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Growth rate slow or normal?

AlabamaJack said:
that's what I was thinking Omri...gently crumple it if you can...

I was having problems with something...don't remember what it was and Pam told me to take the seedling out of the soil, gently wash the roots off, and replant it...I don't remember exactly what the problem was but it dang sure worked for me because it was in very light potting soil.....

I look at it like this Klyth...if that is the problem, the only way to solve it is to either keep the soil so dang wet that it will be as soft as possible OR take it up and see if you can get some/most of the roots free and replant it...when you are digging it up you (be very careful when digging down to see if there are any roots you are cutting/digging through...use your fingers and feel your way) will be able to tell if this is the problem...you will not have any roots outside of the original medium you started it in...

Please don't blame me for losing your plants if you do this and it doesn't work...
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I may get brave this weekend and try. Although, I'm still hoping that given enough time, it'll break through the hard stuff and get to the good, soft stuff. I just don't want to delay the growth process so much that the plants dont fruit...

Conversely, I don't want to kill them by messing with them. I don't have backups or anything. I have 1 of each type of pepper, so if it dies, that's it. Gotta wait till next year...
 
hmmmm...are there any products out there that would break down the hard stuff like maybe earthworms? I hope you don't mind me trying to help...this is an interesting subject to me...
 
AlabamaJack said:
hmmmm...are there any products out there that would break down the hard stuff like maybe earthworms? I hope you don't mind me trying to help...this is an interesting subject to me...
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Certainly not. Thats why I started the thread! That's a good idea... I know I can get earthworms cheap - too bad I've pretty much finished my landscaping, I was finding tons of them a couple weeks ago...
 
I don't think there's a good solution that's also plant-friendly. best chance is crumbling it when moist, then adding sand.
 
Omri said:
I don't think there's a good solution that's also plant-friendly. best chance is crumbling it when moist, then adding sand.
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My garden is pretty sandy. I'll borrow from that.
 
Couldn't the rocky earth just get a quick soak to mud and gently repotted into new mix and monitored closely? I've repotted some of my plants 2 and 3 times with no ill effect.

and i for one support vermiculite! My new seedlings have tons of it. And i also hate barky wood chunky soil.
 
i have a few plants that look like that too, and they were started about two or three weeks after yours. however, most of mine are appx. 6-8 inches now. all were started mid to late april. i am using a self concocted soil mix ratio 30:30:20:20 potting soil: peat: mushroom compost: manure compost. it seems to work very well. i lost a few scotch bonnets and red habs when i went too strong on the mushroom compost and had to re-pot them. it worked, and they took off.
 
no offense. but i've never seen a 5 day old seedling that big and healthy. i'de like to know if it would pass a steroids test : ). neway they look stunted by more than just soil being compact. i don't think it would have such a thick stem if it was struggling with root development. but it could be the nutes in the soil is not promoting their upward growth.

my fatalii all grew slowly the way i started them, but my scotch bonnets were one of the big growers i had
 
teh purple penguins said:
no offense. but i've never seen a 5 day old seedling that big and healthy. i'de like to know if it would pass a steroids test : ). neway they look stunted by more than just soil being compact. i don't think it would have such a thick stem if it was struggling with root development. but it could be the nutes in the soil is not promoting their upward growth.

my fatalii all grew slowly the way i started them, but my scotch bonnets were one of the big growers i had
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So maybe mine are weird, I don't know. even a week, 10 days or TWO WEEKS... I have no idea how crappy the sun you get, but it won't take two months.
 
teh purple penguins said:
no offense. but i've never seen a 5 day old seedling that big and healthy. i'de like to know if it would pass a steroids test : ). neway they look stunted by more than just soil being compact. i don't think it would have such a thick stem if it was struggling with root development. but it could be the nutes in the soil is not promoting their upward growth.

my fatalii all grew slowly the way i started them, but my scotch bonnets were one of the big growers i had
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It's possible, I really have been trying to go REALLY light with the fertilizers. I've used organic 5-3-2 (I think) ONCE in the two months I've had them, and that was simply because I wanted to give them a boost when I potted up.

I've watered with seaweed magic twice. That's about the only fertilization they've ever gotten.

Recently they were yellowing so I threw some blood meal on them - they loved it.
 
klyth said:
It's possible, I really have been trying to go REALLY light with the fertilizers. I've used organic 5-3-2 (I think) ONCE in the two months I've had them, and that was simply because I wanted to give them a boost when I potted up.

I've watered with seaweed magic twice. That's about the only fertilization they've ever gotten.

Recently they were yellowing so I threw some blood meal on them - they loved it.
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Any recommendations for specific brands to look for? Some items are tougher to find in certain areas. I always have to shop around at about 4-5 nurseries.
 
Omri said:
So maybe mine are weird, I don't know. even a week, 10 days or TWO WEEKS... I have no idea how crappy the sun you get, but it won't take two months.
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i do agree the plants are severely stunted, 2 months is way too long to have plants that small. 'crappy' isn't really what i was thinking : ). less intense possibly seeing as the south of israel is quite intensive with the sun, i'm sure.

i think i had seedlings after poking above the surface at 2 weeks maybe like that under fluorescents.

heat probably played a factor?
 
have you had much wind?
 
fineexampl said:
Any recommendations for specific brands to look for? Some items are tougher to find in certain areas. I always have to shop around at about 4-5 nurseries.
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Brands of what?

teh purple penguins said:
i do agree the plants are severely stunted, 2 months is way too long to have plants that small. 'crappy' isn't really what i was thinking : ). less intense possibly seeing as the south of israel is quite intensive with the sun, i'm sure.

i think i had seedlings after poking above the surface at 2 weeks maybe like that under fluorescents.

heat probably played a factor?
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AlabamaJack said:
have you had much wind?
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The weather has been about as good as its going to get, for the summer. Sunny, not very windy, and we just had a heat wave of about 100 degrees for 3-4 days. Now it's back down to the 80's, which is pretty normal. But this is about as good as the weather gets. We'll have more heat waves as the summer progresses, but it rarely gets above 100 - 80's and 90's are typical through July.
 
fineexampl said:
In your post you were speaking of fertilizers. I'm looking to ditch the dreaded M word and go with something better for healthy peppers.
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I'm using scotts organic fertilizer, and some organic bloodmeal. Scotts is the same company as MG, though. Whatever - it's what I bought at the beginning of the year, and I guess it's been working ok. It was the only organic option at Home Depot at the time. Not many gardening centers around me, especially in February when I started my peppers...
 
klyth said:
I'm using scotts organic fertilizer, and some organic bloodmeal. Scotts is the same company as MG, though. Whatever - it's what I bought at the beginning of the year, and I guess it's been working ok. It was the only organic option at Home Depot at the time. Not many gardening centers around me, especially in February when I started my peppers...
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cool.
 
I had the same problem with a mustard habanero a while back. I started giving it miracle grow tomato 20-20-20 at full strength every 7 days. I figured i had nothing to lose because i had extras. It took off so well that i started feeding it to all of my peppers and they are healthier than they have ever been! I'm a newbie so I'm a little nervous about giving controversial advice but it worked wonders for me. Good luck!
 
Looks like you flooded the soil and let it dry when they were started. This compacted the soil. The peppers are using most of their energy to grow roots instead of make peppers like you want.

They look strong and healthy, but you were not planning on waiting three years for a mighty plant. Dig them out, loosen the soil, plant in a small container and bottom water. Once they are big enough, transplant into the huge pots.
 
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