The best fertilizer for peppers will be different depending on the soil conditions, garden site (natural/undecomposed, raised bed, or pot-grown), and the amount of time the gardener has available to tend to the plants. The type of plant you have will also influence your choice of fertilizer. If you have a vineyard crop, then you may wish to use an organic product. For your individual plants, the answer is not so simple. This is because all plants require a certain amount of fertilizer as part of the lawn care regime.
When growing vegetables, whether they be tomatoes squash, or peppers, the nutrients are locked up in the skin of the plant and cannot be digested by the roots. Therefore, they must be provided by the gardener in the form of either a commercial product like Red Revolution or a home compost recipe that has well-balanced ingredients. Both of these substances are excellent for giving the plants a well-balanced nitrogen base and are very good for the roots. When preparing your compost recipe, combine one part compost to one part sand and use slow-release pellets for the plants. For the slower-release pellets, add 2 inches of organic material to each square foot and mulch the material around the roots to protect them from clogging.
Vegetative growth tends to slow down during the winter months and should be fertilized only once a month during this period. Fertilizing the plants in the spring will help with this problem, but again, you should wait until the following summer for feeding. In general, a good schedule calls for fertilizing the vines four months before the beginning of the season and another four months afterward, for a total of six months. If you are growing fast-growing herbs, such as chives, garlic, or tarragon, you may fertilize them as soon as they are plucked from the garden. After the flowering season, for example, you should feed your peppers twice a year; in the summer for a total of three times.
The timing of your fertilizer is important because you want the best growth possible from your new growing season’s crops. All mature and hardy pepper varieties can be fertilized four months before harvesting, but you need not wait until the last week of May to begin. It is also important that you do not fertilize the crop until after the leaves have begun to turn color, because green foliage indicates nutrients still available.
You should fertilize your peppers based on the size of the plant as well as the type of pepper being grown. Smaller peppers will need light-bearing fertilizers while larger peppers will require a boron-bearing fertilizer. Finally, reach maturity for sweet peppers by fertilizing them annually, because they have a shorter lifetime than the other types of peppers.
Although peppers mature quickly, they are not immune to deficiencies. Fertilizer is especially important if you are replanting plants that you have had for a few years or plan to re-fertilize soon. Two of the most important elements of a good quality soil structure include nitrogen and potassium, both of which are depleted in most soils due to intensive use. Therefore, you should increase the amount of potassium and nitrogen as you add organic matter to improve the soil. You may also want to include sulfur, a natural fertilizer that will also provide additional nutrients to the soil.
In addition to the usual ingredients that you use in your garden, you can give your plants special nutrients like potassium and magnesium by means of a compost made especially for use with hot peppers. Hot peppers are very prone to burning, so you want to protect them from this. By using compost made especially for use with hot peppers, you can ensure your plants will stay healthy and continue to grow at a high rate. You can add this organic matter to the soil to help your plants resist common diseases and insects that can destroy your crop.
As you can see, peppers, tomatoes, and any other type of fresh vegetable can benefit from the extra nutrients your garden soil can provide. Fertilizing your vegetables is not difficult when you consider what your veggies do best. They love it when there is plenty of sunlight and water. However, make sure you choose natural fertilizers made especially for fruits and veggies for best results.
