"I water Roughly once a day with the fertilizer."

Sounds like too much water and way too much ferts.

Plants that big should be able to go a couple days between watering, and probably no more than every other week with the ferts.

Bone meal is going to take a fair amount of time to kick in, it needs to break down before the plant can use the calcium.

Oh! So should i lay off the watering until they perk up? (and avoid ferts while i water?)

I think the main problem is the blue table. ;-)

The bumpy leaves and purple stems are pretty common and nothing I'd get to worked up over. The curled leaves I would keep an eye on.

Based on the pic, surprisingly, it doesn't look like too much water, but, I would try backing off that a bit (I water about once a week - 10 days...but, don't use cactus mix so my soil mix may hold more water). Also agree with less feeding. Maybe every 2-4 weeks.

I figured it was that table! Drat, gotta replace it with another more fashionable color! ;)

Thanks for the info! I really want these plants to take off when it comes to the spring and summer, so i want them to be as healthy as can be! I'll lay off the ferts, and see what happens next, thank you all!

Seems that one of my leaves on the most mature of my plants had a strange tip develop, almost like a stinger, and a red ring around the stinger on the underside, not sure what it was, but just seemed weird. Pic soon.

Plant doesn't look too bad.

Bone meal can take up to six months before the Calcium becomes available in a pot.
If you need Calcium, I'd suggest a faster-acting form, such as Dolomitic Garden Lime,
which supplies Calcium and Magnesium in the proper ratio.

Also, that's the first time I've heard a 10-15-10 fertilizer referred to as "balanced."
Most plants use SIX TIMES more nitrogen than phosphorous, so there's never a reason to provide
phosphorous at such a heavy dosage. A fertilizer with a 3-1-2 ratio provides nutrients in the ratio
that the plant actually uses, resulting in excellent growth and very little waste (down the drain).

Thirdly, Miracle Grow Cactus mix is not what I would call well draining - unless, perhaps,
you're comparing it to something hideous like Miracle Grow Moisture Control (avoid at all costs).
Miracle Grow (and other peat-based soil) holds an exceptional amount of moisture
and, in my opinion, is unsuitable for container culture - particularly indoor container culture.

Josh

Ghost peppers, and other such peppers use very little nitrogen, and a loose soil like cactus mix is better draining than moisture control, and other such mixes sense all peppers do not like wet feet (ive noticed almost all my pepper plants in cactus mix dry out rather quickly in grow room under T5 and in 80 degrees) not saying that shcultz is perfect for it, however thats the concentraited content, after water down it becomes more 1-1.5-1 witch is mostly ballanced (10-10-10, 15-15-15, 10-5-10) according to the chiliguy is ballanced, but as you say not perfect.

I plan on changing my potting mix to something else, i have for quite some time, any suggestions on what kind? Cactus mix dries up and drains rather quickly. Watered with plain water today, sense soil was dry to the touch.

greenman28 - It's rather funny that you break bad on MG, I had three very successful Bhut plants this past summer and they are all over wintering right now.

From they time they had two sets of true leaves until this very day they have lived in nothing but MG Potting Mix or MG Moisture Control Potting Mix.

I guess like all things in life - YMMV.

All gardening is local, of course ;-)

However, in my experience, more folks are unsuccessful or have less than optimum results with Miracle Grow.
Moreover, mbellot, perhaps your plants would have been even more successful in a different mix? It's hard
to say without observing controlled experiments. Also, there is the subjective element of measured "success."
I might not be satisfied with the same results that satisfy others, and vice versa.

I once overwintered a Pepperoncini in a shovelfull of garden soil and left it out in a cold garage.
The plant survived and re-grew and produced many pods. But I would never recommend such treatment as
a standard course of action. I want to offer advice for as wide a range of growers as possible.

The15thwiseone, you wrote:
"Ghost peppers, and other such peppers use very little nitrogen"
- That's the first I've heard of this. According to whom or what? I've read the opposite in fact.
- Regardless of how much nitrogen peppers prefer, my point was that the middle number (phosphorous)
shouldn't ever need to be that high. It's out of balance with a plant's chemistry and metabolism.

Josh

I am a firm believer in the gritty type mixes. However, to each his own and people should use what works best for them. Sometimes just using one mix over another doesn't work simply because each mix requires a different approach to how it is used and cared for. And when it comes to Ferts, I have come to, in my very short time growing peppers, to believe that they should be used very sparingly and I firmly believe that most people use them way too much. Especially newbies. I am still surprised I never lost any plants last summer.

All my peppers went through several maladies last year and it seemed only a couple times was there any real danger to the plants. I started out worrying about every brown spot, discoloration, every oddly shaped or curled leaf. After a while, it seemed that ignoring or at most, simply monitoring most of those kind of issues was the best course of action.

Same goes for moisture. Less is best. That is probably why Josh's Peperoncini made it through the winter. If he had brought it indoors, fertilized, watered and pampered it, it easily could have died from some affliction.

greenman28 - Naturally, success is relative.

I consider "success" approximately 150 pods from three plants that were all grown in 4 gallon pots on my driveway.

Prior to this I've only managed to get 1-2 Jalapeno peppers from any given plant. I honestly think the pot vs. ground played a huge roll in my success, the pots allowed the soil get get warmer and stay warmer.

This was my first year starting from seed, playing with homebrew soil mixes was way beyond me. I was thrilled to get seven peppers to germinate (out of ten). Three went to foster homes and one died an untimely death thanks to a particularly nasty storm, which is how I came to have three overwintering in the house.

This year I'm trying to add some Trinidad Scorpion Butch T plants to the mix, as well as a couple others thanks to ottawapepper's generous give away.

Ottawa is the man! ;-)
I look forward to the results of your grow this year.

Josh

Greenman28-
Nitrogen in "supple" amounts is good for chili peppers. Word from thechiliman.org: "Too much nitrogen and your plants will be all leaves and no fruit, not enough and your plants may be yellow and withered." Nitrogen is important, but the more balanced you are on nitrogen in your ferts the more fruit the plant will bare, ( i used MG shake and feed on my last successful run, that plant was still doing great while indoors). I'd rather stick with a lower nitrogen source, and have "higher" on other such nutrients, Sense Nitrogen is the one that determines how many flowers are set.

However, yet again I will accept your constructive criticism, as long as you give me a specific fertilizer that i should be using, otherwise i will go with what i have atm, and if it proves to be unsuccessful with it, then i learned my lesson.

Hey, good morning!

What you just quoted from thechiliman says NOTHING about Ghost Peppers using very little nitrogen.
There's no science behind the statement. All it states is that too much nitrogen tends to make for a
plant with a lot of foliage - that indicates to me that the pepper is, in fact, directing all that nitrogen
into foliage production. Quite the opposite of "using very little nitrogen."

It is well-known that growers of many, many different species (not just peppers) manipulate nitrogen
levels to stress plants into flowering/fruiting. But if you want to do that, what you do is lower the
nitrogen at a certain point in the season while leaving the other nutrients the same. In other words,
you DON'T increase the phosphorous to get more blooms. That is a Myth. The Myth of Bloom Boosters.

Most fertilizers on the market are lacking in Calcium and Magnesium, along with the other micro-nutrients.
So I recommend that you select a fertilizer that delivers NPK at a ratio of 3-1-2. Miracle Grow makes a
12-4-8 and a 24-8-16 formula that work very well, as long as you also supplement the missing Calcium and
Magnesium in the proper ratio to eachother.

I personally use Dyna Grow Foliage Pro 9-3-6, which provides all the essential micro-nutrients.

Josh

Ok, thanks greenman, ill check at the local store for some of those nutes and experiment on some plants.

Good news is, the peppers are looking better after just 1 day of watering with just tap water, i made an epsom salt mixture and foilered/ soil fed it for the watering today! Leaves are darkening up and flattening in the dark! I also trimmed the yellowing/browning/ and what looks like scorched leaves from each of my plants!

My trins are still yellow, however i see them greening up and getting bushy soon. One of my hot cherries has just skyrocketed and needs transplanted i believe, very bushy, lots of new growth. So all is well in the grow tent! i think that dr doom took care of most my insect problems, if not all. (aphids i h8 them)

Few notes here:

1) If you're going to use tap water, put it in a large pitcher and leave it sitting out for a good 8 hours before you use it. The various -ines (chlorine, flourine, etc) are bad for your plants. Some tolerate it better than others though. If you let it sit out overnight, much of it will evaporate out of the water, making it better for your plants. I'd advise setting up a rain barrel or some kind of way to catch "natural" water though.

2) Foliar feeding is a waste of time. The only times it is even remotely useful is when the roots are too damaged to absorb nutrients normally. In every other case, you will get better, faster results from just pouring the stuff on the roots.

3) When watering a pepper as large as the one in that picture, use the "droop" method. Don't water it at all until you notice the leaves starting to droop. Then give them half the amount of water you would normally think they need. Wait an hour or ss and see if they perk up. If they do, wait for them to start drooping again before you water. If they don't perk all the way back up, give them a little more water and repeat until perky.

4) Use fertilizer sparingly. If your mix says to use a tablespoon per gallon for house plants, use half a tablespoon per gallon. Mix it in every third or fourth water, not every time. If you're using the droop method above, that means you will only adding fertilizer every 2-3 weeks, which is about right. You don't want a fertilizer buildup in the soil, as you can burn the roots that way if you aren't careful. Much like watering, it is better to slightly underfeed than to overfeed.

greenman - Thanks for the heads up about Dyna-Gro, I picked up some at lunch today.

Josh:
do you use dyna-gro all year or just at certain stages of plant growth?
Bruce

Hey, guys, my pleasure!
At first, the cost of the Foliage Pro 9-3-6 might seem a little high,
but when you are only using 1 teaspoon per gallon, and supplying ALL the micro-nutrients
in one fell swoop, you begin to see its value. If there were another fertilizer that offered
the same qualities, I would certainly let you know.

Bruce, I use Foliage Pro all year....from seedlings to overwintering mature plants.
For seedlings, I start with a 1/4 strength dose, then I gradually increase the dosage
until I'm fertilizing at full strength. During the winter, I drop the strength back
down to 1/4 strength.

I actually use Foliage Pro for every single one of my plants - succulents, tropicals,
conifers, maples, oaks, birch, citrus - any plant that I grow in a container. The only
alteration I make is in the concentration of the dose. Succulents I fertilize very lightly,
1/8 or 1/4 strength, and I don't fertilize as often. But with Citrus, which are heavy feeders,
I increase the dosage and fertilize weekly during the Summer.

Studies have shown that *most* plants (not all) use nutrients very close to a 3:1:2 ratio.
The main difference is in the amount of nutrients that are used....but the ratio doesn't really change.

Josh

Great Josh:
I have a small container of the foliage pro 9-3-6 that I have been using all winter. It does go a long way. But when summer comes, I would need much more. Where do you buy it. I had to get mine on line and shipping is pretty steep.
Bruce

I buy mine at a local Hydroponics store, 32 ounces for $20.
If you know of a store that carries Dyna Gro products, they have the ability to order Foliage Pro.....
but they might not choose to do so. I wish it were more readily available.

Josh

Josh - I picked up a quart for $12.75 today.

It's normally $15, but they were running a 15% off supplies deal since there is not much call for fertilizer when there is 6" of snow on the ground.

LOL

Gonna give it a shot on the three overwintering Bhuts tomorrow (too late to water tonight).

I see it for about $20 with free shipping on ebay for a quart. A gallon is about $50-60 shipped. How far will a quart go? If I start about 30-40 plants and end up with about 10 for the summer, can you estimate how much I would need? I am thinking that at 1/4 tsp per gallon of water, it should go a long ways.
Bruce

Bruce,

One quart is 192 teaspoons, so at 1/4 teaspoon per gallon that works out to almost 800 gallons of water.

A single quart should last me at least one full season.

During the Summer, however, you will be using the full strength (Production) dose of 1 teaspoon per gallon.

I'd use a 1/4 strength dose on plants that are being over-wintered.

Josh

OK, seems buying quart by quart is probably the best way to go then.
Thanks,
Bruce