• Blog your pepper progress. The first image in your first post will be used to represent your Glog.

Peter Peps! Grow Log

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I've never successfully grown peppers before. My attempts to grow mutants ended in failure. But this season, I'm trying again. I'll exclusively be trying my hands at a variety you guys have probably heard of, known as the Peter Pepper. It's a pepper variety known for being shaped like a private part. I'll be growing the red ones, which are the most phallic. I received the seeds from a shop in Belgium known as Badskin's Garden.

Using tricks learned from Khang Starr, I have used a plastic soda bottle and a plastic bag to contain a plant. I put three seeds in there and added water. I put the contraption in my windowsill.

I hope this works. Keep in mind this growlog will be updated semi-sporadically.
 
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Grass Snake said:
Too much water and no drain holes can create an environment that isn't good for peppers. I'd put drain holes and use a tray to catch the runoff.
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Excellent advice.

nune said:
Just poked holes and put an oversized tray under it. As probably expected, a large amount of water leaked out.
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You just extended your seedling's life.

nune said:
I'll just not water it for a few days and see what happens.
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It may take a week or more to dry out. Be very stingy with water for a while, and then only water when the plant needs it. Not on some regular schedule like "every other day", or something. Only water when the soil drys and the plant needs it.
 
Nice work on nursing that little guy at the start!
Getting the first true leaves is always a joy and then you know things are about to pop off!

And as others have said, be a bit careful with watering peppers and generally "less is more". Better to let them dry out than swim, they easily recuperate from the former and have a much harder time with the latter.

There are several tricks you can utilize to kind of get a feel for when it's high time to water.
Some like to feel the weight of the entire pot and gauge how much water is in the soil, it takes a while to get a feel for it but works quite well.

Personally I prefer feeling the structure of the leaves, if they are turning soft and losing structure (perhaps not the right word) then it's high time to water. This can't reliably be done until you get the true leaves and they've gained some size (about an inch maybe).
One thing to keep in mind with this method is that time of day, sunshine and temperature plays a part. If you feel the leaves after the plant has been basking in strong sunlight (and perhaps also high temperature) then the leaves can feel soft too but they will perk up and regain rigidity (pun intended :cool: ) as temperature and sunlight decrease.

The weight of the pot method works decently for seedlings until you get more experience, then you can almost tell just by looking at them when it's time to water.
 
I judge the soil moisture of most of my plants by sticking a bamboo kebab skewer into the soil, pulling it out, evaluating, then wiping it off and repeating… just like checking oil with a dipstick or testing a cake for doneness.

In addition to observing the amount of soil cling and feeling for residual moisture, I can tell quite a lot about soil and root structure by the tactile sensation of pushing it in.

For seedlings, I judge by container weight or the above, but using a wooden toothpick rather than a skewer.
 
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