Container Peppers

[TonyB]

Newbie here;
We plan to try container peppers this year out on our balcony. Organic, of course. Just wondering if anyone has some suggestions about variety. We'll be using them mostly for salads and for stir frying. Don't want anything too hot but not too mild either. Do I need a lot of sun? Any other ideas?

BTW...

Any suggestions regarding soil type, organic fertilizer and care would be helpful.

[doccat5]

Peppers need full sun. You can check your local nursery for plants. You probably want to go with at least one regular green pepper and maybe one of the "sweet" pepper varieties. Use any good quality organic potting mix, making sure your containers have good drainage. You can fertilize with fish emulsion which can be diluted in water. Water from the bottom up and if you want good fruit set, once you have blossoms. Spray the peppers with epsom salt's water. 1 teaspoon to 1 quart of warm water, mix throughly. Peppers and tomatoes love the extra boost of magnesium in the epsom salts.

Good luck!

[TonyB]

Thanks doccat5,

Just got back from my local nursery. Got my usual supply of Patio tomatoes and Yellow Pear Heirloom tomatoes (I get plenty of sun so both of these do very well). The nursery manager recommended "TAM (mild) Jalapeno" peppers when I explained my interest in trying peppers and told him about my environment. They happened to be on sale so I bought a tray of those as my first effort with peppers. Thanks again for the great advice. I'll keep posting with my results.

BTW...
He said I should, "deadhead if you do not want volunteer seedlings next season". He got busy with other customers and I didn't want to act stupid so I said, "Okay, no problem!".

What the heck is he talking about?

[doccat5]

Did you buy flowers as well? I'm a bit startled. You don't "deadhead" veggies, you eat em.........LOL That's what it's all about. Normally you deadhead flowers if you want continuous bloom.

[TonyB]

doccat5,

Yeah...

Now that you mention it, I purchased more flowers than veggies. I guess he (manager) was talking about the flowers. All of a sudden, he got busy with other customers as I was loading the flats onto the cart. He was talking to several customers at the same time. He may have been talking to another person while I thought he was talking to us. Does not surprise me. I get real confused real easy lately. I appreciate the explanation. Relatively new at this so go easy on me.

[doccat5]

Not to worry! Yep, you want to remove the spent blooms so you keep your flowers blooming continuously. Never worry about asking questions or getting clarification on any of this stuff. It can be confusing when you're new to it. No big deal, we all had to start somewhere!