Peppers are finicky plants. When the weather is too hot (above 90° F) or cold (below 55° F), they can drop their blossoms and not yield many fruits. If the soil fertility is off, they may produce lots of leaves but few flowers. Then there are the insects and diseases that can attack them. Even though peppers can be fickle, with a little knowledge you can produce a ton of sweet and hot peppers. Here are some guidelines to get the best pepper crop ever.

It's important that soil for growing peppers has a balance of nitrogen, phosphorus,and potassium. Compost gives them a good start to the season, but if the leaves are yellowing during the growing season, they may need more nitrogen. Try adding some fish emulsion or a high-nitrogen fertilizer. If you have too many leaves but no fruit, try cutting back on your nitrogen fertilizer and adding a phosphorus- and potassium-rich fertilizer.

If your plants are growing great, side-dressing them with an all-purpose, balanced fertilizer during the growing season is still a good idea to keep them producing.

To side-dress, dig a trench around the drip line of the plant about 1 inch deep and 3 to 4 inches away from the stem. Put a handful of compost or 2 to 3 tablespoons of a balanced fertilizer in a band in the trench. Cover the fertilizer with soil. If the plants are in rows, dig a shallow trench by hand or with a fertilizer applicator 1 to 3 inches deep along either side of the row at the drip line of the plants. Sprinkle a band of balanced fertilizer in the trench using about 1/2 cup per 10 feet of row, or spread a layer of compost about 1 inch deep along the length of the row. Cover with soil. Whether you use the circular-trench or row-trench method, don't sprinkle any fertilizer on the plants as it will burn the leaves. Water the soil to send the fertilizer down to the roots.

Some pepper disorders look like disease but are actually caused by nutritional imbalances. Blossom end rot appears as a black, sunken area on the base of a fruit. It's caused by a nutrient deficiency. Fluctuations in soil moisture can make roots unable to take up adequate calcium, and the cells at the fruit's growing tip die. To avoid blossom end rot, maintain soil pH between 6.0 and 6.8, and maintain adequate, regular moisture by improving soil, spreading mulch, and watering deeply and evenly when needed.