I'm having the same with some of my transplanted Peppers - they seem to be healthy but have not shown any noticeable growth. I note after about 8 or 9 days, some very small flowers starting to appear between the small, top leaves but they are taking a very long time to mature and are still small and closed.

Joseph
z10

Joseph,

How tall are your transplants? I don't have flowers, I have the original 4 leaves and maybe 1 new set, that's it.

Some are about 4" and no flowers - others are 6-8" and some of them have those little closed flowers but they have been like this for over a week now with not much change

Joseph
z10

I've had my jalapeno peppers out for 3 weeks with much colder nights and days and they've gone from one branch to four... Maybe your roots are just establishing? I wouldn't worry as long as they look healthy.

I'm wondering if it's too hot for them. They are in my yard which is north facing but probably don't get a lot of shade during the day. It's been in the 90s-100s for the past several weeks.

Katib gardener, I bought some Cascabella pepper seeds and I'm trying to germinate them in a paper towel but they don't seem to be working. I can usually get my seeds germinated this way, so i'm wondering if i got some bad seeds. How'd you germinate your Cascabellas? BTW, I have some New Mex twilight peppers that I germinated, and they are growing really slowly as well as my Bhut Jolokia babies. Happy growing!
Brian

Brian,

I am a fan of those little peat pellets that you buy at the store, add water and they expand. I've had awesome luck with those, probably 90% of the seeds I plant will germinate. You put them in this covered tray in a dark room for a few days, open the lid as soon as things start sprouting.

I planted my Hungarian wax peppers April 28th, and they haven't done much growing either (I assume the roots have been establishing). They *are* putting out flowers, however, and seem to have grown an inch or so taller - of course, bugs have eaten holes in all the leaves, causing the plants to appear quite ratty. I've put alhambra jugs over the smaller plants to "greenhouse" them during the day -- we had three days of 100° heat a week ago, but now we're back down in the 70's.

Josh

The leaves on all of my plants are lime green, way more yellow that I expected. I don't know if that's normal or if that is a signal of a nutrient deficiency. The only thing I've put on them is fish emulsion, which is high in nitrogen. I had read too much nitrogen will make the plants bushy with no fruit, but I don't have that problem yet. Might switch to miracle grow soon.

I'm thinking about putting some shade over mine. I figured peppers like heat, but the sun and heat I have is pretty intense. It's supposed to be 106 deg. here on Monday.

I have some chiles in pots that don't seem to have grown much since I put them out weeks ago. They range from five to nine inches, which is about what they were when I bought them (at several places). Italian bell peppers, cayenne, habanero, jalapeño, and tabasco are all the same. Some have flowers, and the cayenne has set a few tiny fruit.

My tomatoes, also in pots, right next to the peppers, are going gangbusters.

I've got the same thing. My peppers are doing nothing, no buds, no new leaves or anything, but my tomatoes are doing well. I tried miracle grow on one pepper a few days ago, as long as it doesn't kill the plant I'll do the rest of them. I'm going to try shading them a little bit too. My tomatoes are getting quite large, considering I started everything from seed. Next year I know to start the peppers earlier.

I've noticed the same, re: pepper vs. tomato growth.

Four feet from the peppers, the tomatoes are growing fantastically - even the ones that were killed back to ground-level by a cold night.

Next year, I'll (probably) plant my peppers a week earlier and I'll keep the alhambra bottles over them for the first few weeks.

Glad to know my peppers and I are not alone!

Josh

(p.s. Gojira is a great band!)

For some reason I was under the impression that it would be easier to grow peppers in my region, southern arizona. Why else would there be so many peppers in stuff? :) I went to target and saw pepper plants that were 5 times as big as mine and almost bought one. I guess I'll hold out hope and try next time. Last year I neglected my plants and the heat took them down, I got 1 pepper.

I am not familiar with a band named after Gojira, but I'm not surprised there is one.

I'm hoping it was the relatively cool Spring that has slowed my peppers down. It's been around 90 the past few days, so maybe things will improve.

My tiny cayenne produced a few inch-long fruit that looked like claws. I clipped them off in the hope that, now that conditions having improved, it will grow some and produce larger fruit.

Patience will help as much as warmer weather.........

here is a trick you can use on your plants this works wonders in a gallon of water put in 2 tablespoons of liquid fish emulsion , a cap full of liquid seaweed and about 4 drops of superthrive shake well and water them with this i gaurantee they will grow like crazy ...i have hot peppers that looked like a stick , you should see them now OMG they are unreal how they have grown...

mrmulcher: I've been using fish emulsion on them, I just heard about the liquid seaweed/kelp today. What is superthrive? And where can I get it?

Thanks!

superthrive is a vitamin/rooting hormone etc... that you can get at Wal-Mart it has work wonders for me this year

I seem to be having a similar problem with my Thai chili bush. Its about the same size as it was a month ago when I bought it from HD. I have it in a pot with much to keep the moisture in. Just put tomato spikes in there the other day as it wasn't growing. Miracle grow? It gets plenty of sun too.

Same problems as above...

Put some 2-15-15 foliage fertilizer on them on saturday and will do it again on friday.

I think we're all just expecting huge plants with lots of peppers in two weeks. We won't have lots of peppers until mid july....just the way it is.

Where is everyone finding their liquid seaweed? I figured I wouldn't find it at the big box stores (and I didn't), I was thinking of checking at the local nursery, but they specialize in landscaping plants so not sure how much luck I'll have.

Katib, I called around after getting shot down at my local (and very nice) nursery and finally found some at a nursery that is NOT near me but near a co-worker. I asked if they ship and they do not, sorry. I did find the superthrive at Wal Mart though! Happy hunting.

Katib, check at Lowe's or Home Depot for the liquid seaweed. It's usually somewhere near the lawn and garden chemicals.
Also, you said that you use the expanding pellets to plant the seeds in. When you transplant, do you remove the mesh around the peat? I've found that the mesh actually restricts the roots and the plants don't grow. This year, I cut the mesh off my seedlings, and the plants take off growing like they should. This is true for peppers, as well as tomatoes and basil.

Just a thought, excessive fertilizer inhibits the growth of chiles and tomatoes

A 5% solution at plant out is enough.

I'll check out Lowes and HD this weekend, Walmart didn't have it. When I planted the seedlings, I did remove that mesh stuff, and I don't think I damaged roots. I tried some miracle grow on a couple of test plants and those seem to be doing a bit better, new growth and more green. Thanks for all your help, I'm dreaming of fresh salsa but my tomatoes and peppers are no where near that point. Guess I need to plant earlier next year!

If plant growth is not as vigorous as desired or plants are a light or pale green, apply a tablespoonful of nitrate fertilizer around each plant after several blossoms have set. Do not apply if plants are very vigorous or show excessive vegetative growth.