Given the low amount of N in the product, it's most likely the aphids found the plant because it was attractive to them for reasons other than too much N. It happens.

1/3rd of product's N is water soluble N. You may want to wait until it gets it's first or second set of true leaves before applying it. It gives the plant a chance to set a root system that's ready to take up the water soluble portion and put it to good use. If you can't wait until later to apply or it's inconvenient it's not a big deal, though.

The other 2/3rd will persist a while and slowly feed the plant.

As far as how much to use, they suggest 1 bag (25lbs) per 200 sq ft...so that's 8 square foot per lb of product...the average pepper plant takes up 2-3 square foot depending on how much space you're willing to give it.

In a potted plant you can find out the sq ft of pot by looking up the brand/maker of the pot on the internet (or do the math yourself), but if the pot isn't wide enough it may not be a good idea to pile it on thickly or put on a full dosage all at once.

That said, 3% N isn't a lot of N...and this manure/sawdust mixture may not play out well with doubling or tripling the application to get more nutrients into the planting area. It may be fine...I dunno...never used this one.

This post was edited by nc-crn on Sat, Jan 3, 15 at 18:48

one might suggest... that composted ANYTHING... is just compost ...

its no longer CS ... and should be rather neutral in regards to its elements ... not high or low in various components .....

dont you think????

ken

Yeah, given that they bothered to certify the nutrient content and sell it as a bagged fertilizer/mulch product it's most likely safe to assume it's fully composted.

There's a lot of stuff out there (both bagged and from compost lots) that claim 'compost' but are really 'mostly composted' materials. This is a lot more common on bagged compost materials that aren't claiming a fertilizer content, though.

So yeah, in this case this product is most likely fully composted.

That said, it's claiming a 3-2-2 NPK.

It is less about what amount of Nitrogen might a pepper plant need as it is about what is available form the soil. Organic growing is about feeding the soil so the Soil Food Web will feed the plants growing there. The concept of side dressing with some kind of fertilizer comes from the "conventional" growing school and is mostly unnecessary if the soil the plants are growing in is good and healthy.
What was the reason you side dressed? Were the plants not doing well and needed help, or was that done because it is something that is done? What does a good reliable soil test say about the soil these plants were growing in?

"have recently learned that excess nitrogen will bring them in"

From where did you learn this?

I grow a large number of peppers from seed, and I have seen some aphids on some of the plants. However, I am a very strong believer in fertilization of the seedlings to encourage quick growth. I find that the rapid growth not only results in a larger plant with more leaves able to perform photosynthesis, but it also helps to delay the first blooms on the plant. By delaying the first blooms, I get a somewhat later, but much larger total crop. In fact, there is another posting in the forum where I recently talked about using a vermicompost mix for planting. My experience is that the aphids are not an issue with the vigorous growth; in fact, I think the more vigorous plants may be better able to fend off attacks. I have heard the warnings before about vigorous plants being more susceptable to aphids, and I've warned people to whom I show my methods about these concerns. I just have not seen in my own growing over quite a few years that the concerns are a reality for me. My vigorous, well-fed plants do fine. Natural predators help to eliminate the aphids which appear. I would probably be more worried about an underfertilized plant not having the reserves to fight aphids. I don't use chicken manure, but the equivalent dosage to what I use would require about 50-60 grams of manure; I use this kind of dosage every two weeks. This rate is about the same as nc-crn was refering to above. If you want to hedge your bets, have you considered other sources of nutrients to complement the manure, using less manure? You'll get some idea of dosing needs by watching the pepper leaves; deformation of leaves may indicate an overfed plant, as will excessive fruit abortion. Yellowing leaves or slow growth may indicate the need for additional N. Also make sure you consider the initial load of nutrients in your seed starting mix: some have few nutrients, some have enough to get the plant well on its way in the ground. Most of my plants will live in a greenhouse their whole lives; for outside plants, I'd continue to fertilize as above until about a month before first frost.
Renais

This post was edited by Renais1 on Mon, Jan 5, 15 at 1:06

I just looked up the recommended rates of N application in commercial crops to see how my numbers above compared. University of Florida recommends 100-200 pounds N/acre over the course of the crop. With about 14000 pepper plants/acre in a crop, this is about 3-6 grams N/plant per crop. With a fertilizer at 3% N like the manure linked above, this would be then 100-200 grams manure per plant per crop, about the range discussed above. So, applying 50 gram doses four times a couple weeks apart looks reasonable. My references for hydroponic production come out to about the same, or a little greater N, but much of that is because of the longer expected crop time in hydroponics. The Wisconsin recommendations are for 150 lb N/acre, in line with Florida. Bonnie plants has some good info on their site; the use of their organic fertilizer at their recommended rates would amount to the equivalent of 220 g of the chicken manure per crop, again in line with other sources. So, if you plan 4 or 5 dressings over the course of the outside season, 50 g more or less per dressing seems like it is in the recommended range. Also note, as mentioned above, that this manure is feeding the soil, so it will take some time for the soil to assimilate and make some of the N available to the plant. Therefore, you may want to apply earlier rather than later in the season so that the soil can release the nutrients you need. There are two offsets which will be in play as well: your soil will already have some organic matter which will release N through the course of the year, and some of the fertilizer you apply this year will be stored in the soil for future crops. In a rich soil, one hopes these two factors balance out.
Renais

Here is a link that might be useful: Florida fertilizer recommendations

Insects are attracted to unhealthy plants to eat. They find those plants based on the wave-length of yellow light reflected from those plants.
While it is true that rapid succulent growth contributes to disease and insects, problems may also appear on normal plant tissue if the plant is weak some how.

I like what kimmsr said about feeding the soil in order to feed the plants. May I add that the soil's structure(porosity) also contributes to plant health as does the air around the leaves.
Also Peppers are a heat loving plant that enjoys lots of sunshine. Last year my peppers really stunk. Lots of rain and pleasantly cool Summer for humans but not for peppers on the East side of the garden. :)

One source, lazygardens, is from the University of California, "High levels of nitrogen fertilizer favor aphid reproduction, so never use more nitrogen than necessary."
The link below might be of interest.

Here is a link that might be useful: About Aphids

I very much agree that one should not use more nitrogen than necessary; the key is identifying what is more than necessary. The excess will either volatilize, or be washed away, potentially harming the environment. You are also washing away your money, and can very well harm your plants. The peroiodic fertilizations with smaller amounts of N help to mitigate this issue. One of the major reasons I check university recommendations is to avoid too high a fertilization; they give some good guidelines to begin with. For my peppers too much N would lead to too soft growth leading to plant structural issues as well as insect and disease attack. Overfertilized peppers will be pathetic masses of green just inviting insect attack. Since I do not have a large fertilizer dose in my starter mix, I can easily be too low on my seedling fertilization as the plant grows. The challenge for me is to get to that sweet spot where there is enough N for optimal growth, and not more N than necessary as the UC article mentions. In this regard, organic fertilizers, especially those with lower amounts of soluble N can be more forgiving than fully soluble fertilizers. The UC article also mentions time-release ferts; if using these, one needs to examine the impact of soil temperature on the release rates. Some time-release ferts can dump all their N if the soil gets too warm, others provide a more uniform release vs. temperature. Since I usually use a drip system, my personal solution to these issues is a constant, slow application of fertilizer through the drip. I avoid wasting fertilizer, having unnecessary runoff, and keep soil fertility somewhat uniform.
Renais