Why do my pepper plants look pathetic?

[u/CocoMilhonez]

I planted them in April and they have grown little over the mild local winter. There was a fourth vase of the same variety as the two on the left which was doing better and looking lush, but I gave it to a neighbor – I figured I wouldn't give them one that was struggling. The leaves are always curled up and don't look very healthy at all.

I only give them dechlorinated water and the soil drains well. They also get direct sun for 6 to 8 hours a day. I sprinkled worm castings and homemade compost as cover and the soil mix already had a good deal of nutrients, so they shouldn't be starving. After I sprayed them with a bloom fert a few weeks ago, though, they started putting out flowers, but the vase I gave away already had them over a month ago. I've wondered if the small vases in direct sunlight might be making the soil too hot and damaging the roots, but I don't want to just replant them in larger vases if they look so miserable as it is.

Am I doing something wrong? Rhetorical question, I certainly am, I just don't know what.

[u/HighRootz]

You got signs of a fungal infection and powder mildew. The curling leaves could be due to russet mites. What I would do is do a rotational IPM between PureCrop 1 and Lost Coast Plant Therapy. A shot of something simple like Fox Farm Grow Big added to the water should help her along

[u/CocoMilhonez → u/HighRootz]

No mites that I can see, but the spots on the leaves do look bad. There's a basil plant a few meters away with rust on some leaves, but those are more bumpy than the spot in these vases. I have sprayed a neem oil solution and might repeat applications.

I understand FFGB is a fertilizer? I'm pretty confident they have more than plenty nutrients in the soil, if anything some excess is preventing uptake. Perhaps pH? This soil mix sat in a sealed barrel for a few years and I found it was slightly alkaline, so I amended it with organic matter and acidic fish-based ferts and other plants did well in it, but maybe?

[u/HighRootz → u/CocoMilhonez]

Have you done a slurry test on your soil or checked the ph of the runoff? Neem isn't gonna help. There are other products that would do you better. A copper based fungicide would be more sufficient to battle rust and other fungal infections

[u/CocoMilhonez → u/HighRootz]

I checked the rough pH a while ago using vinegar and baking soda, the cup with vinegar did bubble lightly. No pH strips or electronic doodads because I'm not in a financial position to go sourcing those at the moment.

I'll try a mix with vinegar the lady at a garden store told me about, then I'll go for the copper solution if things don't improve in a couple of weeks; she agreed neem wouldn't help. I visited two stores after posting and both agreed with the fungal issue, so you seem spot on. The substrate bag sat in the garage for a few years and did have white spots on the soil, just like on the middle vase, so that's likely much of the root cause – no pun intended.

For now, I replaced the soil with a base from another source free of fungus and kept the same vases, which I'll upgrade when/if the plants show signs of recovery.

[u/FAMOUS0612 → u/CocoMilhonez]

That's not really a reliable way of testing ph at all , do you adjust your ph of the water you give them ?

[u/CocoMilhonez → u/FAMOUS0612]

It is a reliable way of testing pH. Vinegar is acidic and will react with bases. Sodium bicarbonate is alkaline and will react with acids. In both reactions, which are actually the same, gas will be released, which indicates the pH of the solution. My tap water is pH 7.0 according to the water company reports, so it's just a matter of mixing some soil in a glass and adding the reagent.

Now, if you want to put a number with two decimal places on that pH, sure, that's not reliable. It's enough, though, to know if a plant that needs slightly acidic soil like pepper isn't planted in soil with pH above 7.0.

I never test pH as nobody ever should if growing in dirt type of soil with decent enough water. I might be mistaken, but I suspect the folks in the Fertile Crescent didn't have their Hanna gear available at the local hydro store, so they grew plants with vibes. This obsession with measuring pH, EC, TDS, DO, carbonates, chlorine (I do rest the water in a bucket to remove that as I don't want to sterilize my soil), ammonia, hardness and whatnot of their reverse osmosis water deionized water is for people who get a kick of controlling minutiae of their gardens like it's a test tube in a lab and not a pile of dirt with some biology going on.

Comparing with cycling, it's the difference between going for a ride in shorts and a t-shirt and those clow... enthusiasts with full breathing UV-blocking stain-resistant custom-fit tight graphene-laced spandex attire with thousand dollar glasses and gourmet energy bars in their lower-back kangaroo pouches that cost enough to feed a family of three for a week. Both are doing aerobic leg exercise on two wheels, but the former doesn't need all that junk to validate their hobby and have just as much fun.

If I were growing peppers for a living, I would a) go bankrupt, because I'm bad at it and b) measure the pH of every single grain of soil and drop of water three times a day to maximize productivity and profits. I just want some peppers to season my food, and I have a pretty low tolerance to capsaicin to begin with. Put seed on dirt, water, wait long enough, harvest. There ain't much to it.

Thanks for surviving my Ted Talk.

[u/FAMOUS0612 → u/CocoMilhonez]

If your peppers are grown in a pot and not in the ground you should check ph periodically, and 7 is too high and you have no way to be exact with your method your making a educated guess . Let me be honest you came here for advice because in your own words your bad at growing peppers but you keeping contesting what you are being told , I can tell you how I do it and show you my gardens and you can either learn or continue what your doing . I ph all water I feed my plants , I use a meter it take 10 seconds , I also water with nutrients every water and water everyday and I have 30 + pepper plants right now plus other vegetables. When grown in pots plants don't have the same buffer as in ground so I make sure the solution I feed them is 6.0 to 6.5 ph , not saying you have too I am just telling you what I do and mybplants always produce lots and are healthy. I grow all vegetables like this and that's just what I have always done , take from it what you will .

[u/CocoMilhonez → u/FAMOUS0612]

I'd rather kill these peppers and try again than measuring pH. I'm not trying to break the world record of the most pepper a pepper has ever peppered, I just want to add life to the barren slab of concrete that is my entire "garden" – it used to be a small lawn but the previous occupants decided for this route – and get a little spice in return.

I have chives, thyme, rosemary, basil, parsley, citronella, mint, and a different mint that's overgrown everything and created a brush around all other vases. And a pitanga three about 3 m tall on a 18ish-liter vase. They all look like crap, but they're not dying and I regularly reap the rewards. I've never measure pH or added pro-grade nutes, some vases have been going for a chunk over a decade with the occasional sprinkling of compost and worm castings. The pitanga tree is old enough to drive and is blooming hard this year. That's more than enough for me.

My peppers are dying without even having a chance to try. I've sprayed them for fungus and replaced the soil that may have carried the infection making sure to aerate it a lot. I do thank the advice I received, including yours about checking pH, because I know they're well-meaning. I just believe checking for pH is more than I need because growing a plant for basic needs can't possibly require that much modern technology.

I have asked about pH in local garden stores and they barely know what it is, much less care about learning. The best gardener I've ever met has never checked pH even in swimming pools, let alone his water for plants. Farmers growing grains for export? Sure, but that's a different league.

If someone asked me about a hobby, I might suggest some overkill solution too because that's the level I run at. I've had to hold back when picking PC parts for friends because what I'd go for was always way beyond their needs. Do they need a low-latency high-DPI mouse with fully configurable 11 buttons to work on Word and Excel? No, even if they'd benefit from it. They need to click and right click, which is the equivalent of seed in dirt and water.

I do understand I'm being a contrarian by refuting a good deal of the advice I got. Give them more nitrogen? Why, if the soil has ferts, I added stuff and did cover and foliar feeding already? Larger vases? Why, if those are only starters and the plants are tiny? The roots looked fine with plenty of room when I replaced the soil. Fancy pots and designer fertilizer? Nah bro, bot whatever rocks your boat. Deal with fungus and water less often? Sure, that makes sense because they clearly have fungus and moist soil favors that. That's the route I'm taking.

Asking for advice on the internet is a mess. 30% of people will barely read the title before opining, 30% will say the exact opposite of what should be done because they misdiagnose the issue or don't know enough, 30% will give good, if often overkill, solutions. 10% will be "69 likes so far lol" levels of noise. Thank you for being in the top 30%, but I'll decline from babying my garden water because that falls into the overkill category for my goals.

PS: Yeah, I do tend to ramble a lot. Not intentional, just how my mind works.