YMMV,

Mike

My bell peppers are now extremely productive and lush and have laughed at pests. Last year, the first year I added more fertilizer than I ever had before to my container-grown plants, I was astonished at how many fruits developed, as well as their size. I'd planted Jupiters, an open-pollinated variety received in a seed-trade, and could not have been happier. I did use Dynamite, a 9-month continuous-release fertilizer with micronutrients. Maybe the micronutrients had something to do with their productivity since that's what I used this year when I set them out in garden soil instead of containers. But they're growing like weeds!

I was honestly ready to give up trying to grow bells -- in the past I didn't fertilize them at all, believing the traditional advice that nitrogen fertilizer makes the plants and leaves grow inordinately lushly and will prevent fruit from forming. That was absolutely not true with the Jupiters I heavily fertilized.

Anyway, I'd experiment with the fertilizing of pepper plants grown in containers, none, some, a lot, and see what works for you.

My containers were self-watering containers, not containers where the water runs out of the drainage holes taking all the soil nutrients with it. The advice you read was correct -- you'll quickly lose any fertilizer you've added if you don't replenish it on a regular basis.

You can see it here. The images were taken 10 days ago and the plants have grown quite a bit since then, thanks to hot weather and a nice rain.

Mike

Apologies, I misremembered what I read -- you are growing your peppers in a raised bed, not a container. You won't need to add fertilizer as you would to a container where the water runs out and takes the nutrients away from accessibility by the plant roots.

Whether you need to add fertilizer to ground-planted vegetables as time goes on depends entirely on how rich in nutrients your organic matter is and the plants' needs.

I've never had that experience either (too much foliage, not enough fruit). I think that advice came about as a reaction to gardeners who use really, really excessive amounts of nitrogen fertilizer. Otherwise, N is the nutrient used by all plants in the largest amount (after CHO) and any plant deprived of it will not fruit properly. Earlier, though, due to stress.

Strange that most companies don't feel that way. Here are the NPK ratios of several hydroponic ferts:

Ecogrow (4-2-4)
Ecobloom (2-4-3)

FloraGrow (2-1-6)
FloraBloom (0-5-4)

Greenleaves Grow Juice (2-1-3)
Greenleaves Bloom Juice (2-5-4)

Grow Big (3-2-6)
Tiger Bloom (2-8-4)

Sensi Grow (1-2-6)
Sensi Bloom (2-4-8)

Tomato-tone is a highly regarded dry fert for tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, etc.

Tomato-Tone (3-4-6)

These companies apparently feel Nitrogen is not as vital as phosphorus and potash, especially when it comes to blooming and fruiting.

Mike

Greg
Nevada

We did it somewhat similar but still a little differently. Used 33-0-0 as a supplement to 15-15-15 in early May, planted the end of May, then side-dressed with 33-0-0 after 2-4 weeks after transplanting. I don't recall the exact amount we side-dressed with but it was in the neighborhood of 200 pounds per acre. I did this for tobacco, tomatoes, potatoes, corn and green beans. They always turned out great - well, except in the couple of years we had a drought!

Mike

how can I make this guy look good? =)

One of my better looking plants

The pot they are in

Oh did I mention I don't know how much larger the peppers themselves should get? Do you think they might be good now? I think these are Chinese green or something. Thank you

I've used pots around 30L (8 US gallons) with good success for peppers and chilis, I would not want to go much smaller than that. In a too-small pot root space is limited and it becomes difficult to get the watering and fertiliser right. Also yours look like a strong wind would tip them over.

Yellowing, drooping leaves suggests a watering issue, over or under. IME peppers like to dry out a bit between waterings. This can be tricky in a pot, though, because most potting mixes become hydrophobic if they get too dry.

Fertilising is also something to watch in potted veg. The slow-release fertiliser included in potting mix is of variable quality. I don't know about Miracle Grow, only that lately there have been posts from people using it who have been having issues and comments that people don't like it.

The thing to watch with potted vegetables is leaching. Every time you water, if water runs out the drainage holes, soluble nutrients are being washed out of the potting mix. That includes nutrients from the slow-release granules that are part of the mix. Temperature is also a factor - in hot conditions you might have to add fertiliser sooner.

Also, in a tiny pot the plant has a smaller volume of potting mix from which to obtain its nutrients - the nutrients in that pot are therefore likely to be exhausted sooner. If the plant is growing vigorously and the leaves are a good deep green, then its getting most of what it needs. Pale green or yellowing leaves suggests they need a feed, but yellowing may also be a result of overwatering.

If it was me, I'd be tempted to carefully pot-up the ones that aren't looking too good to a larger pot and see how you go.

Blossom drop can be caused by many factors not necessarily related to fertilization - temps too high, temps too low, stress caused by inappropriate soil/water conditions etc etc. Plus plants often drop blossoms earlier in the season. If the plants are healthy and the environmental conditions are OK they will set fruit. If you worry that every flower didn't become a pepper you'll get an ulcer.

Good luck!