Hi,I save all my egg shells & let them dry in the sun.I then crush them up,as fine as possible & sprinkle into the planting hole.Once planted,I also sprinkle the shells around the plant.I use this method for peppers & tomatoes.It might not be the fastest way to get calcium into the soil,but it works well for long term use.Hope this helps

I use powdered & canned nonfat milk, diluted, & water it in around the base of the plants.

But it may not be calcium that they need - I'm having probs w/ mites or thrips that are deforming the new growth on my small plants right now - nothing seems to kill them = (

If I have to replant the peppers, I'll try adding in the eggshells - but I think I need something more immediate if I'm going to try to save the existing plants.

Carol, I'll try your suggestion. I've inspected the plants pretty carefully, and there's no sign of any insects. Only the peppers (and to a lesser extent, the eggplants) are being affected - usually when I get a bug problem, they go after everything (particularly the cukes and zukes, which are humming along right now). There's no browning or spotting of the leaves - just puckering and curling. So my first guess is a nutritional deficiency (calcium most likely, magnesium as a secondary prospect). I'll pick up some powdered milk at the grocery and see if that helps.

Albaby

Hubby bought a product called Yield Booster for his pepper plants. It's made by Fertilome. You spray it on the blossoms like you would for BER. He's never used it. It is made from Calcium Chloride. Maybe that would help you?

Can you post a picture of the leaves? Here about all the peppers ever need beyond the basics is bone meal.

Nitrogen excess can cause curled leaves also.....maybe cut back the FP concentration......

I grow Peppers in 511 primarily.....For any Calcium/Magnesium deficiency I add Dolomitic Lime and possibly Epsom Salts

Here's some photos of the leaves:

You can ignore the white coloring - it's just remnants of a recent spray of diatomaceous earth. The leaves are just puckered up.

ALbaby

FWIW, the mites/thrips on my plants are teeny-tiny - you need a magnifying glass to see them. The only way I can tell w/o a lens is they look like specks of pollen that move.

Could be. Since the lower level leaves appear relatively healthy, while the upper ones were puckered, I had leaned against bugs - but I hadn't really checked for something that small. I'll get out there with a glass tomorrow to see if there's mites to small for the naked eye.

Albaby