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Mistakes made in 08

ABurningMouth said:
Take a knife and slit down the sides of the rootball. An old Indian (native american) taught me this when planting his store bought seedlings.
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Set them free and they will go multiply bountifully...
 
I'm realizing again, as I usually do about this time of year, that I have too many plants and too many varieties. I end up babying my big healthy plants and not having enough time for the weaker or smaller ones. Next year I want to only grow about 20 varieties and maybe grow less plants but make sure they are all nice and healthy and aphid-free. Also I won't be growing as much super-hotties since I can never get rid of them all but I'll have a few types just for sauces and for teaching purposes;)
 
I think I've done too many this year too and I've only got one or two of each variety. After I had an aphid infestation I realised this.
 
I left my superhots too long indoors then when I finally put them outside we got hit by a cold spell the first week and a hot spell the next. They are all just stunted sickly seedlings and havent improved in a month. I dont know what I can do to revive them but I cant bring myself to throw them away :(
Fortunately the rest of my plants are doing very well and I have fresh Chiles for every meal.
 
This has been a really interesting and information packed thread!
I read through the previous threads thinking to myself 'yeah, I made that mistake'
I firstly didnt research my varieties well enough, I just went for fancy names (mind I did start from knowing nothing), I was then impatient and transplanted seedlings when they were too young, I put too many plants into pots when they should have been planted directly into the ground, they nearly suffocate with the heat when the sun warms their roots in their pots, I wasted 40 or so euros buying 35 plastic buckets which I though would save money on buying plant pots, (the plants that went into the buckets died two weeks later), i didn't label my chillies properly, I overwatered, probably under fertilised and made so many other mistakes that I will remember when i submit this post! A big sin was that I kept taking off the leaves that had been eaten and didnt look perfect, that was before I understood a little more about the importance of leaves. I have some nice looking plants now but don't know half of their names which is a shame.
One thing I did do right though, was join this forum! Everyone on here has been really helpful,friendly and full of interesting and useful advice. Thanks!
 
I think I learned alot this year...Late transplanting,wrong potting soil..A satan cursed tiller..If anything its been interesting...I hope to get a few habs this year my 7 pot,scorpoin,naga,tobago seasoning are just starting to bare fruit..This fall I will start getting ready for growing time...Proper soils bigger pots A proper grow mat and I am going to re-do my table(well get rid of it)..Metal shelving with flourescents per shelf.Either way my first year starting from seed has been an interesting one..Thx for everyone here for all the advice,seeds and plants(POTAWIE lol)..Next years garden is going to kick ass
 
My Biggest mistake, using wood plant label markers for my seedlings. My damn labrador pup ate at least a dozen of them and got my plants mixed up, now my garden has a few various mixed up rows...
 
Pepp3rFreak said:
My Biggest mistake, using wood plant label markers for my seedlings. My damn labrador pup ate at least a dozen of them and got my plants mixed up, now my garden has a few various mixed up rows...
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I don't think it makes a difference if they are wooden markers or not, on Saturday Murphy the Lab ate a load of plastic ones. What the hell made you get a Labrador puppy? :lol:
 
Hey POTAWIE you going to do that new garden next year??That spot will kick ass when its done..Lab pups..They are soo cute when young but make you want to pull out your hair at times lol
 
Ya, I still plan on building the huge new garden but it might not be for peppers. I'm hoping to have a huge section for my raspberries which are needing a lot more space now, and a section for tomatoes and other tall veggies.
 
You get more pods out of one plant than most of us do out of five. Cutting down shouldn't be an issue, unless you have an addiction...uh oh....could you? lol.

Chris


POTAWIE said:
I'm realizing again, as I usually do about this time of year, that I have too many plants and too many varieties. I end up babying my big healthy plants and not having enough time for the weaker or smaller ones. Next year I want to only grow about 20 varieties and maybe grow less plants but make sure they are all nice and healthy and aphid-free. Also I won't be growing as much super-hotties since I can never get rid of them all but I'll have a few types just for sauces and for teaching purposes;)
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This year was a good learning experience for me.

I spaced my plants too close. Some packages said you need a 2 foot square to keep squash. My squash are all taking up a 6 foot square each.

My tomatoes need a better support system - they are at 6' now and I am trimming 6" of growth daily. Oddly enough, I have very few tomatoes set.

I need a better timing schedule on when to plant stuff. My parsley, cilantro, spinach, arugula and some lettuce went to seed AMAZINGLY fast.

My cabbage are all HYOOOGE and are being eaten alive by something, next year I think I have to cover them or something.

My root veggies all have two types of bugs... the little white grub looking thing and the weird baby millipede looking thing. Luckily they haven't destroyed the crops... still lots of root to eat after cutting away the bug ridden bits. Maybe I should cover them next year too.

I have two types of raspberries in one planter. One type fruits on new growth, one fruits on the old growth. That wasn't smart - I don't know what to cut back!

All my peppers were put out on the deck for some sun and brought in at night for 2 weeks before planting in the ground (hardening off)... yet they all still got sunburned leaves and stunted growth...

My strawberries are doing great and I may one day say F'it and plant the whole garden with strawberries ;)
 
2008 newbie..overwatering..killed many plants of earlier in the year when they where not hardened,being stupid and growing to many varieties ending up with 200 plants,moving some plants to bigger pots to early,putting plants outside to early and finally starting many to late march/april/may :shocked:
 
My biggest mistake....Miracle Grow.

I'm still gonna have to repot the peppers I got from a friend that used it because it's got those bloody tiny soil pests in it. All the ones in my Pro-Mix mixture are thriving. Oh, and ditto on the over-fert, over-watering.
 
rainbowberry said:
What the hell made you get a Labrador puppy? :lol:
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Because you can teach them to guard your peppers! ;)

pepperguard.jpg
 
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