First time growing chilli peppers

Hey everyone! Hope everyone’s well and good leading up to Christmas.

I’ve only just started planting chillies in my backyard and would appreciate any advice from all yous.

I’ve got about 60 -80 seedlings now. I don’t know what the exact variety I’m planting but from the packet, it says it’s “Thai Sripai Chillies”. They were planted on 7/11/2017 in peat moss. They grew beautifully.



As I was unsure of the correct medium to transplant them, I transplanted them in batches in various mediums:-

1) Peat moss

2) Peat moss + Epsom Salt

3) Soil I dug up from behind my house (Let’s just call it regular soil)

4) Regular soil+ Epsom Salt

So far, the batch with regular soil seems to be doing the best. It is the largest in terms of size and looks the healthiest. Next one down would be the ones in peat moss. But even then the difference in size between the two batches are remarkable. Have a look below.



Am I doing something wrong or is Peat moss unsuitable for chillies? Other than it being smaller, it looks perfectly healthy.

As for the ones in peat moss + Epsom Salt, they pretty much curled up and died. Maybe I put too much Epsom Salt during transplanting.

The ones with regular soil + Epsom Salt are neither here nor there. Half withered away and the other half don’t seem to be growing much. Please see the following pic.



This is the amount of Epsom Salt I put before transplanting. Is it too much?



It’s been fun so far and I’ve not started another batch of seedlings.

Looking forward to any suggestions / advice.

Cheers!


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I forgot to mention I started a small blog to keep track of my progress. Feel free to visit @ www.nathanschillipatch.wordpress.com


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!   no need for the epsom salt now ,  dont over water , overt feed , and fresh air with a small fan ( if inside )  all will be well ,   

moruga welder said:

!   no need for the epsom salt now ,  dont over water , overt feed , and fresh air with a small fan ( if inside )  all will be well ,   

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I water them once a day, usually in the evenings.
 
They are all left outside under the hot Malaysian sun and weather.
 
Do you have any idea why those in the peat moss are so much smaller?

Peat moss is too  acidic.
 
Chiles like a Ph of 6.5 to 7

yeah don't just add epsom salt willie nillie. use a full nutrient like osmocote smart release pellets or dynagro foliage pro liquid.
 
soil probably is already rich in nutrients so plants are best in it. Only problem with soil is you don't know exactly what's in it so you might have problems later if you are low on nutrients. Also it can compact if you dont have something in there to make it drain better (like coarse sand / perlite / wood chips). But soil is easiest to just start growing in for sure.
 
i like coco coir as medium and full nutrient solution as i have more control. but with having more control means you have to actually control everything, so more work than soil.

Personally, I would be careful with those black bags too. If it's really hot where you are, it could make the soil/roots too hot. That's just my opinion though.

willard3 said:

Peat moss is too  acidic.
 
Chiles like a Ph of 6.5 to 7

Click to expand...

So are you suggesting that the acidity is the reason the plants are growing slower?

juanitos said:

yeah don't just add epsom salt willie nillie. use a full nutrient like osmocote smart release pellets or dynagro foliage pro liquid.
 
soil probably is already rich in nutrients so plants are best in it. Only problem with soil is you don't know exactly what's in it so you might have problems later if you are low on nutrients. Also it can compact if you dont have something in there to make it drain better (like coarse sand / perlite / wood chips). But soil is easiest to just start growing in for sure.
 
i like coco coir as medium and full nutrient solution as i have more control. but with having more control means you have to actually control everything, so more work than soil.

Click to expand...

 
I just picked up a bag of 9 in 1 potting mix. It's really expensive though.
 
I would like to make my own potting mix but where I am, it's hard to come by stuff like perlite etc to make the mix.
 
Is there anything I can mix with coco peat?

Arthertbc0702 said:

 
I just picked up a bag of 9 in 1 potting mix. It's really expensive though.
 
I would like to make my own potting mix but where I am, it's hard to come by stuff like perlite etc to make the mix.
 
Is there anything I can mix with coco peat?

Click to expand...

I use coco coir/peat and compost 50/50.
The compost is very fine and matured ,homemade, and gives all the nutrients any plant will need . The coco for soil structure and gives the best root development.
Everybody is obsessed with plant growth, but nothing happens without root growth.

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karoo said:

I use coco coir/peat and compost 50/50.
The compost is very fine and matured ,homemade, and gives all the nutrients any plant will need . The coco for soil structure and gives the best root development.
Everybody is obsessed with plant growth, but nothing happens without root growth.

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Click to expand...

I'll try that later today then.
 
I'll also try 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 coco coir and 1/3 garden soil.
 
Wonder how that's gonna work out haha

So, I mixed up garden soil, coco coir, and peat moss. I don't know what the ratio was - I just went with my gut.


I also picked up a sack of commercial potting mix for comparison, though I doubt very much my home made mix would be better.




3 of my largest seedlings were transplanted into big bag. 2 using the homemade mix and 1 using the commercial mix.



I really do hope I’ll be able to enjoy the fruits of my labour. Literally.



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they look fine. just let em grow they will be fine i'm sure.