Wouldn't know without a soil test. But, compost and/or worm castings can't hurt and will keep the chances of disease down due to the lack of rotation.

Kevin

Am I looking for more of high alkaline or low. I guess what I am asking what should my soil be high in to grow peppers.
Never had a problem with disease or insect

I think peppers similar to tomatoes can thrive within a wide range of pH (6.2 to 7.2 ?) but may have different micro nutrients requirements, like sulfur,...

About NPK: most established gardens tend to accumulate P and to some extent K, because those two bound to soil and plants use less of them. So when you keep adding thinks like 10-10-10- the Nitrogen is either used or leached but some of P and K stays there. In the past they used to call the fertilizers with 1-1-1 ratio ALL PURPOSE. but nowadays a fertilizer with 3-1-2 ratio is known as ALL PURPOSE fertilizers. What it means is that if we take P as reference, plants(in general) use TWICE as muck "K" and THREE times as much "N".

JMO

Nothing in particular. They can actually grow in pretty poor soil as long as it drains well. My regimen consists of 2-3 inches of compost 1-2 times per year(I garden all winter though too) and sprinklings of cottonseed(or feather), bone, and kelp meals at time of tilling compost. Then I supplement throughout the season with more of the meals as side dressing(at time of first fruit set) and an occasional drench of fish ferts. All this and organic mulch is all I ever do.

As far as ph -- like most veggies, they tend to like it a bit on the acidic side, but it's a pretty wide range --- I think like 5.8-7.2. So, if yous is pretty acidic, dolomite lime can't hurt too much for Ca and Mg and raising ph. If alkaline, use gypsum for your Ca and maybe supplement with epsom salts for Mg. I only whip out the epsoms if I feel the plants need it. If you want to lower ph, use elemental sulfur or peat. Keep in mind though that the everything I've mentioned is pretty slow release, especially the bone meal. So, getting started early in the spring, or even the preceding fall, is best.

Kevin

Do you think a slightly higher nitrogen level is good for peppers I think I read that somewhere

Higher than what?

No. I don't, imo. Let me put it this way -- If I had only 2 ferts and one was a 5-10-10 and the other was a 10-5-5, I'd take the first. You want plenty of foliage but you don't want it in a ratio that screws up with the production of blooms. And in healthy soil, you shouldn't need high amounts of N for peppers. JMO

Kevin

This post was edited by woohooman on Mon, May 26, 14 at 0:03