I like growing them in some mineral soil and organic matter - not just a container with added ferts. A little clay for sweetness, not so much as to impede drainage, ideally in a raised bed where a little extra clay helps conserve water, but is never soggy. Water thoroughly, but let almost go dry between waterings. Every day is way too much, unless it's a small container, and is likely causing the flower drop.

I never use added chemical ferts this way, maybe at most some seaweed meal or compost tea when young, assume all leaf yellowing is too much water and then work back from that if shown not to be the case. I think a common mistake with peppers is trying too hard, they like to be left alone, once established.

I've often wondered if people spoil their vegetables. By that I mean they never make them work for their food and moisture. After years of watching my garden, I've noticed that a bit of stress seems to cause the plant to be motivated to reproduce so that it's genes carry on. For some of the plants you don't want that but peppers and tomatoes and such make fruits and we eat those. I've become very selective about what vegetable get special treatment and haven't noticed that the production on the stressed ones has dropped that much.

Steve Solomon discussed this in his book "Gardening When It Counts" and talked about his production levels. He suggests that certain varieties are "built" to deal with stress and those are the ones we should be planting and breeding.

I mainley only grow hot peppers. I live in Florida and my peppers produce year around. Most of the superhots are very slow growers and compared to maters all peppers are slow growing. I use bone meal, garden lime and a 15 30 15 granual fertilizer with a medium drainage soil.Like dicot said peppers hate wet feet so be careful. I have little blossom drop except in july and august. That's when i move all of my peppers in the shade for just a few hours of morning light.I add a lttle liquid fertilzer every other week to keep them happy. I use hlaf the recommemded amount on the label. But every climate is different. I think too much manure can cause the soil to be too soggy. I have to grow in containers due to the extreme heat here and I can control my soil better.

Thanks for all the responses! I should have mentioned that all of my peppers are in containers, and it is about 100 degrees everyday right now in Texas, so the water evaporates rapidly! I just give it a tiny bit so it'll perk up again. I really try to not overwater them.

i know the heat will halt pepper production at the moment, but I'm hoping to stabilize everything when it cools down again so I get a big production before the winter sets in!

i might try moving it into the shade during the hottest times of the day and see how that works. Thanks so much! I probably need a big more organic matter also and leave them alone. :)

Mine are in the ground. I add well composted horse manure once or twice a year. About every other month during the warmer months I sidedress with alfalfa horse pellets. I water with a kelp/fish emulsion every once in awhile.
Peppers get watered if they are wilting a little. The jalepeno is loaded with really hot peppers. Lost the habaneros to freeze last winter so just waiting for my new ones to mature but last summer had a bumper crop.
Have a new Anaheim just starting to flower and just germinated some aji dolce (sweet habaneros) which I'm extremely excited about. I'll probably put at least one of the aji dolces in a pot so that it can come inside when it freezes as they were a booger to germinate, took me months and many failures to get these.

I must be very lucky. Peppers and tomatoes do very well for me without much effort.

Peppers just take a while, and do not seem to need any extra inputs in any different proportion that any other vegetable you grow needs. See your agricultural extension agent for recommendations.

My Ag "college" (KSU) prescribes fertilizer for different crops at varying stages of growth, but in my experience timing is not that important.

But, If you want to grow great peppers, plan on harvesting the best ones at the very end of your season.

I have found that a little water deprivation puts the plant into survival mode. Plants put out fruit to pro-create so if it thinks it is dying(really just a little dry) it puts out seed bearing fruit to further the species.

I should have mentioned that all of my peppers are in containers, and it is about 100 degrees everyday right now in Texas, so the water evaporates rapidly!

That's why you have flower drop. 100 degrees in a container is even hotter for the plant.

Dan

Oh thanks Dan! I never thought of that but i can see how the temperature could even be hotter in containers. I'm in college and unfortunately i have a concrete backyard so I have no choice :)

I've moved my Yummy snack peppers into an area that gets partial shade during some parts of the day and they seem extremely grateful!

I'm a realtor so luckily when i graduate in December I can start the search for places with big real backyards! I can't wait to get out of these containers! I feel sorry for my roots everyday that they have to be so contained.

i'm in Abilene Tx and i'm having problems with blossom end rot on my bell peppers but they are producing.

i ended up putting a stip of burlap over my little container garden. it doesn't give them full shade but it's breaking some sun up when we get above 100 degrees. i'm not sure if that's the ticket or not for your situation but it seems to do fairly well in he production process for mine.

stay cool and pray for cooler weather!! should be back into the low 90s here late next week.

I know how you feel. I germinated some peppers from seeds and it feels like they are the slowest growing plant i've ever grown. I know they are healthy and everything...... just sooo slow to grow. I started some tomato seeds right after my pepper seeds and the tomatoes are much larger now than the peppers... I think peppers just take forever to grow.

Happy Gardening All,
-Kristina K.

Here is a link that might be useful: Urban Farm Wife

Tracydr: I also started some Aji Dulce, and I think saying they are a "booger" to germinate is a nice way of putting it! They are also painfully slow growing, certainly the furthest behind in my garden. I'm real curious about how they will taste, though!

For the OP: if your containers are black/dark, you could get some cheap white paint and paint the outsides of the containers white. (Even just some white acrylic craft paint will work.) That will help reduce the temperture in the soil a bit. Also, like the burlap idea, you could get some shade cloth to put up to cool your concrete yard. In comes in percentage of shade it produces, and 30% seems to not prevent growth or fruit ripening on my small fruit plants. I get mine from Grower's Supply/Farmtek cheap by buying remnants of about the size I want.

Cheers!

Here is a link that might be useful: Shade Cloth Remnants

If they are in containers in Texas then you will need to water everyday, and maybe more than once. Take a couple of the frames that you put your realator signs in and stretch a sheer curtain or even a white sheet across them and put them between your peppers and the hot afternoon sun and see if that helps. I live in northern Oklahoma and still have to water peppers everyday when I have them in containers. In the ground, not nearly as much.