Turbo 2014 Pepper Growing: An Anecdotal Methodology

HillBilly Jeff · Jan 7, 2014

Paper lanterns should do well as they are called the habanero of the north.

Good luck on your grow.

Datil · Jan 9, 2014

Nice compact list!
I will grow hot paper lanterns as well this year, they deserve some revival

Good luck

Datil

turbo · Jan 10, 2014

2014 Grow Season

I've always kept garden journal each year in Evernote, but this year decided to put my pepper garden entries in here instead. Should be fun!

This year I'm doing two different sets of peppers; I'm starting a set of capsicum chinense peppers now, and then in a month and a half I'll start a different set of cayenne pepper varieties.

For the capsicum chinense I'm going with:

Aji Lemmon Drop
Fatalli
Chocolate Fatalli
Congo Trinidad
Paper Lantern

For all but the Paper Lantern peppers, I'm gona start 6 of each, and keep the best 3 for final potting. The rest will get adopted out to friends.

I live in Seattle and have read that the Paper Lantern does pretty well in northern climates, so I'm going to try and keep all 6 of those.

I'll be using a germination heat mat to help get the seeds going. Since we keep the house fairly cold in the winter to save money, I'll put a towel over the mat and keep using it once the seedlings are going, just to help keep the soil temp up. I'm also using a 2 foot, 4 T5 bulb florescent grow light (which I got at 1000bulbs). It seemed like a good option when trying to minimize price, space, and maximizing light output.

After 3 days in the baggies I couldn't help but to check them this morning. To my surprise two of the Aji Lemon Drops and 3 Chocolate Fatalli seeds were already sprouting. All sprouts were about 1mm long, but one of the Aji Lemon Drop seeds had a sprout an inch long! He's like the Shaq of Lemon Drops.

I didn't expect any to have germinated so soon. Not sure if I should plant them one at a time as they sprout, or if I should wait until they are all sprouted and plat them together. Especially the one seed with an inch long root. I kind of feel I should put him in the dirt today.

turbo · Jan 13, 2014

Checked the seeds this mornign. The paper lanterns, congo trinidads, and fatallis had not sprouted yet. All the lemon drops and chocolate fatallis had sprouted roots, so I put them in the seedling tray.

I'm not so sure about the coffee filter germination method. I've been checking the seeds every 3 days, and there were dry spots next to the seeds. I'll need to check the seeds every day from now on. Also, the seeds that did germinate had roots that still held onto the coffee filter pretty tight. I accadentally pulled one of the roots off when extracting the seed from the coffee filter. Also, a few of the roots looked a little fuzzy. Not sure if that was a mold growth, or just really fine root sprouts.

I may just put the rest of the seeds in soil today and drop the coffee filter method all together.

juanitos · Jan 13, 2014

i just waited for some of my varieties to sprout then potted them all. Putting them in soil isn't going to hurt them after all that's the way they have been doing for millions of years.

The coffee filter / paper towel method seems good way to keep the seeds really damp for a few days, beyond that seems too much and run risk of roots getting in them like you said.

Nick08* · Jan 13, 2014

I would recommend rockwool... it's pretty foolproof (had great germ rates for my first ever start from seed). Cheap, keeps the seeds moist, sterile, and can be planted directly into soil.

turbo · Jan 13, 2014

OKGrowin said:
i just waited for some of my varieties to sprout then potted them all. Putting them in soil isn't going to hurt them after all that's the way they have been doing for millions of years.

The coffee filter / paper towel method seems good way to keep the seeds really damp for a few days, beyond that seems too much and run risk of roots getting in them like you said.

I took your advice and went ahead and put the rest of my seeds in the dirt. I've got extra seeds in the coffee filters that I didnt have space for in my seed tray, so that if some dont germinate in the tray I've got backups.

By the way, I'm originally from Tulsa. I miss how big pepper plants get in Oklahoma from the heat. My dad's Jalapino plants get about 5 feet tall, but mine in Seattle only get about 3 feet.

turbo · Jan 17, 2014

I wanted to capture some notes on what kind of starter soil I used for the seeds. In previous years when starting seeds indoors I just grabbed whatever bag of Miracle Grow that looked good at Home Depot, and as such I've always had just mediocre luck. This year I wanted to try something a little more purposeful, so I did a bunch of reading and talked to my local nursery (they are organic nut-jobs there so I figured I could trust most of what they said). What I came up with was a mix of 8 parts Gardener & Bloome Potting Soil, 1 part coco coir, 1 part horticultural sand.

The potting soil was a mix of: bark fines, forest humus, peat moss, perlite, chicken crap, bat crap, worm castings, kelp meal, alfalfa meal, oyster shell, and dolomite lime

The seeds have all been in soil for 4 days. I checked on them this morning and noticed that I've got my first hooks! Looks like the Paper Lantern peppers are the first to pop out of the soil, even though they didnt germinate in the coffee filters but several other varieties did.

This was perfect timing since I setup my grow light only yesterday.

juanitos · Jan 17, 2014

sounds good to me. did you sow them yet?

turbo · Jan 17, 2014

OKGrowin said:
sounds good to me. did you sow them yet?

Yup, I planted last Monday

turbo · Jan 18, 2014

Today 9 of my 12 Paper Lanterns are standing tall. They are definitly early risers. I've got 1 Congo Trinidad, 1 Lemon Drop and 1 Chocolate Fatalli playing hooky. Hopefully more to come soon.

Spicegeist · Jan 18, 2014

Seedlings are looking good. I've been wondering about growing peppers in Seattle lately. I know the summers are sunny, but does it get warm enough?

turbo · Jan 18, 2014

Spicegeist said:
Seedlings are looking good. I've been wondering about growing peppers in Seattle lately. I know the summers are sunny, but does it get warm enough?

I've had pretty good luck with peppers in Seattle, but it did take a few years to learn how to get them to grow well.

Starting your peppers indoors in January is a must, since most peppers have such a long time to maturity and the Seattle growing season is so short. I never had any luck planting them in the ground, the soil just doesn't get warm enough to promote good growth. I use 3 or 5 gallon black plastic pots. The pots absorb heat from the sun fairly well and keep the soil warm, especially at night. I also use coco coir instead of peat moss and horticultural sand in my soil mix so the soil will drain well. Its not hard to over water the peppers if it rains 3 days straight. This year I'm going to experiment with a raised bed to see how that works. I've read about a few things you can do to help raised beds absorb more heat from the sun. We'll see how that goes.

As far as what varieties, I've had the best luck with cayenne peppers. Since they have a shorter maturity duration I'll probably start them in mid Feb. Paper Lantern peppers are called the "Habaneros of the North". This year is my first year to try them, so we'll see how well they do.

I'm still learning what gardening methods works well up here, and what varieties work.

Spicegeist · Jan 18, 2014

Very interesting. I sometimes think about living in the Pacific Northwest, but the less than ideal pepper conditions make me think twice, of all factors to consider in life, lol. But it sounds like you make it work with containers, just like some of the growers in Canada seem to do.

You should try some different species. I have a good C. pubescens cross (Rocoto from the Andes crossed with a Manzano from Mexico), it's F1 and should do well. I gave seed out to a few people, so I hope they grow it and we can see how it turns out! Or some wilds, C. chacoense and C. praetermissum would be interesting in your climate.

If it's not too late for you, I could send you some seed to try. Let me know.

turbo · Jan 21, 2014

Spicegeist said:
You should try some different species. I have a good C. pubescens cross (Rocoto from the Andes crossed with a Manzano from Mexico), it's F1 and should do well. I gave seed out to a few people, so I hope they grow it and we can see how it turns out! Or some wilds, C. chacoense and C. praetermissum would be interesting in your climate.

If it's not too late for you, I could send you some seed to try. Let me know.

The C. pubescens cross sounds very interesting. I found some Manzanaos at a local hispanic grocery store and LOVE them. Saved some seeds, only one plant survived and now its about 1ft tall and 2ft wide. Its never flowered at all, and I read that they are not self polinating, but its a very cool looking plant. I'd love to try your cross. I'll PM you to work out details.

Germination Update:
My Paper Lanterns growing like crazy. So far 10/12 have germinated and they are growing measurably each day. The other seeds are taking their own sweet time in getting started, though I've got new hooks from two Lemmon Drops, one Fatalli, and one Chocolate Fatalli this morning. The Congo Trinidads are definitly sleeping in this year.

The logistics of this mix of seeds is a bit of a pain in the ass. I want to keep the lid on my germination tray on, so the environment stays nice and warm and humid for the seeds yet to hook, but since I have so many Paper Lanters already growing I dont want it to be too humid because I'm afraid I'll get hit with the same white fuzzy mold I had last year. Luckly I planted the Papper Lanterns on the side of the tray, so I'm propping up the lid about an inch on that side to allow the air to circulate, but on the other side of the tray its closed. We'll see how that works.

Next year I'll definitly start the Paper Lanterns in their own tray, so they can progress at their own rate without disturbing the other children

turbo · Jan 30, 2014

The Paper Lanters (far right 12 cells) are growing pretty fast now. Most of my Fatalli have leaves, and I've got one nice Choloclate Fatalli (far left). The Aji Lemon Drop is definitly not doing so well. I've only got 1/6 that germinated so far. But I'm not giving up hope, they may just be slow bloomers (so to speak)

The Paper Lanters (the righ 12 cells) are by far doing the best from the lot. The Congo Trinidad just to the left are doing ok

The 6 left most cells are Chocolate Fatalli. Only two have germinated so far, and one is pretty big. The next 6 cells are normal orange Fatalli. Good germination rates, but they are smaller.

turbo · Feb 3, 2014

Had a close call last night! I have my seedlings on a heat mat because we keep the house fairly cool in the winter. The downside of the heat mat is that it causes the water to evaperate a lot faster than normal. Well after a weekend of skiing, getting sick, skiing some more, and the Superbowl (Go HAWKS!!!) I checked in on my little guys last night and realized that they were dangerously dry. The soil was totally dry and hard, the seedlings were bent over almost in half, and their leaves were all crumpled up. I was devistated that I had most likely just killed my entire 2014 crop in one weekend of neglect.

I performed an emergency hydration procedure, pulled the plug on the heat mat, and said to myself "it is what it is" and walked away for the night.

This morning I checked on them, fully expecting to see a bunch of dead plants hugging the dirt. But instead I see this. Woohoo!

Nick08* · Feb 3, 2014

Congrats on the save!

juanitos · Feb 3, 2014

crisis adverted. good thing you checked when you got back and not a day later!