Quick question

[WhoDat]

Hi I’m growing a few kinds of peppers. Here’s the back story. I had my plants in a window planter guess that’s what it’s called. It had seemed as if there growing stalled. But looked amazing. I’ve been working a lot so my wife transferred them to their own pots. Well they look like they are dying. All the leaves and pepper have fallen off. I had them in potting soil she put them in just miracle gro garden soil vegetable and herb only. It looks nothing like potting soil.

 

[Chuck]

Hi I’m growing a few kinds of peppers. Here’s the back story. I had my plants in a window planter guess that’s what it’s called. It had seemed as if there growing stalled. But looked amazing. I’ve been working a lot so my wife transferred them to their own pots. Well they look like they are dying. All the leaves and pepper have fallen off. I had them in potting soil she put them in just miracle gro garden soil vegetable and herb only. It looks nothing like potting soil.

If the plants were not in pots and were a good size what happened was that when they were dug up many of the roots were damaged, thus the loss of foliage. The reason peppers and to some extent tomatoes stop growing is that they got too cold. Anything below 45F and they just stop. Also Miracle Grow is about the worst thing on the market if it isn't their "organic" stuff. And their "organic stuff" is full of non-organic materials and not very good.
I grow my seedlings at a window and when it gets cold the cold radiates through the glass so if you live where it gets cold that is what happened. Keep the peppers warm and they will probably come back but do not fertilize until full foliage returns.

 

[WhoDat]

I had 13 plants in a planter that was I would say 15 inches long by 8 wide I’d say without measuring. I think I had to many in one pot and they stopped growing but was producing a good bit of peppers. She was careful not to break many roots.

 

[Chuck]

I had 13 plants in a planter that was I would say 15 inches long by 8 wide I’d say without measuring. I think I had to many in one pot and they stopped growing but was producing a good bit of peppers. She was careful not to break many roots.

I can guarantee that you damaged many many roots, especially when they were that close together. Feeder roots are smaller than a hair and travel a long distance from the primary roots. Peppers and tomatoes that are producing will send out feeder roots to the very end of that small container. Each plant in that container had a lot roots intermingled with all of the other plants. Peppers are supposed to be, depending on the variety about 1 1/2 feet apart and producing peppers should be in a pot no smaller than 4 gallons.

 

[WhoDat]

Also read up on the miracle gro veg and herd soil. It’s supposed to be mixed 50/50 with regular soil. Mabybe some of my problems also. She didn’t mix it. Do you think if I mix it 50/50 with soil they will come back around ?

 

[Chuck]

Also read up on the miracle gro veg and herd soil. It’s supposed to be mixed 50/50 with regular soil. Mabybe some of my problems also. She didn’t mix it. Do you think if I mix it 50/50 with soil they will come back around ?

Possibly if you regular soil is decent, but, it has quite a bit of NPK in it and you don't want to feed a denuded plant. Also, how are you going to mix the two together without repotting? If it were me I would just throw away the MG and use a GOOD organic potting mix. That way you will have a better chance that the plants will come back and if/when they do just fertilize with a good soluble organic fertilizer. I know that Miracle Grow and Scotts products are the rage on TV but do yourself a favor and ignore them.

 

[WhoDat]

Thanks man that’s exactly what we are going to do. Thanks again for your help today