Subject: Re: Peppers 6" apart!

From: [email-masked] (Perry Baumberger)
Date: 4 Jan 1995 17:12:52 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (bilg) says:
>
>In article <[email-masked]>,
>Jon Charles Gilliam <[email-masked]> wrote:
>>
>>
>>   The latest National Gardening Magazine has a blurb about Pepper
>>spacing.  According to a recent study, the yield from plants spaced 6"
>>apart was actually greater than plants set 2' apart.  Although the fruit
>>is smaller, the increased fruit set more than made up for the difference.
>>
>>   Most SFG sources recommend 1 pepper plant per square foot, but
>>with this reference in mind I guess even more intensive planting can
>>work even better.
>>
>>:jon
>>
>I have been growing bell peppers for the past few years with mediocre success 
>being spaced 1 to 2 feet apart. My mom grew peppers in an ajacent plot spaced 
>6" apart (she didn't know the recommended spacing). Hers did much better than
>mine did. 
>I have not yet read the NG article but that would certainly put a new light on
>my mom's "mistake" <gg>.
>
>
>
>bil
>
> 
>

I've grown bell peppers successfully for many years with the following technique:

First, make sure the area you plant peppers didn't have potatoes, tomatoes, or
egg plant growing the previous year.  They all belong to the Nightshade family
of plants and are prone to the same plant diseases.

Peppers like a sunny area and soil that's warm, dry, fertile, and slightly acidic.
I grow peppers 16" apart.  One lesson my uncle taught me was when setting the
plants in the garden, he would place three or four matches in the bottom of the
hole where the plant would be set.  The pepper plants enjoy the sulfur in the 
matches.  If your soil's pH is already low, forget the matches.  Peppers need
fertilizer, but they don't like it in large amounts.  It is best if you put 
compost or well aged manure under them when they are transplanted.  Sidedress
them with a rich, organic fertilizer when they blossom.

Another trick you can use is, when the plants blossom, take an empty spray bottle
(12 - 16 oz) and put in a tablespoon of Epsom salt.  Epsom salt is a form of 
magnesium.  Fill the bottle with warm water, shake it, and then you can spray the
mixture right on the leaves of the plants.  The leaves will turn dark green and
you'll have an abundance of peppers.  One of the best bell pepper varieties I've
grown is the Bell King variety from Harris Seed Company, Moreton Farm, Rochester, NY  14624.

I hope this helps!

These are my expressed opinions.