Bells and Hots, some goods some nots.

16 years ago

Hey there! We're trying our first in ground bell and hot peppers this year. The Bells are the Burpee Carnival Mix, the Hots are the Burpee Hot Mixture. We started the seeds in March, in a window that didn't give them enough light, so they started off weak and spindley. We transplanted 16 Bells and 12 Hots in mid-june... a little late, I know. It's our first time.

Some are gone, some are weak, and some look fantastic! The weak are about half the size of the strong and have yellowish, brittle feeling leaves. They're still growing, but not well. The strong are a nice green, budding and flowering like mad. Yay! I hope they produce before our season ends. According to my math, it's gonna be tight.

There seems to be a pattern among the strong and weak. The weak are on the perimeter of the pepper bed, where I've weeded poorly. The strong are in the center of the bed, where I've been much more vigilant. I blame laziness, and the fact that the perimiter is tough to deal with. All the plants are about 18" from each other. I don't have a good photo yet, nor a place to host one, but when I do I'll post a few.

But the question... can nearby weeds really make that much difference? The bed is slightly sloped, and the water settles more in some areas than others, but the weak all look like they're having the same problem, and the slope and water gathering don't seem follow the same pattern.

My amateur diagnosis is that maybe the weeds are eating up all the available nutrients? They're no more than about 6" from the weak plants. It's very sandy and dry soil, so I really havn't been expecting much more than lessons learned this year.

Oh! p.s. If I have Bell specific questions, do they go in the Veggie Forum or here? Thanks!

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Comments (3)

goatlike
Original Author
16 years ago
Ok, got me a pic now. The thumbnail will take you to the full size image. You can see along the back wall some very weak plants. The other weak plants are out of the shot except for the one in the lower Righthand corner. The bulk of the plants in the shot are the strong Bells, but that one big one waaaay in back is a good looking hot. I have no idea what they'll be.
podmon
16 years ago
So I've planted the same Burpee mixes as you. My advice would be that some of the varieties grow different that the others and take to being transplanted with different speeds. Among the hot the Cayenne especially is a taller spindly looking plant. I don't think the weeds would play a big part unless there's much more of them that don't show in the picture. I'd suggest a mulch to keep the weeds down maybe black plastic for heating the soil and keeping the moisture in. Peppers like lots of organic material in the soil, moisture and sun. Is there a fence or something along the perimeter that would cause some of the plants to get less sun? I grow my peppers in lots of containers and have found they like to grow next to each other rather than spaced apart. It also cuts down on sunburn on the peppers as they shade each other.

I found I didn't like the mixes because it's a crap shoot what will come up. I got a lot of Chardonnay bell pepper plants out of the Carnival mix and they taste blah. Last week I took them all out. The Orange Sun ones make up for it . They are really good. Also got way too many Hungarian Wax out of the hot mix and don't know what to do with them. Next year only individual seed packets no mixes.
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goatlike
Original Author
16 years ago
I think I'm with you on nixing the mixes. I'm not happy not knowing what I'm spending my time on. Next year it'll be individuals. I want a Hab for decoration, some nice red bells for regular eatin', a bunch of Anaheim & Ancho for drying and grinding into chili powder and sauce, and jalapenos for every reason under the sun. I'll get 2 of those types out of the mix... I hope. :)

They all get full sun from about 9am to 1-2pm. After that it's very dappled light through some conifers. However, the plants that get the first light are also the first to be in the shade, and vice versa. I havn't done any real timing of the difference between the rows, but it can't be more than 15-30 minutes one way or the other.

I've thought about the varieties growing differently, and the only reason I don't suspect that as a culprit is the pattern... Unless there's been a miracle of coincidence. I do have one plant that I think I can ID as a cayenne, one of the better ones as well. I'm very hopeful my best hot is an Anaheim.

The photo shows the area after I got the weeding bug in my head. There's more to do, but I guess I shoulda mentioned that. D'oh! :)

We've been reading about sucess in containers on this forum, and we plan on making that happen for next year. We'll do some in the garden and some in planters and see what works. Mulch will applied too. Maybe not this year, but definately next. Our lousy "soil" will have some non-sand additions next year as well.

There are so many potential variables to deal with ain't there?

Bells and Hots, some goods some nots.

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goatlike
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podmon

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Bells and Hots, some goods some nots.

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goatlikeOriginal Author

podmon

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