A Frustrating Season -- Help Please

Derelict

Derelict

I've been growing ordinary peppers for years, usually with good success.  The local nurseries have locally produced jalapeno, serrano, and habanero plants.  I've planted these, cared for them, sometimes mistreated them, but they never let me down!
 
Different experience this year.  I paid a fair amount and purchased a large number of plants from an online nursery -- ghost peppers, Fatali, chocolate habanero, red savina, aji cito.    I wanted to move the bar a bit.
 
All have been huge disappointments now that the season is nearly over.  I am ready to plow them under!!  I will harvest a mere 3 ghost peppers from one plant and none from the second.  I have had one chocolate habanero, two red savinas, maybe 5 fatalis, and 5 aji citos.  All the plants were stunted, as if they were dwarfs.  They came out of the box as 4" plants and none grew to more than 12", spindly stalks at best.  This is after planting them in mid-May!
 
The grower recommended 5 inches (yes 5!) of mulch so I applied 5 inches of redwood bark.  The grower recommended stressing the plants by watering infrequently, maybe every 4-5 days.  The grower recommended pure potting soil, with no local clay added to minimize the water draining straight through.   The grower wanted me to pay $$$ for her rotted fish remains fertilizer and apply it every four weeks.  I used regular local organic fertilizer.
 
At the same time, the grower told me to "push push push" the peppers!  I'm not even sure I know what that means if she was telling me to starve the plants of water.
 
I am wondering if the mulch played a role.  Am I supposed to apply fertilizer UNDER the mulch or should I assume that if I apply dry granular organic fertilizer, the nutrients will eventually get to the roots? 
 
Can anyone offer some suggestions?  This has been a wasted 4.5 months and a huge disappointment.  FYI, I planted 20 plants of Anchor Poblano, Thai, Serrano, and Jalapeno, and they have all thrived alongside the dwarf-like plants I purchased online.
 
 
Transplant stress / shock.

Do not stress the plant at all imo. Or only do it once the plants are established.

The nutrients need to get to the roots.

Freshy applied mulch can actually sap some nutrients from the soil. And 5 inches with no water doesn't sound good

Next year try some growing a few in containers it is easier to manage. Also try again in ground fixing the issues.

Can also buy plants from me
 
AndyW said:
Treat those superhots/unique varieties like you did the ones that did well?
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Yes I did.  The "normal" peppers (jalapenos, serranos, thai, poblanos) have done fairly well.  The hot ones have not. 
 
juanitos said:
Transplant stress / shock.

Do not stress the plant at all imo. Or only do it once the plants are established.

The nutrients need to get to the roots.

Freshy applied mulch can actually sap some nutrients from the soil. And 5 inches with no water doesn't sound good

Next year try some growing a few in containers it is easier to manage. Also try again in ground fixing the issues.

Can also buy plants from me
Click to expand...
 
I now think I know what happened. 
 
The grower (Cross Country Nurseries, where the gal who runs it calls herself the "Chile Goddess") said to apply 5 inches of mulch after planting.  5 inches!  I'd been growing more ordinary peppers for years, and never used mulch.  I just pulled weeds.  But 5 inches?
 
Well I did what she said.  Used a common mulch for California, shredded redwood bark.    Applied fertilizer every 3-4 weeks.  After six weeks, with stunted plants, I emailed the "goddess" and she gave me some other instructions.  I followed them to the T.   We had another email exchange three weeks later, the peppers were marginally better.    But another two months passed, by now it's late September, and the plants are all stunted, looking like dwarf plants in a cold climate.  WTFO!
 
The goddess had lots of words to say but she didn't figure it out -- I did.  I analyzed what I had done differently from previous years.  That's when she told me redwood bark saps nutrients from the soil.  So then I asked her, "Does that mean the nutrients from the fertilizer didn't percolate down to the roots?  Should I have been applying the fertilizer directly on the soil or under the soil?"  She then said [face palm!], "Oh, you're supposed to lift up the mulch and scratch the fertilizer into the soil." 
 
Son ... of ... a ... bitch!  It was that simple!  But she hadn't even thought of that possiblity, I did!
 
So basically, over 4.5 months, the plants had been starved.  I had watered and fed the plants but the mulch -- all 5 inches of it -- might as well have been an impervious layer of plastic.  The plants received zero nutrients.   
 
So I spent an hour this morning, filling two large trash bags of redwood mulch -- screw her damn idiotic notion of 5 inches of mulch!  I applied fertilizer 1/2 inch below the soil.  I almost heard the plants sigh!  If I'm lucky, maybe I'll finally see a decent crop of fruit by late October.  [That's supposed to be sarcastic.]  If I hadn't followed all those detailed instructions from the grower all would have been fine, maybe not as prolific as she gets but certainly enough to make me happy.
 
So I'm very disappointed in Cross Country Nurseries.  Maybe the use of such a large amount of mulch is good for the purists, but for me it resulted in nothing more than a worthless summer.  I spent hundreds of dollars and wasted 30 minutes a day lovingly caring for plants that were slowly being starved.   If a vendor sells not only  a product but provides use instructions, the instructions should be accurate.  And thorough.  And complete.
 
I kinda figured that's who you'd purchased from... Based on the care instructions.

I've grown plants from CCN 2 years in a row. I love close enough that i go there to pick them up. They always look kinda ratty when i get them, but they tend to bounce back and produce well, once established. I grow using practices i learned here on THP, mostly. I don't follow the CCN instructions.

Next year, I'm growing strictly from seed. It's just more cost effective, and offers me more control of every step of the process.

I've only been at this two seasons now, but I've already learned an important lesson: there's always next year!
 
Derelict said:
 
I now think I know what happened. 
 
The grower (Cross Country Nurseries, where the gal who runs it calls herself the "Chile Goddess") said to apply 5 inches of mulch after planting.  5 inches!  I'd been growing more ordinary peppers for years, and never used mulch.  I just pulled weeds.  But 5 inches?
 
Well I did what she said.  Used a common mulch for California, shredded redwood bark.    Applied fertilizer every 3-4 weeks.  After six weeks, with stunted plants, I emailed the "goddess" and she gave me some other instructions.  I followed them to the T.   We had another email exchange three weeks later, the peppers were marginally better.    But another two months passed, by now it's late September, and the plants are all stunted, looking like dwarf plants in a cold climate.  WTFO!
 
The goddess had lots of words to say but she didn't figure it out -- I did.  I analyzed what I had done differently from previous years.  That's when she told me redwood bark saps nutrients from the soil.  So then I asked her, does that mean the nutrients from the fertilizer didn't percolate down to the roots?  She then said [face palm!], "Oh, you're supposed to lift up the mulch and apply the fertilizer under the soil." 
 
Son ... of ... a ... bitch!  It was that simple!  But she hadn't even thought of that possiblity, I did!
 
So basically, over 4.5 months, the plants had been starved.  I had watered and fed the plants but the mulch -- all 5 inches of it -- might as well have been an impervious layer of plastic.  The plants received zero nutrients.   
 
So I spent an hour this morning, filling two large trash bags of redwood mulch -- screw her idiotic notion of 5 inches of mulch!  I applied fertilizer 1/2 inch below the soil.  I almost heard the plants sigh!  If I'm lucky, maybe I'll finally see a decent crop of fruit by late October.  [That's supposed to be sarcastic.]  If I hadn't followed all those detailed instructions from the grower all would have been fine!
 
So I'm very disappointed in Cross Country Nurseries.  Maybe the use of such a large amount of mulch is good for the purists, but for me it resulted in nothing more than a worthless summer.  I spent hundreds of dollars and wasted 30 minutes a day lovingly caring for plants that were slowly being starved. 
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I dont think it was 5 inches of mulch. I think was that you used redwood mulch. Which I would not put anywhere near something I planned to eat. Have you ever seen the ground underneath a redwood tree? It is completely barren and devoid of all plant life.

Lots of folks here mulch heavily using bark, lawn clippings, straw, etc.,

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/redwood-mulch-use-39321.html

I think youre being a little harsh on CCN - 2 minutes of research would have told you that redwood mulch is not good for the way you used it.

Sorry you had a frustrating season - better luck next year.
 
austin87 said:
I dont think it was 5 inches of mulch. I think was that you used redwood mulch. Which I would not put anywhere near something I planned to eat. Have you ever seen the ground underneath a redwood tree? It is completely barren and devoid of all plant life.

Lots of folks here mulch heavily using bark, lawn clippings, straw, etc.,

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/redwood-mulch-use-39321.html

I think youre being a little harsh on CCN - 2 minutes of research would have told you that redwood mulch is not good for the way you used it.

Sorry you had a frustrating season - better luck next year.
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I understand why you think I'm being harsh ... but CCN  provides very detailed instructions which I found to be overkill but followed to the letter anyway.  If they're going to be THAT specific, they ought to be sure they've covered all bases;  meaning, "never use this mulch" and "apply the plant food this way."   Because frankly, looking back, if I would have ignored their instructions I would have had thriving plants -- maybe not as thriving as they see with their techniques but something I would have been happy with.
 
There's another element to this.  When someone poses as an expert you don't second-guess their advice.  So I didn't.  I bought the mulch that suburbanites in my neck of the woods use.  Not for a minute did I think that certain mulches are destructive, sapping nutrients, and become a barrier to feeding your plants.  
 
My second beef with them is that it says clearly on their website "email us email us email us."   The chile goddess had all the information she needed in early July but never thought to carefully ask questions about the mulch or the application technique.  She knew there had to be a problem, probably a simple and fundamental one at that.  It was only when I was self-analyzing what I had done, just a couple days ago, did I get an answer.  And I figured it out, not her, she just confirmed it.   
 
It's like teaching auto mechanics but forgetting to tell the young student that the oil filter needs to be changed.  It's like telling a sweet teen to feed a baby every four hours but forgetting to tell her to put formula in the bottle instead of whole milk from the frig.
 
Sure, that's obvious to just about everyone but if you are in the business of teaching (or pretending to teach, as in her case) the teacher needs to be explicit about ALL the essentials.  Glossing over the obvious because "everybody already knows" was, in my case, destructive.  Again, I would have been better off with no instructions from her because I never would have mulched in the first place -- I never had previously.
 
 
Bicycle808 said:
I kinda figured that's who you'd purchased from... Based on the care instructions.

I've grown plants from CCN 2 years in a row. I love close enough that i go there to pick them up. They always look kinda ratty when i get them, but they tend to bounce back and produce well, once established. I grow using practices i learned here on THP, mostly. I don't follow the CCN instructions.

Next year, I'm growing strictly from seed. It's just more cost effective, and offers me more control of every step of the process.

I've only been at this two seasons now, but I've already learned an important lesson: there's always next year!
Click to expand...
 

Would you mind sharing with me your technique?  CCN's is a very expensive one. 
 
TBH, i make more mistakes than i do smooth maneuvers. I grow in raised beds, try my best to build good soil (topsoil, compost, peat, and i added some gypsum to prevent BER.) This year, i put a very thin layer of salt hay down as mulch. I fed pretty much exclusively with fishstank and probably not as often as most folks who actually know what they're doing would... I defeated most critters with neem oil and old fashioned manual azz-whuppin'... Pretty good overall w/l record although i have lost more pods to stankbugs and earwigs than i'd like, this year. I have toads in my garden; they help eat bugs, and I'm convinced that they also bring necessary levels of good luck.

By now, you've probably figured out that I'm a no-talent hack who is just winging it. If you stick around THP, you'll get far better advice from far better growers. You'll probably find that there are many schools of thought, and some might work better for you and your local conditions.

This is my second year growing. I'm just psyched that i am sitting on mountains of pods, trying to figure out what to do with them all. But, truth be told, i spent too much time, effort, and brain cells on starting far too many plants, many of which i killed needlessly thru hamfisted shitheadedness....
 
We all learn certain lessons the hard way growing peppers and it pretty much sux that you get just one outdoor season a year, but I figure you're in great shape for next year.  Tons of good info on this site and it sounds like your own methods produced on the others, so I think you're in good shape to blow the doors off our next grow.  Hope you kill it.
 
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