Pepper plants
I’m hoping you can help me with my pepper plants. I’ve planted several sweet bell peppers and jalapeños this year. Normally I have no trouble and would have been loaded with peppers by now. This year the plants look pitiful. They have lost leaves and just look sickly. Some of the leaves that are left are brown on the edges. I have not seen any bugs eating on them They do look like they are coming back a little but still no little peppers. I’ve searched the internet but can’t find anything that seems to match up. Do you have any idea what is causing my pepper problems? My tomatoes and other plants all look great!
Amy Blattner
Fulton, Missouri
A few things come to mind from my own experiences through the years. First off, have you been having unusual weather? Too much heat, drought, and rain will cause peppers to really set back as yours have done. I’d mulch them well and then use a fish emulsion foliar feeding every two weeks for a month and see if that doesn’t perk them up. Don’t go with heavy fertilizer as you may end up with huge plants with no peppers. — Jackie
Amish canner
I’m considering purchasing the large Amish-Made Stovetop Water Bath Canner (https://www.lehmans.com/p-145-amish-made-stovetop-water-bath-canner.aspx) that Lehman’s sells. The height would allow better boiling water coverage of quart jars and keep the boiling water inside the canner rather than all over my stovetop and would allow me to process larger numbers of jars at a time.
However, since the canner sits over two burners, the configuration of my gas stove will only allow me to sit it over a high-output burner and a small burner on one side or a medium and small on the other. Will there be cold spots in the canner that would leave some of the jars underprocessed?
DK Phillips
Columbus, Ohio
No, you won’t get cold spots in your canner. Once the water comes to a boil, it will all be the same temperature inside the canner. The large canner that Lehman’s sells reminds me of the first canner my mom and grandma used in our basement back in Detroit when I was very little. It was a copper clothes boiler with a top. Mom and Grandma canned quarts and quarts of food in it using a small gas stove down in our basement. One thing that puzzles me is you saying that you get water all over your stovetop from a regular water bath canner. I’ve canned on electric, gas, and wood stoves and have never had water (other than a few small drips) get on my stovetops. Are you over-filling your canner? You only need to cover your jars by an inch of water. If you fill it too full, you will get boiling over. — Jackie
All,
How about turning down the heat so the water keeps boiling but does not come a full rolling boil? I now can in my largest stainless steel stock pot with a wire grill under my jars as its smaller than the old blue canner yet will still let me put the same amount of jars in it. I never could pick up the entire full wire basket of quart jars! Now I just pick up one jar at a time with my jar lifter tongs. (But I never had water boil out of my old blue canner. Maybe they have cut down on the height?)
I have the same problem with my water bath canner, the burner I use it on is at the front of my gas stove and I have to lay a towel on the floor otherwise I get a wet floor. It seems like the newer water bath canners are barely tall enough for quarts (with the 1 inch of water coverage) or you have to buy the largest one available which is too large for my needs.
Same problem here with my water bath canner.
The pot needs to be two inches taller to allow for a good rolling boil
over quart jars.
Had a neighbor with a similar problem with her plants. She found out that a neighbor upwind had sprayed a weed killer on his fields and the wind drift about killed her plants.
I have the same problem with my water bath canner. It is just not tall enough. It says you to have 1-2 inches of water over the jars. When I use quarts the water always splashes over the side when boiling. I wish they would make that canner just a little bit taller.
Are you canning with the lid on the canner? If I leave the lid off, mine spits pretty bad.
When I can quarts in my blue enamel water bath canner, it splashes out and it barely allows for the 1″ coverage. This is a standard sized blue enamel canner from Walmart, but its the same as all stores carry and a duplicate of several previous waterbath canners I’ve owned. They only thing I do is to make sure it stays at a boil, but reduce heat as low as possible so that its not a hard rolling boil.
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