what would you do?

[tjg911]

Ok, I can get carried away with things but I'm not sure if I should continue with this or not.

Question – should I transplant 6 fatali plants that are presently in a 6 pack and grow them on the window sill all winter? Or how about putting them under a shop light with 2 4' T8 tubes that I calculate will use $15 of electricity from mid November to mid February. I would turn the shop lights on for onions in mid February anyway. $15 isn't going to break me but why bother if they won't do well come summer if growing them over the winter will negatively effect them?

Will these plants do well come summer or is starting them in late September and keeping them thru the winter yield plants unfit for producing peppers in the garden come June when they'd be put out?

Can they grow ok in a window sill with weak sun or must they be under lights? So far they are stocky and very healthy looking! They have 4 sets of leaves and are about 1.5” tall and 2” wide. Tomatoes would be leggy by now so these plants look pretty healthy considering the weak sun coming thru the window. It has been sunny most of the time, very few cloudy days.

They were started on 9/25, transplanted on 10/17 into a 6 pack 1 plant per cell. 2 are the largest, 3 are a bit smaller but close and 1 is ½ the size of the biggest.

There's no sense doing this if the plants won't do well come June out in the garden. I really don't want to bring a grow light stand up from the basement to keep them under lights plus spend the $15. It is too cold down in the basement during the winter as it is often 45-48 degrees. So I have to do this upstairs.

I could just start new seeds come late January but I hate to toss 6 good looking plants. I'm in Connecticut so the sun is low and weak, this isn't Florida.

So what would you do? Window sill no shop lights? Shop lights for 2 ½ months? Toss them?

thanks,

tom

 

[S.S.Tupperware]

I live in Fl. Orlando, and I would toss um. June's a long time away for baby sittin... Get some barley pop to occupy your time... I am doin the same thing, but just to test my box, i will either give then to the hydro gut or compost them... i have enough to worry about...

 

[Prehensile]

I live in Fl and you could send em to me I'll babyset em LOLOLOL. tending them all winter will not effect em come spring, I have 2 year old plants in the ground they overwintered fine just had to protect em a few times during the winter.

 

[JesterJoker]

I'm going to use 4 shop lights to grow 16 plants. I live in Maine. But my basement right now is like 70 degrees and its 40 outside. I think my lights keep it pretty warm down there. I put mylar thermal blankets on the walls. But I'm crazy and want peppers 365 days a year. Lol.

 

[Siliman]

Well, mission accomplished on germination and growing to the first stage, dude!

Personally, I would pot them up into 3 or 4-inch containers. Then give 3 away to any friends, neighbors or gardeners or even a workplace with a south facing window (preferably bay window) as a Thanksgiving gift. Keep 2 in your own south facing window and see how they do. For the lucky 1 remaining, get a second hand desk light for a couple bucks and some 5000K CFL bulbs from Lowes. Keep that lucky one in the south facing window with the little CFL supplemental light. If they get leggy, top em, see what happens.

But stick to the original plan of a main plant out in January. Everything else is for fun, karma, and testing....

 

[tjg911]

But stick to the original plan of a main plant out in January.

january? i said plant out in june (i'd start pepper seeds in late january). i'm in ct and trust me ain't nuthin' growing outside in january except snow piles!

so far it sounds like keeping them all winter will not effect their ability to grow and produce fruit come summer. this doesn't surprise me as i have read how people over winter pepper plants year after year inside all winter but that's with established plants at least 1 season old if not a few seasons but not new seedlings that's why i questioned it. i'm not too keen on the window sill, it is often cloudy and it seems like a poor way to keep them and if i'm going to run 1 shop light i might as well put all 6 under that light. i hate having a grow light stand that's 5' long, 2.5' wide and 6' tall in the kitchen from now to early march even tho i have the room for it but it seems like the best way to do this. it will be too cold to put seedling started in late january down in the basement before march (even tho i have 1 running for onions by 2/20) because i have a 2 car garage that the basement leads to. so while the basement is under ground the garage makes it colder than the typical 54 degrees it should be (not a problem for onions but peppers i think 50 is too cold) and that's with a south facing garage. the $15 of electricity isn't a breaker as it's just 1 shop light and i run from 1 to 4 shop lights growing plants for the garden until they can go out.

if this gives me larger and healthier pepper plants then i may just start all my peppers in october and do this each winter. it is interesting that out of 6 plants they are different sizes. i typically grow 1 plant of any given variety such as tomatoes and never considered i would get larger plants if i had 6 to pick 1 from.

tom

 

[Siliman]

january? i said plant out in june (i'd start pepper seeds in late january). i'm in ct and trust me ain't nuthin' growing outside in january except snow piles!

Well, from the sound of things, January is when you might want to plant out (toss) those early test plants out in the CT snow...lol...

My grow arena is also limited. I'm working with 3 shoplight flouros indoors 65F. Have a couple of windows, but not really very good sun angles. I'm over-wintering 7 plants trying different things to see how it goes. One plant gets a little supplemental light of its own for now. I'm not counting on them, but it is fun to try stuff. Just survive and then revive, baby.

Starting plants really early becomes a lot like the over-wintering with considerations for space, heat, light and bug management. There is a big tradeoff of trying to sustain a big plant growing versus a healthy compact 8-inch stock ready to go straight in the earth. It is a great game to play, and everybody's playground is different....