Houston I may have a problem, well, sort of...

[Rhody]

Ghostly, have you considered making a cold frame for them? I've never tried it with my peppers, but it might work. Temps over the next few weeks will be in the 40's and 50's during the day, and sunny, so the cold frame will get well into the 60's, provided that it gets a lot of sunlight. You can bring them in at night to keep them from getting too cold.

No, these are going in pots because I fertilize my lawn with "True Green" and putting peppers next to that stuff in the ground is a big no-no to me. I wouldn't eat one after the plants were exposed to the lawn chemicals.

I will probably transplant them once more into gallon sized pots before they go outdoors. I would like to try an experiment with nice soft soil with one or two in a huge wide deep pot with great drainage, and a base of good compost to see how big I can actually get them to grow here in RI. My deck is made of Trex like material. It was cooking the roots last summer because of the stored and absorbed heat it produces. So I put them underneath instead.

Ghosty...

 

[mouth on fire]

No, these are going in pots because I fertilize my lawn with "True Green" and putting peppers next to that stuff in the ground is a big no-no to me. I wouldn't eat one after the plants were exposed to the lawn chemicals.

I will probably transplant them once more into gallon sized pots before they go outdoors. I would like to try an experiment with nice soft soil with one or two in a huge wide deep pot with great drainage, and a base of good compost to see how big I can actually get them to grow here in RI. My deck is made of Trex like material. It was cooking the roots last summer because of the stored and reflected heat it produces. So I put them underneath instead.

Ghosty...

Yeah, I live in MA, and grow all of my peppers in containers, too. We have a small yard, so all of my veggies are in raised beds that don't come in contact with the soil. Last year I picked up one of those plastic storage bins from walmart, that are about 2' deep, and 2'x'4'. Took quite a bit of soil to fill it, but I was able to grow about 10 pepper plants in it. Just wish we had hotter temps and a longer growing season up here, because I've been getting short plants that don't start harvesting until the temps are starting to drop.

 

[Siliman]

Yep, HammerFall nailed it. "Rootbound" becomes a problem. Pot up and find some more light and space. They will stay alive, but might stunt for XX period of time until they like you again. Check his grow log, he knows and is thinking about it also.

For chemical worries, dude, you already nuked with malathion! Keep your lawn chems away for sure, but once they are applied to a lawn and watered in, they don't readily travel to a container. Rig up a plastic shelter, pot up, and hump them inside / outside / around to warmth and light as needed. Watch for nice periods of warm weather and get them out, but watch for cold and get them in. You might have to literally go an extra mile to keep those plants happy. Pray for early warm Spring....

 

[synclinorium]

Mine have been getting kind of large for the grow area, so I've been mean and leave a window cracked during the day so the room temperature drops down to 50 or so. Kind of like how I've started hardening off my Rocotos by leaving them outside in 45 degree windy weather.

A little tough love goes a long way. My measures may be a bit drastic for some, but I think it produces a stronger plant in the end.

 

[Hammerfall]

My god MALATHION

here in canada (well in our province of Quebec) this product is banned ! too much damage in the environement and may help promote cancer (just keep that for your ex )...

hope you dont use that too often!

 

[jacobp]

Mine have been getting kind of large for the grow area, so I've been mean and leave a window cracked during the day so the room temperature drops down to 50 or so. Kind of like how I've started hardening off my Rocotos by leaving them outside in 45 degree windy weather.

A little tough love goes a long way. My measures may be a bit drastic for some, but I think it produces a stronger plant in the end.

I'll agree with you here, as its exactly what I've done the last couple years with almost all my plants. I've transplanted all my seedlings into solo cups and they go under the lights at night, but every morning starting last week they all get carried out to my patio where its been a little cooler and breezy (but sunny). I like to get my plants out into actual sunlight as soon as possible, and so far I've had good results by doing so. I'm a little more careful with the superhots going outside right now, but most of these plants are pretty capable of fending for themselves if you just stay out of their way for the most part.

 

[Rhody]

Ok, thanks for the advice, which I am following, I am keeping temps down during the day, mid 60's and off the heat mat and light, but in a window with natural indirect light. I have noticed and treated all for ahpids under the leaves using malathion (that stuff smells nasty) but it seems to knock them down good. Is there anything else that really works ? One or two applications tops ? The soaps and other natural organic treatments I used had limited effect. A little tip, put paper towels around the dirt and hold upside down to spray them, I used synthetic gloves too, then isolated area under a gentle fan until dry. They don't smell now. I will check again in a few days, I guess I need to invest in a jewelers loop to get a close up and personal look at the plants to see if the little buggers come back. Last question, once the temps reach the low 80's do these things (aphids) explode and you have to hit them again hard ?

Ghosty...

Post mortem on the malathion (slash and burn) treatment a few days ago. I checked all my plants and only one, under one leaf had aphids growing again. Moral of this story, treat and be thorough. when people say they need to treat two or three times, they are not being careful. I checked under all the leaves of each plant with a 3 element LED lamp, with that light on the underside of the leaves, the little buggers don't stay a chance. I was careful, but one leaf short of careful enough. I will take my time next time, and check them all in a few days, upside down and under a light.

Ghosty...

 

[Rhody]

Ok, new problem with my near mature trinidad scorpion. This plant gets the most amount of light in the entire house, and until last week was just fine except for some leaf curl, now this on the top most leaves. I haven't seen this before, is this sunburn, yellowish tinge, sometimes not on the whole leaf ? Second, is the leaf curl due to too little calcium and could this contribute to the sunburn ? I have used crushed Tums in water in the past to treat too little calcium, the dye didn't seem to affect the plants at all, and it worked.



Ghosty...

P.S. If they are sunburned can I apply 30 SPF sunscreen to the leaves, lol ? I have moved it out of direct light for the moment.

 

[Rhody]

No ideas ? Was I correct in guessing it was sunburn ? I have not seen this in three years of growing, although this is my first year with trinidad scorpions,
and having plants this mature this early in the season, I have been pulling buds off of them for weeks, grow babies, grow...

Ghosty...

 

[Maxsack331]

it kinda looks like sunburn, but not really, which is why I want to learn towards nutes being the problem.. but I haven't seen problems like this before so I don't know what it could actually be.. I'm guess some other people are in a similar boat for trying to figure out what it is.. but I guess don't fertilize much for a little while, and see if that helps with the new growth, then go from there

actually that leaf on the top of the pic that you only see a part of looks a little more like sunburn.. so it could be sunburn.. I just think on the plants that I burned a little when I put them under my CFL and LED lights (got them from a guy that had them under flouros and it just wasn't nearly as strong as the light setup I have) that the burn kind of went from the tips towards the base of the plant.. that's why it looks a little different for me.. but the main thing is making sure they get better, just watch the sun and nutes and see what happens. unless you are positive it is not fertilizer related but better to be safe.

 

[Rhody]

Max.

Whatever it is, it is happening through a normal plate glass double paned window, southeast exposure, with max sunlight from about 11 am - 4 - 5 pm. One wouldn't normally think sunburn could result from this kind of exposure. It has been recently re-potted, with 40% bark mulch and miracle grow moisture control potting mix. One weird thing, it gets water deep in the roots by a low pressure power 1 gallon sprayer to keep the dirt on top dry, who knows maybe I am not getting all of the roots. Can't be sure, none of my other plants are reacting this way.

Ghosty...

 

[bushwhackxj]

Great thread, ive been having all the same issues with my plants doing too well. Its a struggle to slow them down because my grow room gets so warm, Ill be taking your guys' advice throughout this one as well.

Best of luck with the Trinidad, im not really sure what that leaf situation could be. hopefully it clears up for ya

 

[Maxsack331]

Max.

Whatever it is, it is happening through a normal plate glass double paned window, southeast exposure, with max sunlight from about 11 am - 4 - 5 pm. One wouldn't normally think sunburn could result from this kind of exposure. It has been recently re-potted, with 40% bark mulch and miracle grow moisture control potting mix. One weird thing, it gets water deep in the roots by a low pressure power 1 gallon sprayer to keep the dirt on top dry, who knows maybe I am not getting all of the roots. Can't be sure, none of my other plants are reacting this way.

Ghosty...

oh well in that case, it is most likely something else, I couldn't remember if the plant had gone outside at some point or something like that. But what are you using for fertilizer? and how often and all that.

found this, http://forum.sensise...ts.asp?TID=6499 granted it's a different plant lol, but it has a TON of info.. looks like maybe sulfur deficiency is the one that has discoloration starting from the base of the leaf.. sulfure is easy to fix, check out what is in your nutrients, I know the regular MG indoor fertilizer I have which is 10-10-10 (I use it at really low dose for the small plants) doesn't have really any nutrients other than the NPK,

 

[Yumyumyellow]

The only thing you guys seem to have in common is miracle grow products... I've heard some nasty things about the miracle grow moisture control and yeah their fertilizer just blasts with npk to try and compensate for other needed nutes... from what I gather anyway. Most of the professional gardeners I've talked with avoid their products, especially with more exotic, high maintenance plants.

 

[Maxsack331]

yeah, I've stopped using it for the most part, I got some Fox Farm Tiger bloom with a little Bonticare Cal-Mag mixed in so that it should be somewhere around 4-8-4 (tiger is 2-8-4, and Cal-Mag is 2-0-0), still having flower drop with my superhots, so I think there is still a good amount of N in the soil from previous waterings/fertilizing, but they are doing well for the most part, probably just have to wait some more time for them to start producing..