Growing bell peppers in Phoenix ???

[hikernut]

Originally Posted by ajonesaz

The key is to not give them full sun.

Our garden gets shade from around 1-2pm 'til sunset. I also built a PVC frame to hang sunscreen material on during the worst summer months. Our peppers live through the summer, and in fact one year they even survived into the next season. We'd cut them back during the winter, and in February when I was digging up the garden for the new year I noticed some green growth on the pepper stems so I just left them. Sure enough, they grew back and created another crop.

This is a raised bed, started with garden soil from Pioneer. Each year when prepping the garden I dig in a couple inches of compost or peat moss.

[DougStark]

^^^ hikernut, that's been my mistake--planting in native desert soil. It's just too alkaline and salty to plant in without first major amending with compost, peat moss, etc. like you say.

I'm going to build raised planters this fall for the first time. It will also make it easier to keep the pesky rabbits away.

[hikernut]

Originally Posted by DougStark

^^^ hikernut, that's been my mistake--planting in native desert soil. It's just too alkaline and salty to plant in without first major amending with compost, peat moss, etc. like you say.

I'm going to build raised planters this fall for the first time. It will also make it easier to keep the pesky rabbits away.

My wife insisted on buying proper garden soil, so I’ll have to give her credit for that.

However, now I remember that we added another box two years ago and I just used native soil in that one. I’ll keep tabs to see if I can notice a difference.

[lewdog_5]

I plant in raised garden beds on the west side of my house for afternoon shade against a wall. My pepper plants produce ALL year and currently are going wild. I have a Sante Fe Pepper plant and Jalapeno plant. They've been in the ground for 3 years and continue to constantly produce with watering 3x per week. I have Tomatillo plants I planted in August that are full of small sized Tomatillos currently. Hoping to get in a nice fall crop to make Salsa Verde with all these plants. If planting Tomatillos you must plant multiple plants next to each other as they don't self pollinate. I planted mine from seeds and they are growing like weeds!

[DougStark]

^^^ amazing! raised beds are the way to go. Native soil in Ahwatukee not good.

[broughaj]

Originally Posted by DougStark

Your story is AMAZING to me! The pepper plants actually survived the "blow torch" season and are producing peppers again? Wow. I'm going to start composting (like I knew I should have been doing all along.) Now you'll have to keep an eye out for Dec and Jan frosts--peppers can't tolerate them.

Yes, they did surprisingly well during the "blow torch" season, whereas my accidental tomatoes died off. My garden is against the back wall of my house, which faces east. The garden gets the morning sun only and is on a watering system (daily for 10 minutes).

Here's a link to my blog post that shows some photos and has another link to a video of the garden in April when the accidental tomatoes were also coming in.

My Accidental Garden : Breaking The S.A.D. Mould

[ABQConvict]

Originally Posted by DougStark

Don't ask me how I know it was zinc. I said I'm a very experienced gardener. I know what I'm talking about.

Why shouldn't one ask how to determine zinc deficiency? It is easy to detect. Soil deficient in zinc results in leaf chlorosis. which causes the leaf tissue to turn yellow, almost whitish, while the veins in the leaf remain green.

I have different conditions from the Phoenix area, as I am in the high desert in New Mexico. I can't advise about the heat aspect, but I can tell you something about dealing with poor, alkaline soil. My advice is to build raised beds using a frame of wood or brick/block.

Fill your frames with good soil (I use layers of cheaper topsoil, garden soil, and finally potting soil on top) in a new box. The box should have no bottom so the roots can penetrate into the native soil which will become conditioned over the course of the season/s. The top layers of good soil that you bring in will allow the water you put in the garden to soften up the native soil underneath which will receive percolating nutrients/fertilizer from above, and importantly, attract earthworms and other microorganisms that will improve the whole condition in the root zone.

After several months you will find that the light, black soil you bring in has condensed, so add in new soil as needed to keep planting depths consistent and revivify the upper soil layers.

Good luck!

[DougStark]

Excellent advice, ABQ. I plan to build raised beds this winter.

Also, yes, you're spot-on re: the plant symptoms of zinc deficiency (little leaves, chlorotic/yellowing leaves on new growth, slow or no growth, limb die-back on trees.) I said "don't ask me why I know it's zinc deficiency" because I'll usually get someone questioning how I know it's zinc? I know through years of experience and formal education in agriculture, that's how, haha. But it's always wise to have a plant tissue analysis done by a certified laboratory (for like $30) because zinc and manganese deficiency can look very similar.