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fertilizer Fertilizer / Plant Food

Rek

Rek

What type of plant food should I use for my pot-grown pepper plants? Miracle-gro? I'm using some Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix (although it's not the best soil I've used, it's the most readily available), but I'd like to help boost my plant growth to get some really huge success in the coming year and thought adding something else to the soil could help.

Any tips are welcome! :)

Thanks


edit:
Oh, also I'm planning on trying to use a "self-watering" pot for some of my plants, and I've seen suggestions of just adding some dry fertilizer to the soil at the start of the season in that case. Anyone have any experience with growing in these types of containers?
 
do you remember mollys plant food?


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How old are your plants? Pictures available? You definitely must feed them, but the NPK ratios are different for young and mature plants.
 
Agree with Scarlet Fire. That said, once your plants are ready to start producing, I highly recommend botanicare's CalMag. It was highly recommended by several members here, and I've been using it the last couple of years - my pepper plants LOVE it. I don't follow the directions on the bottle, but use a little less so I can use it every time I water.
 
heck i dunno, not as reckless or brave as i once was :shh: . now i'm all about repairing my liver/lungs/kidneys/brain from the days before i became a family guy (too much phish and such).

back on topic, phosphorus is important for root formation in young plants. once they get near fruiting time, most people seem to agree that they need low nitrogen. Ca raises pH from feeding throughout, and proper Ca and Mg both prevent blossom end rot (BER) in species of the Solinaceae (nightshade) family such as peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, etc. these are broad generalizations though and not sufficient information to determine what your plants need without a little more info about them. so how bout a timeline and some pics :dance: ?
 
You are in So. Cal. you should be able to find Fox Farm Grow Big at good nursuries or grow shops. When flowers are forming I then go to Fox Farm Bloom and also use CalMag.with a few other things, It is a commitment because of the price, but are your plants worth it?
 
Wow, so many responses. As to my plants-- for the most part they're not young (two of them are in their second year, the others have been growing for 6 months), but they are still pretty small. I think in general my goal is to increase growth speed to help them fill out more, get thicker stems, etc. I also want to start doing a container garden outside and start growing some new ones for the purpose of actually getting a larger yield, but I imagine I should wait until the next season to seriously attempt that (please do let me know your experiences with So.Cal weather and growing outside).

So CalMag is 2-0-0, which according to google means it's only got nitrogen in it? How do you know how much of each thing yours plants need, or is it mostly just experimentation?

Fox Farm Ocean Forest Potting Soil is actually the other soil I've used, but it was given to me by my brother via an online order and I don't know where to get it locally. The only problem with that soil was that it seemed to dry up very quickly. My plants grew like crazy with it though. Is there anything I could add to that soil to make it retain more water (whatever they put in the miracle gro moisture control one)? If I was going to use this Grow Big liquid plant food with a self-watering container, would I just add it to the water that goes into the basin underneath the soil?

Thanks for your quick responses everyone!
 
Make sure your pots are big enough to keep them from getting root bound and leave enough space for 2-3 in of good organic compost on top. That will help retain moisture.The ones I had in 7 gal vs 5 gal took about half as much watering.. Pots just dry out fast in hot weather. I also had the most success with the Ocean mix . Tried many others and combos.Everyone has their own formula that works best for them.The hydro guys would know more about continuous feeding.What part of LA are you in?
 
I'm in the Valley, Sherman Oaks/Encino area. It gets pretty hot out here. I'll keep that tip in mind--bigger is better. :D

The most success I had with my plants was when I was mixing the Ocean mix with about 25-50% of the miracle gro moisture stuff. Helped to keep the plants hydrated while still having really awesome soil to stretch out in.
 
If you are in the Valley you might have to water pots twice a day in the summer. It bakes out there.Maybe move them to a spot were they do not get full afternoon sun.
 
I've started a few Habs in pots for an experiment before starting full force next year. I am using the Miracle Grow moisture control mixed with some mushroom compost and perlite. So far, they are growing like weeds. Huge leafes and a nice dark "health" green color. They are looking far better than anything I started this past spring.
I would love to try this Ocean Farms stuff, but am not having any luck finding it locally. The one nursery I went to had never heard of it. Needless to say, I will not be going back to them.
 
The Foxfarm website will direct you to Ocean Forest distributors. It's great but they're all pricey. The only mix I use of theirs is Light Warrior for young plants and I have to order it from Amazon.
 
i have a bag of the warrior stuff... im not impressed. for a seeding mix it sure does have a lot of chunky ass perlite and twiggy crap.

id like to try that seed starting mix that premier makes.
 
Yeah, I wouldn't germinate in Light Warrior, not fine enough. I let my sprouts sit in the peat or coir pellets for about a week after they've popped then transplant into a 50/50 mix of Light Warrior and Fafard organic plus bone meal. The Light Warrior is innoculated with mycorrhizae which has a symbiotic relationship with plant roots and gets them spreading like crazy.
 
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