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Growing questions

You can use a two cup method so long as you carefully monitor the water level to make sure it drains well enough. Don't let the soil sit in standing water, pepper roots don't like soggy soil.

They may move their leaves trying to get more light. This is especially common sitting next to a window instead of having a good/strong overhead light source. You asked for light suggestions but it is unclear to me whether you want to move these outside later. If so, you won't need nearly as much lighting (area). Any well stocked hardware or lighting store should have standard T5 fluorescent fixtures which are the most cost effective. You need at least a two tube fixture but 4 tubes (or 2 x 2 tube fixtures) would be better, though I don't know the total # of plants from the pictures). Then decide whether to splurge on special spectrum grow light tubes for it or just use standard "cool white" 6500K color temperature tubes. The more (most?) cost effective fixtures are T8 size, 4' long like this:
http://www.homedepot...e&storeId=10051 Of course in either case the light would have to be hung from chain or support wire, or mounted on a frame. A ready made grow light fixture may include these at a premium price.

Another alternative is standard spiral CFL bulbs in whatever fixtures you want, perhaps around 100W to 200W total from multiple bulbs so there is good coverage over top of all sprouts. Again a hardware store sells them but you'll have to wire them yourself. Suggestions for a more professional lighting solution are beyond me, especially in Belgium, but you will need even more light if you intend to keep these indoors any longer than another month of good growth.

I don't know how long your growing season is so I cannot answer how big a pot is big enough. Generally it would be better to have at least a 5 gallon pot per each plant, but given a shorter time between waterings and adding fertilizer, they can be grown in smaller pots. That plus the late start the plants are getting, might allow 2 gallon pots to be big enough. In the worst case you might have to transplant them into bigger pots later.
 
Sorry my late answer but i had been looking for an answer but didn't no see the second page !!!Anyway thanks a lot dave2000 for you complete answer! I was asking about lights because i am expecting my grow season to be too short this year so i am planning for next year and intend to start in january/february. I might also want to use the lights to make this grow season a little longer though i already bought a little balcony greenhouse for that! AS for the specific lights it might sound a little weird but it's as easy to find those lights in hardware store but i found a website that delivers to belgium! So thanks again for answering and i'll post some new pics soon!
 
Hello everyone for those interested here are a couple of pictures of my growing plants. I think they are doing good and i am quite happy! As always i come with a little question, at the end of this week i 'll be going on vacation for 15 days and my step mom will come to feed cat and peppers ;) my question is: at this stage is it ok to water from the top(and are there any precautions to take)? I ask so she does not have to remove all the bottom cups to put the water in, i don't it to pain in the a for her;)
Anyway thanks again, and here are the pictures of the peppers 17 days after sowing ;)

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Yes they can be watered from the top, but she should stick around long enough to see if excess water builds up in the bottom and if it does, dump it out. This is one of the reasons why I prefer putting cups in a tray, it takes a lot more water to cause a buildup with a larger surface area to drain to.

You might try to determine the water amount and interval you use so she knows the rate. The plants are still small enough that it won't affect the watering rate much yet.

One precaution is that if fungus starts growing on the soil surface it should be sprayed with something like 1:10 ratio OTC hydrogen peroxide to water solution to kill that, but this can largely be prevented by not overwatering and having a little air movement in the room... which is likely to happen even without a fan as next to the window the summer temps outside will cause a heated, rising air column inside next to the window... but if fungus does start growing, having a fan blow past them (to the side instead of directly aimed at them) would help.
 
Thanks again dave2000 for all these precious advices ;) as for the interval of watering i am doing it every 3 to 4 days and it seems to be good so far! Thanks to all your comments i finally realize that's it is often better to water less than over watering plants which was not how i used to do before ;)
Thanks again for answering, i'll come back with some updates ;)
 
HELP
can anyone please tell what this little stain could be on the leaf???If you could help me fast because i'll be leaving for two weeks thursday!!

Thanks a lot
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Some more infos

The leave looks kind of yellowish and feels soft when i touch it!
could it be damping off? But i only water every 4day and soil seems more dry than set/damp!
I looked carefully and didn't spot any bugs.
I also use fertilizer (chili focus) each Time i water every 4 days i put 5 ml for a litre of water
For info about Chili focus http://thehotpepper.com/topic/17848-can-anybody-list-the-ingredients-of-chili-focus/
So should i water less or more? Use some hydrogen peroxyde on the next watering?Use less or more fertilizer?

Thanks again in advance for your help
 
I feel you will have to wait to see what happens, a small area on one leaf could be an anomaly Nature isn't perfect.
 
Ok i ll wait and see what happens:) i was just asking since it was the plant That looked thé strongest i didn't want to loose over à mistake.thanks again dave2000 for watching over my plants ;)
 
Today i repoted 2 plants in bigger pots and putted one in the wild(in m'y garden) so i guess that s it for me within à few hours i ll be leaving for creta (Greece) for 15 days so i guess i am in for a surprise when i ll get back either good or bad ;) i Will give you some update as soon as i get back.
Thanks again to all the people who helped and advised me dave2000, mild i mean 2fishminimum,bushwhackxj datyldaddy and sanarda!!

But dont worry guys i ll come back with more questions, so be advised ;)

Thanks again
 
Hello everyone back from my two weeks vacation so i thought i'd post some updated pics of my hot peppers ;)
I think they did good! There's one that has little spots but other than that, they look good. I think it's about time i transplant the ones that are still in plastic cups! the ones in bigger pots grew a lot more than the ones in plastic cups ;)

Anyway, here are a few pics 15 days later than the lasts!
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If you have any suggestions for the transplant, i am always listening! I am planning on keeping 6 to 8 plants on the window sill in pots and the other outside in BIG pots!
I did plant one before i left all alone in the garden with no care for 15 days and it looks like it's doing ok ;)


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So that's it for now i'll be waiting for your tips and advices on transplanting, the little brown spots and any other suggestions.

grym
 
Hello everyone, after giving some update, i come back with more questions.
First, i'd like to know what are suckers? I heard talk about those but i am not quite sure what they are? are the little growing leaves at the intersection of the "old" branches on the pictures suckers?
Second, should i cut the first leaves beacause they tend sometimes to touch the soil? If i do, how should i do it?

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Thanks again for your help, i'll be wating to hear from you ;)
 
Suckers can be undesirable on viney plants like tomatoes because they don't stay erect but on peppers it is generally desirable to leave them unless you have a specific shape you're trying to prune the plant to take, and in this case you would have a tall unstable plant if you cut off the side shoots resulting from suckers, and lower yield since there would be few sites for buds to form later.

The bottom leaves can stay but if they start to look diseased or fertilizer burnt very much then go ahead and clip them off. If clipping one off nothing special is required, just cut between the leaf and stem and the plant will strangle off and drop whatever remainder it wants to. Currently I see nothing in the pics that should be cut off.
 
Thanks again dave2000 for your answer and advices! I probably heard about suckers when watching vidéos about tomato growing!
For replanting do you soak the plants in a water bath to remove as much as the old soil or just tap off the soil?
Thanks again dave2000! Do you have anything growing and how is it going?
 
No I do not soak the plants first, nor do I try to tap off any of the old soil unless there was a problem with it like disease, root rot. etc. I do try to sort of spread out the bottom of the dirt, to loosen up the roots a little but but only enough that it rips a minimal amount of root hairs, not disturbing the roots much more than that. It would also depend how long (if too long) the plant was in an undersized pot versus a more aggressive timetable for transplanting.

However I do water down the soil in the new pot first, then water in the plant after set in the pot, then hold off watering for as long as possible (will usually not water it again when the other plants are due to be watered again).
 
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