pics Training the shape of seedlings (pics)

[Benjoe]

Here is my dilemma, I planted too many seedlings in one pot. I saved seeds from a store bell pepper and sowed them thick thinking most wouldnt grow. To my surprise all of them are growing, All 75 or so. I neglected to seperate them within the first month because i was very busy. I tried to seperate a few, but all of the roots tore off because they were so fragile.

So I want to grow out all of these bell peppers without separating them. I asked another forum, and they said I will have a reduced crop. But i believe if I spread the canopy of them I can get a good yeild. I plan on planting these in the garden when the temperature warms up.

This is before I pegged down the stems

This is minutes after I pegged down the stems

This is later that evening

This is the next day

This is called Low stress training, and it maximizes the space between branches, and allows more light to penetrate the canopy. Also lateral branches are supposed to produce hormones that produce flowers/fruit.


Does anyone have any experience or advice?


Ben

 

[millworkman]

Looks like a really cool idea. Never tried it or have any info on it though, sorry.

 

[Maligator]

This is my first year growing so I cannot really offer any advice. I wish you the best of luck and look forward to hearing what other more experienced growers have to say about your dilemma.

 

[thaichillihead]

I know mary jane growers use LST to some good effect. They're forced to because of space/security issues. But peppers aren't weeds so good luck with that and keep us in the know

 

[Benjoe]

Those pics were from the 13th and the 14th.

Here are some more recent pics, I know it doesnt look like much new growth, but there is, its just hard to tell because of how dense the plants are

The leaves are growing at a very fast pace now. and some of the plants are growing way faster than others

From what i have noticed all of the plants with purple stems seem to be the strongest, largest, and most vigorous plants. Has anyone else ever noticed this with other varieties?

Ben

 

[AjarnV]

It occurs to me that if you get an insect infestation, it might be hard to treat and it might remain hidden for a while. As an ex-grower of MJ (both in and out doors), I culled the weakest so I maximized the quality of the fruit, so-to-speak. I have found high density growing encourages height over bush. I'll go for bush every time.

 

[Benjoe]

I understand the risk of a insect attack to my plants. But aphids seem not to prefer these. For some reason the leaves on these plants are very different from any other pepper ive grown. They are very rubbery feeling. they cling to each other like cling wrap. Maybe this is a advantage to the growers in greenhouses, as i got these from a grocery store i figure they were grown in a greenhouse.

Has anyone had peppers with odd textured leaves? I know about the Rotoco peppers with hairy leaves, But what about other oddity's?

 

[Silver_Surfer]

That mass will take quite a bit of water once it starts producing. My bet is the fruit will be smaller than the norm and not all will set. Hopefully the type of seed you planted wasn't a hybrid.

 

[Benjoe]

I also think the fruit will be a tad bit smaller than the originals. But that is ok with me, as it takes me about 2 meals to use the whole bell pepper. I am also not worried about it being a hybrid, as I like both sweet and hot peppers. This is just an experiment, I didnt even really expect the seeds to germinate. I had forgot about them in a ziplock bag and they had turned grey, not moldy, but just grey so i decided to throw them in a old pot with whatever dirt i had laying around (pebbles and outside dirt).

Last year most of my peppers grew about 4 feet tall and about 3 feet wide, so i expect these to grow at least 4 feet and probably about 5 feet wide, I am just going to keep spreading the branches until i run out of the allocated room for that space. Then I plan on letting it go wild and grow however it wants. I just want a giant pepper plant. I am hoping that these plants also fuse together to create a "super plant". I have seen it happen on my other garden plants, but never peppers, hopefully it is also successful

Ben

 

[bigt]

You aren't going to be happy with the results IMO. I'd rather have a few strong as opposed to a herd of weaklings fighting each other.

 

[Benjoe]

Actually I thought they were going to be weak too, but they have surprised me and are some of the strongest pepper plants i am growing. It almost seems like they like being so close. Some of them are a few leaves bigger than others, but I just believe that they were the ones who sprouted first.

I will post up pictures of the ones I tried to transplant. I do not think they are going to make it, All of their leaves wilted and they look pretty pathetic. There may still be hope for them though, as the leaves are still green and the stem is still plump.

 

[bigt]

My bet is the transplanted ones will survive and live to crush the largest in the herd of weaklings. Time will tell, but there's a reason they tell you to plant 18" to 24" apart. If farmers could jam more crops into the same space, they would.

 

[Benjoe]

Well, over the week Ive been putting the pot outside because its been so nice out. As a result alot on one side of the pot have very shriveled leaves. I think its because of wind damage. Alot of them are showing purple leaves too.

I think i came to the conclusion that I should replant all of them separately. But I am going to be planting them all mad close because I dont have much room. I think im just going to make 1 row of them a few inches apart from each other. I still may keep a clump of them together to see how they do.
I was counting all of the stems, and there are way more than 75 now. I gave up counting at 125. Some of them are just very early sprouts though.

I will post more pictures tomorrow.

 

[Straticus]

If you're going to replant them all you're going to stunt the growth and set you back even more most likely now. They're hurting now but will bounce back when the weather sets. IMO I'd leave them the way they are now. Planting over 125 stunted plants as they are now is going to be brutal, and this weekend the weather here in MD is gonna be fabulous. I'd try to leave them out all weekend. The purple you're most likely seeing is the plants version of sunscreen, just protecting itself, but not positive.

 

[Urdoneby]

Hey Benjoe, I have seen you on the other forum you mentioned. I dont know if ill be much help, I am using a tech i learned growing Mary Jane where i shape my seedlings. I have 6 plants in one pot which is not comparable to your 125. I bought these from homedepot to try some different grow techs on them. LOL much rather screw up a pre-started plant then a seedling that i put time and effort in to. So this is what i am doing: First when nodes start getting a stock coming out i prune the leaf off the main stock, Now my Cayanne and serranos look like 5 plants instead of one, then i topped my cayanne which then grew four tops instead of one, then i put srews in my pot so i could bend the stocks over and have something to tie them to. (shaping them) . Sorry i am by no means a writer and now that i read my jambled mess i laugh and hope some one can understand it or get something from it. Here is a few pics of my experienced

 

[Benjoe]

I finally got a digital camera. Here are some more pictures of how they are coming along. They are growing pretty slow, but they are starting to get flowers

Also, I have been neglecting them a little bit, I dont water them as much as I should. I think that is why these guys are so slow growing