What Can I Do With a Slow Growing Plant?

Question

I bought four habanero plants that looked healthy. When I transferred to my garden two of them are growing great the other two have not. They are not dead but leaves are small and almost yellowish and remain small. Please help. I love peppers.

Answer 1

When you planted them in the garden, were the root systems all about the same? Usually when plants from the same grower seem to develop at different rates the roots are stronger on the more vigorous plants. Check the soil at each plant, if the plants that arte struggling have wetter/drier soil, either water more or slack off. Are you fertilizing? You might want to hold off fertilizing the weaker plants a little. If the root system is struggling, and they have been getting a lot of fertilizer, it can burn tender root tips. If the roots don’t look as healthy on the “sad” plants as the “happy” ones, you may want to drench with an all purpose fungicide.