Predicament transplanting my hot peppers!

[nicksicko]

Ok, so its Tuesday and my band leaves for a month-long East Coast tour this Friday. Its chilly and wet in Nebraska where I live and I have Thai peppers, Jalapenos (the same ones from my last post, which are doing quite fine now!), Habeneros, Tapas, and a couple other varieties Ive grown from seed. My question is this: Should I go ahead and plant them so I know they have gone in the ground and get back to them in the middle of June, or should I leave them out of the ground and have my dad (a great gardener, btw) put them into our two plots when its warm. The frost date is past, and I already have my tomatoes, spinach, eggplants and sunflowers in the ground. Do I risk ruining all my peppers by putting them in the ground early or just wait and do it later?

Please and thank you!

Nick

[applestar]

How long have you had the eggplants in and how are they doing? They'll be your best indicator for whether the weather is warmed up enough for the hot peppers. I've noticed the eggplant leaves "close up" like hands held "in prayer," if you will, when it's too cold.

[nicksicko]

Interesting! My eggplants that are still inside are doing that, but the ones in the ground are at a plot across town -- so I will see tomorrow I guess!

nick

[rainbowgardener]

I'm betting that they would be all right going in the ground, but the question is how can they get the best care. They will most likely need to be watered some, weeded some if in the ground, checked for pests etc. You can't just leave seedlings for a month and expect to find something when you come back. So your dad or someone needs to be keeping an eye on them, watering when needed etc. So my thought would be how is it easiest for whoever it is to take care of them. You want to make it as convenient as possible for the caretaker!

[MaineDesigner]

There is another option. I've had good luck with growing hot peppers in containers. In Minnesota they actually did better than the same peppers in the ground. My best guess is that the pots warmed up more quickly than the soil in the ground and the drainage was probably sharper. It has been quite a while since I did this but as I recall I mostly used 5-gallon pots for peppers.

What band?

[nicksicko]

I have three plots -- one community gardening plot, one that my dad and I share, and one I have at my dumpy house downtown. My gf will be taking care of the one at the house, and my dad will be tending the other two. So, yes, they will be taken care of. I wouldnt expect ANYTHING to remain if they couldnt be taken care of by a watchful eye.

I guess a better question to ask would have been, "If I put my pepper plants in the ground when its chilly and wet (because I have to), do I run the risk of killing them all off?" Its not going to frost here anymore unless I get really unlucky. My peppers are pretty strong plants, 4 to 5 inches tall, but leggy. I just don't want to leave and have put them in the ground too early and die when I'm gone. I dread coming home to a dead garden -- not because my dad or gf goofed anything up, but because I rushed it. I put about 50 plants in the ground today in a bit of a rain -- temps in the mid 50's. Gah, I'm just new at growing from seed and learning as I go. Trying not to screw everything up!

Oh, this is the band I'm leaving with: www.myspace.com/theheatmachine

Thanks for all the helpful info so far! Ive received fantastic feedback on a couple topics thus far. Nice to know other people really care about learning to tend veggies.