HelpfulGardener.com

Hi,
I planted seeds inside in Late Feb. they grew well. Brought them outside to the greenhouse in late April, early May. That is early for us, as we still get snow and frost. They were under cover and heated. Did fine.
I transplanted to their permanent pots about May 20th.
The leaves are yellowed and some of the lower leaves have dropped off.
They are planted in Kellog’s Raised bed potting mix. I use it every year, with much success.
I was thinking, because they are fairly young, that the sun could be baking them.
I have made little tents from shade cloth for them. My one or two plants that are not in the late morning sun seem to be doing better.
Any ideas other than too much heat?
These are sweet pepper plants and also Big Jim and Big chili plants.
We are in north eastern Arizona. Short growing season.
Thanks for any advice.

That sun could be the problem, though having been put into the greenhouse well in advance seems like it should have sort of hardened them off, though I don't have one, so I don't know how it works. What are the usual high and low temps there? I know some of my varieties seem to have their lower leaves yellow, and eventually drop off, like you describe, even after I harden them off, while others just darken up, and take off growing!

Right now it is 81 in the daytime, and mid to low 50’s at night.
We are not as hot as most of the rest of Arizona, as we are about 7000 ft elevation.
Some of my tomatoes are doing the same thing. They are my tried and true varieties that I have been buying for years that work in the greenhouse.
I will see if my sun bonnets work.
Thanks.

They are in containers, right? “Raised Bed potting mix” sounds confusing — is it for raised beds or for containers/pots?

I would think raised bed mix would be too heavy for containers.

Kellogg’s Raised Bed and Potting Mix. Been using it for years. Plant everything in it, flowers, veggies, raspberries.
My peppers are in big pots.

I’ve seen reviews that Kellogg’s products tend to contain woody, incompletely composted materials. If so there could be nitrogen tie up, depriving the peppers?

How are you fertilizing? In any case, young peppers benefit from a little extra N. Do you use this mix straight? Any amendments like lime?

Did you notice if there was anything different about this batch?

Also, low 50’s could be just a tad cold for peppers. 55+ would be better. I put tomatoes outside at 50+ and peppers at 55+.

Have an organic fertilizer I used about 2 weeks ago. After that, I use Epsom salts. Never an issue. Had a good crop last year doing the same thing.
Seeing slight improvement in sweet peppers, more so in chili peppers.
Temps may also be the culprit. Have a pretty good temperature drop from day to night. Will be worse, once the rains start 7/1.
Will keep an eye on them. Everything seems to be growing slowly. June is our hottest month, and driest.
Thanks for the info and ideas.

When I lived in AZ soil tested almost no food value for plants, 8ph, no nitrogen, not much of anything in the soil. Plants will not live with no nitrogen. If soil ph gets too high plants can not use nutrients in the soil. I found good fertilizer in AZ was very hard to find tiny 3 lb bag for cactus or palm trees 1-1-1 fertilizer $10 per bag. I could not buy calcium or lime in AZ so I bought a $3 bag if cement. Buy some real fertilizer with high nitrogen your plants are probably starving to death. Water your plants with bottle water or distilled water for a while instead of 8ph AZ water.

I have used Kellogg's raised bed mix. It is ok, but it does dry quickly because of the forest products. It is an organic mix but can be used in pots as well. I did not like it because, my corn was short, but then I did not supplement it with additional fertilizer. I normally only put starter fertilizer in my beds, but the bag said it contained organic fertilizer. Apparently not enough without supplementing. Since you have used it before and gotten good results, you must be supplementing.
Yellow leaves can be caused by the sun but also by nutrient deficiencies. If the leaves are yellowing mostly from the bottom it can be from insufficient nitrogen. If the leaves are more yellow at the top then it could be iron or a micronutrient problem. Micronutrient problems are usually related to excess of phosphorus or high pH.

If your day temperatures are 80 it should be fine for peppers. My peppers would not like the low 50's very much, they grow better between 68-85 degrees F. Sunburn usually affects the upper leaves more than the lower ones and the yellowing is not uniform. Water may be an issue with the Kelloggs mix being very dry. Even though my corn did not wilt in it, they grew less vigorously than the same corn grown in MG potting soil or a peat based mix. The other half of the garden remained moist even when the organic side was dry.

https://www.hydroponics.net/learn/defic ... lement.php
https://landresources.montana.edu/nm/documents/NM9.pdf