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  • From: "William H Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT illinois.edu>
  • To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] peppers
  • Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:04:44 -0500

We have had a great pepper crop in northern Illinois, despite more than
double the normal rainfall during June and July. We didn't have 85F soil
temps. We never do. We planted on black plastic mulch. We had drip tape but
never hooked it up because of the rain. We ended up with really nice bell
peppers, a huge crop. We had great jalapenos, anaheims, bananas and
cayennes.

I've been growing peppers for >25 years and my experience has been that
peppers are favored by stable moisture conditions. They can be hot, or cool
weather, but they need a stable moisture supply. They self pollinate, so
bees are helpful but not necessary. Fertility helps overall, but if you do a
good job of feeding the soil, you may not need to add much fertilizer. We
did not add any fertilizer this year. We had them on high ground so the
excessive rain quickly drained off. But they never suffered for water
either. So in the end I think stable moisture supply is critical, never too
much, never too little. In high temperatures that is really important. The
black plastic mulch really helps because it prevents evaporation, as well as
excessive moisture build-up during heavy rains, unless you're on low ground.


Bill
William H. Shoemaker
Sr. Research Specialist, Food Crops
University of Illinois - Crop Sciences
St Charles Horticulture Research Center
535 Randall Road, St Charles, IL, 60174
630-584-7254, FAX-584-4610
wshoemak AT illinois.edu


-----Original Message-----
From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Richard
Robinson
Sent: Friday, September 10, 2010 8:08 AM
To: Market Farming
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] peppers



Zone 5ish, east coast, hot and dry all summer, the most ecstatically
productive pepper crop I've ever grown. Ace, Lipstick, and Andy (a ristra
pepper), and one unidentified and outrageously hot Lipstick mimic that just
about destroyed my wife's tastebuds...all producing full tilt. I'd like to
attribute it to deep organic soil and clean living, but I am getting the
impression I just got lucky.

--
Richard Robinson
www.nasw.org/users/rrobinson/
Hopestill Farm
www.hopestill.com



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