I started some bell, banana, and hot peppers this Feb from seed and transplanted them around the middle of April. Since then they have become very yellow and showed almost no growth. I have been feeding with miracle grow once every week or 2, and watering when the soil is dry about an inch down. They are in a raised bed containing native top soil, bagged top soil, and about 10% compost.

I did an at home soil test (please don't yell at me) and my readings were as follows:

pH: 7
N: low
P: low
K: med

Sorry for the inaccuracy, that is literally how the test quantified the nutrients. I can try to get pictures later, but just imagine 3" peppers plants that have 2-3 leaves and are as yellow as a banana.

Any ideas??? should I just pitch them and buy transplants from lowes? Im starting to lose hope for these...

Make sure the roots aren't bound up, Yellow can mean nitrogen problem. Peppers also like the soil slightly acidic. Did you harden the plants? What's the temps. at night for last month? Soil temp. could be too cold. I usually put them in Memorial Day up here. Pa. 1st week of June.

Sounds like 'wet feet'.
In other words, you are killing them with kindness.

Think about peppers for a minute. They are native to ______? And that area gets _____ amount of seasonal rainfall.

See peppers take a LOT of abuse. They'll do better with abuse rather than lovin'.

should I just pitch them and buy transplants from lowes?

I would - they're cheap enough.

This time, dig a little hole for the transplant. 8" diameter is enough, but go deep, down to the bottom of your raised bed. Fill the hole with compost and add the pepper transplant. Water the transplant diameter and leave it alone. The surrounding soil has enough moisture from the sound of things, and the roots will chase that small contained area of moisture down to the depths.

Then watch the plant for signs of drought stress - and peppers can tale a lot too! Water when the plant tells you it needs it the same as you do/should with your lawn.

And PS! .... On your soil test you listed nitrogen for testing the soil. For peppers you don't want/need or care about nitrogen because you are not eating the green leafs. You want the fruit - a bush full of fruit. Phosphorus provides that.

PPSS - Plants fruit as a defense mechanism when they think the end is near - that they are dying. They fruit because it has seeds. Seeding keeps their species going year and year. So having said that - see why stressing the pepper with less water is beneficial? You'll see the leafs droop one evening - wait. Water it (but don't drown it) the next morning and they will perk up within an hour.

Thanks for the info! After thinking about what you've said, I think I've probably been way too "kind" to them.
Ill probably pick up some more this weekend. Anyone know of a cite similar to NTEP (showing suggested cultivars for my area) for veggies?

One more thing- I started the seeds in those little peat pods, and didnt remove the netting around the pods before moving them to a small pot. could that be causing an issue?

bmweiler09 wrote:One more thing- I started the seeds in those little peat pods, and didnt remove the netting around the pods before moving them to a small pot. could that be causing an issue?

BINGO! Root bound and stayed constantly saturated.


Go buy some more and enjoy eating them.

New peppers are in the ground. 2 Bell Boys, 1 Chocolate Beauty, 3 Bananas and 3 Jalapenos. $1.79 for 3 plants at the nursery! When I pulled the old peppers out of the ground there was almost no root system, I'm guessing it was from the netting. Its a good thing I didn't put a lot of money into starting them from seeds because I would be thoroughly pissed. The instructions mentioned nothing about removing the netting.

Anyways I did as you said Gary, dug a 6" hole down to nearly the bottom, refilled with mostly compost, then added the transplants.

So for 5 bucks you're back in the garden business again! Simple and cheap enough.

Raised beds create a little bit of a problem for roots. See we build these raised beds because we have poor soil. Then we install beautifully amended soil inside the raised beds. The roots grow in the amended soil of the raised bed and then sometimes (not every time) hit a brick wall when the roots hit the old soil under the raised bed, trying to go deeper. Adding the compost will help the roots reach down deep and eventually help the underlying soil below the raised bed.

As for any expandable peat things left over, cut the netting off and throw the peat in the garden, LOL! Next year, just get a small bag of some soil-less seed starting medium (should be on sale right now) and re-use the plastic trays that your 3 for $1.79 peppers came in. Save those plastic things for starting seeds next year.

Good link! Thanks, Morph.

Yes if I learned anything from this year its:

refrain from using the netted peat pods unless you want to attempt to remove it.
Dont skimp on the potting soil. The cheap crap I got was clumpy, full of sticks and dried hard as a rock.
A south facing window with a tree 20 feet in front of it is NOT enough light for the seedlings.

However things are looking pretty good for now. Heres a couple pics from this afternoon.


Peppers, all are transplants except 2




Maters, Squash, and Cucumber. The cucumber sprouted the same time as the squash but seems a little behind, are they just slow growers?