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Are Bonnie Plants Crap Or What?

ShowMeDaSauce said:
Now i remember the other brand its BloomIQ. 4 plants cost me $2 at a nursery. They were small but they did just fine (mostly). The orange hab did exceptionally well in a pot. I dont think this brand offers many peppers but they appear to be a common supplier around here for the nurseries and farmers markets.
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They're in MI with a nice variety of standard fare, BloomIQ Peppers
 
On a side note i just checked my Bonnie Cajun Belle, Tabasco and Mucho Nacho....They look GREAT in the Tiddy cat buckets. The Cajun Belle even has several blooms. Cant wait to try this one. A spicy bell sounds interesting. Some of the reviews claimed it was more than just a little spicy too. :D
 
Revisiting this topic, now that I know what to look for, I am 100% certain that the plant quality is on a per-location basis. You either have an employee who knows when to water, or you don't. One of the stores in my city has fantastic leaves, and the others are clearly overwatering, so I can't put this problem on Bonnie themselves. Good news is, that with the proper care at home they seem to be doing just fine now.
 
Bump this since ive got a few Bonnies
 
Mucho Nacho seems great. Good yield of medium heat jalapenos. I picked up a 2nd for the ground plot but it had some aphids. That is now under control. Its just starting to produce but the plant is much larger than the one in the pot.
 
Cajun Belle. Nice production for in a pot but im not quite sure what to think of the flavor. Not "bell like" to me. More like a green chile flavor and jalapeno type heat level. Pods are about 1/3 the size of a average bell and much lighter green.
 
Tabasco is now kicking in. Nice healthy plant and the peppers are pretty hot. I was hoping they would be hotter though. It wont be much longer and it will have LOTS of pods. I missed the green Tabasco vinegar.
 
Poblano is just starting to flower but the plant is getting really tall. Looks very healthy
 
I bought a few bonnie peppers in bio pots and had 2 different results. The 2 ghost peppers and a basil plant i just removed the pot and transplanted since i was in a hurry to get them in new pots. All 3 have since died. The other two peppers i bought i removed the pots and washed the rootball off with a mild hydrogen peroxide bath and then replanted. Both of those are doing amazingly... All were bought the same day, same location so the only conclusion i can make is that its all about how you handle them
 
I bought 8 Bonnie plants (2 Mammoth Jalapeños, a Poblano, and 5 different tomato plants) for the first time this year from Home Cheapo. I can't say that I have one complaint. The tomato plants skyrocketed up to like 3' in a matter of weeks, and they're covered in flowers with a few small fruits.

The peppers are doing great too. Both the jalapeños and Poblano are already putting out small pods.

I bought them May 10. Pepper plants were like 6" then, 18" now. Maters were less than 12", and almost 3' now. I'm a happy customer :)
 
I started off growing by purchasing exclusively bonnie plants.  I start everything from seed now, but if I have any plant that dies too late in the season to start over from seed, I'll take a trip over to Lowes or HD and pick up a bonnie.  I honestly can't remember a single one of these plants that died after transplanting.  I just get the fiber pot nice and soaked, carefully peel it off the root ball, and plant the thing.  I carefully select all my plants, so maybe that helps?  No flowering, no pest/diseased looking leaves, and no extensive pot penetration from the roots.
 
ShowMeDaSauce said:
Bump this since ive got a few Bonnies
 
Mucho Nacho seems great. Good yield of medium heat jalapenos. I picked up a 2nd for the ground plot but it had some aphids. That is now under control. Its just starting to produce but the plant is much larger than the one in the pot.
 
Cajun Belle. Nice production for in a pot but im not quite sure what to think of the flavor. Not "bell like" to me. More like a green chile flavor and jalapeno type heat level. Pods are about 1/3 the size of a average bell and much lighter green.
 
Tabasco is now kicking in. Nice healthy plant and the peppers are pretty hot. I was hoping they would be hotter though. It wont be much longer and it will have LOTS of pods. I missed the green Tabasco vinegar.
 
Poblano is just starting to flower but the plant is getting really tall. Looks very healthy
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+1 for the cajun belle.  AAS winner, excellent resistances, and an incredible flavor.
 
I find it really hard to believe that Bonnie's would ship seed with seed-borne diseases.
 
Im finding it hard to get a Cajun Belle to turn from the light green. They keep getting eaten. :D Its a wonderfully hardy plant and pretty tolerant of neglect or "over attention".
 
 
 
For the first time in my life we bought store seedling bells this Spring. Not box store, but then again, who knows where they originated. Out of paranoia (and a greenish skin on the half-pint grow medium) I rinsed the roots clean before putting them to the 8th acre. They took off without shock or any signs of problems...until the deer ate them to nubs. Yes, almost all are trying to come back.

My point/question, I guess, is it possibly beneficial to give the roots a shower before planting store-started? Sure didn't seem to hurt.....
 
This plant is tiny and has several peppers this big.
P1030018_zps1kxt2pus.jpg
 
Wife has purchased Bonnie Plants and had great luck with them.  Thing is, this was only after the down the way Greenhouse and nursery closed up shop.  We are all about buying local and shopping small.  Bonnie Plants is neither.  So in a pinch, they are respectable but wow I hate category killers. 
 
i know this thread is a year old but i ran across it and wanted to comment. i mostly buy seedlings because i don`t have much space to start from seeds indoors. i`m in my second season for growing peppers but have been doing tomatoes for years. i have home depot, lowe`s and walmart here and all 3 carry bonnie plants. i never had any problem with any of their plants and many of them really produce a lot. i had 5 pepper plants last year and i`m just finishing the last of my pickled jalapeno rings that were harvested at last Octobers first frost.  same thing with their tomato plants. no problem with pests or disease here in the northeast from bonnie so far. just thought i would put this out there. 
 
Bonnie usually sends quality plants to Home Depot and similar stores. However, as they sit amongst other plants in the garden center they pick up pests and disease. If you chose to buy bonnie- repot and remove as much soil as you can and do every other day pest treatment with neem oil or something similar. I had nice habenero production from one of their plants last year however I fought spider mites and aphids for the first month of its life under my care. Everything would have been avoided with some preventative treatment and quarantine from the get go.
 
Second year in a row ive grown the Mucho Nacho and i love them. If you like good sized jalas with mid to upper heat they are a win. Not a single dud yet out of 4 plants over 2 seasons. Some can be almost freakishly hot but thats rare.
 
Mucho Nacho are fantastic...  That was the first plant that I purchased when I put my first independent garden in, after buying my first house at 20 years of age.  Fond memories I have with that one.  I planted them in Wichita, Kansas.  18 plants, and I had so many peppers, I almost had to go into business for myself.  So many pickled slices and escabeche... LOL
 
I am 100% impressed with everything about them. Great yield, quite a few early pods and they taste like a damn jalapeno. Plus i got loads of ripe ones. They are killer ripe.
 
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