Chiles Jalapeños & Tomatoes grown in my garden on the Baja desert

[Squidder Bidder]

Different woods certainly could impair nutrients in the Soil but as a Topping to conserve water and weed control I don't worry about it as I remove it to redo my beds anyway .

Thank you, I was unclear. Mulch hard mulch often. Especially given the conditions. Wood chips are fine for that. I meant mixing in the soil. Peppers love a good draining well structured soil. I like using pine bark fines for that. But white wood does not belong in a soil mixture for peppers.

Alex, worm compost is a great soil amendment. Also for long term pepper production consider a source of calcium. Blossom end rot is brutal on peppers, calcium prevents that but only if plants can absorb it. So, caveat to my "nitrogen is not the enemy" is that nitrogen and calcium are absorbed thru the same chemical pathway in the plant, and an absurd nitrogen overload will block calcium absorption. Moderation is your friend when it comes to plant nutrition.

I think the idea with wood chips and rock dust is that over a course of years the chips will fully break down into humus and the rock dust will supply minerals which the microbes will break down eventually into a bioavailable form for the plants to uptake. It's definitely not a year one or year two solution, but rather a long term investment in future soil health.

I'll double up on your recommendation to amend the soil with calcium. Blossom End Rot is one of the most frustrating things you can encounter. And it's something you really have to avoid with preventative soil amendments because once you start to get it, it's near impossible to fix during a growing season. That said, in my experience it's more of a problem with tomatoes than peppers, and plants which yield smaller fruits seem to be less affected. I sort of figured that with vines like tomatoes which can reproduce asexually or sexually, abundant nitrogen would trigger asexual reproduction (lots of foliage which will set roots and clone the mother plant). Less rich soil would promote sexual reproduction (more flowering and more fruits, which will be ingested by animals and spread elsewhere to richer soils). I could be wrong but that makes some sense to me.

[steelfish]

Nothing TASTES BETTER than a HOMEGROWN TOMATER !!!!!  .

I accept donations of seeds of those Big tomatoes that appears on this forum from time to time.

[philaroman]

Nothing TASTES BETTER than a HOMEGROWN TOMATER !!!!!  .

STOLEN!!!  stolen tastes better...  even better, if you get chased around by the rightful owner
a light dusting of shotgun rock-salt that narrowly missed your behind, makes it ambrosia

[Wompus Cat]

Nothing TASTES BETTER than a HOMEGROWN TOMATER !!!!!  .

STOLEN!!!  stolen tastes better...  even better, if you get chased around by the rightful owner
a light dusting of shotgun rock-salt that narrowly missed your behind, makes it ambrosia

.

You are telling about you youthful adventures ?I do admit you are Dead On .
Stolen HOME GROWN MATERS is it .
Watermelons are good too .
There was a Farmer who had college kids raiding his Melon Patch and try as he may he could never catch them .So one Day he put up a sign
that said
ONE OF THESE WATER MELONS IS POISONED thinking they would not dare steal anymore not knowing which one was poisoned.
A day later he went to his Patch and there was a New Sign under the one he had Posted .


Said
NOW THERE ARE TWO.

[Keta]

Nice.  We have the opposite problem with late and early frost and cool nights.

[Cor]

This site has many experts besides fishing and reels

These are Capsicum Green Pepper California (judging by the name) someone should be able to give me advice what they need to look lush and green and bear many peppers.  3 years ago they did but the past two years not.

I notice the photos not very clear, sorry

[Wompus Cat]

Not any wheres Near and eggspurt but been gardening since I was 10  and will be 70 soon .
I think you have a bug /worm problem from looking at the leaves as the Marigolds ,Cilantro ,small Lettuce  you have mixed in there are looking pretty good .
Plus your peppers look to be Stressed in which proper watering ,and maybe a little Miracle grow would get them back in shape .
I try to be totally organic and would use ivory soap with a little vinegar and orange oil to spray those leaves .
I use a tbl spoon of each ingredient to 1 gallon of water and put in a bottle sprayer  and use early in morn or late evening twice a week till things get better .
This is My opinion and how I would deal with it .
Good Luck !

P/S MULCH is a MUST around those plants.

[JasonGotaProblem]

Looks like you got some sort of sucking insect (I'd assume aphids locally not sure what pests you have)

[Cor]

Some more info, thoughts.

It is winter here and not growing season for most plants.   They have been like that for most of Summer as well.   I make my own compost and have added a lot, and I try to mulch in summer.   Also added some well matured horse manure.

I have been growing on this small piece of ground for 4 years. The first year stuff grew pretty well but then it quickly deteriorated.   Maybe too intensive planting?

The soil is heavy in clay, in winter remains fairly wet but in Summer dries out in the upper layer
The "lettuce" you see aint "lettuce", they are Endive and those do not attract many bugs.

Aphids, yes but not on the peppers.  Worms, yes, small ones I hunt them after dark and kill 5 - 6 nearly every evening but not much on the peppers either.   Marigolds are there to catch worms who are attracted to their smell, works well for slightly bigger worms then I have now.   Snails are also a pest, but I kill plenty and find few on the vegies.  Plenty large white grubs that eat plants roots. So yes bugs are a problem, but I think I do control them reasonably wel without using chemicals.

Last thing I can think of, Root crops are not growing well either, so perhaps a shortage of phosphorus & Potassium?

Ill try some of the Spray ala "Wompus Cat"

PS This is in general not a friendly climate to grow stuff, lots of strong wind in Summer, very hot and dry, sea air clay stony soil

[philaroman]

Some more info, thoughts.

It is winter here and not growing season for most plants.  They have been like that for most of Summer as well.  I make my own compost and have added a lot, and I try to mulch in summer.  Also added some well matured horse manure.

I have been growing on this small piece of ground for 4 years. The first year stuff grew pretty well but then it quickly deteriorated.  Maybe too intensive planting?

The soil is heavy in clay, in winter remains fairly wet but in Summer dries out in the upper layer
The "lettuce" you see aint "lettuce", they are Endive and those do not attract many bugs.

Aphids, yes but not on the peppers.  Worms, yes, small ones I hunt them after dark and kill 5 - 6 nearly every evening but not much on the peppers either.  Marigolds are there to catch worms who are attracted to their smell, works well for slightly bigger worms then I have now.  Snails are also a pest, but I kill plenty and find few on the vegies.  Plenty large white grubs that eat plants roots. So yes bugs are a problem, but I think I do control them reasonably wel without using chemicals.

Last thing I can think of, Root crops are not growing well either, so perhaps a shortage of phosphorus & Potassium?

Ill try some of the Spray ala "Wompus Cat"

PS This is in general not a friendly climate to grow stuff, lots of strong wind in Summer, very hot and dry, sea air clay stony soil

real amateur here, but pretty sure bad soil should be "quartered"
i.e., rotate yearly which 1/4 lays fallow...  better yet, plant something
cheap/easy (legume?) on the fallow quarter & don't harvest -- plow it under

[mo65]

  Nice work on that garden space Alex!

[Cor]

  Nice work on that garden space Alex!

Yes, sorry for hijack

[steelfish]

  Nice work on that garden space Alex!

Yes, sorry for hijack

no need to apologize amigo, its nice to see other guys participating on  the Gardening hobby, as you said, there are many expert on different fields other than fishing gear.
I love gardening thats why I tried to have my garden when we recently moved to this seaside town, I was the youngest boy in my family and my mother always had me to help her on the family garden, thats were I got many tips, but as I said, here where most of the land is sand is hard to hard to have a garden with nice grass, flowers, fruits, etc.

feel free to keep posting pics and questions we all learn from the real experts.



@Mo, thank buddy, I've seen your big Tomatoes, how they taste?  are good for a BLT sammich?

[mo65]

@Mo, thank buddy, I've seen your big Tomatoes, how they taste?  are good for a BLT sammich?

   There is just something about home grown tomatoes...there's a taste you just do not get from large farmed or hot house tomatoes. I'm waiting impatiently for a ripe one! Getting a few peppers and onions now though.

[steelfish]

Nothing TASTES BETTER than a HOMEGROWN TOMATER !!!!!  .

I accept donations of seeds of those Big tomatoes that appears on this forum from time to time.

since I didnt received any seends on my mailbox I opted to buy some small tomatoe plants, they are supposed to be BeefSteak Tomatoes, I said "supposed" because they were bought from a church that was selling many plants of different veggies and fruits to get some money for shelters, orphans, etc
so, I was short on big Planters and the tomatoes plants needed to be planted asap (they were sold on those small black plastic bags normally used on plant nurseries,  you can see some yellow leaves on them) so, I used what a medium planter I have on hand and a 5-gallon bucked  , anyway, lets see how they look in few more days.

Good sign that they seem to like the new planters because after a week from planted, they started to show some flowering