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Don't you hate it when..?

ako1974 said:
Do you know the causes for failure?
 
I have several dud peppers this year and it sucks. But my tomatoes are raging, whereas last year they sucked. No matter what measures I take - companion planting, rotation, ferts, compost - I get the feeling there is a rotational garden karma thing going on. Sorry, you're not having everything go good. Then I look at some people's gardens and *everything* is going good. Who knows...

But I was literally just thinking about next year's peppers and seeds 2 days ago ;)
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Thanks for the words of encouragement..

I got a thread on there "Growing..." that outlines my most frustrating point of failure. Mysterious will has killed give of my plants. I'm not entirely sure what's causing it, and I worry it will claim even more plants before I figure it out...
...if ever I do manage to figure it out. http://thehotpepper.com/topic/68896-plants-are-wilting-weird-stuff-please-help/page-1

Other frustration and failure came in waves all season: I lost a bunch of seedlings by using bullshit starting media. I managed to get enough viable plants by switching media and restarting just in the nick of time, but it was a later start than I'd originally planned.

Then, a lot of rain at my intended time of plant-out postponed things. Continued rains after I planted out exacerbated things somewhat.

I started some new beds with new company which I suspect was a lil "hot" and maybe burned some roots? Definitely seemed to lockout iron temporarily. All those plants eventually bounced back and look nice right now, but they're definitely small and behind-schedule in terms of production. I'm in 7b so time is running out fast.

A lot of my plants have been dropping a good number of Blossoms. I thought it was related to a heatwave, but now I'm not so sure...

Despite my half assed efforts to increase calcium in my beds, some of my plants are suffering from BER, particularly Zapotec Jalapeños and just one of my 3 Guajillo plants. Others are producing pods with no issues whatsoever.

Basically, I learned a lot from mistakes last year, which was my first year of growing. This year, I found out that I still have lots to learn...
 
I feel your pain. Im still having BER issues with anything that resembles an Anaheim. Ive tossed more than ive harvested. Plants right next to them have none. I had issues with it last year too. Lost lots to BER even in containers.
 
For in-ground plants, BER is very seldom due to a lack of calcium. If you have single plants suffering BER, next to others that don't, it's most certainly NOT a calcium issue.
 
ShowMeDaSauce said:
I feel your pain. Im still having BER issues with anything that resembles an Anaheim. Ive tossed more than ive harvested. Plants right next to them have none. I had issues with it last year too. Lost lots to BER even in containers.
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It sucks pretty badly. In desperate times, I cut the shitty end off and eat the rest of the pod, if it looks alright.
 
solid7 said:
For in-ground plants, BER is very seldom due to a lack of calcium. If you have single plants suffering BER, next to others that don't, it's most certainly NOT a calcium issue.
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So what would it be, do you think? I'm growing in raised beds. Scenario is, I got three Guajillo plants next to each other. Two make healthy pods, the third will push out seemingly healthy pods but just as they get big, they develop BER... The poblanos next door and the Thais on the other side, no sign of BER yet at all...

Next bed over is all Jalapeños and Serranos. None of the Serranos suffer from BER. I'm growing four different types of Jalapeños. No BER on any of them, except half of the Zapotec plants have some BER on some pods. The one plant has a lot of pods, all with BER.

Everything I read on the topic last year indicated it was a calcium problem. My beds at the community garden are 100% compost, per the Garden Club's rules. I added some crushed eggshell this year, and some scoundrel may or may not have mixed some gypsum in as well just prior to plant out, under cover of darkness. I was hoping this would up the Calcium... Mostly for the BER, but I do sometimes get those spinachy-looking leaves up at the CG as well...

Fwiw, my beds at home are made up of a more balanced mix (topsoil, yard flotsam, shit I bought at the store, compost, probably extra nitrogen courtesy of the neighborhood cats, too,) and, while they are not without problems, the BER and the spinachy leaves haven't occurred there at all...

I'm in the process of saving up a big ol garden budget so I can hopefully build a much more rockin garden next year... And a pitbull to keep those stray cats out, too...
 
Well you mentioned that you were having a lot of rain.  That's the #1 disruptor of calcium uptake.  BER isn't necessarily caused by a deficiency.  It's caused by an interruption of supply. (which can happen even when it's abundant)
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Alot of the info passed down on calcium deficiency is old school.  Stuff our grandparents learned.  I think a lot of it is right, and a lot of it needs to be reconsidered, in light of new evidence.  But you know...  old habits and info die hard.
 
Well yeah we had a lot of rain in May and most of June... But that still doesn't explain why some plants are affected and others aren't... Nor does it explain why I had issues with it last year, which was pretty dry...

I think that the Community Garden is all compost, and it probably is low on calcium. Next year, if i'm still growing at the community garden, I'll bb loading it up with bonemeal at plant out. It's what I wanted to do this year, but bonemeal is pricey so I cheaped out... Never again...
 
Bicycle808 said:
Well yeah we had a lot of rain in May and most of June... But that still doesn't explain why some plants are affected and others aren't... Nor does it explain why I had issues with it last year, which was pretty dry...

I think that the Community Garden is all compost, and it probably is low on calcium. Next year, if i'm still growing at the community garden, I'll bb loading it up with bonemeal at plant out. It's what I wanted to do this year, but bonemeal is pricey so I cheaped out... Never again...
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I gotta say, I am not a fan of bonemeal - especially as a calcium source.  If you're making your own compost, that's when you put your calcium in.  Otherwise, oyster shell flour or ground eggshells is far better.
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jAlso, Alaska fish pellets.  If you're allowed to use them.
 
Bicycle808 said:
Well yeah we had a lot of rain in May and most of June... But that still doesn't explain why some plants are affected and others aren't... Nor does it explain why I had issues with it last year, which was pretty dry...
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There was a discussion recently here about BER.  It was suggested (and I believe this) that some of the larger and faster growing varieties, experience BER and higher rates than the rest.
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The problem with BER is that since calcium isn't mobile, you don't ever really know if what you've done, actually cured the problem, or was just a coincidence.  I suspect, from past dealings, that much of it is just coincidental timing.  There have been a couple of times that I got BER, and said, "f**k it", and the plants just snapped out.  No remedy employed.  And that was in containers.  So, I'm inclined to believe that almost all in-ground cases of BER are either environmental, or environmental.
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If you've got that nasty wilt going on, that could be part of it.  Maybe that's a sign?  I dunno, but especially if you've already applied a calcium source, it's extremely unlikely that it's not sufficient.  It's just not getting used, for some reason.
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I can't tell you how strongly I'd suggest a fish based fertilizer right now, whether liquid or solid.  It's not snake oil...
 
I been feeding the Alaska Fish in liquid form....

I think the wilting and BER are entirely unrelated, primarily because the plants that are showing BER aren't wilting, and the plants that wilted didn't show any BER at all, on the ones that had already set pods. . . Also, the BER was a problem last year, but the wilt is some new-for-2018 shit.

I guess I'm just a lucky guy; I have multiple issues lol. But yeah, the Guajillos are among the bigger pods in my proper patch but again, only one of three plants are affected by BER. And the Zapotec Jalapeños are no bigger than any of my other Jalas; 5 of 9 Zapotec show BER and zero of my other 14 Jalapeño plants show BER.

But yeah I'll look into the OSF as an option. I make my own compost at home, but the Community Garden has a truckload of compost trucked in and dumped occasionally and then we fill the beds with it... We make some compost fron leaves and dead plants in the fall, but that's far lower volume than what came in on the truck.
 
Since I started indoor gardening I'm finding that the outdoor season is less crucial to me, yet still exciting and full of anticipation. 

I had early attacks from aphids/ants when my plants were young, sunburn, wrong soil conditions, etc. but I've soldiered on and tackled each problem as a lesson learned. Last year it was root rot, and drowning combined with not enough nutrients which I've solved this year for the most part. Maybe I'm fresh blood that isn't tired of the game yet?
 
 
 
I sometimes see Ca deficiency when the plants are crowded or dense with foliage, or they dont get enough airflow. Leaves need fresh air exchange to continue transpiration and thereby Ca uptake.

There's a good post by hybrid mode that details a technique for structural pruning of old growth near the stem base. Allows air to circulate more freely, so you dont have pockets of high relative humidity with contained saturated air.

http://thehotpepper.com/topic/58972-who-tops-their-peppers/?fromsearch=1
 
Some nutrients will also effect a plants ability to take in calcium. High amounts of potassium, magnesium and sodium will reduce uptakes because they are all positively charged ions. Nitrates can increase uptake and a great source of both is calcium nitrate. Too much phosphorous combined with high soil pH can cause reduced uptake also. The 2 can combine to form a insoluble compound.
 
Ive got plants high and low in my back yard. Some very open to the wind and certain varieties have some end rot occasionally. I have a few Aleppos that have got hit by BER and the plants look killer. Same with the Anaheims. They look great too. Plants within 2ft away in the same small plot have none at all. Every jalapeno and Fresno pod in that plot has been perfect.
 
Big peppers and BER... It's a thing.
 
Try to just wait it out.  Being reactive is seldom the best course of action, if you've done everything else right, up to that point. (which you have, cause you have good plants)
 
Its just very irritating because i can use Anaheims for lots of stuff but i only plant a couple each year. Well last year i went way overboard on Lumbre but they are smaller and nowhere near as versatile as Big Jim or Sandia Select. Lumbre had far less BER too.
 
Crazy thing is im not seeing any on the middle eastern bell types....yet. Tekne Dolmasi are just starting to kick it in gear and they can get massive. The bells of Gollu and Lebanon sofar look fine and ive got ripe/nearly ripe ones on both. Antep Aci Dolama also look really good and 1 plant has lots of pods on it.
 
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