Last year was my first year growing peppers (or anything, for that matter). Very rarely I would fertilize my plants, more so towards the later part of the season when they needed more calcium to prevent BER. Because it was my first year I was also very cautious as to what type and how much fertilizer I would give each plant. Overall I'm extremely satisfied with the results of last season.This year, however, I'm thinking I want to fertilize more and on a more consistent basis. In order to do this I figure I need to come up with some sort of schedule.
As of right now I have:
- fish emulsion (5-1-1)
- a small container of MG tomato plus calcium (9-4-12)
- two small containers of something called "Mater magic" (8-5-5) it was on sale at work for $0.69, I had to try it,
- biotome starter fertilizer w/mychorrhizae (4-3-3)
- jobe's organic veg/tomato fertilizer (2-5-3).
Obviously I wouldn't be using all of them at the same time or perhaps I could experiment to see which ones perform best. I can also buy any of these at work so if I need more that's not an issue.
My thought so far is this:
- Water with fish emulsion every other week.
- In between those weeks fertilize with one of the fertilizers mentioned above.
I want to be able to take full advantage of the fertilizers I have, so with that in mind would I be able to fertilize more frequently than what I have in mind? Given the above fertilizers what kind of fertilizer schedule would you recommend? I really have no clue when it comes to fertilizing which is probably why I was so hesitant last year but this year I would really like to see what kind of impact my fertilizers can really have. If it makes a difference, of the 25 plants I have this year (quite a jump from the 4 I started with last year!) two overwintered plants are now in a raised bed roughly 3'x3' and the other two OWs are in 3.8gal containers. The remaining plants were all started from seeds this year and are in either 2gal or 3.8gal containers. The bed is a mix of compost, manure, and a sprinkling of biotome; the containers all have regular MG potting soil and some have a dash of biotome as well.
As of right now I have:
- fish emulsion (5-1-1)
- a small container of MG tomato plus calcium (9-4-12)
- two small containers of something called "Mater magic" (8-5-5) it was on sale at work for $0.69, I had to try it,
- biotome starter fertilizer w/mychorrhizae (4-3-3)
- jobe's organic veg/tomato fertilizer (2-5-3).
Obviously I wouldn't be using all of them at the same time or perhaps I could experiment to see which ones perform best. I can also buy any of these at work so if I need more that's not an issue.
My thought so far is this:
- Water with fish emulsion every other week.
- In between those weeks fertilize with one of the fertilizers mentioned above.
I want to be able to take full advantage of the fertilizers I have, so with that in mind would I be able to fertilize more frequently than what I have in mind? Given the above fertilizers what kind of fertilizer schedule would you recommend? I really have no clue when it comes to fertilizing which is probably why I was so hesitant last year but this year I would really like to see what kind of impact my fertilizers can really have. If it makes a difference, of the 25 plants I have this year (quite a jump from the 4 I started with last year!) two overwintered plants are now in a raised bed roughly 3'x3' and the other two OWs are in 3.8gal containers. The remaining plants were all started from seeds this year and are in either 2gal or 3.8gal containers. The bed is a mix of compost, manure, and a sprinkling of biotome; the containers all have regular MG potting soil and some have a dash of biotome as well.