pics A few questions please 🙂

[Runaway]

I really appreciate all the advice I've been getting on this website. I have a lot more questions than answers it seems. But my plants seem to be looking good. No longer worried about sunburn as much. We had a few days of overcast and they seem to have recovered quite well, and hopefully hardened. One question I have is what would be the best amount of direct sunlight for these plants? Keep in mind here in central Alabama it gets pretty warm. I have them in pots as you can see so I can obviously move them around. I live in the country with plenty of room and accomodations, from full sun to full shade, and anything in between. And can do full morning sun or afternoon, or in between. Also would appreciate some advice on fertilizing. The potting soil I used was on sale at a very good price so I couldn't turn it down seeing how I needed several bags, but came with fertilizer in it. You can see the contrast in the one picture of a ghost pepper in the rear that is somewhat darker than the 7 pot in the front. I know that a lighter green can indicate a plant needs fertilizer but not certain it's the case every time. Maybe one plant is naturally darker than another? Also I probably need to mention the soil mixes, time of transplant and some earlier (watered down) liquid fertilizing should also be considered as I've been all over the map with it, but nothing heavy or crazy If anything it probably needs some plant food. Just wanted to mention that because that could also be a reason one is a little darker than the other. You can see the fertilizers I intend to use in the picture. As you probably know better than me one is higher in Nitrogen than the other, so from what I've seen online one is for vegetation growth and the other for fruit production. I thought to use the one higher in N in the early season to get more growth and the other later on to produce fruit. Or some kind of combination. But the soil already has some fertilizer in it, how much or what kind I don't know. Maybe I can find an old bag and see if it says anything about it, but I certainly don't want to overdo it. I have plenty of experience doing that to plants. Can I get some feedback on this? And one more question is I have these fiberglass rods to stake them with. When and how do I use them in these fiber bags? How close should I get to the plant without damaging it? That's all I can think of right now but this is plenty. Thanks in advance

Edit: So I took some pictures of the potting soil I used, along with a couple of the large bags of Miracle Grow.. Anyone familiar with this particular soil?

 

[HellfireFarm]

Keep in mind here in central Alabama it gets pretty warm

Well, keep in mind that peppers are from Central America so I doubt you get that warm! Also they grow quite well in places like Southern California, New Mexico, etc.

6 hours would be the minimum amount of direct sun for best results. Mine get up to 13-14 hours on sunny days depending on season. I don't grow in pots, but think the main thing there would be to make sure they're getting sufficient water.

A LIGHT shade (I've used shade cloths), or afternoon shade, would be helpful if your temperatures are getting up near or over 100

 

[CaneDog]

Great that your peppers are settling in! I'll throw in my 2 cents on a few things you bring up.

First, I wouldn't even think of fertilizing them for a few weeks. Those lighter and darker green colors look just fine and they have available nutes in the soil that should do them great for the time being. I think they'll benefit from stabilizing in their news homes a little longer before you start pushing the gas pedal.

As far as stakes, I wait a good while and until they show me they need them so that the root ball can develop and stabilize the fabric pots. Until the roots fill out the fabric and provide structure its harder to move the pots without the soil shifting and damaging the roots, plus the stakes have nothing to lock into. Once the roots create enough structure I'll put the stakes pretty close to the main stem, carefully working in the pointy end so that the roots separate more than tear.

Looks like you're off to a good start, runaway. Looking forward to you posting pics of those guys loaded up with pods.