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in-ground Planting directly into the ground...

Anyone in a hot climate had success with planting directly into the soil?

I'm wondering how chillis can survive in nature where they have no gradual introduction to the sun...??
 
Yes, I'm doing that here in Thailand. As soon as the seed sprouts I put it in the sun. In nature it's exactly the same, so I don't really understand the question. I have 5 plants in the ground and 35 in pots; more are eventually going in the ground. But all are put in full sun upon sprouting. Cheers.

Edit: All but one plant has pods (2 Costa Rican Red Habaneros & 3 orange Habaneros) and one of the orange has more than 30. Cheers.
 
Addendum: Let me add this; the only problem with sprouts and full sun exposure, IME, is NOT putting them in full sun right away. If any artificial light is used then a "hardening" process must be followed because the plant didn't develop the proper enzymes to deal with "real" sunlight. The hardening is giving the sprout/plant a gentle way to switch over to the correct enzymes to deal with direct sunlight. Cheers.

Edit: Where are you?
 
Well that's about the only good thing about being where I am AV. The spring time sun is so weak that I don't have to deal with hardening off. The downside is that the growing season is MUCH shorter than most places. Especially Hunts. He's over in Africa I believe.
 
Well that's about the only good thing about being where I am AV. The spring time sun is so weak that I don't have to deal with hardening off. The downside is that the growing season is MUCH shorter than most places. Especially Hunts. He's over in Africa I believe.

Yeah, it would appear you guys only have one shot at it per season.
Huntsman should go find a pepper farm and check it out. I did that here and learned quite a bit; including that it was a bad year here for peppers because of the unrelenting heat. This was an unusual year; hottest in 60 years. Cheers.
 
Yeah,

I'm in South Africa, fellas...

'Most every post I've read on the subject advocates avoiding the sun like the plague in the beginning, and then graaaaaadually hardening off. Just logical that in hotter climes the process can be sped up. Thanks!
 
Yeah,

I'm in South Africa, fellas...

'Most every post I've read on the subject advocates avoiding the sun like the plague in the beginning, and then graaaaaadually hardening off. Just logical that in hotter climes the process can be sped up. Thanks!

Well, you're not tropical. You're well south of 15 deg. S. Latitude; more like 28 deg. which is well out of the tropical zone.
What are you trying to grow? You shouldn't be having any particularly difficult temps except for a month or 2. I'm at 13 deg. N latitude and it's doable. The biggest problem here is soil and with some perseverance that problem is taken care of. Sun isn't the issue, or at least shouldn't be; so what is it that's a problem for you? I still don't understand. Maybe I'm a bit dense; so could you explain with a bit more detail? Cheers.
 
The last batch of seedlings I had spouted I decided to try and leave them in full direct sun daily.
They were all eventually killed from the heat. Keep in mind I did this is early summer.
 
I sowed some directly in the ground the first year I grew some and they germinated and grew nicely. But my growing season is mot long enough to make it worthwhile.

Mike
 
From what I understand, the gradual hardening off is only necessary if you have started the seedlings indoors, especially under artifical light. This is due to the lack of protection from the much stronger UV light from the sun. If your seedlings sprout and are immediately under the sun, then they grow up already adjusted and therefore do not need to be hardened off. Of course, you should be reasonable and avoid baking your seedlings...keep them well-watered and perhaps provide shade during the hottest part of the day. It is fairly easy to drape some shade cloth over the seedlings if your sun is really that intense.
 
Yeah, it would appear you guys only have one shot at it per season.
Huntsman should go find a pepper farm and check it out. I did that here and learned quite a bit; including that it was a bad year here for peppers because of the unrelenting heat. This was an unusual year; hottest in 60 years. Cheers.


Yep. We get about 90 days suitable for growing. I can extend it about another month by having a greenhouse, but starting early and indoors is a must. I've thought about a grow light, but then I end up spending way too much money for a few peppers. I'm going to stay the course and hope global warming speeds up ;)
 
Heh heh!

Speak for yourself, mate - it's warm enough here already! :)

I can see how it would be easier in the tropics as they have less temperature swing from day to night and vice versa. I think I will have to be a little careful with the hottest part of they day as orangehero advises, but it's worth a shot.

AV - there's nothing dense about you, mate! My initial comment was tongue-in-cheek, and invited the response that it was, as suspected, ridiculous to assume that seedlings require hardening off 100% of the time. Your climate is certainly more humid than mine, so I won't plant more than 25% of my crop directly, just in case, but despite the dryness of my city (1500m ASL) I think results will be good.

:beer:
 
Heh heh!

Speak for yourself, mate - it's warm enough here already! :)

I can see how it would be easier in the tropics as they have less temperature swing from day to night and vice versa. I think I will have to be a little careful with the hottest part of they day as orangehero advises, but it's worth a shot.

AV - there's nothing dense about you, mate! My initial comment was tongue-in-cheek, and invited the response that it was, as suspected, ridiculous to assume that seedlings require hardening off 100% of the time. Your climate is certainly more humid than mine, so I won't plant more than 25% of my crop directly, just in case, but despite the dryness of my city (1500m ASL) I think results will be good.

:beer:

That's a good plan; and basically what I did. Soil in my part of the country is shite so I spent months preparing a raised bed. So far so good; but over-all my potted plants are doing better than my "in the dirt" plants. That said, 4 out of 5 are podding up and looking promising. Good luck. I think you'll do fine. Cheers. ;)
 
Being you're in Thailand which is fairly tropical, it should be even easier.

I'm drinking espresso made with coffee beans from Thailand I bought on ebay.
 
Yeah, but you're in Missouri; easy peasy! :rofl: Cheers.

the only good thing being in a tropical environment is the growing season, all year long. but the materials needed, the seeds, the challenges of the environment.... not really all that easy. needs a bit of practice and a whole lot of patience. =D
 
Being you're in Thailand which is fairly tropical, it should be even easier.

I'm drinking espresso made with coffee beans from Thailand I bought on ebay.

On the red note: Yes, that should be so; but it's not because, here in west central Thailand the soil is shite. Clay, lacking nutrients, acidic, but without humus, and generally unproductive. Cap that with the hottest summer in 60 years and you have the toughest growing conditions for capsicum you can imagine. Very few people (and I mean VERY few) here have been successful in growing C. chinense. I'm retired and have the time and motivation to tackle these monumental (not hyperbole) problems to growing chinense here.

On the blue note; you'd be amazed how difficult it is to get good coffee beans or real ground coffee here. It's taken me years to find and I now drink fresh ground "real" coffee made with my French Press. 98% of Thais drink crap instant coffee; most with creamer and lots of sugar. Blech!
Allmost all of the coffee beans here are exported to countries that actually know how to roast coffee beans. Most here have no idea; so consider yourself blessed! Cheers.
 
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