I follow the basics and if problems i ask . 1 promix or any fresh starting soil 2 proper growing trays that drain well 3 warm temp for the seed to germinate 4 NO FERTILIZER untill they are 3 to 4 inches tall. now any one of these steps that are wrong could cause your problem. I dont hit em with fert untill they have a strong root system . good starting soil is free of last years problems (aphids) and it drains well so you dont get damping off. the trays are good to use cause the drain well and when you need to transplant they are easy to work with.

Howdy, Andrew, welcome to the pepper Forum! Peppers don't like "wet feet," which is why a well-draining soil is often recommended. I start pepper seeds in a gritty mix, transplant them to a 5-1-1 for slightly more moisture, and then I plant them out in the garden. At the end of the season, I dig them up, bare-root, and back they go into a gritty mix for the Winter spent indoors. Peppers should be fertilized consistently, but they aren't as heavy feeders as tomatoes, for example. Bark, perlite, and a small amount of peat or potting soil to bind those ingredients will work fine. Keep after those aphids. They're a real pain. Josh

Patricia, My Mother died the same exact way as yours. She had been suffering with a stiff neck for a couple of weeks. On Monday (June 4, 2007) she went to the hospital to get it checked. On Wednesday (6th) we found out she had liver cancer. It had spread to her adrenial glands, lungs and into her neck. On Sunday (10th) she was gone. She too went peacefully in her sleep. I know what you went through, she went really fast. Although this is all still new to me, I too feel your pain. Grieving is not easy for me right now. I smelt saukraut (sp?) the other day and thought it was kind of funny as I was driving down the road. I close my eyes and see her smiling face but yet I can not cry. Her services are this coming week end (17th/18th) and she is being buried on my son's (her grandson's) birthday. He is taking it so hard, but there is nothing I can do. I have talked till I was blue in the face and can not gt my brother to budge. I just hope I have the strength to go through this. With God's help we wil get through this. Here is a link that might be useful: Mother's Memorial

Hmmm... well, from what I've heard, and some experience, there's something to say about the amount of biomass for space, but I've never tried growing them that close together. It will force competition, and that has good and bad results. Each plant, and every resulting fruit will most likely be smaller, but you may get more weight per space. It's difficult to do a true controlled experiment in that situation, but I suppose it can be done. The control will need to use the same amount of fertilizer, not per plant, but per space. However, you'll probably want to try a second experiment where you put like 1 1/2 times the amount of ferts on the double-plant. You may get a larger weight of harvest with less input of water and ferts. However, and it's often not as much as an issue with peppers as with some other crops, crowding increases the potential for disease. The traditional type of crowding isn't to let 2 plants grow that close together, but to plant them closer than traditionally recommended. Sq. ft. gardeners often find increased yield with intensive planting (intensive is a word for growing more than the recommended number of plants in a given space.) However, they also must use increased amounts of fertilizer, compost, and water. In any case, let us know how it turns out with photos throughout the season. :)