Pathetic Chillies

[ameno]

The chicken manure has been steeped in water hence making it liquid. I did dilute it.

Steeping it in water makes it a suspension, not a solution.
Very few of the nutrients in the poultry manure will have actually dissolved into the water. Rather, you just have a sludge of poultry manure mixed in with the water.
Plants cannot absorb nutrients if they are not in a water-soluble form. Non-soluble nutrients will eventually be rendered soluble by organisms in the soil, but this takes time, which is why it's better to use a liquid feed where the nutrients are already in an available form.

[Marb67]

But the process of breaking down has been advanced by putting in water surely if you watch an episode of the Victorian kitchen garden, Harry Dodson puts sheep droppings in a sack like a large teabag soaking in a water trough for liquid manare. I am doing similar.

[ameno]

But the process of breaking down has been advanced by putting in water surely if you watch an episode of the Victorian kitchen garden, Harry Dodson puts sheep droppings in a sack like a large teabag soaking in a water trough for liquid manare. I am doing similar.

It's only broken down physically, i.e. into tiny pieces. In order for plants to absorb it, it needs to break down chemically. This takes both time and action by microorganisms.

There's nothing wrong with manure tea as a liquid feed, but it's for more mature plants.
You should think of it basically as feeding in advance. Anything you apply today will not be available to the plants for at least a couple of weeks, then what you apply in two weeks time won't be available until two weeks or more after that, and so on.
This is fine for mature plants in the ground or large pots, as they already have enough nutrient to see them through that gap. But for small, malnourished plants which need feeding now, it's no good. You need to use something which is available immediately.

[Nicos]

Ameno - I’m slowly learning about home made liquid feeds….interesting that you say they are better for more mature plants. I didn’t know that.
So…in Marb’s case ….what feed would you personally use on these plants?

[ameno]

Ameno - I’m slowly learning about home made liquid feeds….interesting that you say they are better for more mature plants. I didn’t know that.
So…in Marb’s case ….what feed would you personally use on these plants?

Any chemical-based liquid fertiliser would help (so basically an liquid feed which doesn't say "organic" on the packet), although one high in nitrogen would be best, as those plants seem to be lacking in it, based on their lack of vigour and their anaemic looking leaves.
All chemical fertilisers come in the form of simple mineral salts, which are all water soluble and all easily absorbed by most plants.

[Nicos]

Ok - thanks ameno. Much appreciated.

[Marb67]

I only use organic feeds. I have comfrey and nettle leaves in water so will feed with some of that as well as last year's weed leaves made into a conconcentrate feed (a method shared on Huw's YouTube channel) I also have fed with liquid seaweed

[Nicos]

Ok - thanks ameno. Much appreciated.

[ameno]

I only use organic feeds. I have comfrey and nettle leaves in water so will feed with some of that as well as last year's weed leaves made into a conconcentrate feed (a method shared on Huw's YouTube channel) I also have fed with liquid seaweed

...But you use Vitax Q4? That's not organic. It claims to be "enhanced" with organic nutrients, which is probably true, but all of the majority ingredients are the same chemical fertilisers you would get in a standard shop-bought liquid feed.

[Marb67]

I use organic as much as I can. But even so, they have had liquid feeds and Vitex and still hardly grown. A few have got bigger with the promise of flower heads but very leggy looking. Should be enough time to get them producing before end of Summer.

[Marb67]

Fed with liquid feed and still no bigger. Not a single flower on any of them.

[ameno]

Well they wouldn't be. Not in just a week or 10 days when fed with your homemade liquid feed.

Also, are those ones on the left in their final pots? Because those pots are a bit too small even for a single plant, much less for two plants.

[Marb67]

Well they wouldn't be. Not in just a week or 10 days when fed with your homemade liquid feed.

Also, are those ones on the left in their final pots? Because those pots are a bit too small even for a single plant, much less for two plants.

Yes and they are plenty big enough I can tell you. Again, I have limited space and compost. My sister in law has huge cucumber and pea plants with good cropping growing in those same large tins. It's what you feed them that is important.

[ameno]

They're big enough to get a crop, but they are not big enough to allow the plant to actually reach its full size and give its full crop. They plants will remain small and stunted in those pots, and give only a small crop.
And saying it's what you feed them that is important is only addressing half of the issue with growing in small pots. The main issue isn't lack of food, it's lack of water. Because the pot is so small, the plant physically cannot produce enough roots to absorb enough water to grow to a decent size. Giving the extra water will not remedy this problem, as they just don't have the root volume to take enough up in the first place. Thus, the plant remains stunted.
If you have limited space and compost then you would really be better off growing fewer pepper plants in larger pots, at least for varieties that naturally would grow larger. Some chillies are naturally dwarfing, and they would be fine in those sized pots (one per pot, mind you, rather than two).

[Marb67]

Surely a bit less cropping is better than no cropping? Again, I have seen many examples of huge groping in smaller containers of many different plants. Minty Don visited a guy a few years ago who grew amazing Tom's in pots not much more than the size of those tins because he fed with comfrey every day. It can be done. I have even anted a couple of chillies out a few weeks ago and still tiny. You can also feed the plant through the foliage (I have forgotten the term) with concentrated fermentation diluted in water to bypass the roots a d get it into the plant.