Hello All,
I'm new to the hobby of gardening and want some advice on how to grow bell peppers and jalapenos indoors. I bought some organic seeds from my local natural foods store. I love peppers so I decided to start with these.
I want to have these in containers that I can move around so that during the summer I can grow them outdoors and during the winter I can grow them indoors or in the garage.
I have tons of questions and searching online I get some answers, but it is limited and/or hard to understand as a beginner. I figured I would ask here and hopefully get some responses from others who have grown these plants in containers indoors.
So now that I have the seeds I'm wondering what to do next:
1. What kind of soil should I get?
2. What size containers do I need to start the seeds? (should I start with smaller containers till they grow a bit, then transfer to bigger containers?
3. I read that I need to keep the soil moist until they start to grow. How much water do I use when they start to grow?
I have more questions, but I don't want it to be overwhelming. Any advice would be wonderful on growing these peppers.
Also any good references would be nice; books or websites.
Eventually I want to grow a lot of different veggies and fruits, but for now I need to learn the basics.
Thank you in advance and I appreciate all the help I can get!
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DISCOVERINGMYPATH
- Newly Registered
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PunkRotten
- Greener Thumb
- Posts: 1989
- Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:48 pm
- Location: Monterey, CA.
For starting the seeds you want a mix of materials like coconut coir (or peat moss) and perlite at a 50/50 ratio. Start these seeds in small cells. Then upgrade them to a 3 inch pot when they got 1-2 sets of true leaves. At this point what I do is add in a little compost or worm castings. I use the same materials mentioned above but add in only a 1/3 of the compost/worm castings. To grow peppers full grown in pots I would suggest a 3 gallon pot minimum per plant. You can use the same mixture of materials already mentioned too. Although you could add other things too. But you gotta make sure that you fertilize your potted plants because the fertility in the pots become depleted. Organic liquid fish fertilizer is a good one, even organic fertilizer spikes could work well. The soil of your seedlings should be moist/damp but not saturated.
Peppers are true warm weather plants and germinate best around 70 degrees. If you are starting them indoors, you can use a heat mat to speed germination.
I don't have much luck with cell packs but they are great if they work for you.
I like to conserve space so I germinate most things in community pots. I use 4 inch pots and transplant individual seedlingss into their own 4 inch pot. Peppers do not grow fast in the beginning. I will pot up again to gallon pots when the seedlings have doubled in size and they can stay in that until after the first fruiting. If it is a pepper that lives a long time like a tabasco pepper, then I pot them up to 5 gallon pots or they go in the ground. Tabasco peppers live about 4 years in a pot but over 10 years in the ground. They do much better in the sun.
I use a mix similar to what punk rotten suggested. I use peatlite (50/50 pea moss and perlite). Coir is more expensive and harder to find in quantity here. Do not use dirt in pots it is too dense and pulls away from the sides of the pots when it dries, especially clay soils. Fertilizer is up to you, as long a you remember to fertilize regularly. If you don't do a lot of quantity, you can use a good quality potting soil and it will save you having to buy separate ingredients and all the mixing. Do not get the cheap stuff and make sure you get potting soil not garden soil. The bags look alike, but garden soil is meant to be mixed in with your soil and not intended for pots. Do not get moisture control.
https://www.pepperjoe.com/articles/hot-p ... -seed.html
I don't have much luck with cell packs but they are great if they work for you.
I like to conserve space so I germinate most things in community pots. I use 4 inch pots and transplant individual seedlingss into their own 4 inch pot. Peppers do not grow fast in the beginning. I will pot up again to gallon pots when the seedlings have doubled in size and they can stay in that until after the first fruiting. If it is a pepper that lives a long time like a tabasco pepper, then I pot them up to 5 gallon pots or they go in the ground. Tabasco peppers live about 4 years in a pot but over 10 years in the ground. They do much better in the sun.
I use a mix similar to what punk rotten suggested. I use peatlite (50/50 pea moss and perlite). Coir is more expensive and harder to find in quantity here. Do not use dirt in pots it is too dense and pulls away from the sides of the pots when it dries, especially clay soils. Fertilizer is up to you, as long a you remember to fertilize regularly. If you don't do a lot of quantity, you can use a good quality potting soil and it will save you having to buy separate ingredients and all the mixing. Do not get the cheap stuff and make sure you get potting soil not garden soil. The bags look alike, but garden soil is meant to be mixed in with your soil and not intended for pots. Do not get moisture control.
https://www.pepperjoe.com/articles/hot-p ... -seed.html
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
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- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
Hi DISCOVERING. I looked back at your earlier posts and found where you said you are in Texas. It would be nice if you would change your profile so that shows. Everything about gardening is relative to location/climate.
The 50:50 mix of peat or coconut coir that has been recommended is a sterile mix, without nutrients. It is all right for starting seeds, but by the time they have true leaves, they have to have nutrients. You either have to start fertilizing regularly or you have to move them to potting soil with nutrients. To avoid that, I just start them in soil with nutrients to begin with. The tiniest seedlings don't need the nutrients, but it doesn't hurt them either.
For years I just started everything in regular Miracle Gro potting soil (imafan is right, it does have to be potting soil). It was convenient and easy and pretty cheap when you buy it in really big bags. I finally got tired of supporting the Miracle Gro company and having my seedlings in synthetic chemicals when everything else I do is organic.
So this is my third year of making my own potting mix. I don't measure, but I use something like 2 parts mushroom compost, 2 parts coconut coir, 1 part perlite or rice hulls. I'm still using up the last of last year's potting mix that had perlite. When I make more this year, I am planning to try the rice hulls instead. Perlite is rock that is mined and then heated to 1600 deg F to expand it. Seems energy intensive. Rice hulls are just the leftovers from growing rice and making it in to white rice. Some people say it is actually better in soil than perlite, with more air holding pores and more water holding capacity
https://www.riceland.com/coproducts/publ ... %20101.pdf
(of course that article is put out by Riceland so maybe they have a vested interest
)
Anyway I can't say anything about the rice hulls from personal experience yet. In a few months hopefully I can report back.
But when I switched from the MG to homegrown, I noticed that my plants weren't doing quite as well. My homegrown wasn't as rich in Nitrogen and other nutrients as the MG. So I started supplementing it with used coffee grounds, alfalfa pellets, worm castings, compost tea or whatever else I had around to boost it with and then they did fine.
Yes you need to start your seedlings in small pots and then pot them up to larger sizes. If you are just growing the pepper for one season as we usually do here in cold winter country, a 2 gallon size is big enough. If you are going to over winter it and keep it going, you may need bigger.
You are right that little seedlings need to be kept moist all the time. Once they get bigger, they should dry out a little between waterings, like letting the top inch or two of soil dry out.
Good luck with it! Enjoy your new hobby!
The 50:50 mix of peat or coconut coir that has been recommended is a sterile mix, without nutrients. It is all right for starting seeds, but by the time they have true leaves, they have to have nutrients. You either have to start fertilizing regularly or you have to move them to potting soil with nutrients. To avoid that, I just start them in soil with nutrients to begin with. The tiniest seedlings don't need the nutrients, but it doesn't hurt them either.
For years I just started everything in regular Miracle Gro potting soil (imafan is right, it does have to be potting soil). It was convenient and easy and pretty cheap when you buy it in really big bags. I finally got tired of supporting the Miracle Gro company and having my seedlings in synthetic chemicals when everything else I do is organic.
So this is my third year of making my own potting mix. I don't measure, but I use something like 2 parts mushroom compost, 2 parts coconut coir, 1 part perlite or rice hulls. I'm still using up the last of last year's potting mix that had perlite. When I make more this year, I am planning to try the rice hulls instead. Perlite is rock that is mined and then heated to 1600 deg F to expand it. Seems energy intensive. Rice hulls are just the leftovers from growing rice and making it in to white rice. Some people say it is actually better in soil than perlite, with more air holding pores and more water holding capacity
https://www.riceland.com/coproducts/publ ... %20101.pdf
(of course that article is put out by Riceland so maybe they have a vested interest
)Anyway I can't say anything about the rice hulls from personal experience yet. In a few months hopefully I can report back.
But when I switched from the MG to homegrown, I noticed that my plants weren't doing quite as well. My homegrown wasn't as rich in Nitrogen and other nutrients as the MG. So I started supplementing it with used coffee grounds, alfalfa pellets, worm castings, compost tea or whatever else I had around to boost it with and then they did fine.
Yes you need to start your seedlings in small pots and then pot them up to larger sizes. If you are just growing the pepper for one season as we usually do here in cold winter country, a 2 gallon size is big enough. If you are going to over winter it and keep it going, you may need bigger.
You are right that little seedlings need to be kept moist all the time. Once they get bigger, they should dry out a little between waterings, like letting the top inch or two of soil dry out.
Good luck with it! Enjoy your new hobby!
How to grow peppers publication from Texas A&M.
https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/orga ... eppers.pdf
I have been disappointed the last couple of years with Jalapenos. They have been hybridized so much and varieties have been created with almost no heat. The more hybridized the peppers are the less consistent they are. I have had Jalapenos where only 1 in 5 of them had any kind of heat on the same plant. I prefer to grow serranos now since they are slightly hotter and a lot more consistent.
Inconsistent heat levels are not confined to Jalapenos even Ghost peppers can have peppers with no heat.
https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/orga ... eppers.pdf
I have been disappointed the last couple of years with Jalapenos. They have been hybridized so much and varieties have been created with almost no heat. The more hybridized the peppers are the less consistent they are. I have had Jalapenos where only 1 in 5 of them had any kind of heat on the same plant. I prefer to grow serranos now since they are slightly hotter and a lot more consistent.
Inconsistent heat levels are not confined to Jalapenos even Ghost peppers can have peppers with no heat.