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poor peppers.

I personally don't know if high iron is bad for pepper plants, but I would guess that the high levels of sodium in softened water would be detrimental to your plants. Too much fertilizer use, especially in containers, can cause salts used in the fertilizer to accumulate in the soil and lock-out nutrient absorption by the plant. Using softened water would basically be putting salts into your containers and over time salts would build up and possibly harm your plants.

Are you removing the iron from the water by means of a water softener alone, or do you have an iron filter/water softener 2 phase system? If you are running an iron filter first, you should be able to take water from after(downstream of) the iron filter but before (upstream of) the softener. If you are only using a water softener, you probably have a lower iron concentration, and you may be fine to just feed them straight well water.

You should see if you can find the water analysis of your well, then you would know the exact ppms of iron and other minerals you are dealing with.
 
actually i did have an analysis done last year of the well water. And it does have all that information on it. Right now we just have a water softener. But i am bouncing between putting in an iron remover or not. There is a build up of iron deposits in the toilet tanks. And one sink is stained from a leaky faucet. But i have yet to clean them out proper and see if it returns (we are newish to this house). Another thing i have yet to do is figure out if its taking enough iron out of the water..
In any case i am using water strait from the well at the moment. I believe i was using water from the softener for the first while.. Cant remember how long. But i know i was doing it..
 
A little bit of extra sodium isn't going to be the end of world, I was speaking more of long term issues. At least the sodium is water soluble and will just leech out of the pots as you continue watering with normal water.

I would ask a local nursery if you have one, they might be fed by the same aquifer and they should know how it would affect plants.

If there are iron stains in your toilet tanks, imagine what the soil in your pots would look like, if you could see the iron there that is.

Sounds to me like either your softener isn't working properly or the iron concentrations are too great for a softener alone.

Out of curiosity, I did a quick search and it states here http://www.spectrumanalytic.com/support/library/ff/Fe_Basics.htm that iron toxicity is usually signalled by deficiencies of other nutrients. So that may be the source of your problem, just a guess on my part btw.
 
Yeah.
I guess it would be considered short term.
As far as the iron goes. I am pretty sure that the previous owner of the house ran the system for an extended period of time without salt for the softner. Which is what led to the staining and build up in the tanks. I had a company come in and check the softener out just to make sure it was working because i herd running it without salt for a long time can cause problems. But it seems to be working properly. I just have to get a chance to clean out the tanks and see if it comes back.. Or i could get a testing kit to see how the softner is doing during its cycle.

and that link is a good read. I guess we'll see what happens in the coming weeks.

Thanks again.
Do you grow inside in Edmonton? Im over in Winnipeg. I have never been to Edmonton but understand from friends that have moved there the climate is prett similar..
 
I live in an apartment with south facing window/patio, so I keep them on the patio until the frost comes. I usually lug the pots out during the day and bring them in every night when there is frost at night. When it gets below 15 C during the day, I keep them inside in front of the patio doors until they finish.

I overwintered 3 plants last year, I trimmed them down completely and kept maybe 5 leaves on each to get them through the winter. I kept pruning new growth all last winter, it seemed like they were getting enough light and they just wanted to grow, so this winter im going to try to get them to produce pods in front of the window.

After last years overwintering adventure, I would strongly recommend trying it in our northern climate.
 
good to know..
Have you had any problems with bugs? Like aphids in particular? My Pops swears that every time he has brought in a plant from outside in the winter it became infested in aphids..
 
I got a really bad fruit fly infestation last winter, but I soon found a dish full of apple cider vinegar attracts them and kills them. I got aphids outside the last 2 years, but no problems inside.
 
good looking out with the fruit fly remedy.

I'll have to remember that if it becomes a problem.
i gotta figure out some lights for the winter months. I dont have any good usable window space. Actually never even thought id be growing any kind of plant. lol.
 
Do you collect rain water? Even just leaving a large watering can outside and using that to water should be good. How often do you water? For the record for planting, I used normal black earth from Kents and mixed it with half a bag of sheep manure. I planted outside and mixed the whole thing with the existing soil. It seemed to work well for me but I may experiment a little next season.
 
well.. a little update.
i moved my photobucket around so the pics on the previous page are all over.
Here they are again in no particular order.
before repotting. and a couple of those are after some bone meal was added.. i think that did more harm then good.
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I thought thats what it was, the burn that is.
I am using a powder mix that i put with water. Its actually 20-20-20 (probably way stronger then i should be using). I mixed it to about 3/4 the strength it says to use on the label. But after that i shoulda watered it in with more water. or just mix with more water to begin with. Only thought about it a couple days later. I certainly wont be making that mistake again.
Still a little unsure of how much water to put. The last water was on Friday(night). and i think i put about 1 litre of water each. See what happens in a few more days i guess.
 
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