• Do you need help identifying a 🌶?
    Is your plant suffering from an unknown issue? 🤧
    Then ask in Identification and Diagnosis.

in-ground So gonna try to grow or fix my coolapeno pepper plant by planting in the ground.

Hello all. My coolapeno seems like a loss but instead of throwing it away it might be possible for me to save it by planting it in the ground. Now our soil is a hard clay. Should I just take the container mix i made for my coolapeno pepper plant and mix it with the clay dirt that I'll be digging up and I'll be done? Or should i add some perlite to the mix and mix it all up? I have some extra potting mix and mushroom compost and vermiculite as well. This mix that's in my container is pretty new. Thanks!
 
hotpepperguy said:
What did the plant do when it was in the container?
 
I'm from NC too but from the Kannapolis area :)
 

Wilt very badly. Somehow my drainge wasn't good at all and it pretty much drowned in standing water for who knows how long because i went out of town that day.
 
Oh i see. I don't grow hot peppers in the clay type of soil we have but my roommate grows bulbs in it and let me tell you, they just take off. I think the clay soil has a lot of nutes in it. He never really fertilizes them either. Only thing i would do is add a mix of both Perlite and Vermiculite because peppers love a lot of drainage. Add some Bone Meal in the mix too, i find my peppers love the stuff and it breaks down over a period of 4 months so you don't have to keep adding nutes to the soil. Peppers love Organics and thats all i use and i have great results. Good luck :)
 
I would just drill some extra holes in the pot. Heavy clay soil I believe takes some years to amend and isn't easy.

Sent from my ALE-L21 using Tapatalk
 
hotpepperguy said:
Oh i see. I don't grow hot peppers in the clay type of soil we have but my roommate grows bulbs in it and let me tell you, they just take off. I think the clay soil has a lot of nutes in it. He never really fertilizes them either. Only thing i would do is add a mix of both Perlite and Vermiculite because peppers love a lot of drainage. Add some Bone Meal in the mix too, i find my peppers love the stuff and it breaks down over a period of 4 months so you don't have to keep adding nutes to the soil. Peppers love Organics and thats all i use and i have great results. Good luck :)
 

Wait so bone meal isn't available right away?
 
Codeman said:
 
Wait so bone meal isn't available right away?
 
What i do for Bone Meal to become more available is when i apply it to the top of the soil i moisten it up and bit with a little water then using my hands to crush up the pellets. Water a little again and do the same. You will see the water get a little cloudy which means it is introducing it into the soil quicker. Anything organic takes time to break down, that's why its tough to grow organically but its worth the effort in the long run.
 
hotpepperguy said:
 
What i do for Bone Meal to become more available is when i apply it to the top of the soil i moisten it up and bit with a little water then using my hands to crush up the pellets. Water a little again and do the same. You will see the water get a little cloudy which means it is introducing it into the soil quicker. Anything organic takes time to break down, that's why its tough to grow organically but its worth the effort in the long run.
 

Do it that way you described will the bone meal be ready instantly? I wonder what kind nutes are in the heavy clay soil in NC.
 
Codeman said:
 
Do it that way you described will the bone meal be ready instantly? I wonder what kind nutes are in the heavy clay soil in NC.
 
Yeah they will get introduced a little more rapidly.
 
As for the clay soil i was wondering the same thing but i would guess that they are higher in macro-nutes. Maybe like magnesium, sulfur, copper, etc. You wouldn't think it would be a good soil for plants but look at the trees we have here in NC. They are very very tall. I used to live in Mass and the trees weren't nearly as tall as they are down here. I should try to grow some peppers next year in the clay soil. I'm curious to see how they would come out :)
 
hotpepperguy said:
 
Yeah they will get introduced a little more rapidly.
 
As for the clay soil i was wondering the same thing but i would guess that they are higher in macro-nutes. Maybe like magnesium, sulfur, copper, etc. You wouldn't think it would be a good soil for plants but look at the trees we have here in NC. They are very very tall. I used to live in Mass and the trees weren't nearly as tall as they are down here. I should try to grow some peppers next year in the clay soil. I'm curious to see how they would come out :)
 

Maybe high in nitrogen too? They grow fast because i think the heavy clay provides good drainage and aeration? I saw a graph and it shows low levels of magnesium for the east coast and the south but i could be wrong on this. is there fast acting bonemeal that i can buy?
 
Codeman said:
 
Maybe high in nitrogen too? They grow fast because i think the heavy clay provides good drainage and aeration? I saw a graph and it shows low levels of magnesium for the east coast and the south but i could be wrong on this. is there fast acting bonemeal that i can buy?
 
They do sell a faster acting form of phosphorus in the Jeob's Instant organic fertilizer. They sell that stuff everywhere here in NC.
 
hotpepperguy said:
 
They do sell a faster acting form of phosphorus in the Jeob's Instant organic fertilizer. They sell that stuff everywhere here in NC.
 

Wait i thought bonemeal was nitrogen?
 
Codeman said:
 
Wait i thought bonemeal was nitrogen?
 
No Bone Meal is Phosphorus and Calcium with little traces of nitrogen. A bag of Jeob's bone meal has a NPK rating of 2-14-0 with calcium at 15%. Even though it is slow releasing it is a good thing because it reduces the risk of over fertilizing if you use it sparingly. I use about a tablespoon and a half per 5 gallon pot and i mix it with Jeob's Vegetable fertilizer at 1 tablespoon per pot. I do a spray of Epsom salts every three weeks. I fertilize with bone meal every 2 months and with Jeobs Vegetable fert every 3 weeks. 
 
This was the early stages of my pepper garden.
 
0611171541.jpg

 
These are some of my Habs about a month later, they got even more pods on them now.
0702171143a.jpg

 
I grow my peppers the same way year after year and i've been growing for about 8 years now and i always get great results. I get plants with tons of pods on them.
 
If you plant it in the ground, fill it in with the native soil and not the potting medium
I made that mistake with a lemon tree and it dwarfed itself by going pot bound
 
Wait I thought clay had bad drainage and aeration? Doesn't it compact really easily?

Sent from my ALE-L21 using Tapatalk
 
I live in South Carolina, land of heavy clay as well, and although I've never planted directly into the soil (I use a garden box), I'd recommend digging a hole and adding some soil from your pots to give the plant a better chance of success.  If it thrives, my guess is, it will dig into the clay as it grows.  Like I said no direct experience, but I think a plant that's had a rough go so far, will have a tough time being thrown directly into the clay soil.  Good luck, keep us posted.
 
Mike
 
hotpepperguy said:
This was the early stages of my pepper garden.
 
0611171541.jpg

 
These are some of my Habs about a month later, they got even more pods on them now.
0702171143a.jpg

 
I grow my peppers the same way year after year and i've been growing for about 8 years now and i always get great results. I get plants with tons of pods on them.
 
Wow, those all look great!  What you're doing is definitely working!
 
Mike
 
b3rnd said:
Wait I thought clay had bad drainage and aeration? Doesn't it compact really easily?

Sent from my ALE-L21 using Tapatalk
 
If you add some Perlite and Vermiculite it could make it less compacted.
 
hotpepperguy said:
 
If you add some Perlite and Vermiculite it could make it less compacted.
 

So adding both perlite and vermiculite is better than one or the other by itself? What brand of Perlite do you use? I am using miracle gro perlite and it seems to crumble easy. Maybe a different brand of perlite doesn't crumble as easy?
 
Back
Top