no. Removing leaves does nothing good.

buy 1000 ladybugs...only cure for aphids...all the others suggested will not work.

tn_veggie_gardner~I already got rid of the aphids using marigolds... I did purchase 2k ladybugs for getting rid of a TON of aphids on my plum tree--worked beautifully. But the marigolds are working great being right next to my peppers...

jag~have any suggestions for getting more buds to grow?

I recently fertilized because my leaves were getting a tad yellow

Don't fertilize again for awhile, especially with a high N fertilizer. Feeding kicks the plant into growth mode and halts flowering/fruiting and if you fed it heavily when you planted it that would explain all the leafy growth. Let it adjust to this latest feeding and wait to feed again until it actually sets and begins to develop some fruit.

The leaf yellowing was more likely due to over-watering or excess rain not lack of nutrients. Peppers prefer to dry out well between watering.

Dave

Concur with digdirt and justaguy; a nitrogen imbalance can result in foliage at the expense of flowers. You may be just impatient, but if the problem persists, you may wish to try a high phosphate foliar feed, something akin to Bloom Booster. Fruiting plants need phosphate.

Would Bloom Booster be good for young adult cherry tomato plants (1 to 2 bud clusters)? I ask because i'd like to even out the minor affects of about a week straight of rainy slightly cool weather.

Bloom booster does no good for any plant under any conditions at any stage of growth. Ever ;)

See here.

mammas, please forgive a short somewhat related aside to these two posters?

Dave and farmerdilla

Did you see this post made a couple of weeks ago?

Fertilizer Experiment on Pepper Plants

No I missed it anney. But modern practices do use intense plantings with lots of readily available nutrients. Works with intensive irrigation. I am traditional ( rainfall dependent just like my Pappy) so I tend to skimp on the nutrients and give the plants more space.

I will disagree with justaguy on this point, unless you have soil high in phosphate (I don't) adding phosphate does wonders. In the thirties and forties we grew tomatoes for the local cannery using nothing but a little O-16-0 in the row. I rarely have to result to foliar feeds, but they do work when you have good foliage and no blossoms. Phosphate deficiency may not always be the cause but in my area it usually is.

wow....nevermind...lol =) I'll stick with my usual plan which always produces nice maters.

Yeah I saw it anney but subsequent posts on that thread raised a lot of good questions like type/form of the fertilizer used, N % of it, times of application, the fact that they were container plants not in-ground, etc. Timing of feeding is crucial with peppers in my opinion.

I'm not saying above that they don't need feeding or that they don't benefit from it. Clearly they do. But care must be used in the N rating, amounts, and timing of it.

I too disagree with the "no phosphorus needed" comments because tho it obviously varies from soil to soil, it has proven to be quite beneficial in my particular gardens over many years. I test my soil regularly but without getting a quality soil test one is only guesstimating at what their soil may need or not need.

I also think it is important to keep in mind that gardening and soil improvement is an ongoing continuous process, not an annual process. With the exception of N which depletes quickly, much of the nutrients applied to a garden this year - depending on the form used - while perhaps not used by the plants this year, are readily available in the soil next year.

Obviously this isn't meant to justify huge blanket applications of fertilizers - compost yes, fertilizers no - but a judicial balanced application at the proper times is truly a "good thing". ;)

JMO

Dave

hrmmm...marigolds I didn't try them last year for the aphids. I'll deffinitely keep that in mind for this year! =)