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Noob Grows Peppers?

Ares Schizas

Ares Schizas

Yes it is true, I am a noob.

I leave in Athens, Greece. We here usually get a snowless winter and a hot summer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens#Climate


I am thinking to start with some of the following:

Carolina Reaper
Jamaican Hot Chocolate
Jalapeno
Habanero Caribbean Red
Habanero Chocolate
Habanero Red
Cayenne Sweat
Scotch Bonnet Orange
Nippon Taka
Rocoto Red
Tabasco

I will certainly get the Carolina Reaper and Jalapeno and some of the rest. I have no idea about different colours. I would love to have peppers in different hotness levels.

The idea is to start grow them indoors during the winter and get them out as the spring kicks in so when the summer comes they will be loaded. Due to the climate I would consider plants to be expendable, so harvesting seeds to sprout future plants will be essential.

I know that Greek farmers do indeed consider pepper plants to be expendable but I do not have any clues if my plan is actually viable, so any comments or advises will greatly be appreciated.
 
Hi Ares
 
Nice list there and a range of heat levels. I will be harvesting seeds this year also, but that's due to a limited selection in NZ and very high prices.
 
For your list can I suggest the peruvian white habanero. A great little plant that produces fiery white bullet pods. Very attractive too.
 
:welcome:  to the forum !
 
I like your list.  My favorite is the Jalapeno !  I grow other peppers for the fun of it. I think there are a lot of people that grow the Reaper just because it is a Reaper !!  Too damn hot for me, but I think it looks really cool  :party:
 
Are you going to grow in a garden ? Maybe in pots ?  Either way you do it there are ways to keeps plants alive over the winter.  Sometimes that works out fine and you don't have to germinate new seeds.
 
Good luck to you and Happy Growing !
 
Jeff
 
 
 
Thank you!
I will check out Peruvian White Habanero and Baccatums.

I will be growing in pots.

I do not have the space to keep plants indoors during the winter, but I can DIY anything for the outside that does not require a license.

By the way, does anyone know any good reputable sources for pepper seeds in Europe?
 
Ares Schizas said:
Thank you!
I will check out Peruvian White Habanero and Baccatums.

I will be growing in pots.

I do not have the space to keep plants indoors during the winter, but I can DIY anything for the outside that does not require a license.

By the way, does anyone know any good reputable sources for pepper seeds in Europe?
Click to expand...
pepperseeds.eu
 
Edmick said:
pepperseeds.eu
Click to expand...
 
I have checked this web-store but the €3 for un-tracked mail and €13 for tracked made me a little suspicious about them. Have you ordered un-tracked packages from them?
 
My neighbor down the street has used them. I don't know about the tracking costs. He didn't have any problems with them though.
 
Thank you!
It seems that there are many good options out there. I should, and I am going to, to check out as many as possible.

Just for fun I ordered seeds from China eBay. If they arrive and they are not linseeds I will germinate and plant them and we will see how they turn out :P

Next stop will be Carolina Reaper, Habanero, Jalapeno, a small pepper like Thai Little Red Chilli, and maybe a Rocoto.

Do you guys give your plants fertilizer? Do you use a fertilizer that does not smell like manure? Even in summer when I can keep the plants outside the scent of animal droppings is just too strong for comfort...
 
A really good fertiliser is earthworm castings. They are a bit pricey but have no smell and are loaded with goodness and microbes.

Good luck with the China seeds. I bought some (500) off Ali for a couple of dollars just to play around with and they definitely not as advertised. Most will be annums or green peppers.
 
Ares Schizas said:
Thank you!
It seems that there are many good options out there. I should, and I am going to, to check out as many as possible.

Just for fun I ordered seeds from China eBay. If they arrive and they are not linseeds I will germinate and plant them and we will see how they turn out :P

Next stop will be Carolina Reaper, Habanero, Jalapeno, a small pepper like Thai Little Red Chilli, and maybe a Rocoto.

Do you guys give your plants fertilizer? Do you use a fertilizer that does not smell like manure? Even in summer when I can keep the plants outside the scent of animal droppings is just too strong for comfort...
Click to expand...
 
I fertilize, depending on the soil.
If one have good soil that comes pre-fertilized and you re-pot regular, 4-5 times before end pot then you do not need any extra fertilizer until at least 2 weeks in the last pot.
 
Ares Schizas said:
 
The idea is to start grow them indoors during the winter and get them out as the spring kicks in so when the summer comes they will be loaded. Due to the climate I would consider plants to be expendable, so harvesting seeds to sprout future plants will be essential.

I know that Greek farmers do indeed consider pepper plants to be expendable but I do not have any clues if my plan is actually viable, so any comments or advises will greatly be appreciated.
Click to expand...
 
I live in Sweden, really crappy for growing peppers to begin with, but with some care and love it works fine.
I do as you, pre-grow the plants indoor during the first months of the year, and then when the summer comes (if it comes to sweden) I set out my pots.
 
All peppers are plants you can have several years, it is just a mather of space and light.
I cut my plants down to smaller sizes and re-pots them into 3-4l pots so they do not take so much space duing the winter.
Don't need so much light and heat during the hibernation either.
 
I only have 6 plants currently, in a space of a eu pallet.
 
KAOS said:
A really good fertiliser is earthworm castings. They are a bit pricey but have no smell and are loaded with goodness and microbes.

Good luck with the China seeds. I bought some (500) off Ali for a couple of dollars just to play around with and they definitely not as advertised. Most will be annums or green peppers.
Click to expand...
Most interesting... I know someone who grows these critters. Perhaps I can start a farm [TRIGGER WARNING] and cover the costs by selling some worms for bird food, they are a delicacy for birds.

However, I wonder if these worms are "pepper-vorous". Chances are that if I DIY it some worm eggs will end up in the plants. From what I seen local stores do not have Worm Castings Fertilizer.
 
ipepper said:
 
I fertilize, depending on the soil.
If one have good soil that comes pre-fertilized and you re-pot regular, 4-5 times before end pot then you do not need any extra fertilizer until at least 2 weeks in the last pot.
Click to expand...
I have no idea what soils from the store have in them. I have relatives who are farmers and they don't trust any of the locally available soils. They just buy the cheapest and cleanest soil and then add all the extras later.
 
ipepper said:
 
I live in Sweden, really crappy for growing peppers to begin with, but with some care and love it works fine.
I do as you, pre-grow the plants indoor during the first months of the year, and then when the summer comes (if it comes to sweden) I set out my pots.
 
All peppers are plants you can have several years, it is just a mather of space and light.
I cut my plants down to smaller sizes and re-pots them into 3-4l pots so they do not take so much space duing the winter.
Don't need so much light and heat during the hibernation either.
 
I only have 6 plants currently, in a space of a eu pallet.
Click to expand...
Congratulations! Human ingenuity and industriousness always prevails. ;)

I searched into it and I found some good videos on YouTube. They say that pruning the plant for winter is actually very beneficial for the plant so I will try it.

Do you have that pallet mounted on the wall or it lays on  the floor?
I was thinking to make some kind of "hanging gardens" in the kitchen, by making some hangers and hanging pots across the room from the top of the cabinets (I have cabinets in the left and right long walls of the kitchen).
 
https://ibb.co/j66TT6
 
It's on the floor, with small wheels to easy move it out on the balcony and back.
Attached link to picture of it.
think I need to prune my plants soon again, they have started to bloom again.
 
Hanging could get really beatiful.
 
 
 
ipepper said:
 
I live in Sweden, really crappy for growing peppers to begin with, but with some care and love it works fine.
I do as you, pre-grow the plants indoor during the first months of the year, and then when the summer comes (if it comes to sweden) I set out my pots.
 
All peppers are plants you can have several years, it is just a mather of space and light.
I cut my plants down to smaller sizes and re-pots them into 3-4l pots so they do not take so much space duing the winter.
Don't need so much light and heat during the hibernation either.
 
I only have 6 plants currently, in a space of a eu pallet.
Click to expand...
 

Fun (and hello)! I'm also a Swede struggling with Sweden's lack of proper hospitality towards peppers. This country does not like them very much at all. Lucky them that they have humans who care way too much about them to let them succumb.
 
I would like to echo this overwintering ability, especially for people who live in climates where the summers can be ridiculously short (such as Nordic countries) for getting a seed up to a productive plant. It can decrease the frustration of bringing the plant up-to-speed quite a bit, since you start the grow season not from seed but a thick stem and root system. I would like to be clear though: It's not hibernation since Capsicum can't hibernate. All we're doing is tricking the plant to survive on a small dose of light with minimal growth so it does not kill itself by expecting a lot of light for an abundance of leaves, and barely getting any.
 
Re-potting can also be useful for other purposes than taking up space. When you overwinter very little transpiration is actually occurring. Water is barely moving through the stem and evaporating of the few leaves we leave. Therefore, with too much roots there's an issue of overwatering and rot. The trick is to water in proportion to the light and try to match the leaves and roots after that which is available. Usually not a problem though, not for me at least, but if you're really cutting down your plant a lot and you care about it greatly it might be worth it to give it a little trim job down below.
 
Finally there's another trick: Artificial lighting. A small LED light does not cost much and can improve your success with overwintering drastically if light gets really scarce. Seriously, you can increase the local flux 3-4 times relatively easy with a weak light by showing it really close.
 
SwedishGhost said:
It's not hibernation since Capsicum can't hibernate. All we're doing is tricking the plant to survive on a small dose of light with minimal growth so it does not kill itself by expecting a lot of light for an abundance of leaves, and barely getting any.
 
 
Click to expand...
 
Thank you for the correction, bad choice of word on my part. Will do better in the future :)
 
ipepper said:
https://ibb.co/j66TT6
 
It's on the floor, with small wheels to easy move it out on the balcony and back.
Attached link to picture of it.
think I need to prune my plants soon again, they have started to bloom again.
 
Hanging could get really beatiful.
 
 
Click to expand...
 
It looks great!
Congratulations for showing great attention to detail and doing all the extra work. Nice lighting setup too. ;)
 
Unfortunately I do not have enough space to do the same, so I have to build on layers ;).
Right now the kitchen has a single hanging light. I plan to replace it with two ceiling-mounted strips that use rods instead of bulbs. This will provide better illumination for the kitchen, free up space and allow any hanging plants to get enough light. At least in theory. :P
 
 
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