I have a 72 pellet jiffy heated greenhouse , and now have all my seeds . I REALLY want to get them started . I have only enough space for the greenhouse itself . Then have to move everything outside . I think i can do that around mid april here in jersey . My question is , if I start seeds on Feb. 1st , is 10 weeks too long in the confined space of the g house ? Mostly all peppers and some tomatoes and herbs . I would list them but it would be pathetic compared to the awesome lists and logs and info you all provide . I just don't want to harm the crops early . Thanks-
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Too early ?
- Thread starter joe six pack
- Start date
Hmmmm, 72 possible plants will eventually take up a lot of space. In 10-weeks, each one might be a foot tall (or more) depending on type of chile and conditions in your house.
Couple of questions:
What is your lighting? Can you spread the plants out some as they grow larger, like around a couple of windows in the house?
What's your game plan for planting out mid-April-ish? Are they going into the ground, or into containers?
Do you have an outdoor area where you could put a small enclosure--like a simple plastic covered mini-greenhouse or a porch you could cover?
If you grow in portable containers, you can start earlier and shuffle them inside when cold. If you make a small structure outside, you can move plants out there when April temps are marginal.
Please go ahead and post your chile types. There are fans over every variety here! The variety helps decide start times for the seeds.
For tomatoes, plant them last. They grow much faster than peppers and will rapidly take up space. 6 weeks is fine, usually.
I'm sure others will chime in. Good luck....
Couple of questions:
What is your lighting? Can you spread the plants out some as they grow larger, like around a couple of windows in the house?
What's your game plan for planting out mid-April-ish? Are they going into the ground, or into containers?
Do you have an outdoor area where you could put a small enclosure--like a simple plastic covered mini-greenhouse or a porch you could cover?
If you grow in portable containers, you can start earlier and shuffle them inside when cold. If you make a small structure outside, you can move plants out there when April temps are marginal.
Please go ahead and post your chile types. There are fans over every variety here! The variety helps decide start times for the seeds.
For tomatoes, plant them last. They grow much faster than peppers and will rapidly take up space. 6 weeks is fine, usually.
I'm sure others will chime in. Good luck....
I just have an old aquarium light fixture hanging above . I don't have the option to spread them out , so i'm realizing i am going to have to wait a bit . Maybe give the peppers 8 weeks and tomatoes 6 like you said . Most are going in the ground with a few in containers . Keeping the list simple with things i like all the time .
red hab
jalapeno
kung pao
bhut jolakia
brandywine tomato
parisian pickling cucumbers
basil
cillantro
Thank you for advice
red hab
jalapeno
kung pao
bhut jolakia
brandywine tomato
parisian pickling cucumbers
basil
cillantro
Thank you for advice
Joe, thats a great list. Wish you had some onions in there, could make some fine salsa--peppers, toms, cukes, onions, cilantro...
Keep in mind this is just my opinion--everybody grows different and Spring weather can be real weird! But here goes MY OPINION!
The game plan would be to stagger your starts by using cups to germinate the most stubborn slow growers first.
Everything on your list is pretty fast growing--except the Bhut Jolokia and Red Habs. My advice would be to get some Mexican take-out and score a couple of little salsa cups. Put like 6 seeds of Bhuts and Habs in a couple of cups around your Feb 1 time frame. Put them in a warm, dark place and check once a day. This will give them a head start over the other fast growers.
Here's how the great PepperJam did it, with a token pic from his experiments:
For more info how to do it, read this thread: PepperJam seeds in cups germination
The Bhuts can take a long time to germinate, and this 'test' of a few seeds will give you a head start. You don't need to use your 72-cell set up for this, just a couple of cups in a warm spot. When they germinate, there are a few options to keep them going. If they fail to germinate at all, you can try again with your main grow...
Phase two, you use your mini greenhouse to start the rest. If you are REALLY REALLY pressed for space at your house, I'd start the Jalapenos and Kung Pao 8 weeks out, toms and the rest 6 weeks. It will be a little awkward with various plants growing, but you say you have no additional space and need to go straight outside. You should end up with some 6 to 10-inch seedlings with these short time frames, depending on your grow magic. Maybe you'll have a stray Bhut and a Hab looking for light...
Okay, MY OPINION OVER! Now, grow with your heart.
Good luck and welcome aboard the pepper machine....
Keep in mind this is just my opinion--everybody grows different and Spring weather can be real weird! But here goes MY OPINION!
The game plan would be to stagger your starts by using cups to germinate the most stubborn slow growers first.
Everything on your list is pretty fast growing--except the Bhut Jolokia and Red Habs. My advice would be to get some Mexican take-out and score a couple of little salsa cups. Put like 6 seeds of Bhuts and Habs in a couple of cups around your Feb 1 time frame. Put them in a warm, dark place and check once a day. This will give them a head start over the other fast growers.
Here's how the great PepperJam did it, with a token pic from his experiments:
For more info how to do it, read this thread: PepperJam seeds in cups germination
The Bhuts can take a long time to germinate, and this 'test' of a few seeds will give you a head start. You don't need to use your 72-cell set up for this, just a couple of cups in a warm spot. When they germinate, there are a few options to keep them going. If they fail to germinate at all, you can try again with your main grow...
Phase two, you use your mini greenhouse to start the rest. If you are REALLY REALLY pressed for space at your house, I'd start the Jalapenos and Kung Pao 8 weeks out, toms and the rest 6 weeks. It will be a little awkward with various plants growing, but you say you have no additional space and need to go straight outside. You should end up with some 6 to 10-inch seedlings with these short time frames, depending on your grow magic. Maybe you'll have a stray Bhut and a Hab looking for light...
Okay, MY OPINION OVER! Now, grow with your heart.
Good luck and welcome aboard the pepper machine....
So you're saying that you want to keep them in the germination "greenhouse" ??? One of these???
Or similar??? Ummmm I wouldn't keep mine in there for more than a few weeks tops once germinated. Not a lot of space for root growth...so you need to come up with some sort of alternate plan or just start them about a month before they can go in the ground if you have no other option. You should plan on 2 weeks to germinate the bhuts...plus 2 weeks growth then you either need to pot up or plant out IMO. Depending on #'s you're starting if you have a south window you could pot them in some cheap pots and keep them in a window till plant out??? Siliman is onto something, but I really don't think you can get 8 weeks in a germ tray without the plants suffering. One possible alternative would be to start now if you wish and place them in containers that you can move in and out with weather...Only issue there is if you get a week or so of cold weather and can't put them outside you must either have a light source for them or a good window with direct sun for at least 4 or 5 hrs a day. Good luck!
oh, and photo credit to hydrofarm website...
and just re-read, they will be in jiffy pellets. Now my estimate changed to a few days once sprouted...the roots often hit the bottom of jiffy pellets before the cotlydons are even done spreading...especially your tomatoes. They have really explosive root growth.
Or similar??? Ummmm I wouldn't keep mine in there for more than a few weeks tops once germinated. Not a lot of space for root growth...so you need to come up with some sort of alternate plan or just start them about a month before they can go in the ground if you have no other option. You should plan on 2 weeks to germinate the bhuts...plus 2 weeks growth then you either need to pot up or plant out IMO. Depending on #'s you're starting if you have a south window you could pot them in some cheap pots and keep them in a window till plant out??? Siliman is onto something, but I really don't think you can get 8 weeks in a germ tray without the plants suffering. One possible alternative would be to start now if you wish and place them in containers that you can move in and out with weather...Only issue there is if you get a week or so of cold weather and can't put them outside you must either have a light source for them or a good window with direct sun for at least 4 or 5 hrs a day. Good luck!
oh, and photo credit to hydrofarm website...
and just re-read, they will be in jiffy pellets. Now my estimate changed to a few days once sprouted...the roots often hit the bottom of jiffy pellets before the cotlydons are even done spreading...especially your tomatoes. They have really explosive root growth.
Yea, STC, this is a tough one. Obviously, the plants couldn't stay in the 72-cells. I didn't elaborate, but I was thinking he could pot up to 2.5-inch containers (or the equivalent) and this would fit 32 plants in one tray. I think jalapenos could survive 8-weeks and tomatoes 6 weeks in that size. It will be tight. Perhaps reduce the 'maters and the rest to 4-weeks?
Yeah...potting up is the only option. One good window would change the whole plan...or even a shelf with a cheap t8 shoplight....Less than $20 for the light and 2 bulbs, and you could have a grow area big enough for quite a few plants. You really don't even need a place to hang it! Just put each end on a tote, brick, bucket, box, planter whatever and throw the plants under it on the floor...under a desk, in a closet, cabinet, behind the sofa...the possibilities are endless. Check out the ghetto grow gear thread and you'll see some of the crazy cheap setups that people use. There was also a grow log by a girl in a tiny apartment that had ridiculous amounts of plants in a really small area. Her user name was cappy (not the same as the one that makes the brain strain sauce) Lemme find it and link it on here. By the way...it only costs a couple bucks a month to run a florescent fixture...all that being said if you spent that $20 you could have a very healthy set of plants for a couple months till plant out. Especially if you could find a spot near a heat source like a radiator or heater vent to set it up, or even just cover the setup with a cardboard box to hold the heat from the shop light in.
It was Kappy not Cappy...here is her glog...
http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/25516-kappys-first-grow-log-d/page__fromsearch__1
Thanks for the like Sili!
Thanks again for the input Siliman ,kcso53, andstc3248... It's funny , the main reason I can't expand to much is "the wife" . She hasn't been enlightened by the satisfaction of a successful pepper plant , therefore can't understand the need for a micro garden in the kitchen .... Wish i had a basement i'd go nuts . But yeah , going to decide the grow just going by your advice and prob start the (some )habs and bhuts early on the side . 
Time to start the weekend . Hope you enjoy yours..
Time to start the weekend . Hope you enjoy yours..Okay, glad you're taking this in, and don't give up JoeSP. I'll bet you end up with a six pack (at least) of outstanding peppers, plus some of the other nice veggies and herbs. The wife will come around then!
But please, re-read what stc3248 wrote. You can greatly expand your grow space with at least one light in addition to your aquarium starter area. Put it in many locations "...under a desk, in a closet, cabinet, behind the sofa...the possibilities are endless..." Everybody has a cluttered closet, just clear out the bottom half, get a fan, and start growing.
We get caught up in some sophisticated grows around here, but you can get some grow action out of almost anything. I utilized my garage shop light to get some starts going for a few weeks. It was an old T12, who knows what the bulb spectrum was. It cost me nothing other than a couple dollars a month to run. It worked! So get creative. A little mood lighting behind the sofa might be a good thing also....
But please, re-read what stc3248 wrote. You can greatly expand your grow space with at least one light in addition to your aquarium starter area. Put it in many locations "...under a desk, in a closet, cabinet, behind the sofa...the possibilities are endless..." Everybody has a cluttered closet, just clear out the bottom half, get a fan, and start growing.
We get caught up in some sophisticated grows around here, but you can get some grow action out of almost anything. I utilized my garage shop light to get some starts going for a few weeks. It was an old T12, who knows what the bulb spectrum was. It cost me nothing other than a couple dollars a month to run. It worked! So get creative. A little mood lighting behind the sofa might be a good thing also....