Re: [CH] container growing question
Matt Evans (tmattevans@gmail.com)
Sat, 15 Oct 2005 16:39:51 -0400
Hi, John --
I think the master container gardener on these here internets might be
JohnT, but I'll see what I can do....I typically just augment my
regular garden plot with 15-20 containers because I can place them
right outside my door for chile emergencies.
It sounds like your containers certainly aren't the problem -- much to
my wife's chagrin, I think 5-gallon buckets are the best containers
around for growing chiles. My personal experience has been that you
need to use a fair amount of fertilizer when container growing because
there are fewer (no) natural fertilizers available to the plants.
Here's what I do:
1. My "potting mix" is just a 50-50 mixture of cheap ($2/bag)
store-bought dirt and soil from my garden (which contains some
decomposed and some un-decomposed organics). I typically throw a
couple of handfuls of 13-13-13 granular fertilizer in this mix too.
After making a big mix in the bed of my pickup truck, I fill my
containers.
2. I dig a hole in the soil, place the bedding plant into it, and
fill it with about a pint of liquid fertilizer (20-20-20). I bury the
plants to the lowest set of leaves. I give the plant a week or so and
then cover the soil with a couple of inches of mulch -- this helps
keep water in and also suppresses weeds, which are a problem since I
use garden soil.
3. I water the plants only when they begin to look stressed -- in my
climate (Atlanta) this is about every two days or so in the summer. I
typically fertilize with full-strength Miracle Gro (15-30-15) at least
once a week.
4. At the end of the season, the plants go into the compost and the
potting soil goes into the garden.
Because I am completely controlling water and food, I find that my
container plants sometimes do better than my garden plants. Well,
this is all well and good, but how do we solve your problem? I'm not
sure where you are, but there's a good chance that it is too late in
the season to do much -- my plants have really slowed down by this
time of the year.
I guess, in short, I tend to use a boat load of fertilizer, and I
think this is necessary. I like Miracle Gro once the plants are
established, because the high phosphorous content encourages flowering
and fruit production. Many folks will tell you not to add any
nitrogen after you plant, but I haven't had any problems with my
containers.
I don't use any chemical pesticides on any of my plants, but (as you
can tell) I am pretty liberal with the chemical fertilizers. If you
prefer to be fully organic (sounds like you might be already), I would
recommend that you just up your fertilizer applications significantly.
The problem, obviously, is that this gets expensive -- thus, I use
chemical fertilizers. If you're already composting, use this compost
as your mulch and use some to make a tea every time you water -- this
is dilute fertilizer, but it's free.
I'm not a horticulturalist, I just play one on the internets, but good luck.
Matt
On 10/15/05, John H. Sphar <jsphar@pacbell.net> wrote:
> Hi all, my third year of growing (5 Gal containers
> and 1/2 wine barrels with tons of drainage) is leaving
> me frustrated. I got seedlings from Jeannie in NJ
> (mostly chinense) and a combo of locally available
> plants (Thai, serrano, jalapeno) and now I'm comfused.
> I've been doing the same thing to all of them:
> Watering 1-2 per week now, I was fertilizing with fish
> emulsion and kelp every 3 weeks but now none.
>
> My chocolate hab is doing well. But it's wierd - they
> were chocoloate then went back to red...???. But my
> main prob is the red savina has no flowers, the red
> scotch bonnet has two beautiful ripe pods and no other
> flowers, and the white hab has one small but nice
> looking pod, but no flowers. How can I get there
> chinenses to flower?
>
> Thanks, John
>
> PS: soon I'll be asking for tips on saving seeds.
> Maybe you all have a web page of instructions I could
> visit. But I'll get to that later. Adios, John S.
>
>