advice on growning peppers

[wheatleys wheels]

i've been trying now for 3 years to grow any form of pepper... jalepeno, marble, normal bell peppers etc and every year I manage to germinate my seeds. I get a plant about 2 inches tall and then it stops growing. Any ideas what I might be doing wrong at that point? All are started in a green house. Some have stayed in the green house others gone into pots and others gone into the ground. I've fed them tomato feed every year and they never get hit by frosts. I'm so confused but they are one of the few vegetables I've never been able to grow but I so want to.

[Duronal]

what medium do you grow them in? I grew two plants in pure compost this year in 8" and 10" pots and they've both produced. I have to admit that i started these plants very early in march and grew them indoors before putting in am unheated greenhouse in late april/may. I think it's fair to say that peppers grow exceptionally slowly and there always seems to be one point when you think that they'll never bear any fruit.

How often do you water your plants? It may be that you are watering too frequently.....alternatively it may be that the plants need more humidity where you're growing them. The possiblities are endless i'm afraid, but i'm going to guess that it's either going to be temperature or water related

best of luck

D

[Mrs Jackson]

It's probably something to do with water, heat, light or a combination of all 3. What time of year are you germinating them? What are you growing them in? There's also a possibility it's something to do with the feed you're giving them. Pepper plants won't need feeding at only 2 inches tall and if you're using tomato feed then use it half strength once they've started flowering. You need something higher in Nitrogen up until flowering but they should be getting enough nutrients from the compost for the first 6 weeks anyway.

Mrs J

[BrideXIII]

my poor tragic peppers this year, I was going to be SO good with them,what happened instead was I:
sowed them late in 3 inch pots in pure compost indoors.
put them out in a cold frame in april /may where they got mullered by slugs.
rescued them back to indoors, but forgot to pot them on, so they are still in 3 inch pots only half full of compost.
forgot to feed them.
kept forgetting to water them.
had to spray them a couple of times with soapy water to get rid of the whitefly attack late summer.
remembered to water them, forgot to feed them when flowering.
moved them upstairs to a sunny windowsill, were the kids remember to water them everyday, still in half full 3 inch pots!

and now they are all in lovely fruit with at least 3 on each motheaten plant!
go figure?

[wheatleys wheels]

Every year I put down new compost on the grounds and mix in some of my compost/wormery material to give what nutrients I can. And throughout the growing season I also put down liquid feeds.

If I use tomato feed or wormery liquid feeds I generally use half strength so I dont burn any roots.

I would normally start them in pots inside my house in fresh compost. Once the frost is gone (this year was about May) I then shift them to the green house (just a cheap plastic covered frame). Then June/July when they are about the 2 inches tall or so I then plant them out into ground and pot and then they stay that way until they die. In pot it's always fresh compost. In ground it's been enriched as I stated above.

As for watering. Basically I water when soil feels like it's almost dry on top in a pot (as the pots dry out quicker) and in soil I generally stick my finger in the soil and if not moist then I water... so in dry seasons usually once a day or once every day (depending on the heat) but in wet conditions when the soil feels a bit dry as I know rain doesn't always water enough.