These were started in December and grew at a glacial pace since that time until this week (and that was under grow lights no less). I was going to pull the plug, and then had a thought. Why not wait and see what happens? Suddenly, this Star Scream and Big… er Little Yellow Mama have begun to grow. They have answered a couple important questions – 1) grow media matters. Heavy wood content potting soils are not ideal for growth. 2) coffee mulch and drenches do stunt growth and do not stop aphids (for all I know, aphids love Starbucks) 3) with the right care and patience, even seemingly dead or dying plants can revive (eventually), and 4) would I do this again? Wait on tiny, stunted plants to begin growing? Maybe.
by Washedurhairlately
2 Comments
The problem is that a lot of soils are moving to peat free and the ones that have replaced the peated soils are generally wood-based
Nice. I’ve brought back some iffy plants, too. I’ve read that chunks of wood will suck up nitrogen that your pepper could be using. That nitrogen does get released again once the wood has decomposed sufficiently, but that usually takes longer than (we’re) concerned with in growing peppers. In pots, indoors, it’s a timeframe mismatch.
I planted some in every month, indoors, (with pests, lol), since September until the 1st week of February. The older ones took pretty long to get going, but now they’re exploding. A few of them never got past being stunted. The newer ones are growing more aggressively than their older counterparts. I think for all the factors people try to tweak, one has to take a step back sometimes and just remember that spring is coming and that plants seem to “know” that. I’ve seen some dead-looking ones bounce back recently that I don’t think would’ve back in the winter.