How Much Water & Sun for Tomato and Bell Pepper?

[pastrycheffowler]

the bag of fertilizer I purchased was Kellogg vegetable fertilizer. my tomatoes seem to be darkening out a little bit. I contacted the woman I purchasd the soil from and she said it is for everything, and that the herbs and veggies I am growing should be fine in it, then stated that I must of done something wrong when placing the plants in the pots

[rainbowgardener]

There's only a couple things I can think of that you can do wrong putting the plants in pots. Over or under watering or leaving too much air pockets, not compacting the soil around the plant roots so that they are in contact with the soil. Short of those things, the problem would be in the soil, not what you did.

[pastrycheffowler]

ok so how do I make sure that I get proper compaction now that everything is planted? do I uproot them and compact the soil then replant? and as far as watering goes I water when the first 1.5 inches of the soil seems dry, which recently has been no more than 2 times a day but I don't pour too much water into the pots in the morning because there is standing water and I'm not sure if this is bad or not. or if its ok for there to be standing water for a little bit, you al have been very helpful and I am starting to learn some important things.

[rainbowgardener]

The compaction should be fine, you don't want it packed down hard any way. Just when you plant it, you want to kind of press the soil down around the plant a little. Then water it (this is the only time I water from the top for seedlings in containers), which generally results in the soil settling some. Add a little more soil and LIGHTLY press it down.

But what you said about watering didn't make any sense to me:

as far as watering goes I water when the first 1.5 inches of the soil seems dry, which recently has been no more than 2 times a day but I don't pour too much water into the pots in the morning because there is standing water a

Watering two times a day sounds like probably too much. It is possible they would need that if they are outdoors in containers with well draining soil, in full sun and it is hot and dry. But I think last time you mentioned temps, it was warm, but not hot. But it is completely contradictory to say that the soil is dry and there is standing water. Are you telling us you are watering from the bottom AND the top? DON'T do that! If you are bottom watering, you have to trust that the soil is wicking the water up, even if you can't feel it on the surface. The surface is not what you care about anyway. You care about the root zone. If there is still water in the tray the next morning, don't add more and don't water from the top. If you read applestar's posts, she doesn't even let the water stay in the tray. She puts water in the tray, lets the soil and plant suck it up for some amount of time, and then sucks any extra back out of the tray with a turkey baster. Let the soil and the plant do what they do and absorb it. I don't bother with sucking the excess water back out, but it is because I am quite careful with adding water, just like a quarter inch in the bottom of the tray, just enough so it touches the soil. And if there is any left the next day, I don't add more.

The one thing I would say about that is if you added your quarter of an inch of water in the tray, and two days later it is still sitting there, something is wrong. Either your soil is way too moisture holding, the drainage holes are clogged so the soil can't contact it, or the plant died or hardly has any root system or something, so that it can't take up water.

Sometimes it is really hard to help people remotely... neither of us knows what you don't know . But keep asking questions and letting us know what is going on and we will get this sorted out!

[pastrycheffowler]

oh so I have been going about this completley wrong, I have to place waster in the trays under the plants, man I feel stupid right now. ok perfect so not that I know that I can make sure I stop watering the tops of the plants. as far as what I know, I know literally only whats been said in the forum postings I created. I just have 1 more question for now, my wooden boxes for a cpl of my plants have no way of watering from underneath, how d I water them properly?

[ReptileAddiction]

NO! You can water from the bottom but you don't have to. Some people chose too but I do not. What it sounded like is you are watering from the top and from the bottom. Which would be a problem. How much are you giving the plants?

[pastrycheffowler]

I was watering them 1-2 times a day depending on how dry the top soil was in the evening, I have watered today because the trays at the bottom of the containers are full, but I did water the bell peppers and the tomatoes because there is no tray at the bottom of the wooden boxes. my bell pepper plant is sprouting new leaves but the old leaves are bright green and today one fell off, for them I was thinking of burying a full water-bottle with small holes in it to keep the soil moist.

[rainbowgardener]

See we are just trying to help and figure out what is going on just by what you are telling us, which is not always clear. I was trying to make sense out of how you could say you water twice a day because it seemed so dry AND there is standing water, which are contradictory. The only thing I could think was there was standing water in the bottom, but the top surface was still dry, so you were watering from the top, while there was standing water at the bottom, which would be a big no-no.

But RA is right, you can water from top or bottom, just not both.

The soda bottle trick works, if you can make sure the water drips out slowly. Remember you want your soil slightly damp, not soggy.

[ReptileAddiction]

I live fairly close to you (well we are both in southern california) and you do NOT need to be watering 1-2 times a day. You should be watering 1-2 times a week. If the tray under the pot is full you do not need to water. If you are watering from the top and it is full then that is bad and it is water logged. Then you should empty it out. You do not want them in standing water. Stick your finger a few inches down into the soil and it is moist then do not water it. When it gets on the dry side then it needs water. When you do water you want to water just enough that it runs out of the bottom.

I second what Rainbow said. I have a feeling that your plants are not doing well because you are overwatering.

[pastrycheffowler]

ok perfect, I'm sorry my messages are a bit difficult to understand, I really am having a hard time explaining exactly whats going on or what has happened, but I appreciate the help.

[ReptileAddiction]

No problem

[pastrycheffowler]

so a little update on how my plants are doing. the tomato is doing great in fact it is floweeing. the bell pepper is back to a dark green, but its not growing very fast, and its getting munched on.

[ReptileAddiction]

Good to hear! I bet that it is snails munching on the bell pepper. Do you see the shiny trails that snails leave behind? If you post pictures of the damage we could help you before it gets to bad.