Transplanting Tips Needed Please

Magno Farms

Magno Farms

I am about to transplant 225 super hots into the ground and want to make sure I have this right and dont mess it up. I have managed to keep most of them alive but they won't last the solo cups much longer. Thanks in advance for the help.
 
I have 3 greenhouses I am completing with 40% shade cloth that are on tracks so I can open and close for full sun when needed. I am installing a 1/2" drip irrigation system with a 25 PSI pressure reducer, filter/fertilizer applicator and 0-10 GPH adjustable multi-stream drippers. The irrigation system will reside under the embossed black plastic mulch on the raised planting rows and drippers will be placed at the plants base.
 
The Plan:
1. Harden off the plants outdoors and lengthen the amount of full sun from 1 hour a day gradually over a weeks time. They have been under the patio outside for a month.
2. Remove from containers gently and dont disturb the roots, add 1 teaspoon of sulfur to the hole.
3. Plant in the evening in soil at 1" above root line and water immediately.
 
 
Questions:
1. At what GPH do I set the drippers, 1.5?
2. I know the leaves will tell me when they need water but how long do you suggest watering at first and should it be daily?
3. What granular or tablet fertilizer should I use every 2 weeks and can I continue to use the 5-1-1 liquid fish fertilizer or is it not recommended with the filter/fertilizer applicator?
4. In addition to fertilizer should I add epsom salt on alternate weeks?
5. I have read that keeping the plants in small containers too long can cause root issues and they may not survive the transplant, how can I tell?
 
 
Details of my journey here if you are on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/magnofarms/
 

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thats a lot of plants for a beginner. i would have started with a lot fewer plants and learned from that for next year.
as for your questions, its a lot of trial and error. good .luck
 
I'd get them in the soil as soon as you can. Mine were planted out in mid May (in grow bags) and I thought I was a couple months late! I'm no expert but if your plants are root-bound then some loosening of them may help them spread out once they're in the ground. I haven't heard issues with transplants from soil to soil. I've taken a year old plant from a 6" pot into a 10 gallon grow bag and he did fine.
 
You're not that far from me but we've been having daily rain for the last week so there's been no need to water. My drippers are 1GPH and I set them off for half an hour every 3-4 days in May and will up to a max of every 2 days when we get into the 100s (August). But note that I'm in grow bags so they will dry up quicker and any excess will just seep out the sides - I can't really overwater my plants. If I was you, I would watch the plants and water when they need it, rather than trying to determine a schedule now. The watering schedule will depend a lot on your rainfall, soil conditions, mulch, drainage etc which is different for everyone. If you're covering in poly you may only need to water very infrequently - perhaps weekly or even longer.
 
Also, I prefer to have slow watering over a long period to give time for the water the soak down. It's better to go 0.5GPH for an hour than 10GPH for 3 minutes! I also set my watering to go off very early in the morning (5am) so that it's cooler and less evaporates.
 
I can't really give advice on fertilizer - I just use a little Osmocote every 3 months - the worms and compost in my soil probably do the bulk of the fertilization! Perhaps others can comment.
 
Good luck! It's a very ambitious endeavor you have going there.
 
Magno Farms said:
The Plan:
1. Harden off the plants outdoors and lengthen the amount of full sun from 1 hour a day gradually over a weeks time. They have been under the patio outside for a month.
2. Remove from containers gently and dont disturb the roots, add 1 teaspoon of sulfur to the hole.
3. Plant in the evening in soil at 1" above root line and water immediately.
 
Click to expand...
 
Wow!  That's quite a setup!
 
As Siv said, don't worry about being gentle with the roots.  If the root ball is well developed, don't worry about scrunching it up a bit.  Especially if it looks root bound.
 
I've never added sulfur, but if you know you have problems with alkaline soil, or alkaline water, maybe that'll work for you.
 
I won't give advice here because I don't know what I'm talking about. I just grow a few plants because I like growing things. Growing on your scale is way beyond the 30ish plants I have growing.

I definitely agree you need to harden them off. The fertilizer really depends on what you need. With that many plants fertilizer can get expensive. A soil test would be recommended. I always thought the sulfur took some time to get working, but I don't know. I usually water often at first and as the plants settle in I spread out watering that's all gonna depend on your soil and climate.
 
Siv said:
I'd get them in the soil as soon as you can. Mine were planted out in mid May (in grow bags) and I thought I was a couple months late! I'm no expert but if your plants are root-bound then some loosening of them may help them spread out once they're in the ground. I haven't heard issues with transplants from soil to soil. I've taken a year old plant from a 6" pot into a 10 gallon grow bag and he did fine.
 
You're not that far from me but we've been having daily rain for the last week so there's been no need to water. My drippers are 1GPH and I set them off for half an hour every 3-4 days in May and will up to a max of every 2 days when we get into the 100s (August). But note that I'm in grow bags so they will dry up quicker and any excess will just seep out the sides - I can't really overwater my plants. If I was you, I would watch the plants and water when they need it, rather than trying to determine a schedule now. The watering schedule will depend a lot on your rainfall, soil conditions, mulch, drainage etc which is different for everyone. If you're covering in poly you may only need to water very infrequently - perhaps weekly or even longer.
 
Also, I prefer to have slow watering over a long period to give time for the water the soak down. It's better to go 0.5GPH for an hour than 10GPH for 3 minutes! I also set my watering to go off very early in the morning (5am) so that it's cooler and less evaporates.
 
I can't really give advice on fertilizer - I just use a little Osmocote every 3 months - the worms and compost in my soil probably do the bulk of the fertilization! Perhaps others can comment.
 
Good luck! It's a very ambitious endeavor you have going there.
Click to expand...
 
I am North of I-10 so that makes me a Yankee and you a redneck in TX.  :P  Thanks for the advice.
 
I agree with Siv, you're going to want to bust up the root ball as they'll probably be bound. I do this with my pepper transplants and it'll make for a better root structure in the long run.

Give them a good soak after transplant. It's important to water them well, but after that you want to make sure you let them dry out some between waterings. You want the plants roots to grow out in search of water. You'll just have to keep and eye on them the first couple weeks and water when the soil is dry. After that they'll be pretty resilient. Where I'm at in NC I look for an inch of rain a week to keep them happy, but really anything between .5-1.5 inches works. I may run my drip lines every 4-5 days if we have a few dry weeks in a row. For almost every pepper I grow (excluding Shishito's and sweet peppers) being on the dry side doesn't effect yeilds and will give you a hotter pepper.

5-1-1 Fish fert will probably be fine for the first couple feedings as long as it works with your equipment and doesn't clog your emitters. After that I would scale back the N and bost up the P for flower production. I usualy look for a 1-3-2 ratio during fruit set. A Cal-Mag is helpful too. I usually add it to my mix for the first 3-4 feedings and again once a month after.

Hope that helps. Good Luck!
 
Rain delays slowed progress and gave us time to think. We have reengineered the rows and will now have 150 plants per greenhouse vs 75. Working on drip line irrigation, then black plastic embossed mulch.
 
 
 
After inventory yesterday we have 268 plants and all are doing well. Fed them with 5-1-1 fish fertilizer and hope to plant next week. 
 
Apocalypse Scorpion-1
Big Thai Hybrid - 19
Black Panther-4
Caramel Trinidad Scorpion-9
Cayenne-14
Chocolate Bhutlah-1
Chocolate Ghost-2
Chocolate Habanero- 11
Dragon Breath - 4
Fatalii Yellow-1
Ghost - 59
Habanero-71
Komodo Dragon - 9
Peach Reaper-9
Pepper X-23
Scotch Brain Strain Orange-1
Sugar Rush Red-1
Trinidad Scorpion-25
Yellow Reaper-4
 
 
 

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Are you planning on running your fertilizer through the drip lines? Also what’s the plan to keep the grass from growing into the shade houses?


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Peppergator said:
That’s just a filter. We use those before our applicators. Look into a dosatron the are a bit expensive but that’s what you will need.


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Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice. 
 
Magno Farms said:
Thanks for the advice. 
Click to expand...
If you need help setting up a fertigation system please reach out. I run them on all of our greenhouses. Here’s a basic look into one I use for starter plants, notice the filter in the first picture.

d32b13af404f97f179fce1aac0a1a9ba.jpg

62945a323756d5aa2ac1cb86afef9dfa.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Peppergator said:
If you need help setting up a fertigation system please reach out. I run them on all of our greenhouses. Here’s a basic look into one I use for starter plants, notice the filter in the first picture.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
 
Very cool, will do. Thanks again.
 
All of their units run similar to one another, it’s really out GOM and how much you to reduce your concentration. I like to run at 1%. Basically in a 5gallon bucket I run a concentration that has enough bites for 100 gallon, then I set my dosatron to 1% and let her do her thing.


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Peppergator said:
All of their units run similar to one another, it’s really out GOM and how much you to reduce your concentration. I like to run at 1%. Basically in a 5gallon bucket I run a concentration that has enough bites for 100 gallon, then I set my dosatron to 1% and let her do her thing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the info.
 
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