I can't email you for some reason,I am interested in some of the edible plant seeds and would gladly do a trade or pay postage. Would be so kind and email me? Thanx Carmen PS... not in desperate need but just mild need of some seeds for my little seed bank for small garden.

Hi vee55, Welcome to GW and The Seed EXchange! Please see the link below for getting set up to exchange/trade seeds. You will need to also get your Member Page email link set up so that you can easily be reached for trading. chemocurl...aka Sue Here is a link that might be useful: addressing newbie and newer member issues

Hi grizzman, At about 6 weeks a seedling will have 4 true leaves & be ready to transplant; it can have 2 - 3 stems. Prune seedling to only 2 stems (in a Bell pepper these can then grow to over 12 feet or 4 mt., if supported). Allow the plant it's vegetative development & see explanation (farther below) on pruning side shoots, once they develop. To shift vegetative growth into mature fruit productivity (later on) pruning will essentially be an ongoing tactic, done 2 times a month. This keeps pepper plant from yielding in flushes & relapsing into vegetative growth. No reduction in adult plant fertilizer Nitrogen & no increase in Phosphorus is used; a large plant needs it's N & extra P can cause problems that impact on yield. When the plant begins to put off side branches from main stem nodes it is time to begin pruning vegetative growth. Each node on the 2 stems of the pepper plant gets all it's "excess" leaves pruned off it, so that just a single (1) leaf remains at each of it's nodes (ie: main stems have 1 leaf at every node). Later on, when plant is about 4 months old from seed ( & after some leaf pruning on the side branches, which is explained shortly) you can let a 2nd leaf grow out at each node on the main stems (ie: 2nd leaf/node by then will not push plant back into vegetative mode). The plant will likely be fruiting at this age ( when keep 2nd leaf/node) & needs more photosynthesis to bulk up the fruit. You want to take plant into fruiting mode progressively & have those hormonal signals stabilize. Since you are trying to control the plant there is some strategic early flower pruning, to get fruit set occurring how you want it synchronized to lock in that hormonal shift. In the crotch, or fork between your 2 stems, pinch off that flower. Likewise, going up each stem you pinch off the flower (if any) at the 1st node above the fork. What you want is to stagger the first 2 peppers on each stem & allow the plant to definitively transition into a continuous (not flushes) fruiting cycle. The plant is made to "work" to replace the lost flowers & this helps condition that response. It is not a question of giving it more time for vegetative/root development to make a better plant; it is a tactical sacrifice that means more total productivity. So, after pruning the 1st flower that develops above the fork, let the next higher flower grow & set fruit on the 2nd node of each of both main stems. Then, get rid of (prune) the flower at the 3rd node of each stem. At the 4th node on each stem you stop pruning away any more of the main stems' flowers. (If your plant suffers an "accident" & loses it's lowest flowers then just start the pruning sequence of no flower/yes flower/no flower/yes all subsequent flowers where you can on each stem.) Returning now to keeping vegetative growth under control. The plant will put off side branches at each of the nodes, on both main stems, for as long as it is growing. These are to be controlled, as they develop at any age, to avoid pepper plant getting bushy.( Yet keeping some minimal leaf growth for photosynthesis & preventing the sun burning the pepper fruit.) As a side branch develops (when it starts is not important) it is is important that each side branch is dealt with before it's vegetative growth begins to send growth hormone signals. And, please do not confuse a side branch tip with the tip of a main step (do not cut off either main stem apex or plant will only be bushy.) On each of the growing side branches (not main stem,now) you want a leaf to develop at it's (the side branch's) very own 1st node. Once you see a leaf point of growth, prune the side branch back to it's 1st node (ie: side branches get to stay & keep a leaf at a node, but can not have a 2nd node for their own continued bushy growth). The only thing to add (about side branch technique) is, that about 4 weeks after you have pruned a side branch back to it's 1st node (& left it with just 1 leaf) it is good to let a 2nd leaf come out & remain (on each side branch). By originally holding down the number of side branch leaves to only 1 it keeps the vegetative cycle from resuming. After a while there is no side branch vegetative hormonal signal when you allow the 2nd (& no more) leaf at it's first & only node. It is preferable to have that extra photosynthetic capacity & the leaf cover for a pepper crop that is commercially planted at the density of 1 pepper/ 3.5 square feet (1 pepper/ 0.33 square meter). One final look at the main stem (only): you pruned it to 1 leaf/node ( when got side branching), let it have 2 leaves/node (at +/- 4 months old, fruit growing). If a plant is getting a lot of sun (or peppers are planted far apart) you should let a maximum 3rd leaf at each node on both the main stems develop; it will protect the fruit & deal with factors stressing the plant (this last leaf is not required for photosynthesis capacity, but those side branch leaves are).

Well I think I've finally made my decision for what to buy. (lol - Got about 1 more week before I need order bulbs so a change is always possible, but not likely.) I've been reading up on aquarium lighting. No disrespect to the many knowledgeable people within the gardening online community, but on the whole, the aquarium lighting community is way more sophisticated than the terrestrial plant lighting community. The sales market is pretty much like the plant market, doesn't provide much data and prices of bulbs similar but a little cheaper. But the user community never talks about lumens; they talk in terms of PPFD, which we know is the best photosynthesis related unit of light measurement. I'm going to start a new thread about the great data you can get through the aquarium community and raise the question of why can't the land gardeners do the same. I'll leave my discussion of their data to the new thread so let's meet there if you interested in that. Aquarium folks like high color temps, so for HID, they use metal halides, probe and start. So you can find lots of great info on MH but essentially none on HPS or conversion bulbs. Some aquarium experts have generated spectral data for 900+ bulbs and it can be accessed through a site I'm naming over in the new thread. They have also written bulb comparison articles based on the same data. Based on their data I've decided to get two EVC (brand) 400W 10000K probe start metal halide bulbs ($57 ea), which run optimally on a M59 type ballast. The EVC bulb gets a very good PPFD (205 umol/m2/s) and a broad spectrum on the blue end (remember I'm focusing on vegetative growth). I'm going to get Magnetek M59 ballast kits ($83ea) because that was the one used for the testing of that bulb, although several folks said any ol' m59 should work fine. I'll gut one of my Sun System I housings and install a new ballast kit. Since probe start doesn't require an ignitor, things will be easier for me as a very novice electrical guy. I could have gotten slightly higher PPFD's with a few other bulbs but you had to start getting into HQI ballasts which cost a lot more. The second EVC bulb & ballast I'm going to install in my Sun System II fixture (self-contained). Thought about getting a 250W bulb instead of second 400w but decided against that. If I was going to get a 250w I would have gone with the XM 250w 10000K probe start MH and a M58 ballast. I will be starting seeds all along so by April my plant area might be too big for the two 400'ers to cover. If so, I'll kick in my spare 600W Super Hortilux system to get me to frost free outdoor conditions. Might even do that anyways if some plants look like they would benefit by more red light. If you match up the spectral curves of the EVC MH and the Hortilux Super HPS, you'd see that the combined light makes for a decent full spectrum although a bit weak in the desirable 640 nm peak area. Other HPS bulbs could do better I'm sure. A combo with the Philips Mastercolor 400w CMH HPS-retro might be a really nice full spectrum. I know the MH bulbs have shorter lifes and are less PAR/watt efficient than HPS, but that is just the cost of business to do what I want to do. If in the future suitable 600W HPS S106 compatible bulbs come along, I can put my old ballasts back in. I stopped considering the reg terrestrial plant-light bulbs because I could not get good data on them. I have more comments along that line which I'm going note in the new thread.