Pepper plant help

[notnic]

Hi Guys.

i just signed up to the forum to see if i could get a few pepper questions answered.

Background: From B+Q i bought a grow your own kit. which has worldbeater, corno di toro rosso and chilli de cayenne. Im growing them on my windowsill which faces east. They are about 25cm high, just starting to flower, and still in the little pods of soil that they grew from, im in the process of moving them to bigger pots. I feed them every 3-5 days with baby bio concentrate and water.

My problems:
1. I got pests. Little greenfly under the leaves and white mouldy looking stuff on the top pf the soil. I treated this with pepper safe pesticide. so not really a problem, but i was wondering the organic way of dealing with them would be?

2. The leaves keep going white and veiney. they also curl a little. How can i stop this?

3. Some of the leaves are going brown and dead looking. How do i prevent this? and do i cut off the brown leaves?

[tamsin]

I would pot them up and stop feeding them. When the peppers start developing feed them with tomato (or pepper) food. Mouldy stuff on the soil probably means you are over watering. Peppers are happier on the dry side. If you rub it off and water a little less it shouldn't come back.

Rub the greenflies off with your finger, it's a bit gross but quick and organic. If they fly around the plant too then a bit of sticky flypaper next to them will catch um.

Hopefully potting them up etc. will fix the leaf issues. If you lose a few they will grow more so don't panic.

[Two_Sheds]

I totally agree with Tamsin.
Too much water, too much feed, and rub the aphids off with your fingers.

[SarzWix]

Yup, I'd agree with that - they need to go into bigger pots, and you need to stop feeding them - the compost has enough nutrients in it to last about 6 weeks. Then they will need tomato food made up to the instructions on the bottle - more feed isn't good!

[notnic]

Thanks Tamsin and everyone else that has agreed.

I was going to buy plantpots at B and Q (it is practically next door). But do you think if punched holes into an old tin of beans, would it be big enough? and would the tin taint the soil in any way?

Or do you think a modified milk carton would be better?

[tamsin]

If they are already a foot high they are probably a bit on the small size, I've just potted mine that are about that size up to 5/6" pots.

A 4pnt milk carton might do them temporarily and then if you want a budget option try flower buckets from Morrisons or your local flower shop. I think Morissons do them at about 8 for £1, my local flower shop sell them at 25p each.

[Fraser]

How big on average do pepper and chilli plants grow? Huston i may i have a problem!

[tamsin]

lol, it depends on the type. I would say about 18" to 2' tall and then about 12-18" spread. Bushier at the top. I've got some going fine in 7" pots so you don't have to go up to bucket size it was just a suggestion where to get cheap pots

[ckfe]

do you have to grow peppers indoors or can they go outdoors?

[tamsin]

I'm planning on putting mine out in the summer when the temperatures the same out as in anyway. I've stuck a couple that I have duplicates of out in a plastic greenhouse now as I'm running out of space!