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b54red · October 6, 2018

I have been frustrated for years with bell peppers making a few large bells early on and then reverting to making mostly small fruits for the rest of the season. I have tried lots of things to improve production and some have definitely increased the number of peppers I have been getting but what I tried this year seems to have made a significant difference in the size. Of course now that it is very late in the season some of my older bells that were set out in March are not making any very large peppers but they are making peppers larger than in the past this late in the season.

What I have been doing is sprinkling some Epsom salts along with ashes from my charcoal grill around each plant every few weeks and then fertilizing it in with Miracle Grow or Urban Farms Vegetable formula or Texas Tomato Food. Since my soil sample shows my soil high in magnesium I didn't think this would do much good but the results have been surprisingly positive. I have made far more large fruits this year than any year in the past and the plants have continued to make larger than normal fruits for much longer. I also removed some of the suckers that formed and kept the plants to a limited number of main stems. I have done that in the past and it does help the size a bit but down here where the sun is so hot you have to be careful to leave enough suckers to give the fruits some good leaf cover.

I don't know if this will work again and again but I am definitely going to try it again next year. I just hope the over use of Epsom salt doesn't have a deleterious affect on other crops in the future. I have also been adding some of the ashes to other crops and it seems that they are producing somewhat larger fruit this fall. Since potash is always leaching from the soil I see no downside to using more of it in the future. I emptied my ash container around my peppers yesterday afternoon and sprinkled Epsom salt around them and will be fertilizing it in this morning with Vegetable formula for probably the last time this season.

Has anyone else tried either or both of these products on bell peppers and what results did you get?

Bill

October 6, 2018	#1
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	Epsom salt and ashes? I have been frustrated for years with bell peppers making a few large bells early on and then reverting to making mostly small fruits for the rest of the season. I have tried lots of things to improve production and some have definitely increased the number of peppers I have been getting but what I tried this year seems to have made a significant difference in the size. Of course now that it is very late in the season some of my older bells that were set out in March are not making any very large peppers but they are making peppers larger than in the past this late in the season. What I have been doing is sprinkling some Epsom salts along with ashes from my charcoal grill around each plant every few weeks and then fertilizing it in with Miracle Grow or Urban Farms Vegetable formula or Texas Tomato Food. Since my soil sample shows my soil high in magnesium I didn't think this would do much good but the results have been surprisingly positive. I have made far more large fruits this year than any year in the past and the plants have continued to make larger than normal fruits for much longer. I also removed some of the suckers that formed and kept the plants to a limited number of main stems. I have done that in the past and it does help the size a bit but down here where the sun is so hot you have to be careful to leave enough suckers to give the fruits some good leaf cover. I don't know if this will work again and again but I am definitely going to try it again next year. I just hope the over use of Epsom salt doesn't have a deleterious affect on other crops in the future. I have also been adding some of the ashes to other crops and it seems that they are producing somewhat larger fruit this fall. Since potash is always leaching from the soil I see no downside to using more of it in the future. I emptied my ash container around my peppers yesterday afternoon and sprinkled Epsom salt around them and will be fertilizing it in this morning with Vegetable formula for probably the last time this season. Has anyone else tried either or both of these products on bell peppers and what results did you get? Bill