Best soil setup for growing pepper and tomato?

[Socalman431]

I'm going to be planting a mixture of hot and mild pepper and tomato plants soon and I'm wondering what the best soil setup is? Preferably organic cause I know peppers do better in an organic environment. Thank you.

[blessedwife]

We had sand in our previous house and with basic fertilization, it did quite fine. Both peppers and tomatoes are easy to take care of and are not overly picky in my experience. Just make sure they are watered properly and get plenty of sunshine

[jal_ut]

For seed starting many use the little peat pellets.
You may also get a bag of Potting Mix and some sort of pot or cup. Plants can be grown to maturity in this medium and a large pot.

[Socalman431]

Are there any specific brands of soil and fertilizers I should use?

[Peter1142]

If you haven't grown them before, I suggest Googling some articles, to learn about potting up, supplemental lighting requirements, watering requirements, etc.

I would suggest starting in seed starting trays, then potting up as the true leaves come in. I am liking the Espoma Potting Mix this year. With this type of enriched commercial potting mix, you really don't need to fertilize.

Where are you located? A little late to be started hot peppers... even sweet peppers. They need about 8 weeks grow time indoors.

[imafan26]

If you grow them outdoors or indoors they do better when the soil temperature is above 70. If you are growing hot peppers there is still time. If you live frost free they can stay outside, otherwise you will have to pot them up inside when it gets cold. Bell peppers don't do that well where I live once the temperature approaches 90. Corno d' Toro, and banana peppers do better. Hot peppers don't mind the heat.

Tomatoes depends on where you live. It is not frost tolerant and if you live in a frost zone it is too late to start from seed and you need to select an early variety. If you live frost free, go ahead and plant them, but select heat resistant variety if your temperature will exceed 90 degrees in summer.

It is better if you update your profile with your zone and location, since what will work for you depends on your environmental conditions.

People do get good results organically. For myself I don't want to wait 3-5 years to get a good sized plant and high yields.

I plant peppers and tomatoes in pots. 5 - 7 gallon pots for peppers and 18 gallon pots for tomatoes. Tomatoes do very well in self irrigated planters. Tomatoes would take up too much space in my vegetable garden for too long and peppers can live a few years for me, so I prefer these plants in pots and save the space in the garden for things that can be planted close together or will be harvested all at once. I don't like to have to work around perennial plants.

For the pots, I use MG potting soil and I mix in 1/2 cup of vigoro citrus food 6-4-6 plus micros. I supplement with 1 tablespoon of balanced fertilizer 8-8-8 when tomato flowers appear and again with the first fruit and monthly thereafter.

Some people like to put some dolomite lime for blossom end rot, but MG potting soil does have lime in it. I don't like to lime acid loving plants so if you want to add calcium you could use dolomite or gypsum which is a very old fertilizer that will not alter pH very much and contains a more soluble form of calcium and sulfur. I do not get blossom end rot with self watering containers or the 18 gallon pots watered daily. I water more often if it is windy or hot in summer. I also choose heat tolerant varieties since 88-92 degrees F, is the average summer temperature (its ticked up 3 degrees from the previous norm of 88 with El Nino) and the large tomatoes that are not heat tolerant will drop blossoms and stop producing. Cherry tomatoes are more heat tolerant and produce longer and I don't remember any cherry getting blossom end rot.

[feldon30]

Beware the poor quality "topsoil", "compost", etc. on sale at big box stores. There is no legal definition or requirement and the cheaper bags are just fill dirt or scrapings off a vacant lot.

As far as bagged products, I like ProMix and Black Kow.