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Re: Wilting pepper plants

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html


----- Original Message -----
From: Betz, Richard <rbetz@randomhouse.com>
To: <"'sqft@listbot.com'"@iname.net>; <sqft@listbot.com>
Sent: Friday, August 06, 1999 8:59 PM
Subject: Wilting pepper plants


> Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html
>
> Hi,
>
> Does anyone know why my pepper plants are wilting? They look like they
> aren't getting enough water but I've been watering them on a consistent
> basis. Do they need to have some shade in the afternoon sun or is it ok to
> give them full sun exposure? Any help would be appreciated, I actually
have
> a couple of peppers on the plants and would hate to lose them.
>
> Thanks,
> Richard(zone6)
> Brooklyn, NY

three things.

1) Mulch will slow down the drying of the soil.  My unmulched plants show
stress much earlier then my mulched plants.  Actually my mulched plants
don't
get stressed.  When I see an unmulched plant wilting I water...  So why
aren't
all my plants mulched.  I was trying to get some companion plants to sprout
and figured if mulch stops weeds from sprouting it is likely to have the
same
effect on the seeds I wanted to sprout...

2) Organic matter in the bed.  I have two beds that are identical except for
the
amount of compost in them.  The bed with more compost is much more tolerant
of
a longer time between waterings.  Of course you cannot do anything about
this now,
but this fall add some compost.

3) If you can't get to the garden to water it occasionally they do make
water timers.
I had a $20 one a few years back that was programmable in 15 minute
intervals
up to days apart.  I used it to water the garden when I was on a extended
vacation.
Worked great.  Of couse the cheap timer died as soon as I got back from
vacation
and I returned it for a refund.  The next year I did the same, worked great
again.
I was going to keep it around to do my regular watering (say 15-30 minutes
every
3-4 days) but the timer died again.  I sometimes get busy at work and forget
to water,
mulching and compost help.  But I think I need to find a reliable water
timer I can
leave hooked up all summer long.  You could consider the same.
However watering  the whole garden encourages everthing to grow.  Including
the weeds
in unused squares.  The fix for that is probably, don't keep any unused
squares.  In years
gone past I was better and keeping every square full and productive.  Lately
too busy.
Perhaps I should plant something in the unused squares or cover those
squares with
plastic (under a little dirt) to keep them from sprouting weeds...

Oh well, good luck, happy summer - Ron


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