🌱✗ Tested and false“A scatter of Epsom salts will green plants up and stop blossom end rot”
Epsom salts are magnesium sulfate, and they contain no calcium whatsoever, so they cannot address a calcium problem. Worse, magnesium and calcium compete for uptake, so adding magnesium can make blossom end rot more likely rather than less. Most garden soils hold plenty of magnesium already, and adding more unbalances what is there.
Our read Blossom end rot is not a soil shortage in the first place. It is about calcium reaching the fruit, which is governed by steady watering, so the fix is a watering can and a mulch rather than anything you buy.
What to do: Water consistently and mulch to hold that moisture steady. Use Epsom salts only if a soil test has actually shown a magnesium deficiency, which is uncommon.
1 source
“Peppers and chillies grow fine outdoors in Scotland, the same as tomatoes”
Peppers are usually grown under cover in the UK and are only really successful outdoors in milder parts of the country or in long, hot summers. Chillies crop best in a greenhouse, with fruiting reduced when grown outdoors. Gardener's World and Teagasc both write for greenhouse cultivation as the default for both crops.
Our read Tomatoes are grown both ways across the UK without much fuss, which makes it easy to assume the same flexibility for closely related crops. Peppers and chillies need more heat and humidity than tomatoes tolerate skipping, and RHS is unusually direct that outdoor growing is the fallback here, not an equal option.
What to do: Grow peppers and chillies in a greenhouse, polytunnel, conservatory or large coldframe wherever you can. Treat outdoor growing as realistic only in a mild garden or an unusually hot summer, with cloche or fleece protection either way.
2 sources
- RHSThey are usually grown under cover in the UK, in a greenhouse, polytunnel, conservatory or coldframe. They are only really successful outdoors in milder parts of the country or in long, hot summers
- RHSChillies usually crop best in a greenhouse – when grown outdoors, fruiting may be reduced
“Peppers and chillies need feeding as heavily as tomatoes”
Both sweet peppers and chillies need less feeding than tomatoes: feed at about half the strength used for tomatoes, or limit feeding to once a week rather than more often.
Our read Peppers, chillies and tomatoes are grown the same way, under cover, fed with the same tomato feed, and often side by side, which makes it easy to assume one feeding schedule covers all three. Their actual nutrient demand isn't the same.
What to do: Feed peppers and chillies at half the strength you'd use for tomatoes, or weekly rather than more frequently, and treat heavier feeding as a tomato-specific habit rather than a general greenhouse routine.
2 sources
- TeagascSweet peppers demand less nutrition than tomatoes, requiring feed at about half the strength used for tomatoes or weekly applications
- TeagascChilli peppers require less feeding than tomatoes. Use high potash feeds at half-strength or once weekly
“Leave the first pepper fruit to set on the plant, since it'll grow the biggest”
The opposite is the actual technique: the first fruit to set, called the 'king fruit', should be removed specifically to prevent it from draining the plant's energy early, before the plant has built up enough strength to support fruit properly.
Our read The first fruit feels like a head start, and it's a natural instinct to protect whatever's already growing rather than remove it. Peppers make an exception of exactly that fruit, precisely because it arrives before the plant is ready to support it well.
What to do: Remove the first, 'king' fruit as it sets, along with any early deformed fruit, so the plant's energy goes into building strength before it carries a full crop.
1 source
- TeagascThe first 'King fruit' must be removed to prevent energy drain
