Put six pepper seedlings out about three weeks ago, hardened off over a week, nights have been 11 to 13C and days around 20C. They have not died, leaves are dark green, but they have not grown a single centimetre either. Tomatoes planted the same day have doubled. Am I doing something wrong or do peppers just sulk?
Check soil temperature rather than air. I keep a cheap probe thermometer in the bed and peppers do essentially nothing below 16C at 10cm depth. It turned pepper growing from mysterious into predictable for me.
Same, and it also cured me of planting them out two weeks early every year just because the calendar said so.
One thing to watch for: if they set flowers while stalled, pinch them off. A stressed plant that fruits early stays small all season. Let it build leaves first.
Mine sat there for a month once and then produced until frost. Peppers are a patience crop, tomatoes are the show-offs planted next to them making you feel bad.
@root_rot_rex · 2mo ago · 3 replies
Peppers sulk. They are a warm soil crop and below about 15C at night they essentially idle: roots barely extend, no top growth, and the leaves often go a darker green than usual. The moment you get a run of warm nights they take off, and by mid-season nobody can tell which ones stalled. Dark green and alive after three weeks is the good version of this story.
Reply
Report
@root_rot_rex · 2mo ago
Wait. Feeding a plant that is not growing just salts the root zone. If you want to do something useful, put a dark mulch or a cut fabric square around the base to warm the soil a few degrees.
Reply
Report
@metronome_mel · 2mo ago
Good to hear. Should I be putting anything on them in the meantime or just wait?
Reply
Report