Greetings all. This is my first season with all of you, so starting what I hope is an annual thread.
This year, I started my seeds in small plastic cups from Lowe's that came as a single unit (7 pod grow kit?). I also acquired heat mats and grow lights from Amazon, and some basic grow trays. The trays I purchased would hold 12 pods cut into individual cups, so I was running 24 starter plants at one point planted about a week apart. This was too early, in my opinion. First lesson learned is that I will start next year around Valentine's Day, cutting 2 weeks out. At one point we were beset with gnats that were so bad, my children threatened to move out. Lesson learned #2, predatory plants inside. Two Sundews made short work of the gnats. Transitioned to 1 Gallon pots and that was a lot of sprawl, so lesson learned #3 is rack storage for next year.
After 5 weeks of effort, I have the following in my garden (all grown from seed except the Reaper and the Cowhorn):
Sweet
1 x Giant Marconi
1 x Mystery pepper that was growing randomly in the outer third of a one-gallon pot. I captured it, and I'm pretty sure it is a Marconi. So let's call it 2x Marconi until proven innocent.
2 x Queen Laurie
2 x Giant Aconagua
2 x Shishitos - not doing well and I am really hard pressed to say why, grown them for years now and never a problem before, first time from seed)
Sweet-ish (don't know for sure, as reports are mixed)
4 x Chinese Space HJ1 - Fruit is already living up to the legend. Huge given the size of the plant.
Mild
2 x Mucho Nacho Jalapeno
1 x Hungarian Paprika
1 x Cowhorn (Bonnie Alert!)
1 x Sarit Gat/Kosovo
1 x Black Cobra/Goat's Weed
Medium
1 x Habanero, and get ready for all of his cousins because I did most of them this year.
1 x Fatalii
1 x Scotch Bonnet - Jamaican Ministry of Ag so you know it's good?
1 x Yellow Goroning
1 x Tibetan Lhasa - Precious little info on this. Guessing as to heat.
1 x Thai Upright
Super Hot
1 x Carolina Reaper - A gift, grown by a friend's Dad on the Eastern Shore of MD, presumably from seed as he is a farmer
1 x Trinidad Moruga Scorpion - Best behaved pepper plant in the world, nothing eats it not even subterranean bugs
1 x Chocolate Bhutlah - Have to, right?
1 x Naga Viper - Personal fave in this space
1 x Ghost - The drama queen of peppers
1 x Bubblegum 7 Pot
1 x Bleeding Borg 9 - Worth it to see the stained calyx.
1 x Black Panther
1 x Red Devil's Tongue - Love the fruit, hate growing them. Almost as moody as the Ghost. Lots of brown spot problems here in NC.
1 x Death Spiral
1 x Big Mama Mustard
So far, so good. I have not lost a single plant #KnockOnWood. Stepping outside now to place some fertilizer spikes by the Shishitos.
This year, I started my seeds in small plastic cups from Lowe's that came as a single unit (7 pod grow kit?). I also acquired heat mats and grow lights from Amazon, and some basic grow trays. The trays I purchased would hold 12 pods cut into individual cups, so I was running 24 starter plants at one point planted about a week apart. This was too early, in my opinion. First lesson learned is that I will start next year around Valentine's Day, cutting 2 weeks out. At one point we were beset with gnats that were so bad, my children threatened to move out. Lesson learned #2, predatory plants inside. Two Sundews made short work of the gnats. Transitioned to 1 Gallon pots and that was a lot of sprawl, so lesson learned #3 is rack storage for next year.
After 5 weeks of effort, I have the following in my garden (all grown from seed except the Reaper and the Cowhorn):
Sweet
1 x Giant Marconi
1 x Mystery pepper that was growing randomly in the outer third of a one-gallon pot. I captured it, and I'm pretty sure it is a Marconi. So let's call it 2x Marconi until proven innocent.
2 x Queen Laurie
2 x Giant Aconagua
2 x Shishitos - not doing well and I am really hard pressed to say why, grown them for years now and never a problem before, first time from seed)
Sweet-ish (don't know for sure, as reports are mixed)
4 x Chinese Space HJ1 - Fruit is already living up to the legend. Huge given the size of the plant.
Mild
2 x Mucho Nacho Jalapeno
1 x Hungarian Paprika
1 x Cowhorn (Bonnie Alert!)
1 x Sarit Gat/Kosovo
1 x Black Cobra/Goat's Weed
Medium
1 x Habanero, and get ready for all of his cousins because I did most of them this year.
1 x Fatalii
1 x Scotch Bonnet - Jamaican Ministry of Ag so you know it's good?
1 x Yellow Goroning
1 x Tibetan Lhasa - Precious little info on this. Guessing as to heat.
1 x Thai Upright
Super Hot
1 x Carolina Reaper - A gift, grown by a friend's Dad on the Eastern Shore of MD, presumably from seed as he is a farmer
1 x Trinidad Moruga Scorpion - Best behaved pepper plant in the world, nothing eats it not even subterranean bugs
1 x Chocolate Bhutlah - Have to, right?
1 x Naga Viper - Personal fave in this space
1 x Ghost - The drama queen of peppers
1 x Bubblegum 7 Pot
1 x Bleeding Borg 9 - Worth it to see the stained calyx.
1 x Black Panther
1 x Red Devil's Tongue - Love the fruit, hate growing them. Almost as moody as the Ghost. Lots of brown spot problems here in NC.
1 x Death Spiral
1 x Big Mama Mustard
So far, so good. I have not lost a single plant #KnockOnWood. Stepping outside now to place some fertilizer spikes by the Shishitos.
