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Tips for a first time grower?

T

Tinpaper

Hey all, long time lurker here. I have finally decided to grow my own peppers because non-extract sauces just aren't giving me those wonderful levels of heat that I seek. Now I have never grown chili peppers myself, but I have done quite a lot of research on the subject. I will be doing this by the basics, so nothing fancy like hydroponics or grow lights. The first thing I need to decide is which peppers to grow. Now from much lurking, I have come up with this list of potential candidates:

Yellow 7 Pot
One of the Jolokias
Congo Black
Red Savina Habanero
Fatalli
Aji Lemon
Tequin
Pequin
Bird's Eye
Scotch Bonnet
Bonda ma Jacques

I am looking for a great flavor to compliment my heat. Now I would be choosing 2-3 different types of pepper to start and then move on to the others later. Which ones would you recommend for an absolute newbie grower? Are there any other ones I should consider?(Buying from THSC looks like a good option, so I would want seeds available on his site) Any other tips for growing that I won't learn off chiliman.org?

Any help would be much appreciated.
 
Hey Tin...welcome...

first thing you want to do is check your grow season lengths...some are peppers are quick to produce ~60 days after plantout and some of the varieties you show like the Yellow 7 Pot will take a good 150 days to absolute full flush of pods...

can't answer your question about the other site...haven't been on but a few times...
 
Yeah.. that's one of the things I was worried about with the "nuclear" hots. I have also read that these peppers are more finicky about their climate and germination, which means I might be giving them a death sentence if I don't know what I am doing.
 
Tinpaper said:
Yeah.. that's one of the things I was worried about with the "nuclear" hots. I have also read that these peppers are more finicky about their climate and germination, which means I might be giving them a death sentence if I don't know what I am doing.
Click to expand...

They are easier to grow then you hear. The people that have problems are doing something wrong.
 
For me, the hardest part is getting them going, and even that isn't that hard. They are seeds and they want to grow. Some things to remember are keep the seeds about 85 during germination in moist but not soaking wet seed starting mix and wait and wait and wait. Seriously, I could take 4 weeks or more for the super hots to sprout. In my experience they tend to sprout about the time I am about to give up hope and resow.:lol:

Grow lights are not necessary but regular shop lights like the ones they sell at Home Depot for about 8 or 9 dollars will help a lot. You need to start your seeds about 10 or 12 weeks before your last frost and protect them from the cold which means they will be in your house, garage, or a greenhouse for a long time. They will need lots of light so the shop lights or a very bright window is a necessity. Also, one of the biggest mistakes new growers make, myself included in my first try,is to try too hard to get them to grow. They overwater and overfertize. I usually give them a drink every 4 or 5 days or so, and I don't fertilize until they go outside. Once outside, give them water when they start to look stressed. More water is worse then less water. I don't use a lot of fertilizer as I use lots of compost and tomato tone fertilizer at planting time and will use fish emulsion if the plant looks like it needs some. Other than that, enjoy the process. The first ripe pepper is well worth it.

Hope this helps.
jacob
 
chililover is right...not too hard if you don't kill them being over kind...

I recommend you do a search on line, find what zone you are in (I'm usually in the ozone), find out what your average highs and lows by the month, then look at the average first last frost dates are. That will give you your maximum grow season give or take a couple of weeks either way...

If you are just starting, I highly recommend some easy chilis to grow like the Super Chili (Annuum) which is a very heavy producer of 1-1/2 inch fat pods that are great for ground chili powder...maybe a little hotter than a standard cayenne, 80K scoville if I remember right...and you have to have a Jalapeno or two for poppers...no way around it...those two right there will insure you get a good harvest fairly quick...japs ready to eat in probably 65 days and super chili about the same or maybe even earlier...the super chili will continually put on erect pods as it grows

your list seems pretty feasible to me so now that we have decided what you are going to grow ;)......what do you know about starting seeds, lights for indoor grow for your seedlings, what kind of trays or containers you are going to use for starting the seeds and when you transplant from the seed starting tray....what kind of seed starting media will you use, what kind of potting soil will you use for first transplant...how much area do you have...

sorry, I could go on forever but this will get you started with collecting what you need....
 
The Growing Medium itself Seems to be a very crucial part of the growing for sure
The Fatalii has been growing great for me good sturdy healthy plant.
 
you got it...I only use Hoffmans Seedstarting Mixture or if I can't get that, I use Jiffy Seed Starting mix. My experience with the two has showm me greater germnination rates in the hoffmans...maybe a 10% delta and when you plant 2-3K seeds that turns out to be vital...

a lot of people use peat pellets and other methods, but I will stick with the soilless seed starting medium....
 
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