Capsicum
Banned
the worm castings are 100% organic as botanicare is not.
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If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.
fertilizer What's the best fertilizer for peppers
- Thread starter OrganicChiles
- Start date
the worm castings are 100% organic as botanicare is not.
Joseph Stalin
Banned
Generial Hydroponics-MaxiBloom 5-15-14
It has high levels of Ca,Mg,S.
It costs 8 cents to mix full strength per one gal of water. So it costs about 8 cents a tsp and is the only fertilizer you need for chillie production.
I have been using it half stength so 1/2 tsp per gal to fertilize this thai that is in a container no bigger then a pint. The plant has over 150 pods!!.
I wont lie, extremely interested in this. Is this a liquid or a soild fertilizer?
Capsicum
Banned
It is a dry soluble fertilizer.
"Use MaxiBloom™ in the reproductive stage for all fruiting and flowering plants. MaxiBloom encourages prolific flowering and fruiting, and it increases extraordinary yields and crop quality."
AlabamaJack
Extreme Member
IMO, if you "build" your soil correctly and have healthy, sturdy seedlings to transplant, you will need very little fertilize through the season....
Capsicum
Banned
Yup. That would be a case of considering the grow media as a nutrient source. If you use a soilless mix there is no choice but to use fertilizer. Using the right one that takes care of secondary macronutrients makes things easy.
There is never 1 best fertilizer, everyone grows differently. Personally I like to keep things very cheap and simple these days. You can use all the fancy fertilizers and supplements you want but chiles aren't fussy and do very well with just simple composts/manures. I've actually grown very nice plants with just well water and garden soil. These days I like to use manure and compost tea since they are free(after labor and some gas) ,organic, and very effective
Check out the link below I believe it will explain alot. as far as the use of epsom salt.
http://www.epsomsalt...cil.org/garden/
http://www.epsomsalt...cil.org/garden/
Capsicum
Banned
Well, I use a similar fertilizer program as AJ and I know he is a PRO chillie grower! I use All purpose MG and Botanicare pure blend.
I do have maxibloom on hand and fills my plants Ca,Mg,S needs so I dont need calmag, thats not to say calmag is not a good product.
For me a good fertilizer is one that wont burn your plants if you over do it 
I suffer from Adult ADD, or some thing, because I have the patients of a 10 year old on Mountain Dew. We have very Chlorinated water down here in SD, so I Bubble my water 24/7 so I always have water to use. The problem is... I see the bucket bubbling and I get tempted to throw stuff in there, some times it's grass, maybe a handful of compost, worm castings, what ever.
I make Tea about once a week and use it as a foliar spray and a soil drench. Sure I am going over board with the Tea, but it makes me feel like I am doing something, and it satisfies the urge that causes "Overcaring." My plants don't seem to mind at all that they get so much Tea, in fact, they look picture perfect. The plants that are ready to spit pods out, are doing so, and almost every bud is turning in to a pod.
I suffer from Adult ADD, or some thing, because I have the patients of a 10 year old on Mountain Dew. We have very Chlorinated water down here in SD, so I Bubble my water 24/7 so I always have water to use. The problem is... I see the bucket bubbling and I get tempted to throw stuff in there, some times it's grass, maybe a handful of compost, worm castings, what ever.
I make Tea about once a week and use it as a foliar spray and a soil drench. Sure I am going over board with the Tea, but it makes me feel like I am doing something, and it satisfies the urge that causes "Overcaring." My plants don't seem to mind at all that they get so much Tea, in fact, they look picture perfect. The plants that are ready to spit pods out, are doing so, and almost every bud is turning in to a pod.
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/30030-my-little-glog-aact-explosion/
what are you using to spray the tea Andrew? i have been meaning to foliar spray them, and i am making a tea on Monday and will spray them when it done.
For 12$ at HomeDepot there on Genesee, I got this guy
I was using regular spray bottles but they would all clog after 1-2 applications. This thing has a Removable filter on the intake line that you can take off and clean as needed.
Hmmmm, I've been reading through this thread and found this to be one of the best answers by far.
I was also hoping to read something about Medina "Soil Activator" in this thread but it looks like I won't find it since I'm already on the 4th page. Soil Activator is supposedly similar to the tea everyone talks about. I have yet to use it myself because I keep forgetting I have some but I bought a quart for $5.99 and it's supposedly enough to cover 1000 square feet.
What is it?
Ingredients:
Fermentation extracts, magnesium chloride, iron sulfate, zinc chloride, water.
Description:
Biological activator for the soil derived from a complex bio-catalyst process. Stimulates, strengthens and multiplies the soil's indigenous microbes and bacteria, which in turn convert nutrients into usable food for plants. Also balances soil microflora.
Application Recommendations:
Gardens & Pots: Water in to soil 3 or 4 times per year at 6 Tbsp. or 3 oz. per gallon water
Lawns & Large Gardens: Apply with hose-end sprayer at 6 Tbsp. or 3 oz. To 1 gallon water. Use one full quart on area of 1,000 square feet. Do not water in after application. Use 2-3 times per year. One quart per acre prior to planting.
Compost Piles: Mix 1 cup to 1 gallon water, wet compost pile thoroughly. Foliar feeding is best when temperature is below 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Never spray in full sun as water chemicals may burn.
They also make Medina Plus which has 40 more trace elements in it.
I'm gonna try it on a few plants and see what happens.
Capsicum
Banned
It increases the microlife in your soil. It is only needed with a organic fertilizer program. Otherwise, in container culture synthetics can be very effective as your not relying on those microorganisms to break down the organic material into usable food to the plant. See, N is available as NO[sub]3[/sub]- or NH[sub]4[/sub]+. It does not make a difference to the plant whether if it came from worm castings or bottled nutrient.
Separate topic would be needed to cover this. Manure for edible fruit should compost in a heap that stays neither too dry or wet, reaching about 160F temperature (some suggest a little lower) for at least a few days. If it drys out too much, water it. If it gets too wet, spread it out to dry then combine in a pile again and turn it with a shovel regularly. This pile self-heating also helps to kill harmful bacteria, fly eggs, seeds in it. The decomposition usually takes a small # of months. It'll have reduced in size and smell like earth, be crumbly and a bit drier when finished. There are of course people who don't wait that long but it is always best to think one season ahead in gardening.
As with the custom fertilizers, there are pH levels, moisture content %, nitrogen and carbon ratios to shoot for to make the ideal manure compost. An easier rule of thumb is if it looks like muck or smells like poo still, it's not ready.
For me a good fertilizer is one that wont burn your plants if you over do it
I suffer from Adult ADD, or some thing, because I have the patients of a 10 year old on Mountain Dew. We have very Chlorinated water down here in SD, so I Bubble my water 24/7 so I always have water to use. The problem is... I see the bucket bubbling and I get tempted to throw stuff in there, some times it's grass, maybe a handful of compost, worm castings, what ever.
I make Tea about once a week and use it as a foliar spray and a soil drench. Sure I am going over board with the Tea, but it makes me feel like I am doing something, and it satisfies the urge that causes "Overcaring." My plants don't seem to mind at all that they get so much Tea, in fact, they look picture perfect. The plants that are ready to spit pods out, are doing so, and almost every bud is turning in to a pod.
My peppers look like crap compared to yours. Funny thing is I don't really care as I don't eat that many anyhow.
Mine look malnourished or something but I am in a I don't give a shit attitude this season. If they live, fine, if they die they go in the compost pile.
