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fertilizer Best fertilizer to increase Phosphorus and potassium

Krazy Medic

Krazy Medic

I am growing Peppers and Tomatoes in earth barrels. I have large amount of growth... plants are approaching 4 feet in height lots of blooms only plants that have fruit are the chocolate habeneroes and they are loaded...

the soil is a mix of peat, black cow, black hen, mushroom compost and vermiculite.... I give foliar spray of magnesium and calcium.... leaves are dark green.... I believe the problems with fruiting is to much Nitrogen not enough Phosphorus and Potassium....

Any suggestions on having more success in getting flowers to set peppers and tomatoes....

Thanks in advance
 
Krazy Medic said:
I am growing Peppers and Tomatoes in earth barrels. I have large amount of growth... plants are approaching 4 feet in height lots of blooms only plants that have fruit are the chocolate habeneroes and they are loaded...

the soil is a mix of peat, black cow, black hen, mushroom compost and vermiculite.... I give foliar spray of magnesium and calcium.... leaves are dark green.... I believe the problems with fruiting is to much Nitrogen not enough Phosphorus and Potassium....

Any suggestions on having more success in getting flowers to set peppers and tomatoes....

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

Mono Potassium Phosphate fits the bill.

I bought some by Manutec in Australia. It was a tough one to find here.

Perhaps somebody nearer to you can comment on supply over there.

I can see some listings on amazon.com.
 
Krazy Medic said:
Any suggestions on having more success in getting flowers to set peppers and tomatoes....
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Consider showing patience with the peppers. You have a nice soil blend so just wait and see. If you just can't stand it, consider Botanicare Pro Bloom. I think it's NPK is 1-4-5 and the Liquid Karma for some good luck can't hurt at all... :cool:

For the tomatoes, 1) remove all the in-between sucker stems that are non-productive. 2) If you are satisfied with the height of the plant, top cut it to force set on the remaining flowers below. If wishing it to grow taller, just remove the suckers and show patience. I've used the Botanicare on toms also, looks guuuuud....
 
Bottom line. Peppers like a pretty even nutrient plane. There are no "Bloom boosters" or certain areas to "target" to get more flower set. If you're not getting flower set, you have other issues to worry about, like root zone temps, soil structure, etc. The worst thing you can do in gardening is throw nutrients at the problem. There are many specific sources of P and K but that is not your problem. :)

edit: what are your sources of N? cow, chicken, and mushroom solely? the cow and chicken should just about do it man, trust. that chicken isn't too far off from Seabird (i use) and it should be full of P, for K i would go Kelp.
 
this is the best place for mkp as far as i know, for small amounts anyway.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Potassium-Phosphate-99-pure-KH2PO4-1-lb-bags-/300590674573?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45fc99b28d
but i dont think mkp will help your flowers set.
 
I had a similar problem a couple of years ago when I added a lot of manure to my mix. I got huge plants with tons of leaves, but not the fruit output I was expecting. The next time I didn't add any manure and decided to foliar feed worm tea and add ferts AS NEEDED only. More nitrogen based first to start off then shift to blooming ferts as needed and a bi-weekly worm tea feeding. I've gotten about 4 times more crop and a lot less leaves this way, but I spend more time feeding and fertilizing my plants.
 
I second anything by Botanicare, we use some of their products in our hydroponic greenhouse with great results, and scratching in a bit of Kelp is never really a bad thing.
 
I agree with Pepper Guru...

I am thinking your temperatures...what have they been since you started having no blooms?
 
AlabamaJack said:
I agree with Pepper Guru...

I am thinking your temperatures...what have they been since you started having no blooms?
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Alabama Jack I believe temps may be part of the problem.... I live on the gulf coast near tampa and well it has been hotter than a Trinidad Scorpion on steroids.... I have all of the earth barrels on the east side of the building and get afternoon shade....


Have plenty of blooms .... no fruit.... project for weekend cut the suckers of the tomatoes....


To everyone who has responded thank you for your responses and suggestions....

Thanks again

Rich
 
NPK of Black Kow is 0.5-0.5-0.5. Black Hen is 2-3-2. Mushroom compost is usually very low, something like 0.7-0.3-0.3. Peat has very, very little nutrients, and vermiculite has none. So assuming you used equal amounts of black kow, black hen, and mushroom compost (of course you probably didn't) you should have somewhere around 3.2-3.8-2.8 NPK.

According to this link http://www.agnet.org/library/eb/441/

The ideal NPK ratio of capsicum is 3/.8/5 to 3.5/1/6, so it's highly doubtful that you have too much nitrogen. Some more potassium might be beneficial, so kelp is a good suggestion. I agree with AJ and Peppper-Guru it's not the nutrients, it's probably the temperatures.
 
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