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Help diagnosing a slow growing Trinidad Perfume, and Fatalii

Mnemosynesis

Mnemosynesis

Hello everyone,
 
I've got two peppers that are refusing to grow for me. One being a fatalii and another a trinidad perfume. The trinidad perfume was planted on April 21st, and germinated about five days later. The fatalii was planted on April 29th. Based on the deficiency symptom sheet I have it could be a sulfur deficiency however I have done nothing different for these plants than any one of the others who are flourishing. Could it just come down to genetics or are these particular varieties difficult to grow?
 
This is the trinidad perfume,
 
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and this is the fatalii,
 
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Any help you guys could provide would be greatly appreciated.
 
Thanks!
 
First thought is if they were all treated the same and only one of each is slow, then cull, cull, cull.  But then I remembered something very dumb I once did.  I stacked my solo cups and ran a drill threw the bottom of the stack to make my life easier than doing them one at a time.  It missed the top one and I did not notice, so that plant was perpetually too wet.  Any chance?

PS - Yes, I am often that dumb.
 
I generally have good luck with Fataliis but haven't grown the Trinidad Perfume in a while. If you have done nothing different from those that are flourishing, I would put it down to "puny" genetics syndrome. Every year, I cull several (maybe 5 out of 200) that seem to be afflicted. I currently have a couple of small Red Savinas that are struggling to make the cut. You don't want to coddle them the whole season only to see half a dozen tiny pods if lucky. Better to put your resources elsewhere.
 
You may wish to give them a bit of nitrogen (of sulfur as you suggest) and see if they rally, but some plants are simply destined to be runts. You don't want their seeds or genetics to perpetuate. I know that's not much help, but sometimes there simply isn't a magic fix.
 
ajdrew said:
First thought is if they were all treated the same and only one of each is slow, then cull, cull, cull.  But then I remembered something very dumb I once did.  I stacked my solo cups and ran a drill threw the bottom of the stack to make my life easier than doing them one at a time.  It missed the top one and I did not notice, so that plant was perpetually too wet.  Any chance?

PS - Yes, I am often that dumb.
Click to expand...
 
All cups have the holes in the bottom as I bottom water, but I could see how easy it would be to make that mistake :P
 
I really hope they aren't runts as I don't know if I'll have time to get more ready for this season, and I was really looking forward to both these peppers. I guess I'll get some more seeds germinating and go from there.
 
It looks a bit wet and dense soil plus I'd let them dry out a bit and hit them with some Epsom salt...I'm relatively new to growing peppers so take my advise lightly on this one
 
I have to agree with them. Not sure what you're using for a mix, but I'm not seeing any perlite. My advice would be to do what I do: germinate your seeds in small-cell liners filled with a mix of coco coir and perlite (30-50% of the latter). When they're ready to jump up, you can go easymode and use Miracle-Grow Potting Mix. If you want to make your own mix (which is certainly more cost-effective), I work with Canadian peat, composted bark, perlite, a little sand, and a prilled fertilizer. 
 
As the bottom-watering thing goes, I know prevailing wisdom on THP seems to be in favor of it, but someone (I want to say it was Paul Bosland, but don't hold me to it) published the results of an experiment that suggested otherwise. The notion of water-stressing your plants to get hotter pods is another one that I've seen conflicting information about.
 
Personally, I think the amount of water applied and the consistency is more important.
 
With respect to the folk who have given advice thus far, I am curious why one would think these things would not affect the plants he says are flourishing?  If a bunch of plants of the same variety are treated the same way and one of each was a runt, I would think DNA.

Why think water if the others watered the same are fine?
Why think medium if the others in the same medium are fine?

Are you guys thinking that within particular variety are different soil, water, and nutrient needs?  If so, I am back to cull so that you wind up with a more symmetric grouping of dna suitable for the growing method in use.
 
I'm using Promix seedling starter soil, and Promix potting soil. There is a healthy dose of perlite in both but there could always be more.
 
ajdrew said:
With respect to the folk who have given advice thus far, I am curious why one would think these things would not affect the plants he says are flourishing?  If a bunch of plants of the same variety are treated the same way and one of each was a runt, I would think DNA.

Why think water if the others watered the same are fine?
Why think medium if the others in the same medium are fine?

Are you guys thinking that within particular variety are different soil, water, and nutrient needs?  If so, I am back to cull so that you wind up with a more symmetric grouping of dna suitable for the growing method in use.
Click to expand...
from what I read in his post he was having trouble with two different species of plant and not having a bunch of the same ones to cull. Plus a plant is a plant some can deal with certain things and some can't even if they are the same strain. I have one bhut that hates direct sun and another that loves it. Both were out of the same seed packet and all. But back to it...I'm assuming he has one of each plant and the others are different strains that are doing better
 
ColdSmoke said:
Have you politely asked them to grow faster?
Click to expand...
 
A few times. More recently I've taken the Happy Gilmore approach, when the new seeds germinate I will hole in one them into the garbage can.
 
One thing I've learned is never put all your eggs in one basket! Small pepper plants can be a pain especially when first starting out
 
I started them on the Fox Farm diet when they were delivered at quarter strength, and they really appear to have turned around.
 
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