How To Fertilize Peppers (Complete Guide) - Pepper Geek

hey there welcome back to pepper geek in today's video i'll be discussing how and when to fertilize pepper plants now if you've been following our channel for a while you know we do have a video about fertilizer for pepper plants but that video goes more in depth about nitrogen phosphorus and potassium and all the other micronutrients that plants need this video is intended to be a bit more straightforward we'll show you our process of fertilizing the different stages of plant growth at which we change our fertilizer regimen and we won't talk so much about what's actually in fertilizer before we get started check out our ebook growing perfect peppers it's all about growing peppers from start to finish and we definitely have a section about fertilizer and how to use it properly so if you're interested in growing better pepper plants check it out in the description below okay so let's talk fertilizing peppers i have a plant here to demonstrate we're in early july right now but there are three main stages where we change our fertilizing regimen and the three stages are the seedling stage when the plants are very young the growth stage or the vegetative stage and then the blooming stage flowering or fruiting stage now pepper plants behave differently in these three stages so you want to feed them accordingly so first i'll give a really basic overview of what we do at those three different stages at the seedling stage we'll start fertilizing with a nitrogen-rich fertilizer basically the first number the n number is higher than the other two numbers so the plants are getting plenty of nitrogen which they need to grow lots of foliage we'll use one of these at a reduced strength so that we don't burn the plants the plants are really slow growing early on so they don't need much fertilizer just a little bit goes a long way we'll use a half strength or sometimes even a quarter strength depending on how strong the fertilizer is once the plants take off and they start growing faster we'll increase the amount of fertilizer and eventually get to a full strength of one of these nitrogen rich blends then once the plant gets to its flowering stage this is sort of a good example of when to switch over to a different fertilizing regimen this plant is beginning to produce flowers it's still growing it's still using nitrogen but you want a different blend you want a lower nitrogen and a higher phosphorus and potassium and all of these are examples of fertilizer that provide that and so you can sort of wean off of these and onto one of these or you can just reduce the amount that you're using over here less nitrogen and try to get more phosphorus and potassium for the plant so now let's dive in when do you start fertilizing well we usually start fertilizing about a week after the plants emerge that's going to depend on what soil medium you're using if it has nutrients built in you may not need to fertilize at all until a few weeks after the plant sprout or if you use a seed starter mix like we do then you'll want to fertilize about a week after the plants sprout to give them what they need this is probably one of the most common reasons people have stunted plants they forget to fertilize or they don't know that they need to fertilize you want to provide the nutrients your plants need especially when you're growing in containers once the plants are about three to four weeks old that's usually when they can handle full strength nutrients they start growing a lot faster they can photosynthesize more and they really start to branch out growing more leaves more rapidly and at that stage you'll just use full strength nutrients with a high nitrogen value now about six to ten weeks depending on the variety that's a good time to switch over to a more phosphorous and potassium-rich fertilizer and wean off of so much nitrogen and the reason you do that is to avoid an abundance of leafy growth at the expense of fruits and to encourage the plant to produce more flowers and set more fruit so tiger bloom again this is another example that we always use it's a 2 8 4 low nitrogen high phosphorus higher potassium than nitrogen so that's one option and all of these kind of do that same thing they reduce the nitrogen increase phosphorus and potassium so with all that in mind let's take this plant outside and show you how we fertilize okay so we're outside and we're ready to feed this plant like i said it's producing flowers so we're ready to switch over to our blooming fertilizer and today we'll just be using tiger bloom because it's the most straightforward and they recommend adding two to three teaspoons per gallon of water this is a two gallon watering can so i'm gonna go on the low side since this plant isn't huge and i'm gonna do four teaspoons for two gallons and over time if the plant does get large if it's a very large variety then you can increase the amount of fertilizer just try to keep that in mind as the plants are growing so really good shake so with this since it's liquid it's very simple just add the required amount [Music] and we'll say less is more you don't want to just try adding more than they recommend start on the low side and see how it performs and we'll fill up just make sure your hose water isn't too warm sometimes if the hose lays in the sun for a while it'll get hot one recommendation if you're using granules that are water soluble use a little bit of warm water to start you know just add maybe an inch to the bottom of the watering can and then swish it around that can help dissolve those granules and then you can fill the rest of the watering can with cold water but in this case we're using a liquid fertilizer so we can just add it all the way to the top and so this will definitely feed more than one plant i'll use it to feed this one but then i'll take it over and feed probably five or six pepper plants five gallon grow bags here and i like to go slow when feeding just make sure that the soil is getting evenly saturated and you don't want too much draining out the bottom because that's just a waste of nutrients so i'll sort of let it settle a bit there and then feed one more time just to make sure as much of the soil as saturated as possible and so once again careful not to lose any of the nutrient water and go around the base of the plant and water thoroughly in case you're curious this is some sweet alyssum just to attract some beneficial insects it's been attracting lots of hoverflies and this one's just about to start flowering so this fertilizer should help the alyssum as well okay so this plant is done like i said i'll use some of that nutrient water to feed our other pepper plants and other flowering plants like tomatoes so now let's head back in and talk about some other things to consider when fertilizing okay so back inside let's talk about some common things you want to consider when it comes to feeding pepper plants the first is how often to feed your plants and there's a really simple answer for that it's check the product label on your fertilizer and go by what the manufacturer recommends we get this question so often but it really depends on the nutrients that you're using for example this dr earth's slow release granular fertilizer requires a feeding every two months whereas miracle girl performance organics requires you to feed every seven days for ideal results so you really need to check the product labeling you don't want to feed too often with something like this and you don't want to skip a week with something like this so i don't think we've ever had a fertilizer where there weren't instructions on how often to feed so just make sure you're reading the label another thing to consider if you're using water-soluble nutrients is rainfall if you have heavy rain in your area it can flush out some of the nutrients from your potted plants and even your raised beds so you want to make sure that you're feeding after rainfall or at least not just before you expect to have heavy rain another thing to consider is whether you're growing in pots or if you're growing in the ground potted plants you can basically assume that there are no nutrients at all in the soil unless you bought fresh soil that does have nutrients then you can go by the packaging of that soil and wait until those nutrients are depleted before fertilizing but after that point you need to feed the plants it's a small enclosed container where the nutrients eventually get used up and then you have to provide them for in-ground beds it's a totally different world you're going to want to use things like compost you're going to want to feed that soil and sort of amend it over time and build up its vitality that way you won't have to use fertilizers like this so much in the long run maybe early on but eventually you'll have a soil that can be relied upon to provide the nutrients your plants need so in the case where you're growing in the ground or in a raised bed you should check what's in that soil already get a soil test send a sample away and understand what's in there and what the soil needs to begin with then like i said over time add that organic matter add compost add rotted manure and improve the soil adding those beneficial bacteria and all those microbes that help plants grow well another thing to consider is whether to use water soluble nutrients or slow release granules and it's really going to depend on what you need if your plants are showing a deficiency in something you're seeing yellowing leaves and your plants are low in nitrogen for example you'll probably want to use something water soluble because that's going to feed the plants instantaneously they're going to get what they need and the problem will start to resolve right away slow release is great if you don't want to keep up with a fertilizing regimen you can just amend this into the soil at the beginning of the season and it'll feed the plants for months and this can be used as a preventative side dressing it just takes a little bit longer for it to start to break down in the soil and release for the plants to use but to give you my opinion you can see we've tried so many fertilizers i really am starting to lean towards the slow release fertilizers and getting those into the soil early on in the season so that the plants have what they need then all you really have to worry about is irrigating it's watering your plants and those nutrients are there i'll definitely leave a link down below to some of our favorite nutrients that have given us really good results with our pepper plants if you're interested or in the market for fertilizer and you might be wondering why we have so many different nutrients well some of these are actually for hydroponics this is intended for hydroponic use only and others we just like to try but the biggest reason we have so many right now is we're actually testing five different fertilizers on some jalapeno plants that we're growing this season and we'll see which produce the best results in terms of yield and plant vigor and also just sort of round up the usability of the fertilizer so that video will be coming at the end of this season so make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss it now this topic applies to more than just peppers so if you're growing anything else check out our other channel geeky greenhouse where we talk about all the other plants we're growing like tomatoes and carrots and chard and pretty much anything else under the sun we have lots of new videos over on geeky greenhouse so go check it out and subscribe in the link down below now i'm curious what fertilizers do you use have you tried many in the past and ended up switching to a different fertilizer what is your go to today please share in the comments down below we're always curious and willing to try something new on the channel if you have additional questions please check out our other video about fertilizer where we go a little more in depth about how nutrients actually work when it comes to growing plants i think you'll learn a lot more on that video thanks for watching pepper geek and i'll see you next time you

Channel: Pepper Geek

Views: 145,547

Keywords:

Id: r7CnSQE8kS8

Length: 11min 34sec (694 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 10 2022