Hi Everyone!
I am new to the gardening and pepper growing scene and wanted to document my first grow, mainly for your entertainment value but also so I can look back in a few years and say WHAT THE
was I doing...
I'm a long-time spicy food/pepper lover but never had an itch for gardening. The only thing I've ever been able to successfully grow are purple and green sprouts from potatoes left in the cabinet too long. But one day I happened to be walking through a store and found a packet of Big Thai Hybrid Hot Pepper seeds and before I knew it I found THP and started doing a buttload of research. I was a little upset when I found out that May 6th is a *little* late to start sowing seeds (especially in zone 6
), but nevertheless I continued and have learned a lot in the process.
This is where I started with my $1.99 seeds
And after a few weeks they became
I decided if I wanted to have an actual harvest this year I should probably go out and get a real plant. I also trashed the 20-30 seedlings and potential seedlings that I tried to grow from store bought jalapenos and habaneros
I am now a proud dad of a Carolina Reaper, Trinidad Scorpion, "Kung Pao" Hot Pepper (some type of hybrid Thai?), 5 Habaneros, and of course
So I guess there is still a glimmer of hope that I might have a real, home-grown pepper sometime this year, even though the reaper & scorpion appear to be far behind the others. The habaneros even have some flowers already.
Top things I've learned in the past few weeks
1. Start your seeds early!
2. Do not freak out at every little thing (notice the crinkled leaves on the reaper and scorpion; calcium deficiency? bugs? some rare bacterial disease contracted from the nursery I got them from???...... )
3. Do not invest money in cheap grow lights before you can figure out when and how to correctly water your plants
4. Start with the basics, try to keep a plant alive before starting 50-75 seeds of 3 or 4 different varieties way too late in the season or planning a super badass hydroponic setup and pricing things out on Amazon....
5. Do not leave your babies outside in the heat in a seed tray, they will die (ask me how I know)
6. I check on my plants everyday after work before I check on my kid
7. The people on this forum are awesome and full of knowledge! I've already made a few different smoked jalapeno and habanero powders from ideas I got on this site. Who knew you could add spice without having to use store bought hot sauce???
Here's to a successful season!
I am new to the gardening and pepper growing scene and wanted to document my first grow, mainly for your entertainment value but also so I can look back in a few years and say WHAT THE
was I doing...I'm a long-time spicy food/pepper lover but never had an itch for gardening. The only thing I've ever been able to successfully grow are purple and green sprouts from potatoes left in the cabinet too long. But one day I happened to be walking through a store and found a packet of Big Thai Hybrid Hot Pepper seeds and before I knew it I found THP and started doing a buttload of research. I was a little upset when I found out that May 6th is a *little* late to start sowing seeds (especially in zone 6
), but nevertheless I continued and have learned a lot in the process.This is where I started with my $1.99 seeds
My wet-paper-towel-in-a-Ziploc-bag-sitting-on-a-warm-stereo method
And after a few weeks they became
My super high tech grow room
Getting bigger!
I decided if I wanted to have an actual harvest this year I should probably go out and get a real plant. I also trashed the 20-30 seedlings and potential seedlings that I tried to grow from store bought jalapenos and habaneros
My babies!
I am now a proud dad of a Carolina Reaper, Trinidad Scorpion, "Kung Pao" Hot Pepper (some type of hybrid Thai?), 5 Habaneros, and of course
my strongest Big Thai Hybrid seedling that started it all! (hopefully it won't die in the pot with the other thai 
)
)
So I guess there is still a glimmer of hope that I might have a real, home-grown pepper sometime this year, even though the reaper & scorpion appear to be far behind the others. The habaneros even have some flowers already.
Top things I've learned in the past few weeks
1. Start your seeds early!
2. Do not freak out at every little thing (notice the crinkled leaves on the reaper and scorpion; calcium deficiency? bugs? some rare bacterial disease contracted from the nursery I got them from???......
)3. Do not invest money in cheap grow lights before you can figure out when and how to correctly water your plants
4. Start with the basics, try to keep a plant alive before starting 50-75 seeds of 3 or 4 different varieties way too late in the season or planning a super badass hydroponic setup and pricing things out on Amazon....
5. Do not leave your babies outside in the heat in a seed tray, they will die (ask me how I know)
6. I check on my plants everyday after work before I check on my kid
7. The people on this forum are awesome and full of knowledge! I've already made a few different smoked jalapeno and habanero powders from ideas I got on this site. Who knew you could add spice without having to use store bought hot sauce???
Here's to a successful season!
