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Desert grower(Az heat)any advice here on THP

Smitty

Smitty

I've been growing for 2-3yrs now been more or less just planting whatever caught my eye try this try that kind of thing ya know had luck with this with that puting seeds to germ whenever planting super hots/not so hots trying this fertilizer and that one even went organic ok so you get my point there has really been no method to my madness and so THE BIG QUESTION IS.....

Whats your method? What seems to work for you?
1)when do you germ seeds?
2)what peppers are you growing or and seem to grow best for you?
3)what fertilizer works for you
4)Do you grow in pots or in the ground
5) whats your soil /mix consist of/ ratio
Thanks in advance for your input
I feel like Im to a point just (winging it) rather that being truly productive my plan is to zero in the production of my pepper growing :
Oh also Im in pots now tryed the ground thing but with the heat/sun exposure I've found pots to be the way I've chosen? 1gal,3gal,5gal all I've tryed even just got a huge idk say 10gal ish chlorine tablet bucket i just washed and prepared to try this size as well
 
Growing medium and mild type for a couple of seasons now.This season stepped up to sadabahar very hot.Next season superhots.Ive had great success using plug trays instead of pots,and growing medium i use rotted redwood and canadien peat moss,then i use liquid seaweed on seedlings,when i pot-up to 4" i begin with liquid fish fertilizer. This is what i use in so. Ca. With success and it gets hot here too!
 
I like to start my seeds using ocean forest planting medium in 2-inch pots. Keep them bunched up tight in a cheap foil pan with small holes in the bottom. Water from the top until sprout and then just fill the pan when needed. The small holes will drain within a couple minutes so no standing water. When I see roots at the bottom of the pots I upsize to 1 gallon pots using a local nursery mix of 1/3 cinder soil, 1/3 compost, 1/3 cinder. Very fast draining stuff so I add store-bought soil amendment which is basically clean bug-free compost and mix about 50/50 for moisture retention. Mix in a little organic fertilizer granules. All the time keeping in indirect sunlight (thermometer on the ground during midday sun can get above 100deg. F). Once I see roots peeking out from the drain holes they go to 3 gal. posts and out into the sun. Gonna upsize to 5 or 7 gallon pots on my next round of starts.
Orange habs and red bhut jolokias work fine this way.
Just 1 of hundreds of techniques that work.
I know Phoenix can get brutally hot sometimes so try to keep your pots out of direct sunlight, especially if they're black. Wrap with burlap bags so at least the black plastic isn't absorbing extra heat.
 
Hawaiianero said:
I like to start my seeds using ocean forest planting medium in 2-inch pots. Keep them bunched up tight in a cheap foil pan with small holes in the bottom. Water from the top until sprout and then just fill the pan when needed. The small holes will drain within a couple minutes so no standing water. When I see roots at the bottom of the pots I upsize to 1 gallon pots using a local nursery mix of 1/3 cinder soil, 1/3 compost, 1/3 cinder. Very fast draining stuff so I add store-bought soil amendment which is basically clean bug-free compost and mix about 50/50 for moisture retention. Mix in a little organic fertilizer granules. All the time keeping in indirect sunlight (thermometer on the ground during midday sun can get above 100deg. F). Once I see roots peeking out from the drain holes they go to 3 gal. posts and out into the sun. Gonna upsize to 5 or 7 gallon pots on my next round of starts.
Orange habs and red bhut jolokias work fine this way.
Just 1 of hundreds of techniques that work.
I know Phoenix can get brutally hot sometimes so try to keep your pots out of direct sunlight, especially if they're black. Wrap with burlap bags so at least the black plastic isn't absorbing extra heat.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your reply ill have to try the burlap
 
I go with whatever is the cheapest way to grow things that work as good as the expencive.
!. good fresh seeds from the year before nothing that is marked from three or four years back although I have grow great peppers from back in 2006 with few problems.
2. I'm moving to large containers 5 to 30 gallon containers the bigger the better, but remember that you will have to move it around at some point.
3. some people buy the best soil they can for containers and thats great if you have the money, I don't if you have a truck and have time to check around at some of the Horse stables they will often have excess composted Horse manure, I get free Cow manure as I have a friend who has a dairy farm,or you can buy really good compost. I mix mine with sand and a few bags of peat moss and a mineral mix that doesn't have salt in it.
4. Being that you live in a really hot place I would put the containers where they will get plenty of shade if you can't do that then you will need to buy some shade cloth so that your plants don't fry.
I like a good organic fertilizer like Bone and Blood meal, but I like using liquid Fish and Kelp while there growing and I add some epsom salts to my water for the plants you can also get liquid Lime and Sulfur beside the sulfur it add a lot of calcium to the soil  just use it really diluted. also to help the plants get enough water so that the containers won't dry out too fast I take a few used or unused baby diapers and put them in the bottom or near the bottom of each container, they hold a lot of water and can release it as the soil begins to dry out don't put more than 1 in the smaller pots and up to 4 in 20 to 30 gallon containers. if you don't have any little kids you can ask a neighbor that has a baby just don't get diapers that have poop in them only urin, like I said free is best and urin is good for the soil and plants.
5. Remembeer that some peppers like lots of room and can grow very tall and very wide you can check ot big plants at some of the Tallest grow out contest we have here on THP.
For Bug control I get a container of Diatomaceous Earth and mix it with seven dust,  that will kill most insects and is less toxic and easy to wash off. you can put it on any veggie plant I would get a hand crank blower to put the dust on your plants. if you want to be totally Oganic leave the Seven Dust out of it and just use D.E. you will just have to apply it more often.
 
I've lived in Houston, the L.A. area and now N.E. Ohio, but have worked in Phoenix. Houston and L.A. have similarities in that they are both rather humid all year. OH and AZ are similar in that it's very dry a good part of the year. It's somewhat humid here in the summer, but all our humidity is tied up in the snow on the ground in the winter. AZ, on the other hand, has no humidity whatsoever in the summer, due to extremely rapid evaporation, and may only have some humidity in the dead of winter. Point being that you can't generalize from one of these areas to another very well. The dryness of your air is, in some ways, almost a more important factor than the heat, but the combo is killer. 
 
If I was growing in Phoenix, I would definitely grow in pots and would set up a drip irrigation system so they have a constant supply of moisture. Pots because you can move them as needed, which is an important factor here, too. Agree - shade cloth is an absolute must in your area. Not only would I grow in pots and use drip irrigation, I'd also use a good mulch to help hold the moisture in. 
 
Something to consider is that the plants won't set pods when it gets over 95F consistently. You just have to accept this, and know that you'll get early pods and late pods (once it cools down) but not much in the dead heat. At least in pots you can bring some indoors when it gets ultra-hot and this will help ensure ou get some production throughout the season.   
 
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