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Anyone growing Shishito Peppers that are healthy?

O

osakapepper

Hey everyone. I have 3 Shishito pepper plants that are not doing as well as my other peppers. I give them the love and care like the rest of the peppers and all of them are doing well except the Shishito peppers.

Their leaves are crinkly, mutated, buds turning yellow and are falling off, a whole bunch of flowers and no peppers growing. There's no sign of bug attacks, they use the same soil like the rest of the peppers, and they're located in the same area as the rest. I did everything from moving them to a more shaded area (it's really warm in Los Angeles/no clouds/all sun - that's literally 3 feet from you face), I have a watering schedule that I follow for the rest of plants and right now I am about to just give up on them.

Has anyone grown any that are nice, lush, and healthy with pods? They were producing a lot of peppers for a while but they just shut down. I had them for about 5 months and the season isn't over yet, what gives? Any tips for keeping them going, and if you do have some pics please post them here I want to see how your Shishito peppers are doing.

Thanks!
 
Shishito's are a different beast all together. They are Japanese in origin. Many are growing them in northern New Mexico and they tend to require calcium and magnesium if grown in the New Mexico soil. I've no idea what medium you have them planted in-in Los Angeles but if they're in potted soilyou may need to add CalMag or another liquid fertilizer to replenish nutrients. Now, if planted in your native backyard soil I've no idea specifically where you're located but I have grown in West Covina and that soil didn't need much help when properly aerated and mulched. Upland and surrounding areas tend to require lime being added to the soil to initiate nutrient uptake.

Over-fertilization and/or over-watering can have such an effect.

There are number of variants that can cause your plants to do that. What's your water like? Chlorinated, fluoridated and hard as hell? ...I used to live in Southern Cal.
 
FuseBoxShot said:
Shishito's are a different beast all together. They are Japanese in origin. Many are growing them in northern New Mexico and they tend to require calcium and magnesium if grown in the New Mexico soil. I've no idea what medium you have them planted in-in Los Angeles but if they're in potted soilyou may need to add CalMag or another liquid fertilizer to replenish nutrients. Now, if planted in your native backyard soil I've no idea specifically where you're located but I have grown in West Covina and that soil didn't need much help when properly aerated and mulched. Upland and surrounding areas tend to require lime being added to the soil to initiate nutrient uptake.

Over-fertilization and/or over-watering can have such an effect.

There are number of variants that can cause your plants to do that. What's your water like? Chlorinated, fluoridated and hard as hell? ...I used to live in Southern Cal.
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Thanks for replying. You've provided some good info. My wife and I have them as sides with the Japanese dishes she prepares. I tried to impress her by growing them because she gets them all the time at the market and I figured why not (grow them)?

I use kellogg potting soil. All my peppers are grown in pots. I wouldn't dare put my plants in the soil surrounding my house, i tried it once and the pants just caved in a week. I got them as seedlings from the nursery and they were pretty healthy. They transplanted well, flowered like crazy, grew some peppers, and gave up on me just recently. I use water straight from the taps. I do not know if it's chlorinated, fluoridated, and it's probably hard as hell. I never added or considered CalMag, but I did add some Miracle liquid fert. But i must've added way too much because the leaves started to burn. I stop that a good while now, and the plant showed no improvements.

I think you've pointed out a lot of stuff I didn't consider (thanks again). I'm a very lazy gardner; it's soil, water, and wait for me. It's a shame though because all of my peppers are doing well and my wife and I thought it was the end of market (Shishito) peppers for us. I guess it's back to the market for Shishito peppers. I might prune them down, bring them inside, baby-it for awhile and see. If they give up on me (then F U Shishito) and I'll just give it another go next year.

Thanks FuseBoxShot. Please feel free to post pictures of your Shishito peppers everyone, if you have them.

Cayennemist said:
Mine didn't germ.
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I am sorry to hear. I have other pepers that I've tried germinating and they never did (Korean Peppers I'm looking at you).
 
mine are growing great in my attic. I got 100% germination rate on mine. I feed them general organics nutrients which includes caMAG. You can see one in my video here. I live in sw Colorado.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9TxjiulsGA&feature=plcp
 
@judisushi06 I hate you! That Shishito pepper plant looks awsome. I wish mine looked like that. The leaves are so healthy looking. Your other pepper plants look great, too. Great job! Maybe I should get some CalMag. Is CalMag good for only peppers or can I use them for other plants as well? Thanks for taking the time to post your video, I really appreciate it.
 
no problem. i'm sure it works on other plants. Most people use that stuff out here for growing pot. Can't see why it wouldn't work for others as well.
 
I would suggest flushing the plant especially if you have signs of burn from over fertilizing. Just run water through the soil until the water is clear and not brownish. Or better yet repot the plant in some better medium like pro-mix and get rid of that kellogs. Then toss out that miracle grow fertilizer and get something that's a lot less aggressive like GH flora series and feed them following the GH Maxi series feeding chart.
 
@LGHT, I'm done with the Miracle-Gro fert. It is way too strong. I've seriously mixed half of what they suggested but it still lights the plants on fire. After I added the fert awhile back I did notice the dripping excess to be "brownish." I am going hack it, repot, and bring it indoors. Pro-mix? Too rich for my blood. I love eating and growing peppers but I have too many hobbies and too little funds to allocate to each one. It's unfortunate. Thanks for the tip!
 
osakapepper said:
@LGHT, I'm done with the Miracle-Gro fert. It is way too strong. I've seriously mixed half of what they suggested but it still lights the plants on fire. After I added the fert awhile back I did notice the dripping excess to be "brownish." I am going hack it, repot, and bring it indoors. Pro-mix? Too rich for my blood. I love eating and growing peppers but I have too many hobbies and too little funds to allocate to each one. It's unfortunate. Thanks for the tip!
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Although Pro-mix is somewhat expensive depending on the variaty of peppers your growing it will pay for itself many times over with pounds of fruit if your plants are mature and in peak season. For example if you had to go out and buy a lb of fresh super hot peppers you'll pay around $20 a lb. My 3 year old TS can yield over 10 pounds a season making the cost of soil minimal. Most guys aren't into mixing their own, but if your open to the idea you can save quit a bit. Premier the makers of pro-mix also make a 100% bag of spanghum peat moss that you can buy and add to it to make your "Pro-mix". I get a bale of their peat moss for around $10 and add to it saving around 80% of the cost.
 
e5ed6ccb.jpg


heres how mine look like ...not as healthy but a live.. i had put it in crappy dr' earths soil 2cf for $5 at HD>.. will be moving it to better soil soon
 
KiNGDeNNiZ said:
e5ed6ccb.jpg


heres how mine look like ...not as healthy but a live.. i had put it in crappy dr' earths soil 2cf for $5 at HD>.. will be moving it to better soil soon
Click to expand...

Thanks for taking the time to post a pic of your plant. Looks better than mine! Did you buy your plant from H&H Nursery in Lakewood? Because that's where I got mine.
 
What do the peppers taste like are they similar to anything else? Might have to try my luck and grow one next year.
 
@LGHT They are semi-thick skinned, low seeds, and are very mild in the heat range. The japanese usually have them as sides when they BBQ. I won't comment too much on flavor since after I grill them they taste sort of plain, slightly smoky, with a combination of bitterness and sweetness. If I had to compare it to something, it tastes almost like a cucumber that's light and shribbled in form. But don't take my words for it, my palate is all messed up from eating hot peppers all the time with everything. The Japanese including my wife (of course, there are the exceptions) don't like spicy food much and I think the texture and aroma of the pepper (after it's grilled) is what they prefer (pepper-wise) for sides to BBQ meals more than anything. Most authentic Japanese BBQ joints will serve them as sides, head out to one and try it out or you can pick some up at a Japanese/Korean market. If you like it, grow it, and post a pic. I would like to see how others are managing with this plant because I suck at it.

If you have a different take on the flavor, please post. I'm interested in knowing if my palate is really messed up, lol. Thanks to everyone for reading, posting, and contributing to THP.
 
Thanks for the info I eat Japanese food all the time and have an uncle that lived there for many years. I'll have to see if I can find them at one of the Japanese markets I get sushi from since I BBQ every other day.

Tonight is swordfish with a nice shitaki, basil and tofu dish on the side topped with a soy, ginger and mirin glaze.
 
So far mine are doing alright. I got mine as plants from Cross Country Nurseries and they are one of the few plants I received from them that are doing well actually. I have one in a pot and two in the ground. I will state the one in the pot is much happier than the ones in the ground but they are all doing as well as can be expected with combating grubs, rabbits and the weather.
 
FYI plants in pots will always grow better than ones in the ground. I know it may sound weird, but your better off getting a 10 gallon pot, and good soil and putting it on top of the ground if you want a good harvest.
 
I just harvested about 20 last night for a bbq (yakitori style) w/ some friends up in sierra madre. There are probable another 20 on the plant in various stages of growth. My plant is about 2' high in a 3gal container, 4yrs old now. I barely give it any MG tomato, 1/4th strength once a month and it's been growing just fine, just squat from overwintering cut back. For soil, i'm using 3 parts Kellogg, 1 part native soil (former orange grove), handful of sulfur (native ph almost 8) and a cup of perlite.

Depending on your muni water source (MWD, SGVMWD (mine), 3VWD, CVWD), you may not want to use anything w/ Ca, i used Camag last year and it was a disaster. I'm an idiot, but i have super hard water, and adding anything w/ Ca just retarded most of the new growth. I had to flush it forever to get rid of the excess.

I find that the shishito doesn't need quite as much water as the other chinese i have growing around it. It doesn't seem to wilt quite as quickly, though, it is about half or less the side of everything else. She's getting 6-8hours of direct afternoon sunlight and I did notice that the new flowers are yellowing more, I think it's because i'm getting daytime temps in the high 80's now (90s today maybe). Strangely, the yellow flowers refuse to drop, i have to cut them off or wait til they're completely dry before they fall off on their own.

I'll try to remember to take a photo when get home.
 
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