new grower

R

rhm3769

New grower here, I guess I'm doing something right, I'll try to post pictures eventually....

Currently trying to grow White Habaneros (supposedly), Butch T, Scotch Bonnet, Chocolate Habanero, Bolivian Rainbow, FireCracker, Santa Fe Grande and Shima Togarashi on a balcony. Okinawa is a sub-tropical climate, right now, the daily temps are between 80s and 90s with alot of humidity. Everything was started at different times, the white habaneros are doing good, the biggest one has 4 sets of true leaves.

My biggest question, with the heat, the bigger leaves start to curl. Moving them to the shade or even just giving them alittle bit of water and within 30 minutes they are back to normal. I can't limit the amount of sun they get much. Are there any other options?

And the seed starting mix I bought, after the seeds sprout, it starts turning green. But from what I can tell, it isn't affecting the plants.

And due to limited space, I am looking for the smallest possible sized pot or container for each of these that won't keep them from having a decent harvest. I'm the only one in the family who does peppers and even then it isn't all that much.

And on the supposedly white habaneros, I've read on here that the supplier has a record of sending out regular habaneros instead of what they say the seeds are. A buddy of mine decided he was going to buy some seeds and try to grow some of the super hots and a few others. He didn't do any research or reading up on growing peppers. He just grabbed a few pots, dug up some dirt that looked mostly of clay and put the seeds in. Nothing grew, the dirt couldn't drain well, even with the holes on the bottom of the pots, some would have standing water 12 hours after a decent rain. Since I did alot of reading on the subject and kept telling him what he should do, he gave me the White habanero seeds to try. I've been successful in making about 70% germinate, out of the 20 or so that sprouted, only 4 were kept. About 6 weeks after sowing, the four range from having 3 to 5 sets of true leaves. Some are starting to get growths between the stem and the lower sets of leaves. They're in approx. 1 gallon pots, I have some slightly larger, at most 2 gallon, I'll be transplanting them in pretty soon. About how long before they start flowering? I'm on the 8th floor, so I haven't had to worry too much about bugs other than spiders, and even then, they're not messing with the plants, so I'll probably be doing everything manually.

Also, it's been almost 2 weeks and I haven't seen anything from the Bolivian Rainbows or the Fire Crackers, the seeds have swelled, but nothing else. The Scotch Bonnets are taking off, as well as the one Santa Fe Grande that has sprouted. Just sowed the Shima Togarashi so I won't see anything from them for a bit.

Any other advice for beginners? Keep in mind, any specific name brands of products will probably be difficult for me to find, I can't read the bag of soil I bought, but it has tomatoes and bell peppers on the front of it so pictures work. I'll have better luck finding similar products out in town since there are still large areas around in Okinawa that are local farmers and fishing villages, but I can't read the Kanji.

I was wrong, after checking on them again and transplanting the Santa fe and the scotch bonnets, one fire cracker is sprouting now....
 
Prehensile said:
:welcome: sounds like you have things under control set it on auto pilot sit back and wait.
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sit back and wait is the hard part.... I'm out messing with them about once an hour or so when I'm not at work.... Its amazing how when they're just sprouting the changes you see in that time frame....
 
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Close-ups of the white habaneros....
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The chocolate habaneros aren't looking too good right now, they started sprouting the same time the scotch bonnets and the Santa Fe did and the Butch Ts sprouted a few days ago and are doing better than the chocolates.... I use the bottom half of water bottles for starting seeds with no drainage. Put in the seed starting mix, soak it and remove the excess water, put the seeds on and sprinkle more of the starting mix on top and then let them sit outside. This balcony gets most of it's sun from about noon to when the sun goes down with various bits of shade here and there. My other balcony gets too much wind, but would get better sun in the morning and not so much when it is really hot, but it is the fire escape balcony and Housing says I can't have anything on that balcony and it's more of a hassle to check on them on that balcony. With the humidity out here, I really only have to add water once or twice and very little amounts from when I sow to when I transplant.

I have two white habanero plants at work, so they aren't messed with as much as these in the pictures are, but they are sitting on the ground, one has alot of little holes on the leaves, but it still growing strong, the two aren't as big as mine two at home as they're in smaller pots and I haven't been remembering to bring in the Miracle-Gro.

I don't feed or water on a set schedule, if they look like they need water, I water them, I'll feed irregularly, with a diluted solution of miracle-gro giving varying amounts every few days or so.
 
scrufy said:
I think if you can live in Okinawa and not read kanji, you can do anything. This will be cake for you.
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Thanks, living here isn't exactly by choice. Some places have things in English and some of the locals are really good with English, as well, so day to day things are possible, at least. Been here over 2 years now and I really haven't put the time into learning the language as I planned when I was first told I'd be here for 3 years at least.
 
A few random comments...

The starter pots look like they have horizontal ridges. It's best to use smooth walled starter pots, that makes it a lot easier to slide the soil + root ball out later for transplanting into something larger. It would be good to put holes in them so there is drainage. Regardless the starter pot can be cut away if necessary when time to transplant.

rhm3769 said:
My biggest question, with the heat, the bigger leaves start to curl. Moving them to the shade or even just giving them alittle bit of water and within 30 minutes they are back to normal. I can't limit the amount of sun they get much. Are there any other options?
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Many of them will have leaves that are a bit ripply, especially if growing at a fast rate. However the improvement from watering suggests they may need more water. I would consider putting them in a trough so they are watered from the bottom, considering this and your next statement.

And the seed starting mix I bought, after the seeds sprout, it starts turning green. But from what I can tell, it isn't affecting the plants.
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That's a sign the soil surface isn't drying out enough between waterings. Sometimes there will be no ill effects but other times you may eventually have stem rot at the soil surface. I'd start bottom watering and mist the soil surface with a 1:10 ratio of OTC hydrogen peroxide to water solution.

And due to limited space, I am looking for the smallest possible sized pot or container for each of these that won't keep them from having a decent harvest. I'm the only one in the family who does peppers and even then it isn't all that much.
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This depends on your definition of decent harvest. Pepper plants in 5 gallon buckets could be stunted. In deal conditions they may produce hundreds fewer peppers as a result. Given optimal conditions how many peppers is the minimum you want? I would plan on the final transplant pot to be a minimum of 2 gallons but moving to 4 gallons may result in a plant 50% larger with at least 50% higher pod yield. In less optimal growing conditions the improvement from a larger pot will be lower, my statements are only generalizations.

And on the supposedly white habaneros, I've read on here that the supplier has a record of sending out regular habaneros instead of what they say the seeds are. A buddy of mine decided he was going to buy some seeds and try to grow some of the super hots and a few others. He didn't do any research or reading up on growing peppers. He just grabbed a few pots, dug up some dirt that looked mostly of clay and put the seeds in. Nothing grew, the dirt couldn't drain well, even with the holes on the bottom of the pots, some would have standing water 12 hours after a decent rain. Since I did alot of reading on the subject and kept telling him what he should do, he gave me the White habanero seeds to try. I've been successful in making about 70% germinate, out of the 20 or so that sprouted, only 4 were kept. About 6 weeks after sowing, the four range from having 3 to 5 sets of true leaves. Some are starting to get growths between the stem and the lower sets of leaves. They're in approx. 1 gallon pots, I have some slightly larger, at most 2 gallon, I'll be transplanting them in pretty soon. About how long before they start flowering? I'm on the 8th floor, so I haven't had to worry too much about bugs other than spiders, and even then, they're not messing with the plants, so I'll probably be doing everything manually.
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Personally, I'd rather have regular habs than white ones. The white ones are tiny and much more effort to process, cutting open a tiny pod to extract seeds and while they are hot and have a bit of a citrusy taste, they lack a bit of the fruity sweetness than a regular red hab has. One good aspect for indoor growing is they tend to be short bushy plants, I find I always want them elevated off the ground so I am not crawling on my knees to find and pick the pods. They could flower soon, look for the plant forking into two stems as this is a site for buds to form.

Also, it's been almost 2 weeks and I haven't seen anything from the Bolivian Rainbows or the Fire Crackers, the seeds have swelled, but nothing else. The Scotch Bonnets are taking off, as well as the one Santa Fe Grande that has sprouted. Just sowed the Shima Togarashi so I won't see anything from them for a bit.
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Some seeds take longer than others. I wait at least 4 weeks before assuming seeds aren't reliably going to germinate. Just make sure you don't overwater them so fungus doesn't take hold and eat them up.

Any other advice for beginners? Keep in mind, any specific name brands of products will probably be difficult for me to find, I can't read the bag of soil I bought, but it has tomatoes and bell peppers on the front of it so pictures work. I'll have better luck finding similar products out in town since there are still large areas around in Okinawa that are local farmers and fishing villages, but I can't read the Kanji.
Click to expand...

For now I'd avoid special products, a very small amount of regular fertilizer may help but don't overdo it. Diluted miracle grow is sufficient. Your biggest challenge will probably be keeping fungus under control given the humid conditions. I would consider a very low flow fan nearby to keep the soil surface a bit dryer.
 
Thanks.... The starter containers are bottoms of water bottles, I can't avoid the ridges, but I haven't had a problem getting the plants out and cutting it away is always an option. I notice gaps along the sides of the containers an the starter mix, I pour the water down the side and it's a very little amount. I'll look into getting a small fan, it'll be interesting explaining why I have a fan outside, though.

It's only the starter mix that gets the green spots, my first attempt I just used potting soil and no green spots, but everything died soon after sprouting.

With the climate, I'm expecting a near year round harvest, maybe a month of overwintering. As far as harvest size, I'm just looking for enough to make a few different sauces, I don't need anything over 10-15 peppers per batch that'll last me a month or two....

My space limitations aren't as much dictated by the size of the balcony, it's more of avoiding the hassle of moving all of my plants inside every 2 weeks peso pretty soon when the typhoons start coming through. And there isnt exactly enough space inside for all of these plants around December or so, especially with a 2 year old running around, although he did have his first taste of a jalapeño today with very little reaction....

This time around is more of a serious test run, I'll be due to move back to the States after the winter and I doubt I'll be able to get the plants back.

I'm not too worried about saving/removing seeds from every pepper, the shima togarashis are really small and not exactly worth the effort....

I know some take longer, but I guess I had higher expectations since all of the slow germinating seeds sprouted pretty fast. Thanks, I'll keep this in mind when I start more and next season....
 
^ For some reason I thought you had them inside and were only repotting outside for the time being. A fan would still help reduce the soil surface dampness but might be more than I'd do myself.
 
The fan shouldn't be needed once I transplant, there is a slight breeze, but it doesn't seem to affect the starting containers. Since they're small, I try to transplant when I start seeing roots at the bottom or the get true leaves, or when the seedling starts reaching the top of the container....

It's about time for me to transplant the butch t's which means I need to move the Habs to a bigger pot....
 
So I transplanted the bigger white hab from the above pictures into a larger pot, from a 7" to an 11", or it could have been a 10", I don't remember what I bought.... Thought it was pretty amazing how much the roots spread out. Growth has been slow the last two days on everything.... Temps have been pretty steady with the clouds and wind lately.... Not expected to be any kind of threat, but the bugs will be out in force the next few days regardless and we'll at least see some rain.... I don't need rain, I need sun.... Good thing, it won't be close enough to where I have to worry about bringing them inside....

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Damrey is possibly more of threat in the next few days....

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So on my checks today, I noticed a small leave has grown between the first true set of leaves and the stem.... Is this the beginnings of branching?

And maybe it was the stronger breeze today keeping the heat down some but I didn't notice any wilting in the sun since transplanting....
 
Leave the plants alone and find a book to read......nothing will kill a chile plant faster than too much grower attention.
 
Doubtful, when it branches (forks off the stem) you will usually see the branching off slightly before the leaves that grow from them.
 
If I didn't have to always go out on the balcony like 20 times a day I wouldn't be checking on them do much, lol....

I'm mainly checking right now as the weather is constantly changing right about now and the plants I have at work aren't doing so well because they get looked at maybe once a day. A bunch of small green flies around this morning.... And I have a few that are still small I'm checking on.... Once everything is clearly visible from inside an everything gets planted in their final pots, they won't get as much attention....
 
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