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fertilizer Fertilizer

mikeyd1016

mikeyd1016

I have some liquid fertilizer with work castings and bat guano in it. Is this good for peppers and at which stage of the game should I start.

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Yeah that's fine for peppers. What stage are they at? I usually don't fertilize until I pot them up in at least 2gal sized pots. Sometimes fertilizers, even organics, can overload and burn them when they're young. The soil can feed them for a long time, and a majority of the pepper's foliage production comes from the air anyways. I feel like there's a lot of over fertilization that happens to peppers and they often don't actually need it. If they look healthy right now, I wouldn't feed them. 
 
peppamang said:
Yeah that's fine for peppers. What stage are they at? I usually don't fertilize until I pot them up in at least 2gal sized pots. Sometimes fertilizers, even organics, can overload and burn them when they're young. The soil can feed them for a long time, and a majority of the pepper's foliage production comes from the air anyways. I feel like there's a lot of over fertilization that happens to peppers and they often don't actually need it. If they look healthy right now, I wouldn't feed them. 
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This is where they are at now. No fertilizer yet, I was just asking so I know when to.i have never done this before, so I am soaking up all the info I can. Everyone here is great.

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Okay, they're still pretty young so honestly you don't need ferts yet. Most barely have their first set of true leaves. What growing medium are they in?
 
Otherwise, holy sheet, that's a lot of peppers, and they look great! 
 
Edit- sorry I misread your question! I don't fert until they're in their final containers. Since you end up potting them up several times, they will get the nutrients from the soil you add when you up the pot size. I typically go from starters --> solo cups --> 2 gal --> 5 gal. I don't fertilize until they've been in the 5 gal for a couple weeks. From then on, I fert with low concentration liquid stuff (fish emulsion, bat guano, etc) mixed with water about bimonthly. As long as you use a good quality growing medium, they really do not need to be fertilized very often. Mixing healthy compost or a good organic soil (Fox Farms is pretty popular on here) will provide everything the plants need. 
 
Peppers cannot use the nitrogen in the air (N2), they can only use nitrogen in the form of nitrates, nitrites, and ammonium. Healthy soil has all the necessary components, and these compounds are made by microorganisms in the soil that the plant can use. Often, soil sold at department stores is sterilized, but by adding compost you can reintroduce a lot of the natural micro-biome of soil. This is why I don't add nutes until they stop getting fresh soil.  
 
Way too early. I have been hitting mine too early each year as you can see from the pics. Fortunately I use a nutrient line that is very gentile one them when overdosed. They display symptoms of nutrient lockout without any long term il-effects and all the color returns with time. I am sure there are some slowing down as a result, but that is ok too as my plants will take off from here on out and be quite large at plant out.
 
Pics depict early stage symptoms of nut lockout and progress of recovery.
 
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Hello mikey, I moved a lot of your posts from the Welcome forum, we have special forums for peppers, thanks! ;)
 
peppamang said:
Sometimes fertilizers, even organics, can overload and burn them when they're young. 
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Please elaborate how so...
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I accidentally spilled a jug of fish emulsion into a pot once, while falling down in my garden.  The only thing that happened, was raccoons or possums dug pretty good into the pot that night. 
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I've heard the myth of the "organic burn" before, but I'm curious as to how that might work...  Nutrient "burn" is almost always associated with nitrogen salts.  
 
Eat asparagus every day and start urinating on your plants and you'll find out
Ammonia in excess will mess them up real good
 
Powelly said:
Eat asparagus every day and start urinating on your plants and you'll find out
Ammonia in excess will mess them up real good
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Urine does not fit the definition of "organic" - from a chemistry standpoint, as it contains inorganic salts.
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As for that particular instance - typically the nitrogen breaking down into ammonia, radically and suddenly alters the PH of the soil.  Not an instance of fertilizer "burn" from an organic source.
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I agree that certain organic fertilizers, when overdosed can cause problems, but have yet to see a case of "organic burn". 
 
It does because loads of products available at your local home improvement store contain too much ammonia for peppers
"Organic" has nothing to do with organic chemistry
 
Powelly said:
"Organic" has nothing to do with organic chemistry
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It does when the use of inorganic salts are concerned.  You can't bottle and sell piss by the government standard for "organic" (which is a stupid definition, anyway), either.
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Ammonia doesn't cause burn.  But OK.  This conversation is getting ridiculous.
 
"organic produce and other ingredients are grown without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms, or ionizing radiation. Animals that produce meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products do not take antibiotics or growth hormones"
 
Pretty much the end of that discussion - organic fertilisers can definitely cause issues with excess. Just too much poo on a plant and you'll see
 
Powelly said:
Pretty much the end of that discussion - organic fertilisers can definitely cause issues with excess. Just too much poo on a plant and you'll see
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Nobody says it can't.  It's just not "fertilizer burn". (that term is very specific to the dessication of roots caused by inorganic salts).  What part of that isn't getting across?  LOL
 
Manure contains a very large amount of salts
 
https://cals.arizona.edu/animalwaste/farmasyst/awfact8.html
 
"Manures from concentrated animal feeding operations are usually high in salt content. Most dairy and feedlot manures contain 5 to 10% salt (50,000 to 100,000 ppm). Frequent and/or large (20 tons per acre) applications of manure to cropland increases the risk of salt injury to plants. Salt-sensitive plants such as lettuce, tree fruits and nuts are especially susceptible"
 
As I said, pretty much the end of that discussion. 
 
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