Matchsticks & Green Pepper Plants

What

• Before commercial fertilizers were developed and widely used, gardeners resorted to organic materials and household items to provide the needed nutrients and food for their plants. One of those household items was the common match. Matches are available in wooden stick form or in book form packaging made of stiff paper. Matches are tipped with chemicals that easily ignite when quickly stuck against a hard surface. The chemical tip of a match contains beneficial nutrients for green pepper plants.

Why

• The chemicals that make a matchstick strike and fire are phosphorus and phosphorus sesquisulfide. These chemicals are also particularly beneficial to young, newly transplanted green pepper plants. Phosphorus is the nutrient that helps a plant develop buds and fruit, but cannot naturally replace itself in soil, which is why it is an important component in fertilizer formulas. Green pepper plants require more phosphorus than nitrogen in order to develop flower buds and peppers, not foliage. The sulphur in the match heads, in the form of phosphorus sesquisulfide, give the soil a slight acidity, which green pepper plants benefit from.

When

• The nutrients contained in matchsticks are beneficial to green pepper plants at anytime during the growing season, but especially in the beginning and prior to fruit development. Add matchsticks as part of the pepper plant transplanting process to begin, then fresh matchsticks can be inserted into the soil around the green pepper plant as flower buds start to form.

Where

• There are basically two methods of integrating the beneficial chemicals found in the heads of matchsticks into your green pepper plant's diet. When you initially plant your pepper, after you have dug the hole, place either several wooden matchsticks, or the matches from a matchbook into the bottom of the hole. Cover the matches with a layer of soil so the tender pepper roots will not have direct contact with the match-heads and then continue with planting the pepper. The matches will slowly breakdown and release into the soil the beneficial nutrients for the roots to absorb.

  You can also, or instead, place 4 to 6 wooden matchsticks, head first, into the surface soil around the planted pepper plant. Place these approximately 2 inches from the base of the plant. These will also slowly release the needed nutrients into the soil, and this method is ideal for an additional feeding several weeks after planting.