I have tried to grow jalapeños for years and have had no success…I have been using potting mix along with tap water with each plant getting plenty of sun. Could it be because it gets too hot in Austin, Texas? Would really like to try again this spring so any tips would be greatly appreciated!

I think peppers like heat. Up north here, sometimes they'll sit there doing nothing for months until it gets hot. What other things are you growing that do well?

The most common source of issues stems from the fact peppers don't tolerate wet feet well. For that reason, watering correctly and getting watering intervals right is more important than when growing plants not so sensitive to wet feet.

Try this. Establish your plantings suck that the bottom of the pot is nestled several inches into native soil (the earth). From the perspective of hydrology, this simple trick turns your 'container' into a mini 'raised bed'. Reason: The technique employs the earth as a giant wick, which will 'pull' all excess water that would normally perch in the container, out of the container into the earth.

Use a wooden 'tell' made from a 1/4" wood dowel rod (any hardware for $2) to test moisture levels deep in the pot. Cut the 48" rod in 2 or 3 pieces and sharpen all ends in/with a pencil sharpener. Push it all the way to the bottom of the pot. When it comes out almost but not completely dry, it's time to water.

Don't forget that fertilizer is an essential part of your endeavor.

Another question that should be asked is, does your home have an ionic exchange water softener (uses salt as the exchange medium). If yes, you need to find another water source or route the plumbing from which you get your irrigation water to bypass the softener.

If it gets too hot, figure a way to shade your containers. Actual soil/root temperatures should be 85* or less. FWIW, moist soil usually lags ambient air temps by 10-15*.
Al

We'll need a little more information please:
Are you growing in pots? If so, what size.
If you are growing in the ground, please tell us about your soil
What variety of jalapenos are you growing?
Is your tap water chlorinated?
How far do your plants get before they fail? Do they flower?
When you say plenty of sun, how many hours of direct (nothing in between the sun and your plant) do they get each day? How many hours of indirect sun?
And any pictures would help.

Rubi said: I think peppers like heat. Up north here, sometimes they'll sit there doing nothing for months until it gets hot. What other things are you growing that do well?

Thanks for reply! Everything else that I grow seems to do well which is Sage (same sage plant lasted through two major freezes!) Mint, Oregano, Parsley, Thyme, Serrano peppers, Aloe Vera, Rosemary, Bluebonnets (which are seasonal in the Hill Country in Texas)

So not quite sure why they do well and not jalapeños, I also have no luck growing tomatoes or any other peppers except Serrano peppers

Thanks!

Al, why not buy a pack of shish-ka-bob skewers? A bag of 50 is about $1.50, already sharpened. Usually near the charcoal. If you're a gas grill person, you might not have seen them.

I'm a Kamado Joe guy all the way. Lump charcoal only.

Bamboo is a true grass, and has a high level of silica in the outermost layer of its stems (like scour rush). As such, it doesn't absorb water as well as birch or oak wood dowels, making the wood dowels easier to read. It's a matter of choice, I guess. The bamboo skewers are easy to find, cheap, and and already sharpened, but the wooden dowel rods are easier to read, which is why I usually suggest the wood dowel 'tells'.

I very often use the bamboo skewers when I'm wiring bonsai trees, so I always have a couple lengths at hand. They're really handy for moving leaves and twigs out of the way as I wire - so they don't get wired against the thicker branches being manipulated into place. Hard to get a finger and a thumb into a tight space - easy to use the tip of a skewer to move things out of the way.

Al

Welcome to NGA, @Jdw

It's a little hard for me to understand why you would be able to successfully grow serranos and not jalapenos. Have you tried different varieties of jalapenos? What exactly happens to them - never flower, not set fruit, just plain die, or?

@Weedwhacker That is a puzzler.

Al

Jdw said: I have tried to grow jalapeños for years and have had no success…
I have been using potting mix
along with tap water with each plant getting plenty of sun.

Could it be because it gets too hot in Austin, Texas? Would really like to try again this spring so any tips would be greatly appreciated!

I would not want to attempt growing peppers in potting mix...

While it is possible to do... You will never achieve the results of a soil planted pepper.

As has been discussed, Too small of a pot could be a problem... The roots get cooked.

Is there any reason why you can't turn a bit of soil out where the grass is taking up valuable space?

Personally, I'm not a big fan of jalapeno. I have some other hot peppers that I grow, and... they only get potted in the winter... I've had in ground peppers survive the winter and return from the roots, but I can't depend on it.

Different wood, that's a good reason.

Great advice already and I cannot imagine why jalapenos are a problem. They do well here in ground, I had luck with them before getting good with bell peppers.
So I say try again with some of the help given above.

If the serranos are growing okay in the same potting mix, I don't think that would be the issue with the jalapenos; I normally grow all of my peppers in the ground but often do a few in pots - peppers seem to be one of the easiest vegetables to grow in containers, in my experience.

Thanks for all the Amazing replies! I want to write out all the questions and reply more in depth but currently working and don't have time yet. Here is a quick picture of the pots that I use and they have rooted into the soil. The soil here has a lot of rocks mixed into the soil which is common for this region. I would try to plant directly into the soil but there is just way too many small rocks!



The sage is starting to grow, I can't believe how many years it's been through all the harsh elements! It's only March 9th and we are seeing weather like it's mid April, it's really wild.

The color of the pot could be a factor if it is dark. If it's ~95°, like I'm sure it is every day for months in Austin, and the sun is shining on a dark pot, the roots could reach much higher temps than ambient. If the surface of the pot is too hot to comfortably put your hand there, plant roots feel the same way. Some desert plants might take that in stride, but most leafy plants do not, IME with pots. I've given up trying to have any leafy plants in pots if they require a lot of sun. Just too hot while the same plants directly adjacent but in the ground will be happy, and pots in the sun need water every day, too much work.

...but it looks like this grow site is under a big oak tree. If grass won't grow, it's not enough sun for pepper plants. I agree with the suggestion to claim some of the grassy area for a veg patch. Just north of a big tree has been my best exposure for veg patch, offering a bit of relief during the middle of the day.

Right after a rain, the soil should be easier to dig. If you want to be lazy about it, smother a spot now with a thick layer of organic matter and use it next spring. Or get a baby pool, poke a bunch of holes in it, and use that as a giant pot or small plot. Or get some white 5-gallon buckets and add drain holes. Trash cans can also be great pots, with holes added, and the same size vs. a pot is almost always a LOT less expensive.

Those look like tiny pots for something like a pepper plant. If you weren't watering daily during the heat, I'm not surprised pepper plants didn't do well. Unless it rained really hard, not much moisture would fall under the tree canopy.

I think you'll have much better results if you get soil labeled palm/cactus, vs. potting soil. Any potting soil I've seen is usually just peat with a few bits of perlite. Nothing will grow for me in that. BUT the palm/cactus soil is so chunky that it dries in about 10 mins. If you mix that by about half with some ground dirt, you should end up with decent plants that don't rot but don't need to be watered every day.

More water and more fertilizer is what got me better bell peppers. I would try that.
It's hard to draw too many meaningful conclusions from limited experiments.

I've grown different varieties of bell peppers, jalapeno, Serrano, pequin, habanero, Hungarian, and probably a couple more I'm leaving out, in containers and all did very well, so it's not that you can't or shouldn't grow them in containers, millions of growers do it successfully. There's something fundamentally wrong if you can grow several types of peppers and other plants but jalapenos just cause you grief.

The basics of growing include
* An appropriate grow medium - one you can water to beyond the saturation point w/o worry the soil will stay soggy for too long.
* Getting watering intervals right
* Watering correctly - to beyond the point of saturation - so you're washing accumulating salts out of the soil, and after several waterings will have reset the EC/TDS (fertility) levels to 0
* Fertilizing regularly with an appropriate fertilizer
* And for peppers, a full sun spot. If root/soil temps climb above 90* you need to shade the pots.

If you get that right, you'd have to work extra hard at failing.

Al

Ok, it is October and here is my progress lol ..

I have been so busy with work that all I have been doing is watering everyday through the insane Texas heat wave and drought we had! No rain water practically throughout this summer! I put tags for the three pepper plants but I think someone took the tag which was jalapeños. Irregardless I am still curious from experts what to do now that a freeze 🥶 could happen around December. I purchased a 8x24 freeze protection sheet which I hope will keep things going. I am still confused how anyone gets great BIG peppers to actually grow lol!

Thanks!

I used tap water throughout the summer and around a month or so ago I used miracle grow but it completely ruined my basil plant…so far the miracle grow has kicked the peppers into high gear but cmon it's almost Halloween!

Edit:
Also I am doing to reread all the replies so I can get it right for next spring! Obviously watering and proper sun isn't doing the trick, which this is proof lol

Also, additional question
someone told me that Austin has lime in the water..or that it is 'limey'..is that something that gets in the way of plant growth?

Thanks!

I think what I will do is revisit this thread next spring, start with seed pictures then update progress as I go.

The heat was so crazy this year, I would leave for work at night and the leaves would be shriveled and when I got home in the morning they would be as full as can be. This went on for at least two months this year. Really wild!