Padron - Western Washington Plateau.

Hi Peeps!
I hope to grow some Padron peppers to spread around to friends and maybe a few to the local market. At the very least I hope to have a Tapas to go with my Bombas! Fry them up with oil and sea salt and wait for the hot one! We dont get Padron peppers here due to climate, so I decided to try and grow my own. I like to cook. Many recipes from many places and the worst part is not being able to get the ingredients or spices. Unfortunately, I live in a zone 8 area, far from Spain, with months of cold and a lot of rain. It was 33deg this morning and 64geg this afternoon, and humidity is 35...

So here we go! Noob inside start!
(Dirt in my area is very nutrient rich)(sorry I didnt take pics from the start)

I bought my Padron seeds from amazon. Sherwoods Seeds. I planted four seeds in a 1/4 gal. round pot. Points of the compass, about 2in. apart. I used a mix of Miracle Grow potting soil and soil from my front yard. My average house temp. is 73deg. Kept the soil damp for about a week and three of them sprouted. I used a lamp growing light for the next few weeks about an inch above..

What I used to start..

Sorry I didnt start taking pics from the beginning. But this is pretty much what I used to get them growing to about 3inch. It was that easy. Keep the soil warm (above 70deg.), moist, and add a little light after they sprout. Potting soil is good and has nutrients, but I think the mix I used with the natural soil from my yard helped.

Once they got to about 3in. and the first true leaves started to grow I transplanted to three 1/2 gal. pots. I used a large spoon to scoop out far around the roots. By this time I bought a bag of generic garden soil and mixed it with Miracle Grow and more soil from my front yard. I left about an inch of soil from the top. I bought another set of LED grow lamps (LORDEM Grow Light) and kept them 7in. from the top of the plants. They continued to grow for another week but started to get top heavy. I added more soil to just below the seed leaves to add more support. At the same time, I bought FoxFarm Liquid Nutrient Trio Soil Formula: Big Bloom, Grow Big, Tiger Bloom. About a week after topping off soil, I mixed all three 3cc (syringe) with a1/2 cup of water and poured about a table spoon on the soil. They liked it!

Im at the end of the first month and this is where they are living. I spray them, and the plants around them once a day to keep the humidity up.

This is where they live for now..

Still working on the humidity...

Going on from here, I have 5gal. buckets, holes drilled and water pans. Soil mix of generic garden soil, Miracle Grow garden soil, succulent soil and Forrest Ocean. Plus the FoxFarm Liquid Nutrient Trio. Problem is the weather outside is still very cold. I now have four LORDEM Grow Lights and can keep them inside for a while. Currently running the lamp for 12hrs starting 3hrs after sunrise. Too cold outside, and my timer only runs 12hrs.

Ill post updates as they they happen.
Ill ask questions below..
Ill also resize pics. Sorry!!!

After viewing this, please suggest something you see that may help, such as pruning, soil, planters, whatever!

Thanks for looking!

 

[flavortownfarms]

'23

 

[flavortownfarms]

Gearing up to plant next week or the following depending on the weather

 

[The Hot Pepper]

 

[flavortownfarms]

 

[THeGAME101]

Thanks for reading Flavor T.
Lol. My grow is just a sad little quest for padron peppers. If I could get you to next day fedex me some Id probably stop and lick my wounds..
Nah, I wouldnt do that. Enjoying the grow!

 

[flavortownfarms]

Thanks for reading Flavor T.
Lol. My grow is just a sad little quest for padron peppers. If I could get you to next day fedex me some Id probably stop and lick my wounds..
Nah, I wouldnt do that. Enjoying the grow!

Do you eat them red, green, both?

 

[THeGAME101]

Lol, Ive never had padrons before. I like to make bombas and I wanted something to go with them. But itll be young green and seared in olive oil with sea salt..

So yesterday I couldnt stand it anymore, lol. I didnt like the soil my plants were in so I gave them another transplant.

This is three parts garden soil, .5 part FF Ocean, and .5 part cactus soil.

Ive been saying that they havent dried out for weeks. This is the result. The roots went sideways and up, and underneath there was nothing but wet clump soil. It was almost a disk of root. These plants havent been watered through the soil since they went into the buckets.

So first is first. I increased the holes in the bottom of the buckets. They are going to sit in catch trays..

Then I blended some new soil. This is 2 parts NW potting soil, 2 parts FF ocean. I added extra perlite, and some blood meal.

Loosened up the soil around the roots just a little and re potted. If anything it has more airy and looser soil now. Hopefully the roots will start to grow down and I can start watering them more then a cup and not have to rely so much on folier feeding.

My biggest mistake was using gardening soil in the first place.

 

[THeGAME101]

Hi Guys!
Its been about 12 days since my last post. About a week ago I stuck a chop stick into the buckets and continued my effort to break up the clumpy soil around the roots. Just wiggled them around a bit in 14 different places. Then they had their first flush! I was wonderful to see the water coming out the bottom of the bucket!! They havent changed a whole lot, but they alive! Lol. Ive had to shift positions for wind storms, so they have been alternating between full sun for 12hrs and wind 6hrs every few days..

My banana peppers are doing pretty good starting out in the correct soil. Im going to wait a bit to take them outside. Need to decide if Im going to keep them inside during this weird spring/summer at all. At some point, the rain and clouds usually goes away but it hasnt really happened this year yet. I remember a few decades ago we got 196 days of straight clouds, wind and rain during the year, then it got dry and cold at the end of fall. It hasnt been that bad, but it isnt like the last few years where its been more like real seasons.

My cherry tomato plants arent happy. While I was weathering them they got hit with fungus gnats. Been battling those lil bastiches. Water and dawn 1 to 10 ratio every 4 days.. Unfortunately they are sticky plants so you cant just blow or wash them off, and the lil corpses stick to the plants so you cant tell if the treatment has killed them. Then add the weather. Pah! So Ill keep doing what I doing.

Im looking up peroxide solutions and rice hulls to cover the soil. After research, and after buying a bottle, Im not going to use neem oil. If you swear buy it and it works for you, more power to you. Being said after reasurch its totally usless. Good news is not a sign of any parasites of any of the pepper plants!!

Next up is a trellis using the weave method. We had a slight wind storm yesterday and it knocked over a few of the tomato plants. The padrones are staked, but with heavy satin velcro. Probably be better with a weave..

Anywho. Thats how its going.

 

[suburbanhomesteadtx]

Nice thread. I'm harvesting a ton of Padron peppers down south right now in my 7 gallon grow bag. Happy growing

 

[THeGAME101]

Padron and tomatoes in the morning!

A few days ago I sprayed them down with a mix of water, diatomaceous earth, FF Grow Big and Big Bloom. Killed the heck out of the gnats that were infesting the tomatoes. Washed the leaves off a bit last night. Here comes the hot weather finally. Unfortunately, its going to be too hot. Ill be moving them to full shade tonight for the 90+ weekend coming up. All but four of the tomato plants are going to friends in the next few days.

Padrones are doing pretty good after their traumatic childhood. I like how they are starting to bush up along the stem.

Banana Peppers just got their second transplant!

These guys will probably start their hardening on Monday..

 

[THeGAME101]

Hey Guys!
You know its kind of funny. Here I am thinking Ive screwed up so bad with these plants that they will never produce, or at least not this year and..

YAY! And more flowers are producing pepper buds! These are picked at between 1 and 2 inched for culinary reasons. Its nice to see that there are multiple pods now, so many I have to start keeping an eye on them should they grow larger than I want.

Padrons and cherry tomato..

The tomatoes are starting to produce as well. For the Padrons Im wondering if I should cut back on the foliage. Thus far Ive been going with "Just let them go!" Please advise if you think I should thin it out a little. As said I was surprised when I saw a 2inch pepper growing.

Banana Peppers..

These have been in full sun, but I reduced them and the other plants to full shade during the week in the 90s two weeks ago. Then we had some high winds. Everything is well staked now. Then there is temperature flux. The average is low 50s to high 70s.

This year has been kind of different. Late outside temps forced growing indoors. Then HOT, forcing full shade. Then high winds that I wasnt comfortable with. I hope to continue to grow until late October. However it can turn cool rapid. Not sure how yet but planning on growing over winter with at least one of each.

Today the padron and tomatoes got Fox Farm Big Bloom and Tiger Bloom, and the banana got an extra shot of mix with Grow Big.

Suggestions Welcome!
Thx!!

 

[CaneDog]

Looking good! My $0.02 is I'd just leave them be. They look good and strong and the foliage protects against sun scald to the peppers.

 

[Downriver]

...far Ive been going with "Just let them go!"

My approach as well. It's worked out very well the last few decades.

 

[THeGAME101]

Well Guys, it looks like the season is coming to an end. I dont see a 70deg day in the future and its only going to get colder and here comes the rain. Had issues with a few days over 90deg, a wind storm that broke the stem of the tomato plant in the orange bucket at the dirt line. Funny, it healed itself nicely once I propped it back up. And just too cold and too wet.

I was able to harvest over 300 Padrons from three plants and share with my friends! May get a few more.. The Bananas are just starting to ripen, but I dont know how long I have before they will stop producing, plus they are starting to get brown spots. The cherry tomatoes never really got going. Plenty of fruit, but not ripening fast enough. This picture is the total tomato yield although I might get one more, lol.

Im going to take one of each of the healthiest plants and put them under the eaves. I dont expect a lot of full sun the rest of the year so Ill keep them out of the rain as much as possible till the cold kills them. The others are on the down side and I dont think its worth trying to correct the possible calcium and over watering they are going to get. Just out of time..

Anyway, I had fun growing and learned a lot to put to use next year! Keeping my fingers crossed for a longer growing season next year!

Thanks for all the help and advice you have given me. It is really appreciated!

 

[NJChilehead]

Well Guys, it looks like the season is coming to an end. I dont see a 70deg day in the future and its only going to get colder and here comes the rain. Had issues with a few days over 90deg, a wind storm that broke the stem of the tomato plant in the orange bucket at the dirt line. Funny, it healed itself nicely once I propped it back up. And just too cold and too wet.

I was able to harvest over 300 Padrons from three plants and share with my friends! May get a few more.. The Bananas are just starting to ripen, but I dont know how long I have before they will stop producing, plus they are starting to get brown spots. The cherry tomatoes never really got going. Plenty of fruit, but not ripening fast enough. This picture is the total tomato yield although I might get one more, lol.

Im going to take one of each of the healthiest plants and put them under the eaves. I dont expect a lot of full sun the rest of the year so Ill keep them out of the rain as much as possible till the cold kills them. The others are on the down side and I dont think its worth trying to correct the possible calcium and over watering they are going to get. Just out of time..

Anyway, I had fun growing and learned a lot to put to use next year! Keeping my fingers crossed for a longer growing season next year!

Thanks for all the help and advice you have given me. It is really appreciated!

I'm planning on growing Pimento de Padron next year, never grew them before or had one. This thread inspired me!