fertilizer A question about watering schedule and fertilizers

[Moshman]

I just picked up one of those multiprogram tap timers and have it connected to an oscillating rainwave sprinkler to water my overwintered plants. When my seeds germinate, I will add plants to the system as they are needed. I set it to water my pots for 7 minutes at a time at 8am and 3:30pm. Now I was wondering if there are more optimal times of the day to do this seeing as I have taken human error out of the equation and don't have to physically water my plants anymore. I assume that they would need to be watered sometime in the afternoon as they will dry out during the day, though midday I was told is not a good time as the water can act like a magnifying glass and burn your leaves when sitting directly in the sun.

My other questions are to do with fertilisers:

When I pot my new chillies, I plan to use a pre made well draining tomato potting mix which is obviously packed with slow release fertilisers etc. etc.

Today I bought Yates Professional blood and bone which was a bit pricey, plus I have Seasol power grow and the Seasol seaweed mix, plus half a bottle of Thrive tomato concentrate left over from last year.

My questions for fertilisers are this:

How long after I use blood and bone should I start using the seasol combo again?
Do I need to use the tomato concentrate as well at any stage if I am using the Seasol combo or will this just be too much for the plants to handle?

Assuming I use the Seasol combo every fortnight as recommended on the package, will I end up having to use anything else further down the track to rebalance the soil (or has anyone found using these to be enough to grow chillies with)?

The fertiliser questions are probably more directed to the Aussies as I am not sure whether or not you have the same brands O/S, sorry to exclude you all.

Will post pics of the system soon, it is really simple and cost about $70 ex hoses and prob. could have been done a lot cheaper but I know it will last for many years which is why I spent a little extra.

 

[gasificada]

Be very careful with some of those pre-made mixes! I used one last season that boasted "excellent drainage" and it turns out the company that produced it really had no idea what the concept of "drainage" meant (never saw any run-off come out of the pots and the mix stayed wet for days - even weeks - on end). If the mix in question feels and looks quite heavy, get yourself some Perlite and add a bit to the mix. You can get a 15L bag from Bunnings for about $13 I think which you should be able to stretch out and use for about 4 bags of potting mix.

Following Hippy Neil's advice, all I will be using is 25L Coles Potting Mix, 10L Coir Brick and 1L Dynamic Lifter pellets for each batch. Will probably add organic compost to that and Perlite as well in case the compost makes the mix a bit heavy. As far as any other fertilizer goes, I will maybe use a half dose of Fish & Kelp every now and again if my plants look like they need it and gonna try and get my hands on some Worm Tea (I heard they love the goodness of worms!). From what I have heard, chilli plants respond much better to smaller doses than to large ones.

 

[bigt]

"When I pot my new chillies, I plan to use a pre made well draining tomato potting mix which is obviously packed with slow release fertilisers etc. etc."


IMO, that's all the fertilizer you need. If you are trying to get a late season secondary crop, you might add a small amount of "Bloom Booster" type low nitrogen blend. Chilies don't need much. Sun and water make them happy.

 

[slick]

Bit of a newbie here but just wanted to say I love Yates Professional blood and bone - it's something I've used a bit last year when 4 plants were looking terrible. The soil mix was good quality with lots of compost but Thrive wasnt doing enough good work in terms of fertilizing... after major problems I got some of Yates Professional blood and bone and applied small doses every 2 week when I watered in. I've stopped seeweed+thrive that I was doing every 2 weeks (alternating). The plants grew 30% very quickly after that

Moshman what I'd do is alternate very small doses of Seasol power grow , Seasol seaweed mix, Thrive tomato concentrate and every month add a tiny bit of Yates Professional blood and bone

 

[Moshman]

Sorry about the pic size, I had to take them with my phone.

The timer and the splitter I use. I put thread tape on everything before I made each connection and so far not a single leak to be found.

You can set up to 10 watering cycles on this, by day or groups of days or just for everyday like I have.

My overwintered peppers, it's hard to see here but from left to right is Bhut Jolokia, Trinidad Scorpion, White hab, Chocolate Hab, then the last two on the right one is a peter pepper and the other is a birdseye, then in the front row I've got an orange hab which I bought, two varieties of chives and basil in the long planter.

Mah growin' stuff. The black plastic buckets I picked up for 80 cents each at Bunnings, I got twenty of them. They are 9.6L which will be a good size, I will fill them potting mix and transplant my seedlings into them when they are ready. A few cheeky holes in the bottom should sort out the drainage situation.

My seeds keeping at a constant 30 degrees celcius in this box under my router. I have a lot of varieties in here.

 

[gasificada]

As far as watering goes, only water when plants need it. Before watering, stick your finger into the soil and if it's still moist, don't water. When your plants do need watering, water until you see run-off coming out the bottom of the pot and that should be more than enough.

With it still being a little cool here in Brissy ATM, I've only had to water once every 3 or 4 days. Having a timer may make things a little easier but first you will still have to gauge the period of time in between waterings (i.e. from the last watering until how long it takes for the soil to become dry) and keep an eye on it as the weather becomes hotter.

I'm thinking you will not have to water twice a day until your plants become much bigger and it gets really hot.