Poorly-fertilized hot pepper. Tomatoes (background) are well-fertilized. Photo: Anne Sawyer Now that summer is in full swing, you’ll likely need to fertilize container plants to maintain optimum growth...and keep those blooms going! If you used a pre-fertilized commercial potting media, you won’t need to fertilize for the first two to three weeks after planting. If a controlled-release fertilizer was mixed in at planting, you may not need to fertilize for eight to ten weeks. Once that time has passed, however, you may start to notice slowed growth, yellowing of foliage, or other signs of plant decline if you haven’t applied additional fertilizer. Why fertilize now? Nutrients in containers decline quickly as a result of rapid plant growth and frequent watering, which can leach nutrients from the potting media. What kind of fertilizer should I use? There are many fertilizer options for container plants: Liquidor soluble fertilizers, for example, are easy to apply durin