Today I finally got a head start on getting the peppers planted. Using foam and plastic egg cartons, a plastic spoon and my bag of Burpee organic seed starting mix(composted of nice soft coconut coir) I planted the California Wonders, Sweet Bananas, Poblanos and Nadapenos. I'm not through, but I ran out of cartons. I will get my hands on some more; I still intend to plant Fish, Black Hungarian, a few of those Italian Friariello Di Napoli's and perhaps one Habanero.
I've got a few Habanero seeds and some unwanted Lipstick sweet pepper seeds if anybody wants them.
Correct. I don't mess with eggplant, but pepper seeds take weeks to germinate. Last December, however, I planted the beginning of the month and the peppers germinated sooner than I expected and the plants were getting leggy before planting time. So this time I've waited until AFTER Christmas. As soon as most of the seedlings have germinated, I will move them outside to the greenhouse.
@Lakngulf, if you really want some of my extra Habanero seed and the Lipstick peppers you're welcome to them.
All you have to do to get peppers to germinate quickly is keep them warm! I have had habaneros and jalapeños germinate in 3 days, at around 88-90°, but usually in a week, plus or minus a little. When a variety doesn't germinate in 2 weeks, I figure they are dead, though if I really want them, I'll dig them up and put them in a sprouter, to see if that will do it.
However you do it, good luck with all of your garden in 2020!
Oh wow, I've never had peppers germinate that quickly. I give mine a month of germination time in the house which is usually kept around 65-70 degrees. After most of the seedlings are up I move them to the greenhouse. I let them grow a little bit more in the cartons, then separate and begin giving light fertilize.
Bell and some hot peppers will germinate with a 68 degree minimum, but will grow slower at the lower temperatures. Peppers that are native to very hot areas like India don't germinate well until they get to about 80 degrees.
65-70 degrees is actually a little too cold for my comfort, but you are acclimated cooler conditions. It is 70 degrees now and I am definitely considering getting my jacket and socks. If you have cold tolerant varieties like Gypsy, you can germinate better at cooler temperatures. I only grow heat tolerant peppers year round so they will germinate slowly or not at all if it is cooler than 68 degrees, 80 degrees for ghost peppers.
I'd take 70 for a wintertime temperature ANYTIME. My cousin in Illinois will get single digit temps and she'll tell me how much she loves to bundle up and go out in the freezing cold to shovel snow. I think she's nuts, 'cause my being a Texas grown person, I start getting irritated at temperatures below 60. At night I don't mind it being cold so I can snuggle under layers of blankets, but during the day when I'm up and about I get chilled easily. I can't stand having to put layers upon layers of clothes to be able to go out and putter outside.
Gypsy sounds familiar, but I've never grown it. Isn't that a bell pepper? I NEVER grow ghost peppers. I can't stand hot peppers unless they are really mild like TAM Jalapeno. But even TAM's can get too hot for my suitability if the plants experience weather stress. That's when I switched to the Fooled You heatless hybrid, and then last year I went to Baker Creek's Nadapeno. This year however, I purchased some Poblano peppers with hopes of making chili powder from. I also have yet to plant: Black Hungarian pepper(looks like a black jalapeno. Mildly hot.), Fish Pepper and that Italian sweet pepper that I can't pronounce. If the Black Hungarian and Fish peppers end up turning too hot for me, I'll either give them away or make chili powder out of them.
HOW do you keep 2 tablespoon of soil from drying out? Only way I can start seeds inside the house is re use 4 & 6 pack plant trays keep them in zip lock bags so water can not evaporate those tiny cups dry up in about 7 hours. Soon as seeds germinate plants get leggy quick without real sun light then get stem rot and die. Very frustrating and too much work to grow dead plants.
Last edited by Gary350 on Sun Jan 05, 2020 9:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
Wow @Gary350 you sound like someone who has a workshop with fluorescent shoplights? Couldn’t you set the seedlings up to grow there as soon as they sprout?
Or if you don’t mind dirt in the kitchen, under cabinet light could grow some seedlings.... That’s what I used to do way back when I lived in apartments, though I had to expand to a nearby bookshelf fitted with a repurposed desk fluorescent light.
...when you picked up those aquarium tanks didn’t they come with aquarium lights? I upgraded to those (and still have one left) — it’s getting harder to find T12’s and T8’s for those though.
Now I’m using T12’s, T8’s and T5’s and I suppose will eventually move on to led’s...
applestar wrote:Wow @Gary350 you sound like someone who has a workshop with fluorescent shoplights? Couldn’t you set the seedlings up to grow there as soon as they sprout?
Or if you don’t mind dirt in the kitchen, under cabinet light could grow some seedlings.... That’s what I used to do way back when I lived in apartments, though I had to expand to a nearby bookshelf fitted with a repurposed desk fluorescent light.
...when you picked up those aquarium tanks didn’t they come with aquarium lights? I upgraded to those (and still have one left) — it’s getting harder to find T12’s and T8’s for those though.
Now I’m using T12’s, T8’s and T5’s and I suppose will eventually move on to led’s...
I do have a 30'x50' workshop building. I have lots of, metal working tools, wood working tools, 2 welders, mechanic tools, machinist tools, I can built or repair almost anything. In the past I used fluorescent lights to build a grow area but plants were all leggy get stem rot and die. A fan stops stem rot but fan causes dry soil very fast so then it need sprayers & irrigation things start to get more & more complicated it needs grow lights too & temperature control. I only need to buy 16 tomato plants & 8 pepper plants total price at the garden store $2.49 per 4 pack = $14.94 plus sales tax. I can't justify spending lots of money, work, time, to grow $15 worth of plant even if I can reuse it year after year. I enjoy going to the garden store shopping for plants & talking to lots of people when I am there. If I see people with certain plants that I am interested in growing I start talking to them about how well those plants are growing for them and end up learning new things. Everyone is good at growing something. Some people can grow lots of large ripe tomatoes but can't grow onions. Other people grow very large onions but can't grow tomatoes. People that live here all have the same, weather, growing conditions and soil it is good to know how someone is growing baseball size onions in my area. Each person has their own trick for growing something. One persons idea of good onions is not another persons idea of good onions. Taking to people is fun just as much fun as growing it myself. People selling are farmers market are fun too 1 guy was bragging about how big his onions are I looked they were the size of golf balls, that was large to him. I judge onions buy what I see in the grocery store 3.5" diameter is a good size onion but it will be a big challenge for me to grow onions that big in TN, too cold in winter, too hot is summer, spring & fall are too short.
The $2 yard sale aquarium came with a bag of blue color gravel I threw it into the garden. I have the aquarium covering up 8 potato eye cuttings that will probably not grow anything until April by then it will be in the way and need to be gone so I will try growing lettuce under it soon as seeds arrive.
Last edited by Gary350 on Sun Jan 05, 2020 9:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Gee Gary, your workshop is bigger than the footprint of my entire house!
TomatoNut: Gypsy is a cold tolerant bell pepper. I grow mostly hot peppers because they are productive and longer lived. I don't eat most of them, I give away or use them to trade for other things. The hottest pepper I can eat is probably a cayenne at 80,000 SHU. I use the super chili the most at about 35,000-50,000 SHU. Ghost peppers are used for pepper spray, but I rarely have to make pepper spray for the garden. I do have hothead friends who like the ghost peppers and people have given me seeds from ghost pepper crosses which are a bit milder. Jalapeno has a heat range from 0-8000 SHU. My Wailua Peppers (UH variety) are around 5000 SHU and that is not very hot. Fish pepper only has mild heat 5,000-30000 SHU. The ones I have are on the lower end of the scale. Bell peppers are harder to grow in my climate, few cultivars are resistant to fungal disease. The local bred Kaala is resistant, but it is a mini pepper. Emerald, Chinese Giant, and Monster have done fairly well and I get a couple of rounds of fruit from them, but they don't last very long in wet and humid conditions. I usually grow Corno d' Toro var. Carmen, Hungarian Wax/Banana pepper (some are hot some not), Fushimi Sweet, Shishito (harder to grow than Fushimi), Anaheim (mildly hot), Big Jim, Filipino Sweet Pepper (looks like Fushimi), Cubanelle, Numex Joe E. Parker, I finally got Cascabella to grow, a couple of different Thai peppers (thai hot, and Kung pao), super chili. Hawaiian tabasco is the best one for trade by name. Most people don't know if I give them super chili instead. It has similar look and taste. Hawaiian peppers need to be caged or the birds will get all of the peppers and just leave caps. Cayenne, serrano (heat is more stable than Jalapeno which can be all over the place), Thai hot, Kung Pao, ghost, Carolina Reaper. I have seeds for starfish, a Jalapeno/Ghost cross, red habanero, scotch bonnet, trinidad scorpion, mirasol, aji, Guajillo and a few others. I do not plant all the peppers at the same time and some of the peppers are seeds people have given me. I don't cross peppers and even though I grow peppers in close proximity, I rarely have had any of them cross naturally. I find peppers to be very ornamental, so I like to grow them because the hot ones are easy for me and for their ornamental and trade value. I have super chili the most since it has the highest trade value. As long as people do not specify they want Hawaiian peppers. It has an average lifespan of 8 years. Thai and Wailua (Jalapeno) wll maybe last about 3. Bell peppers only last 6 months and ave 3-8 peppers if I am lucky. The hot peppers have better disease resistance. It has been raining a few days now. I will be lucky if the peppers don't end up with black speck again.
Ha! This looks stupid, but any porthole in a freezing cold night after a storm! Using an old sheet, a piece of black plastic, a sheet of fabric, buckets, wooden stakes and bricks I made a makeshift cabbage cold cover.
Got the greenhouse up over the weekend! I was a little disappointed in the tight fit of the plastic. Plastic is secured to framing by way of velcro strips wrapped around the pipe. This greenhouse is different than my last style. This one is shorter(barely above my head), features only one large door, and has 4 heat vents (one on each side of the house) held closed by velcro and held open by fabric ties. Cheap.
I've already moved some of the pepper seedlings outside and have separated some from the egg cartons. In cell trays I sowed some Cockscomb, Dianthus, China-Asters, Snapdragons and Verbena seeds.
Actually, I did need to purchase some more 6-packs. You're right they weren't too cheap. But I also found some little fabric planting pots. They are very cheap, very popular and biodegradable in the soil. They come in many sizes. I bought an assortment of 400 pieces. If I like them, I'll probably start using them like crazy.
Boy am I pooped. Spent an hour or two in Wal-Mart, got home unloaded and put away everything, tossed a frozen dinner in the microwave, ate a quick lunch and dashed outside where I spent over 3 hours planting Joseph's Coat amaranth seeds, separating pepper seedlings, tomato seedlings, cleaning out my giant rain barrel, covering mouse holes, hauling leaves out into the woods and griping about what needs done around here. After having lain on the floor a bit with my back hurting, I think I will go fix a bowl of ice cream smothered in chocolate sauce.
I pretty much got most of the pepper seedlings separated with the exception of a couple of Black Hungarian stragglers. I just love how interestingly dark the foliage is they show. The Dianthus and Pink China Asters are slowly peeking through the soil.
I don't keep yogurt cups on hand. The egg cartons and nursery pots work just fine for me; I have plenty of those small single pots. People have even been very kind as to give me pots and packs they acquire over time. However, I prefer using foam cups to start tomatoes in. Aside from them being cheap and having plenty of root room, it saves on plastic labels and I can scribble the variety name directly onto the cups.
A lot of people use cups. I used to recycle my drink cups that were made of plastic. Now, they are made of paper with a wax or plastic liner. I rarely buy styrofoam or plastic drinking cups. I don't really use them much. I do eat yogurt, and those cups are the right size for starting seeds. I save egg cartons for eggs. I buy 5 dozen eggs trays and transfer them to 18 ct egg boxes and I use them until they can't be used anymore.
I do have a paper pot maker. I don't use it much either since I don't actually have a lot a newspapers now since I cancelled the subscription. I do get the weekly mailer, but that is only enough to line the cat litter box. The paper pots tended to fall apart anyway and I had to keep them in a plastic pot, so what was the point?
I tried cell trays. I don't do well with one seed in one cell. I get too many empties and it takes up too much space, so I use compots instead and two step the transplants.
One thing I NEVER use and that is peat pots or seed trays. They are way too floppy to work with when wet, and don't decompose that fast. That is why back when Bonnie plants came in peat pots and they said just plant the plant, pot and all directly in the ground, I tore the pot off anyway. I'm glad Bonnie started using plastic pots. Makes it way easier to just pop the plant out, and you have a reusable pot.
The verbenas didn't germinate at all, so I seeded the Joseph's Coat in the verbenas cells. The coleus has yet to germinate, as well as the snapdragon mix; but I do believe I saw itty bitty roots sticking from the Black Prince snapdragons.
A couple of the newborn peppers have stuck seedhead, so I'll be having to keep better care of those so I won't lose them.
So far, out of all those Italian FDN's I planted weeks ago, I'm only seeing one germinate. Which I guess one is better than none.
None of the Roma's I planted came up, but the Silvery Fir Tree, Bradley, Tiny Tim's and Micro Tom's did. I really hope I can come across a Micro Tom that doesn't bear bitter fruit, otherwise I'll kiss that variety good-bye.
Nothing much to report. Pepper seedlings are steadily growing. I just love the dark foliage of the Black Hungarians. This has been my first time working with a black pepper! Fish peppers are already showing faint signs of variegation.
As for tomatoes, 1 Silvery Fir Tree, 1 Roma, 3 Micro Tom's and 5 (maybe 6) Tiny Tims are up, and true leaves are already showing.
Very nice. I only plant about 10 seeds at a time and I still usually plant them to sell. I only keep 1-3 plants for myself. I have 3-18 gallon containers and a permanent trellis. It is usually more than I need. TYLCV has impacted what I can grow so now I usually only have one or two tomatoes since they have to be resistant.
Oh, not all of those plants are mine; most of them are already spoken for. I'm only keeping 1 or 2 each of my Fish, Black Hungarian, Jalapeno, Poblano, that Italian pepper I can't pronounce, one of Gary's Chili peppers and Big Bertha. Here in another week or so I will start the tomatoes.
Is San Marzano a determinate tomato like Roma so I can put it in a pot?
The lizard is called an anole. Around here though they are referred to as lizards. Very common here. They will change from green to brown as needed to camoflauge. He has taken up residence in my greenhouse and has been a helpful bug vaccum. He has allowed me even to hand-feed him
That sounds like fun. The color change trick seems like chameleon behavior. I wonder how they do that.
Lucky for him-her-it to have found such a nice place to live.
I wasn't quite sure if Big Bertha is the name of a tomato or the lizard. I think it must be a tomato name.
Because of my lizard buddy's size, I believe he is a male. Female lizards(anoles) tend to be smaller in size. I haven't really given him a name yet, but I may come up with one.
TomatoNut95 wrote: Big Bertha is a large-sized bell pepper.
My Big Bertha were 4" diameter 6" long 30 peppers per plant until weather turned hot. I gave plants lots of potassium that made lots of blossom that turned into lots of peppers. When weather turned hot 95 and rain stopped peppers were smaller and not as many as before. Fall when weather got cooler peppers were larger again with lots of peppers again. We had 6 or 7 gallon bags of sliced red BB peppers in the freezer wife puts them in lots of things. Wait about 3 more weeks green peppers turn red. Last season I harvested no green peppers, only red.
Steady progress on the peppers! Slight variegation on my Fish pepper!
I just love the awesome carrot-like foliage on this Silvery Fir Tree tomato!
Made a trip to my favorite greenhouse and brought home a few goodies I couldn't resist like these Gerber Daisy's and my so soft and fuzzy Licorice plant!
Received a gift in the mail today from my cousin. The two tomato varieties are ones I actually asked for as I haven't seen those varieties around here; Marglobe and Giant Pink Belgium. But I had no idea she was going to send me all these other seeds! Sadly my greenhouse is getting rather full and I won't be able to plant much of her presents.
Today was so hot I had to pull the baking plants out of the greenhouse oven. I'd like to wrap my hands around the person who designed my greenhouse. I'd like them to sit in the seemingly 200 degree temperature in that thing and realize that ALL walk-in greenhouses either need a back door or a large openable/closeable window and the heat vents need to be near the TOP of the structure not the bottom to provide adequate airflow and allow heat to escape.
My internet connection is misbehaving so I can't upload my pictures right now. But my peppers and tomatoes are getting bigger and need to be planted. I hate to plant this early but I hate having to keep repotting more.
I've got several heads of Romaine lettuce that are getting ready to harvest. So somebody around here needs to eat a big salad, lol!
Went in the backyard to check everything and followed a trail of swarming termites to that dumb stump. It was completley covered in those nasty termites. As much as I wanted to dump gasoline on it and light a match to it, the stump is right next to a cedar tree I don't want to hurt. So using my best friend and companion: the fly swatter, I smacked as many as I could. It was fun! But not enough. Using my shovel I scooped a large ant mound and dumped directly onto the stump! Hopefully the ants will help destroy as many as they can. It'll be up to the Ortho spray, lizards and dragonflies to eliminate the others.
My tomatoes are up! (Except for Mystery and Yellow Perfection) I plan to get my peppers in the ground soon. Maybe this evening, or if not; I'll have to wait until after tomorrows rain. I can't wait to start trying all these new varieties and attempt making chili powder and tomato powder!
I will get my hands on some more; I still intend to plant Fish, Black Hungarian, a few of those Italian Friariello Di Napoli's and perhaps one Habanero. 
Last December, however, I planted the beginning of the month and the peppers germinated sooner than I expected and the plants were getting leggy before planting time. 
So this time I've waited until AFTER Christmas. As soon as most of the seedlings have germinated, I will move them outside to the greenhouse. 
I was a little disappointed in the tight fit of the plastic. Plastic is secured to framing by way of velcro strips wrapped around the pipe. This greenhouse is different than my last style. This one is shorter(barely above my head), features only one large door, and has 4 heat vents (one on each side of the house) held closed by velcro and held open by fabric ties. Cheap. 
Hopefully the ants will help destroy as many as they can. It'll be up to the Ortho spray, lizards and dragonflies to eliminate the others. 
