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Slow grow season... suggestions?

Binganero

Binganero

Hey everyone.

I am having a terrible year so far with my peppers. I am confused on several fronts, so I was hoping to get some input on these issues.

First, I am having alot of my pepper leaves that are SLOWLY coming out look sunburned, with purple leaves. I raise the light away from the peppers (its been about 10 inches away for a few days, and the leaves are still turning purple. On top of it, some of the purple plants are leggy:

IMG_1314.jpg

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Second, these peppers that you see have been germinated for more than 4 weeks, and that is all the growth that I have seen. What the heck gives? I had discussed my starting mix in another thread, where I tested the pH at 6.4ish. I have been giving regular shots of Fox Far Grow Big every two weeks or so and have foliar fed them with epsom salts once. On top of everything else, the leaves on some plants are small and curling upward. There are no parasites whatsoever... What am I doing wrong? I got a late start as it is... and at this rate I MAY have pods next year.

IMG_1315.jpg


Finally, if I want to give my plants a shot of calcium, is it safe to crunch up some calcium pills that have vitamin D included? Is that more effective than eggshell powder?

Thanks in advance,
Bing

PS... the lights above the plants are 4x 54W T5 6500k bulbs. Temp inside it ~78 to 80 degrees F.
 
They all look pretty good to me. Some plants just go slower than others. All my Bhuts got purple spots on their leaves last year and turned out fine, so I wouldn't worry. Give them a little mild wind about 30 mins a day to build a stronger stem. You have plenty of light. Once they get out and see some natural sunlight, they will take off. Don't over water and build up to the 30 min of fan time to avoid shock.
 
They look a little wet to me, also i try to avoid the use of peat pots as i have found them to stunt growth when planted directly in pots as the roots find it hard to get through the peat.
 
The purple coloring will not hurt the plants...moving the lights away from the plants is doing exactly the opposite of what you need to do to keep the seedlings from getting leggy...move the lights as close to the plants as you can...my lights are only about an inch from the tops...
 
I think they look good, but I'll +1 the too wet comment. My plants seem to go through little growth spurts when I let the pots dry out between waterings.

I have a couple peppers that are growing much more slowly than their siblings, and the only difference I notice is that the medium in the slow pots is always wetter that the medium in the others. I think excessive wetness keeps the roots from growing out properly, stunting the plants growth.
 
I am using a 8-bulb T5 (54W each) 6500K setup. It is a dual switch, so currently I am using the middle 4 of the 8 lights.

AJ, good to know on the purpling. I didn't know if that was the plant's method of protecting itself from harm, or if it is something that won't hurt them.

I have been watering more often than last year... I will let them dry out more between waterings.

What about the calcium question? Is vitamin D along with the calcium acceptable?

Thanks!

Bing
 
Yup, everyones right. Peppers just grow slow, and they do look good! The only thing that comes to my mind is that I bought a heat pad for the bottom of the plants and that really enhanced the growth more than the proper lights (as I only have one pad at 5 trays of peppers all under the same lights). I also think the start of my peppers seemed to take forever, and now it seems as though they are growing super fast ... dont worry.. your doin well!!

This is the mat I was talking about: http://www.minigreenhousekits.com/Hydroponic-Germination-Seed-Starting-Heating-Mat
 
Can you post photos o fyour lighting array? Where did you source the 8 fixture light?

Here in Vegas, I really don't see many T5 bulbs, if I do, they are the smaller 2" or less.
 
Novacastrian said:
They look a little wet to me, also i try to avoid the use of peat pots as i have found them to stunt growth when planted directly in pots as the roots find it hard to get through the peat.
Click to expand...

How is growing in peat pots any different then regular pots?
 
Binganero, I can't remember if I read it on this forum or not, but I read about this purple leaf issue a while back. I was having the same problem. It turns out that it is a response to too much lighting. The purple, anthocyanin, is a pigment produced by the plants as a sort of "sunscreen." It will not hurt the plants, but if you cut back on the amount of light they're getting you should see this improve. I cut my lighting back from 24 hr a day to 16 on and 8 off with significant improvement of the purpling problem. However, don't worry.....this issue is not supposed to be "bad" for the plants.

Like you, I also seem to be having slower growth than other members on this site. My plants are about 6 weeks old, planted on February 4. At best, some have 3 sets of true leaves. They all just seem to be hanging out at the same size with not much interval growth. I feel like they've looked the same for the last 2 weeks. Soooo......I just bought some Chile Focus fertilizer and started it today. I also ran across a guy on here using something called Rhizotonic with phenomenal results! Rhizotonic is supposed to provide a root stimulus for branching and fast growth. That should be coming in soon and I will try that. We shall see. My only saving grace is that the plants actually do look healthy, just growing slow. It seems as if from the comments above that this can be normal. So I guess I'll just do what I can and hope for the best as long as everything is looking healthy.
 
Any word on the vitamin D in the calcium?

I had fantastic results last year with peat pots. I also used a far different grow mix, but that is a whole nother story.

ultravista... here is a link to the thread where I documented my greenhouse design:
http://www.thehotpepper.com/showthread.php?16658-New-portable-greenhosue

I think you all nailed it on the head... i think they have wet feet. I try to stay on top of letting them dry out, but some pots on the ends dry out WAY faster than in the center, so I found myself watering them all when they didnt need it.

On the bright side, I still have a good variety of peppers this season:

Brazilian starfish
7-Pot (thanks BigT)
White Bullet Hab (again BigT)
Rocotto Yellow
Red Scotch Bonnet
Douglah (thanks Josh)
Dorset NAga (thanks Novacastrian)
Datil
Quintisho (I am anxious to see what these are like)
Hot Paper Lantern
Lemon Drop (thanks pepperrancher from GardenWeb.com)
Goat pepper (thanks to peppermanbaha)

Waiting for germination on:
Chocolate hab (again thanks Big T)
Trinidad Scorpion (thanks AJ)
Cumari
Pequin (thanks Scarpetti)
Yellow Scorp (thanks trinicoolieboy)
Texas Pequin (thanks TxClosetGrower)


So all in all it has been a good season for variety. As soon as a few more come up (most that haven't germed were planted not long ago, unfortunately), I should have a nice little garden going.

Since I have two of every superhot that has germinated, all from under the same conditions, I am going to put one in my SMALL sunny raised bed and another in my usual tree-shaded spot to see the difference. I am not looking forward to the SHU test to compare the two!

Oh! I also do, in fact, have heat mats under all the plants. They are only on at night, as the air temp in the greenhouse during the day is a steady 80+ish.
 
Everyone here talks about peppers hating the "wet feet." I have no doubt that this is true, although I only water once every 2-3 days with great draining potting mix and still have very slow growth at 6 weeks. Can't explain, but there's definitely no dampening off going on. Arghhh!
 
chillilover said:
How is growing in peat pots any different then regular pots?
Click to expand...

What i mean is that i have found that if i use peat pots to germ in and then re-pot to a larger container without removing the peat first the roots find it very hard to grow through the pot.
When i bought them one of the reason was that i wouldn't have to worry about disturbing the seedlings but pulling them out of a container, the guy that sold them to me assured me that pots were meant to be planted with the seedlings, he failed.
 
Is it the mesh netting that causes concern? It comes off very easly. When I replant from peat pot to cup, I'll remove the netting after wetting the pot to firm it up a bit.
 
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