[Starlight]

Originally Posted by PaulF

I grow only sweet peppers and my pH is 8.2-8.5. There is no problem growing great plants and getting peppers. My problem is the short growing season where mostly I get very few ripe fruits. Lots of green and a few yellows and reds. The flavor is very sweet depending more on the variety than the soil condition, I think.

I been trying to keep my pH for the peppers around 6.2 to 6.5. Maybe I am too low.

Originally Posted by MrBig46

Ella, I can send you seeds of Spanish sweet pepper Najerano Rojo (excelent) , only I do not know if it would had grown up. It says that peppers must be on the sun and must have a wet feet
If you're interested so write.
Vladimír

Thanks Vladimir. Will send pm.

Originally Posted by slugworth

A cousin had giant bell peppers and I dug up his plants before the frost hit them(with permission).I overwintered in the house and planted them in my garden the next year.
In my garden they were just regular size,so ph or ground quality must be a big factor in pepper size.

I bet when you dug them up you were all excited, then wondered Huh? when you got smaller ones.

Originally Posted by rdback

Star, I think the paragraph quoted above may give a few clues. Here's what came to mind:

If you can grow "hots", you can grow "sweets". With your sweets, I think you may be experiencing flower drop. As hot as it gets in Alabama in the middle of Summer, the peppers are going to shed blooms to help the plant survive. Try using partial shade or sun-cloth during the hottest part of the day. Your "hot" peppers are probably c.Chinense, which usually originate from more temperate climates and can tolerate the heat somewhat better than c.Annuums, which is what most "sweet" peppers are.

3 gallon containers are a little small; 5 gallon will work better; larger would be better yet.

Watering every day is WAY too much for a pepper plant. Peppers do NOT like wet feet. Rather, let the plant tell you when to water. If the dirt is dry to the second knuckle or if the plant begins to wilt are a couple of ways to tell. If your plant wilts every day, either the sun is too hot for it or your planting mix is a problem.

Fertilizing every watering is WAY too much fertilizer. I fertilize at plantout and then side-dress during mid-season. That's it. Tomato Tone is a great choice for peppers.

Hopefully, if you consider some or all of these things, your success with sweets will improve.

Best of luck and hope you have a great growing season!

You may be right. That could be part of the problem. Didn't think about our heat and humidity or realize that sweets can't take the heat as much. I had them out with the hots and they were out in the hot sun from about 8 am to 6 pm when the normal shade from trees would cover them in the evening.

I have a shade house area. I'll try that with them. Usually about end of May and beginning of June we already hitting the 90's and by July, Aug and Sept. High 90's to over 100F with 100 % humidity.

Once a pepper plant wilts isn't it ruined? I thought I read that somewhere, never to let them wilt.

ilex Guess the quote didn't work. I will eat a sweet pepper any which way. Stuffed, fresh, fried, on pizza especially, soups. Plus the kids and seniors I grow and feed, they can't do the hots either, so I really want to have a decent crop of sweets this year.