Why didn't my plant grow....!!!???

MaryBoBerry

MaryBoBerry

Hola Amigos!
 
So I'm super not a green thumb or anything, but I bought a hot pepper plant at a garden center in springtime and have been watching it grow near my window for months and months now without any success...
 
When I bought it, it was a tiny little seedling about 4 inches high with 3 leaves. Six months later, and summer over and done with, its only about a foot and a half tall, and it never grew even one pepper. I've had plenty of flower buds come and go, and in the past month there has been some new growth on the top, but overall it seems like he plant is stuck and doesn't want to produce or get any bigger.
 
What did I do wrong?
 
I kind of expected to at least get one or two peppers off it.
 
At around a month old I put it in a bigger pot, about a gallon size, with some soil from a bag I bought at the dollar store. Watered it about once a week at most. Several leaves have turned yellow and fallen off, but new growth seems really healthy and green.
 
Any input about what I can do to make it more happy would be appreciated.
 
Also, is it likely to survive over winter indoors? I'm in the cold Canadian north and even with central heating it gets pretty chilly near the window.
 
Thanks!
 
solid7 said:
What did you feed the plant?
 
What exactly was the "soil" that you put in the bigger pot?
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It was just regular potting mix (Humus, Peat Moss, Perlite, Limestone).
 
I didn't feed it anything. you mean like fertilizer? Wasn't aware it needed that. I though water, sun, and dirt was enough to make it grow.
 
No, you'll need to feed that plant.  For indoor, I'd suggest a cheap liquid nutrient, that you can water in at every watering.
 
MaryBoBerry said:
but I bought a hot pepper plant at a garden center in springtime and have been watching it grow near my window for months and months now without any success...
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MaryBoBerry said:
with some soil from a bag I bought at the dollar store.
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MaryBoBerry said:
It was just regular potting mix (Humus, Peat Moss, Perlite, Limestone).
 
I didn't feed it anything. you mean like fertilizer? Wasn't aware it needed that. I though water, sun, and dirt was enough to make it grow.
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MaryBoBerry said:
What's the likelihood of my plant surviving over winter?
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Noting above, slim to none. I don't mean to be nasty - just honest. You need to learn a lot and living in Canada you're off to a tough start growing peppers.
 
`
 
  Oh.  Okay, I started to write this before seeing the most-recent post and I defer to the greater knowledge of someone who actually lives in a climate where peppers don't just overwinter outside, but for whatever this is worth:
 
  That probably depends on how cold the window area gets and maybe on how much sunlight comes in - mine have survived winters outside (okay, in central Florida, nowhere near as frigid as Canada!) in occasionally-near-freezing temperatures, with sheets over them during freezes, but they were in full sun for about half the day.
 If you want to pamper the plant, you could move it to a warmer place farther from the window and give it its own strong lightbulb for the winter.  (My surviving plants now live on a sunless balcony and seem to be managing with about one ~1,500-lumens LED each.  They're not anywhere near as happy and bushy as they probably would be with real sunlight, but lack of light hasn't been a primary cause of death yet.)
  Slow-release fertilizer spikes are another option; I think my habaneros each got around five of those last year and produced a lot of fruit from them.  (And if your pepper does survive, and you give it a summer-like microenvironment and some fertilizer, maybe you can convince it to produce fruit in the middle of winter!)
  Good luck!
 
Welcome!
 
Could be several reasons: not enough sunlight, poor soil (peppers like an airy mixture - more perlite, vermiculite), pot not big enough (3-5lbs min to support more pods), feeding (not much, but nitrogren in the beginning to support growth). Way too much to list here. Dive into the many "growing" threads and enjoy. Next spring you'll be ready to grow like a champ. But beware, even many seasoned veterans have bad seasons.
 
MaryBoBerry said:
Oh ok, thanks. I'll look into that.
 
What's the likelihood of my plant surviving over winter?
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The likelihood is good, if you start feeding it now, and make sure it has plenty of light.
 
I live in northeast ohio and successfully keep chile plants alive in the house almost every year. I live in an old rental home that is not well-insulated and I don't run the heater at max. You will usually find me wearing layers indoors. So yeah, my house is cooler than chile plants want it, but warm enough for them to stay alive. So you should be fine.
 
I planted a Home Depot tabasco plant into a 5 gal pot in the peat pot it came in, per the instructions. It grew extremely slowly despite getting Northern California sun and regular feelings like the rest of the plants that I grew from seed. I went to add more mulch to all my pots and broke up the top layer of soil that had compacted a bit from the regular waterings.

I discovered that the peat pot never disintegrated and the roots had not grown through the peat pot... So my 5 gal pot was really a very small 1 quart peat pot. I partially dug it up and broke up the peat pot with my hands, and after that it IMMEDIATELY took off.

So, peat pots sucks - this might have been the case for you as well.
 
austin87 said:
So, peat pots sucks - this might have been the case for you as well.
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No, I broke the peat pot apart before transplanting it, because roots were already poking through at a month old.
 
How come none of the flower buds ever started into peppers? Never kept count, but it must have been at least a few dozen flowers that have grown from buds and fallen off. It was indoors all summer behind a window screen, do insects need to get at it to pollinate the flowers or whatever? I thought I read somewhere pepper were self-pollinating. Was that wrong?
 
MaryBoBerry said:
 
No, I broke the peat pot apart before transplanting it, because roots were already poking through at a month old.
 
How come none of the flower buds ever started into peppers? Never kept count, but it must have been at least a few dozen flowers that have grown from buds and fallen off. It was indoors all summer behind a window screen, do insects need to get at it to pollinate the flowers or whatever? I thought I read somewhere pepper were self-pollinating. Was that wrong?
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It's really simple...  As mentioned before, you didn't feed the plant.  All living things require 3 things - water, food, and oxygen.  (Science 101)
 
Your plant can survive for a while without proper ratios of any of the above - but it cannot thrive.  For a plant to complete its fruiting stage, it has to be thriving, not surviving.  Self-pollinating or not.  Failure to pollinate is only one reason that flowers abort.
 
solid7 said:
It's really simple... All living things require 3 things - water, food, and oxygen.  (Science 101)
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Oxygen???? No light required? (Biology 101) Outdoor Veggie Garden We are talking about pepper plants, correct?

The basic raw materials utilized by plants in manufacturing food are water and carbon dioxide. The water is taken in by the roots and carbon dioxide by pores in the leaves. From these ingredients the plant makes a simple sugar that is converted into more complex sugars, starches, proteins, and fats. All life depends on this putting together by light, which is what photosynthesis means. The light, solar energy is captured by the plant and transformed into chemical energy contained in the sugar. In photosynthesis, water is split apart into hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen is given off as a byproduct, and the hydrogen is combined chemically with the carbon dioxide to produce the simple sugar, which easily dissolves and is transported through the plant.
 
OK, Mr The_NorthEast_ChileMan...
 
Sure, but I said *all* living things require water, food, and oxygen.  Not ALL living things require light.  (but she does seem to have that part covered)  Maybe you'll get me on some technicality by pointing out anaerobic bacteria, or some other single-cell organism.  Whatever.
 
If you think that plants don't require oxygen, try pumping C02 or Nitrogen into the root zone. (displacing all of the oxygen in the process)
 
http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=760
 
 
I know from past dealing with you, that you've got a hard-on to get one over on me.  But seriously, get your facts straight before you head straight into rebuke mode.  :stop:
 
`
Wow! All it took to get under your skin was mentioning you missed pepper plants need light and Co2 not oxygen? What would happen if I told you I love feral cats?
 


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See what happens if you poke the bear?​


solid7 said:
OK, Mr The_NorthEast_ChileMan...
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curtsy10.jpg


Nice ta meet ya!


`​

And what, pray tell, do I address you as?




`
 
The_NorthEast_ChileMan said:
`
Wow! All it took to get under your skin was mentioning you missed pepper plants need light and Co2 not oxygen?
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Under my skin? Ha!

I just love that someone thinks that plants don't need oxygen. May I interest you in an investment in my outer space vegetable garden?

 
The_NorthEast_ChileMan said:
What would happen if I told you I love feral cats?
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Well, I'd believe you, of course. I really think you should stick to the bear, though.
 
I would also point out that sometimes plants seem slow to grow when they are busy establishing a good root base. I had a couple tepin plants that seemed to be stunted for a very long time...after a good long while they began to grow well. At the end of the growing season I was pulling out plants to determine which ones would get the attempted overwinter and those tepin plants had the most developed root system of all 47 pepper plants I had!!!!
This may not be the case with yours but it is something to consider when evaluating top growth. Yes good soil, appropriate watering, and of course sunshine or strong light are essential too ;)
 
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