I've ordered a 3 gallon fertilizer injector and I think I've calculated a formula to start with: 12 parts vinegar: 1 part foliage pro I'll set the fertilizer injector at 250:1 This should deliver almost 1 TB vinegar per gallon of water and 1/4 tsp of FP per gallon. From what I've read the vinegar should lower the ph by approximately 1. Drip irrigation will be watering/fertilizing almost every day. On the weekends, I will probably hand water as needed, especially to flush out the containers. I'm sure this will need some tweaking, but that's my starter plan Anyway, if anyone has advice for me on that, I'm all ears. However, my real question is whether it is safe to combine vinegar and FP. From reading other threads, it seems like people have done it with other fertilizers, but always diluted with water and used immediately. In my case, this injector would be sitting there with a full-on mixture of 12 parts vinegar and 1 part FP. I'm in Kansas where we are likely to hit 100 degrees during the summer. Is that going to be safe and effective or can the vinegar somehow "ruin" the fertilizer?

Ive called my local university co-op extention on this as it doesnt seem as if anything that will supress something as small as mold and spores, would easily be killed by an oil application. The catapillars need to eat to have bts and other bacterias, g if the get hit by oil that may very well kill them or cut back. The bt breaksdown quickly in sunlight. So it is better to spray that first a day or two before oils at evening giving the little boogars time to injest it. Bt takes time to act within. It takes about 2-3 days to kill. In the next spray if you must spray oils then spray then. Or you can find a biological "pre-emergent" (pe) there are organic ones. A few days after that up to 7 days release beneficial insects such as wasps, pirate bugs, mealy bug destrpyers, what ever pest you need to control. There are many. Disease is now the biggest threat & there are beneficial sprays just for disease.. oils work ok but there are a few beneifial baterias that kill and supress. Unfortunately, you have to spray more than once but with this prescription you wont need to spray as often. Ive only sprayed once since june, i live in a coastal area lots of fog and wet. Now today i have to spray...two months between sprays darn well worth the cost and time.

Agreed with Dave on all points, i've seen plant toxicity after a strong Neem concoction was applied. It does not do too much for bacterial spot on peppers in my experience (i alternated Neem for at least 2 years in the past, it was def better than using nothing though). It will kill Japanese beetles after they've ingested sprayed pepper leaves. As for Fungus gnats, i've had previous encounters in my seed trays. The most long lasting solution i've tried is Mosquito Dunks. Break one apart into a gallon of water, shake well & let it sit overnight, then soak your potting soil thoroughly. It takes a couple of weeks and multiple soakings because of their two week life cycle, but you'll never see them again. Dunks employ a certain bacteria so if your tap water is heavy with chlorine/chloramines then neutralize it first with a few drops of lemon juice (Ascorbic acid or Sodium Ascorbate, etc). Steve

I think you're overthinking this & making things too difficult. I hear you about limited funds, but pls. just change the mix for this plant. Kals are strong, sturdy plants, they can handle it fine. Aerial roots aren't necessarily the signs of thirst you think they are, many of us simply ignore them. I do not take their presence as indicator to water the plants, sometimes I think them plants use it to anchor themselves. Perhaps you might buy fewer plants so you can afford to buy enough mix. In your first pic -- why do you think the plant is thirsty? The leaves are plump w/ water, & not at all wrinkled, therefore those aerial roots are not about thirst. You need to pls. learn to water moderately while still in the peat as Rina suggests. Sorry, I don't wish to be a downer but I believe what you're doing is ineffective, just water the poor thing, even if in peat, as Rina said, just not a lot of water. Peat mixes don't immediately harden when you water & they don't turn rock hard automatically, it's over time, so you can check it periodically. Sometimes it's helpful not to take everything one reads quite so literally. In my opinion, watering the peat plant moderately is preferable to what you're doing.