calcium), and my garden soil has a Ph of about 7.5.
Maybe another detail about the plants, and my apologies that I did not have the time to post a picture.
The leaves are not smooth, but are full with crinkles. I remember reading once somewhere about this, and they recommended a mineral, but I can not find the site back.
If you talk about "good potting mix", what do you mean? The Cellmax is top of the line and I have been using it for years.
 
Well, the problem has solved itself. Since mid April when I got them out, it has been 80ies during the day, down to 50ies at night. Suddenly since almost a week, night temps have gone up to 70ies, combined with daily thunderstorms. This apparently gave all peppers a big boost, because they all grew at least 5 inches over the last week, and are starting to form flowers.
 
Too cool night temps. Thanks for passing that on.

Hope I didn't offend you gvittman, wasn't my intent. I'm glad to hear the problem has sorted itself out. The garden soil pH of 7.5 is a tad high. Lowering it is easy. Here's a pretty good site that explains things well. Something tells me you already know this stuff though.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBYQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhubcap.clemson.edu%2F~blpprt%2FlowerpH.html&rct=j&q=how%20to%20lower%20pH&ei=1jX-Tb2jBsySgQe-0sjeCw&usg=AFQjCNFOwPyl3LIl0pTzxmk-tV3L2S-zEw&cad=rja

Best of luck to you.
 
Hi Patrick, and thanks for the links, and don't worry about your post. No damage done.
In general lowering the pH is indeed easy, but not in the area where I like. The mountain range where I live is pure calcium, and all the run-offs keep the soil pretty alkaline. My best remedy is to yearly mix in a good amount of peat moss, mixed with composted horse and cow menure. After some months, the pH however goes up again. Since I moved here, the peppers have done good though, and as many peppers do prefer a slightly alkaline soil, I have never really worried about them. All other veggies however need the lower pH.
 
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