Potting up peppers

klorentz · May 15, 2009

Boy I have not potted up so many peppers in my life. And I am not finished yet. My Fish peppers seem to be in a big hurry to grow big.Everything should be ready by the end of the month. Got a bunch of chocolate bells to plant too.We found the battery charger so pics as soon as I get a chance.

Kevin

LGHT · May 15, 2009

Quick question on potting up. I moved up a few of my sprouts from the Jiffy pot after they sprouted and realized it was about a week late and because the extra wait time the stems are very thin and long. Now that they are getting extra leaves a few of them seem to have leaned over and are against the side of the pot. Would it be ok to move this to deeper pots to give them more support or should I just give them time for the stalk to thicken up? I noticed that the leaves are twice as big in the last week since putting them under the MH light. Would the light be the cause forcing the leaves to get bigger while the stalk stays thin?

klorentz · May 15, 2009

how do you have them set up? Most of mine are in windows and getting some good light. I do have a small grow table with one florescent light. I re-potted mine. I also planted them deeper than they where.Plants will lean toward the light if window grown. I just turn them in the other direction. I know some are kind of grimace at window grown plants but mine are responding well.As long as I keep a watch on them they are ok.

Kevin

bigt · May 15, 2009

Prop them up or plant them deeper. Both work. Get them some exposure to mild wind and the stalks will thicken.

Josh · May 15, 2009

klorentz said:
how do you have them set up? Most of mine are in windows and getting some good light. I do have a small grow table with one florescent light. I re-potted mine. I also planted them deeper than they where.Plants will lean toward the light if window grown. I just turn them in the other direction. I know some are kind of grimace at window grown plants but mine are responding well.As long as I keep a watch on them they are ok.

Kevin

All my plants were window grown. I basically did the same thing as you. I turned and rotated the plants around so they all received equal amounts of light. They certainly grow slower but I think mine turned out pretty good.
http://www.thehotpepper.com/showthread.php?t=10546

LGHT · May 15, 2009

klorentz said:
how do you have them set up? Kevin

bigt said:
Prop them up or plant them deeper. Both work. Get them some exposure to mild wind and the stalks will thicken.

The first week they where all tall and then because they sprouted too fast and I didn't have the CFL's for them yet. After a week I got them under CFL's and they did a lot better, but by then the stalks where already then and long. A week later I repotted them and got them under a 400 watt MH setup and have a fan on them constantly so I can try and thicken the stalks a bit. The fan isn't directly on them, but because the closet they are in is small they get a nice cool breeze and sway slightly in the draft. This also helps the air exchange. I leave the fan and light on at the same times about 16-18 hours a day. The first week under the MH they where all ok and grow a lot. Some sprouts now have up to 3 sets of leaves and almost double in size, but outward and not upward. The weird part is the small sprouts are ok, but some of the bigger bushier ones fell over. It's like the bushy ones are too top heavy or something? Should I put the fan directly on them so there is a good stiff breeze on them or should I dig them up and plant them a lot deeper? I think I only went down about 2" because the pots they are in are only 4" tall. Would it be a problem if I just planted them all the way on the bottom of the pot?

ABurningMouth · May 15, 2009

Seems like 2 inches should be deep enough in a 4 incher.

LGHT · May 15, 2009

Yeah, that's what I thought, but these poor sprouts went almost a full week without good light after breaking the soil and ended up getting almost 3-4" before I got a good light on them.

bigt · May 17, 2009

LGHT said:
The first week they where all tall and then because they sprouted too fast and I didn't have the CFL's for them yet. After a week I got them under CFL's and they did a lot better, but by then the stalks where already then and long. A week later I repotted them and got them under a 400 watt MH setup and have a fan on them constantly so I can try and thicken the stalks a bit. The fan isn't directly on them, but because the closet they are in is small they get a nice cool breeze and sway slightly in the draft. This also helps the air exchange. I leave the fan and light on at the same times about 16-18 hours a day. The first week under the MH they where all ok and grow a lot. Some sprouts now have up to 3 sets of leaves and almost double in size, but outward and not upward. The weird part is the small sprouts are ok, but some of the bigger bushier ones fell over. It's like the bushy ones are too top heavy or something? Should I put the fan directly on them so there is a good stiff breeze on them or should I dig them up and plant them a lot deeper? I think I only went down about 2" because the pots they are in are only 4" tall. Would it be a problem if I just planted them all the way on the bottom of the pot?

Either that or prop them up with a toothpick or something. I've had to do that many times and the plants eventually turned out fine. Sounds like you have enough air on them.