I figured I'd put as much information I can find in this thread, not only to make it easier for others to help me...but to maybe help other growers who are at the noob stage like I'm at. (Maybe I'll ask some of the dumb questions so they don't have to!)
This year I'm growing Serranos, Habaneros and Jalapenos...having started them all indoors under fluorescent lights on February 28th. Rather than bore everyone with pictures they've seen a million times of the seeding process, I decided to opt against posting them and just instead mention that I got WAY more seeds sprouting than I had allowed for and was dealing with multiple plants in each little Peat Pot we'd planted them in.
At about two months we transplanted the sprouts into Red Solo cups, and next year we will likely skip this step and plant them directly in the solo cups to begin with. It was just too much trouble to split up all the little peat pot sprouts and replant them individually without harming them, and if I could do it again I'd get a seedling tray and transplant into Red Solo cups from there.
Now, it's past last frost for my area (Winnipeg, Canada) so the wife and I were busy in the garden this weekend...planting our crops for the upcoming year and filling pots with potting soil and peppers. The Wife bought a generic brand of organic potting soil from Costco for $10/85l bag and we figured it was a good price for our area. We also bought 16 cheap pots from the Dollar Store and figured our first try at this would be in an ultra-cost effective manner...just to see how much it really costs to produce peppers.
Here's a few pictures taken on May 25th of my babies! The temperature is steady around 23-25 during the day for the next week so I can expect them to get some decent growing weather without being too hot.
Here are a few of my concerns with this growing season
1. That the pots aren't big enough: I hadn't really thought about the size of pot necessary and when I saw these at the Dollar Store I assumed they'd be plenty. Since the varieties I'm growing don't get too much bigger than 24" (Except the Habs which are estimated to get to 30") I didn't think they'd be too bad...but I'm still a little nervous when I see all these suggestions saying 5 gallon pot MINIMUM. I'll measure one tonight and see how big it is and update this post with accurate dimensions.
2. The the season won't be long enough: I just have this nagging worry that I'll have a bunch of unripe green pods on my plants when the weather starts to turn cold. While I'm sure I'm worrying for nothing, I'd still really hate for this to happen.
3. I won't know what to do with all these peppers: Self explanatory!
Anyway, I'm looking forward to keeping this updated with perhaps a once a week update with pictures, etc. If you've stumbled onto this page, thanks for reading and any advice you have to give!
This year I'm growing Serranos, Habaneros and Jalapenos...having started them all indoors under fluorescent lights on February 28th. Rather than bore everyone with pictures they've seen a million times of the seeding process, I decided to opt against posting them and just instead mention that I got WAY more seeds sprouting than I had allowed for and was dealing with multiple plants in each little Peat Pot we'd planted them in.
At about two months we transplanted the sprouts into Red Solo cups, and next year we will likely skip this step and plant them directly in the solo cups to begin with. It was just too much trouble to split up all the little peat pot sprouts and replant them individually without harming them, and if I could do it again I'd get a seedling tray and transplant into Red Solo cups from there.
Now, it's past last frost for my area (Winnipeg, Canada) so the wife and I were busy in the garden this weekend...planting our crops for the upcoming year and filling pots with potting soil and peppers. The Wife bought a generic brand of organic potting soil from Costco for $10/85l bag and we figured it was a good price for our area. We also bought 16 cheap pots from the Dollar Store and figured our first try at this would be in an ultra-cost effective manner...just to see how much it really costs to produce peppers.
Here's a few pictures taken on May 25th of my babies! The temperature is steady around 23-25 during the day for the next week so I can expect them to get some decent growing weather without being too hot.
Here are a few of my concerns with this growing season
1. That the pots aren't big enough: I hadn't really thought about the size of pot necessary and when I saw these at the Dollar Store I assumed they'd be plenty. Since the varieties I'm growing don't get too much bigger than 24" (Except the Habs which are estimated to get to 30") I didn't think they'd be too bad...but I'm still a little nervous when I see all these suggestions saying 5 gallon pot MINIMUM. I'll measure one tonight and see how big it is and update this post with accurate dimensions.
2. The the season won't be long enough: I just have this nagging worry that I'll have a bunch of unripe green pods on my plants when the weather starts to turn cold. While I'm sure I'm worrying for nothing, I'd still really hate for this to happen.
3. I won't know what to do with all these peppers: Self explanatory!
Anyway, I'm looking forward to keeping this updated with perhaps a once a week update with pictures, etc. If you've stumbled onto this page, thanks for reading and any advice you have to give!
