Vegetable crops
Protect root and canopy health while supporting fruit retention and successive harvests.
CROP PRIORITIES
Pests, diseases and growing conditions can produce similar symptoms. Connect field history and diagnosis with the crop stage before choosing an input.
Phytophthora root and crown rot can cause rapid wilt and plant loss at different growth stages. Field disease history, clean planting material and effective drainage should inform planning. After prolonged wet conditions, check affected areas and seek diagnosis promptly; the crop-protection programme should address the identified disease as well as irrigation.
View biological products →Discuss this crop challenge →Powdery mildew can reduce leaf function and cause defoliation, leaving fruit more exposed to sun injury. Monitor both leaf surfaces as the canopy develops and through fruiting. Disease assessment, local crop-protection options and harvest requirements should guide intervention, while nutrition supports the remaining crop demand.
View biological products →Discuss this crop challenge →Pepper flowers can drop in unsuitable hot or cool conditions. When fruit set falls, inspect temperature records, water availability and plant condition together. Distinguish an environmental episode from a persistent nutritional limitation before selecting an additional input.
Discuss this crop challenge →A productive pepper crop must sustain both fruit growth and new growth. Waterlogging, dry periods and accumulated salts can disrupt the rooting environment. In protected soil production, repeated organic as well as mineral fertiliser applications contribute to the nutrient and salt budget.
View biological products →Discuss this crop challenge →Sweet and hot peppers differ in fruit size, harvest colour and market requirements. Record marketable fruit, uniformity and physiological defects rather than relying on plant height alone. Calcium-related disorders require attention to water transport as well as the nutrient supply.
Discuss this crop challenge →THROUGH THE SEASON
From establishment to harvest or renewal, the purpose of crop management changes with each stage.
Choose healthy seedlings and review previous Phytophthora or damping-off problems. Prepare a well-drained rooting environment before transplanting.
Follow new root growth and transplant recovery. Investigate wilt or plant losses, especially in poorly drained areas, before treating slow growth as a nutritional shortage.
Track day and night temperatures alongside flower drop and fruit load. Cultivars differ, and a supporting biological input cannot remove an unsuitable thermal environment.
Review powdery mildew, leaf retention and sun injury alongside fruit load and picking rhythm. Green and fully coloured harvests create different periods of exposure and nutrient demand.
BIOLOGICAL INPUTS
These products have distinct roles in nutrition, root development and crop management. For a pest or disease, product selection also requires evidence for the identified target and applicable market label.
Explore biological crop protection →
Plant protein hydrolysate
Evaluate during periods of increased crop demand, accounting for the formulation’s nitrogen contribution in the full nutrition programme.
Beneficial root-zone bacteria
A root-zone bacterial product to review within establishment and ongoing root management, with strain identity and growing-system fit checked first.
Plant-derived nitrogen & organic nutrition
Review as supplementary organic-source nutrition according to the fruit load, existing nutrient budget and soluble-salt status.
Chelated calcium nutrition
A defined calcium option where crop assessment identifies a nutritional need, alongside consistent root-zone moisture.
Bacillus biological protection
Soilborne & root diseases · Powdery mildew · Botrytis & grey mould
Metarhizium biological protection · Nursery growing media
Soil-associated insect management
Fungal biological nematode protection
Root-knot nematodes
Sclerotinia biological protection
Sclerotinia diseases
KNOWLEDGE & EVIDENCE
Alkalinity, conductivity and individual ions answer different questions. Reading them together makes a nutrition programme easier to interpret and improve.
The move from nursery to field changes a plant’s water balance and root environment. A clear view of that transition makes product choices more useful.
Follow calcium from the root zone to developing fruit to understand blossom-end rot, bitter pit and the questions a useful nutrition programme should answer.
Explore the scientific background to biological inputs and their agricultural applications.
University extension resources support the agronomic context on this page. Product-specific technical information is available within each product page.
Pepper
Share your growing region, crop stage and management priorities with our team.