My Pepper List this Year - 8b - Seedling Questions
Hello! Thanks for taking the time to look at my post and I'd like to open myself up to any and all comments/critism. Don't hold back if it sounds like I'm making a bad decision or there is some way I could improve! - See the end of the post for a summary of my experiances last year and plans for this year.
Seedling Health Question - My garage is not heated, and it has been getting close to 20f outside a few nights but I don't believe the area where my seedlings are getting under 40-50f at night. I also have the peppers on heatting pads until they get their true leaves. The two pictures below show the seedlings and they seem to have some damage/wilting. Can anyone give me some feedback as to what might be wrong with them? I know it could be a good number of things.
Planned Pepper List - Keeping 1-2 plants each, plan to sell or swap excess. Suggestions for a few other varities to try that would do well in Texas Heat (DFW Area) with 11am-6pm direct-sun would be great!
- Thai Hot - 6 seedlings started
- Serrano - 6
- Early Jalapeno - Tray of 72 started
- Santaka Hot - 6
- Cayenne Blend - 6
- Poblano - 6
- NuMex Joe E. Parker Anaheim - 6
- Italian Marconi Golden - 6
- Habanero - 6
- Pepperoncini Greek - 12
Experiance Rating
- 1 - Loved growing it/great yeild/taste
- 2 - Average experiance/Not remarkable
- 3 - Major Issues, would not grow again
Last Year
- Thai Hot - 3 - Cute plant, good flavor, peppers are very small but plentiful
- Santaka Hot Asian - 1 - Loved growing this, beautiful plant. Peppers dried well and I crack them open as needed for seasoning (taco seasoning, gauc, asian sauces)
- Early Japaleno - 2 - Not very productive, may have been over crowded by other pepper plants.
- Yolo Wonder - Green Peppers - 2 - Thin walled/wasn't very productive
- Sweet Cherry Blend - 2 - Fun to snack on, highly productive plant, not great flavor
- Pasilla Bajio - 2 - Pretty long black pepper, flavor was odd, wasn't sure what to do with them.
- Purple Beauty - 3 - Gross. Pretty but gross. Thin walled and the flavor was really weird.
- California Wonder - 1 - Low yield but thick-walled and large with great taste.
- Poblano - 1 - Huge Yeilds in Late-Summery, Easily 50 fruit per plant though small, fist size at the largest
- Italian Marconi Golden - 1 - Massive, half a foot long average. Versital pepper for grilling (stand in for a lack of good green peppers) or chopping up in salad. Flavor was crisp and clean but a little different
Photo are my last pepper harvest of 2014
I'm growing all of these from seeds. I'm also planning to sell extra plants at my local farmers market to try to recoup the cost of my gardening hobby. I have a grow-room set up in my extra garage, room for 16 trays with lights that can be adjusted to be right against the seedlings. I went a little overboard. I have 200 3'' small planters and 400-500 jiffy soil pellets to get them started. I don't really like spicy peppers but I find them beautiful and I LOVE to provide for my neighbores.
I just started growing from seeds last year as I just got my first home. I built 8 4'x8' raised beds from cedar planks at 8'' deep with 50% 'local' compost (wood chips basically), 10% peatmoss, 10% cow manuer, 30% self-created compost (grass, leaves, food scraps). The soil under my beds are thick and sticky clay which I hand tilled maybe 6''. I tried to grow last year strawberries, onions, beans, potatoes, tomatos, peppers, cucumbers, squash, and melons. I found out I had rabbits so good bye to all the beans, strawberries, onions. I got a dozen good yellow squash before the squash bugs took over. Cucumbers produced fantastic, I could pick 2-4 every few days but I let some kind of bugs take over (I bought ladybugs but it wasn't enough). Tomatoes I tried to grow Roma, Cherokee Purple, Tiger Strip, and others---all of which failed probably due to the shallow soil and wet clay that resulted in wet feet--I got maybe one or two fruit per plant. I did however also grow some Super-Sweet 100 and Sungold Grape tomatoes and they did amazing, well over 8' high and producing heavily. I had a nice yeild of potatoes, I planted 10 red and 10 whites and got nearly 100-200 red potatoes though a fraction as many whites.
Okay! Whew! That's a summery of last year. I've learned a lot and I really want to do better this year. I've invested in a fake owl, some fox urine, and I've condensed my beds so now I have 4 4'x8'x16'' beds. I have condensed the soil I had but I need to buy approxmately another 100 sqfeet of soil. The current soil I have is broken down well, dark, and filled with worms, every scoop has worms in it.
Comments (11)
syntria
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Seedling transplant ?? - peppers & tom's
Comments (4)When I transplant into cell packs I use Pro-Mix, same for seed starting. I use Miracle Grow root boost to water the transplants, keeping them on the dry side. I grow my plants in my basement which can get down to 40 degrees. The seeds need heat to germinate, but once they're transplanted you can move them to a cooler spot. The plants are under grow lights 12on 12off. Once they are transplanted, I prefer a cooler location with the lights as close to the plants as possible. The cooler the temp. the stronger the plants will be....See MorePepper seedling identity
Comments (9)bonmiece The shelves I picked up from the local Menards, I believe Lowes, and Home Depot both carry them. they are 48" x 18" deep. Looking back now I wished I'd picked up the 48" x 24" as I'm only able to utilize 40 of the 48 cells in the planting trays. Otherwise those plants would be leaning towards the light. So at this moment I leave them empty. Thanks for the pictures I have a feeling they might in fact by Aurora as the foliage is maintaining it's purple color. The seeds were sewn in different germination trays from the Black Pearl seeds so it's not likely that they got mixed that way. I have definitely had Aurora sprouts that I transplanted as there are empty cells where they were planted but none of my seedlings in the growing trays were labeled Aurora....See MoreMy crop this year and some questions
Comments (4)habanero orange are difficult to grow and quite often dont get that tall.They taste pretty horrible too.When they start from seed,you should remove laterals as they grow to premote height.Take the odd leaf off from the bottom as the tree grows to premote growth and try to develop a Y shaped tree with no leaves below the V part.Feed with soluble Thrive flower and fruit when flowers appear.Prune so light can enter the middle of tree.Allow space for the friuts to grow.Feed lightly every time once the tree is a good size.They tend to get bushy,so thin the leaves a bit.A fert high in nitrogen will premote leaf growth which is good early on but you want more potassium when flowering,hence the flower and fruit soluble fert.Pick a lot at first(no power) but then leave mature fruits on the tree a long time.They will then be very hot! especially if you eat raw straight away.They will become hotter when the temp drops eg into autumn or early winter. Drought stress will make them more angry too.The above applies to all chillies.Get The Y shape,so the tree can branch out.Gradually remove leaves up the stem,so its bare. Do you plan to eat raw or cook? Ricotto red is good for cooking in food.The above works for me anyway.Good luck.cheers...See MoreUPDATE: whats left on my have lists***wish lists***
Comments (42)Paula, Thank you for the offer but I don't collect gobs and gobs of seeds. I just collect a few seed heads of things I think others might like to grow and a few for myself for the next year if they are annuals. I shouldn't say this here on the garden web but I toss most seeds in the trash as I am cleaning up my gardens ( take a deep breathe, stop gasping...lol). I think this year I will collect more than usual because I feel like a cheap skate when I see some of the other seed packets in swaps...lol I have added the petunias to your gift package and again, thank you for the offer. I will pass this time though. Lisa...See More
dajsnipe
9 years agodajsnipe
9 years agosyntria
9 years agoHey Brian6464, thanks for the reply. I have germination domes that do build up extra warmth under the lights and with the mat however due to mold concerns I don't leave them on most of the time. I've also got two clamp/spot lights with hot lights in them pointed in the corner they're in--ideally to keep the area a little warmer but to be honest, I don't know the temperature. I noticed the wilting was really bad a week or two ago when it got really cold/we had two back to back ice storms outside and I had my lights on a timer so they went off between 11pm and 4am--so no heat generation. I switched it around so they were off during the middle of the day instead. I use to have a plastic sheet over the racks but again I'm worried about mold, been picking out anything that looks moldy and trying not to let it be overly damp. I have a small clamp fan I bought specifically for air circulation I haven't' actually set up yet.
I'm getting more concerned about the temperature and as you said, how they'll hardly grow if it's that low. This image is a little out of date, but that's my general set up haha.
brian6464
9 years ago
Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
9 years agosyntria
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoThanks Seysonn!
1) Thanks, I generally don't use the dome after germination.
2) I checked the temperature in my garage this morning, it was at 62 degrees according to my compost thermometer and the outside temp was 45. Assuming we don't get a cold snap, I might be safe there.
3) I plan to pot them up soon, I usually wait until they have at least two sets of true leaves
4) They are lanky because I let them germinate ona table with a heating pad inside since it was waaaay to cold in January to have them outside, and mistakenly let them grow for a few days with nothing but ambient light--only a few of them had germinated and those got really long. The ones that finished germinating under the lights are shorter and stockier. All my other peppers are under the lights and in the process of germinating now (About to start a round of tomatoes). Total mistake on my part to have left them out without direct light, I didn't expect them to germinate so fast! I had some peppers germinate in 2-3 days! They usually take 10+ days.
Thank yooou. :D
syntria
9 years agodajsnipe
9 years ago
brian6464