seeds Discarded Seedling Guilt & More on Sunlight

coachspencerxc

coachspencerxc

The original post on an interesting thread about the ethics of neglected babies got deleted. Thought I'd add another with a bit of a twist...
 
A) I planted a stupid amount of seeds & varieties. Everything just sounded so good. How you I choose?? I ended up with 250 plants & 160 varieties (1 of over half of those with 6 MoA Yellow, 6 Yellow Fataliis, 5 Reapers, a few at 4...). 250 is still way too many but I'm committed to that number. I just did the last round of my throw aways. Sad. I had 3 Rainforest seedlings sitting to the side with no direct light. Sat there for 3 days before I had to get them out of my sight because it made me sad to look at them. Anyone else feel this genuine remorse for tossing seedlings due to space constraints? 
 
B) On the other thread, the guy asked about growing without light. I know better, but... in my seedling culling, I ended up with 2 Rocotos that I wasn't going to keep (I kept 2 reds- 3 now & 1 orange). Potted one of those up and am going to bring it into my classroom to put in the window sill. I know for most peppers this wouldn't work. Wondering if maybe it would for a Rocoto though. Chilly in our school this time of year. 66 degrees maybe. Moderately sunny window sill. Seedling has maybe 3 sets of real leaves. Worth a try or don't bother?
 
C) I've got my growing rack in a normally sunny location. I've blocked it off with silver insulation. Some of my seedlings have 5-6... maybe 7 sets of real leaves & others just popped this week (planted at different times). When is it OK to expose these guys to more constant sunlight through the windows?
 
Thanks.
 
A. Im one who dosent like to throw seedlings away. Its not because I feel sorry for them, its because im always thinking "what if this one turns out to be something special". Some of my slow growing plants have turned out to produce the meanest pods..so i find it hard to throw away healthy plants that are just slow. If i had given up on them because they were slower then I woudlent have some of my best looking pods.
 
b. you can grow on your windowsill. they probably wont produce and may get a little leggy depending on how much light they get, but they will survive. Space will be your constraint. I start & grow seedlings on my windowsill in winter with no artificial lighting. Rocoto's grow BIG. If this is an exercise of keeping the plant alive over winter, or getting a good head start on summer, it will be fine. Keep it on the windowsill and prune it as needed until it can go outside when it gets warmer. A rocoto generally is no windowsill plant though! :) Will be fine to put the other little seedlings there.
 
c. brand new seedlings can go straight into the sun. you will need to slowly introduce the others to real light
 
A. yes it makes me sad... i have some really great ones i started that i just dont have room for (like 100+ extras)
 
b. go for it, i don't know how much if any fruit it will give you, maybe just a couple, but fun to look at and fun to talk about if anyone asks.
 
c. you can expose to sun whenever you want. idk if you have uv coating on your windows but that protects them even further..
 
This being my first year starting from seed and second year growing overall, I had many seedlings that turned out not so great. I had to throw away six or so that dried up bad due to undeveloped roots. Not exactly sure why they didn't grow a root system but it must have something to do with the Dixie cups they were in as the seedlings in black plastic cells are doing considerably better.

There were others in Dixie cups that weren't doing well but hadn't died yet so my mom suggested potting them up into solo cups anyway. I figured I could start new ones from seed that would grow faster and better than these in the same time, but I felt bad throwing away the plants that had some hope of growing so I transplanted them. I'll see if they are able to rebound, they do have plenty of time to before I would think of planting them outside (at least 4 months).
 
I also overplant. Like, ridiculously overplant. For my time and for my space. I always think more will die than do, or that some will fail to germinate and they all pop, and I'm always curious about new varieties. I feel guilty letting them wither away, but would it be better for them to die in the seed, never even getting a chance? Fortunately, I live in an area where I can put them outside once I run out of lights and they've got that fighting chance!
 
If you have extras, why not find a place that'll let you give them away? I'm sure you could find a local shop that'd be happy to let you put a box in the foyer with "Free hot peppers" on it.
 
Suezotiger said:
 I'll see if they are able to rebound, they do have plenty of time to before I would think of planting them outside (at least 4 months).
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I think I started late -- I've only got a month 'til plant out! How big are they going to be in four months? 
 
Well...I'm hoping they don't get too big but I don't know to be honest. My largest plants right now are hopefully reapers (friend got me seeds from eBay but did research on the seller so I'm hopeful) and they have 3 sets of nice leaves and are growing more from older nodes. They're about as big as the transplants I bought in April last year, so I'm expecting a jungle by then this year! I will prune if they get out of hand though. For reference I started these between Christmas and New Year's
 
I think I'm technically supposed to have started around Christmas but I was lazy and didn't even order seeds 'til then. At least that's when our local farmer's market people start theirs, for plant out around March 1st. I'm envious, I've never gotten a "stocky" transplant from seed.  Good luck with your jungle. :)
 
nzchili said:
 
b. you can grow on your windowsill. they probably wont produce and may get a little leggy depending on how much light they get, but they will survive. Space will be your constraint. I start & grow seedlings on my windowsill in winter with no artificial lighting. Rocoto's grow BIG. If this is an exercise of keeping the plant alive over winter, or getting a good head start on summer, it will be fine. Keep it on the windowsill and prune it as needed until it can go outside when it gets warmer. A rocoto generally is no windowsill plant though! :) Will be fine to put the other little seedlings there.
 
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For whatever reason, I hadn't even thought of the size of the plant once mature. Hard to imagine the little guys all grown up. I've got plenty of room in the classroom & the window is something like 8'x6'. Once it gets too big for the windowsill, I can put on the floor. Thanks!
juanitos said:
 
b. go for it, i don't know how much if any fruit it will give you, maybe just a couple, but fun to look at and fun to talk about if anyone asks.
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Yeah, I think it'll be a good conversation piece in the classroom. Thanks.
 
reader said:
I think I'm technically supposed to have started around Christmas but I was lazy and didn't even order seeds 'til then. At least that's when our local farmer's market people start theirs, for plant out around March 1st. I'm envious, I've never gotten a "stocky" transplant from seed.  Good luck with your jungle. :)
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Thanks :) I wanted to do everything I could without going crazy so I picked up some T8 shoplights and 6500K daylight bulbs. The plants seem to love them.
 
I like to plant way more than I am going to keep.  I watch them grow for a while until I decide which ones I want to keep and then instead of throwing the extras away I give them away to friends, family, and their friends and family.  This way I dont have to feel bad, as long as I know they are going to good homes.... and at the same time I am getting the most vigorous phenotypes.
 
Like most everyone else I too plant more than I can grow outside. Mostly in case I they don't sprout or die while seedlings.
Last year was the first time in 7 years that I was glad I planted so many. I had very poor germination rates for some reason, even though my germination routine is consistent from year to year.
I'll give away plants if I can, but with the super hots that is difficult.
 
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