Growing peppers!

0patience

Ok, since I have some questions, I thought since @WaterNerd was so gracious to provide a bunch of us pepper seeds, I would start this thread as a discussion to the brown thumbs like myself who have questions about growing them.

Do I germinate them first, then pot them or directly pot the seeds?

How many to a pot? 

Any tips?

Wylaff

I approve this message.

rsherman24

I germinate them first.  The super hots take a while to start, but then grow well.  I use Styrofoam coffee cups with 1 seed per cup. 

Bigshizza

You get those biodegradable containers and stick them right in the ground.

silvermouse

and they like extra phosphate, I've heard of folk putting a book of matches in the planting hole for them as a snack.

YankeeMan

I don't know if this actually works or not, but my father used to plant his hot pepper seeds closer together than was recommended.  He said that it made them hotter. 

As I said, I'm not sure if it made a difference or not, but as a young kid, I thought those little finger peppers were hotter than all get out!

0patience

I have 48 seeds of the different seeds that @WaterNerd sent me. Hopefully, since they are in the citrus tree room, they'll start pretty good, as it stays fairly warm in there.
Hope to see something happening in a week or so? 

onestrangeone

 I will usually deadhead the first batch of blooms and add Epson Salt and compost at that point, about a week or two before harvest cut back on the water for hotter peppers.

jgibv

0patience said:

I have 48 seeds of the different seeds that @WaterNerd sent me. Hopefully, since they are in the citrus tree room, they'll start pretty good, as it stays fairly warm in there.
Hope to see something happening in a week or so? 

don't panic after a week.....i've had some varieties that take closer to 2 weeks before they sprout.

are you using heat mats? 

0patience

jgibv said: 

don't panic after a week.....i've had some varieties that take closer to 2 weeks before they sprout.

are you using heat mats? 

I'm not. Should I look into getting some?
It's usually above 70 in that room because of the fruit trees, so I thought that would be ok?

silvermouse

onestrangeone said:

 I will usually deadhead the first batch of blooms and add Epson Salt and compost at that point, about a week or two before harvest cut back on the water for hotter peppers.

how much epsom salt per plant and do you dissolve it in water first or just mix it into the compost dry? 

jgibv

0patience said:

Should I look into getting some?

Not necessarily....the heat mats will just help the germination process. 
If you get good results with your setup now, no sense in "fixing it if it ain't broke"!!! 
But if you're getting poor germination then I'd say you should definitely try the mats.


I have all of my plants in the basement where the temp hovers around upper 50s - low 60s so they're a "must have" when starting seeds. (After the seeds sprout I turn off the mats). 
If your rooms in the 70s, it's probably not an issue for you though.

onestrangeone

silvermouse said:

onestrangeone said:

 I will usually deadhead the first batch of blooms and add Epson Salt and compost at that point, about a week or two before harvest cut back on the water for hotter peppers.

how much epsom salt per plant and do you dissolve it in water first or just mix it into the compost dry? 

2-3 Tablespoon's , I mostly use it as a top dressing or mix in with the compost

peter4jc

A few years ago I made my own "heating mat"...  found a 1x6, pounded a row of nails at both ends, and wove a string of clear Christmas lights back and fourth.  It gives off just the right amount of heat, and since the neighbor was tossing the lights it cost about zippo.

WaterNerd

wow just did a really large write-up and went to post it and got a little message saying once approved it will be posted. Had this happen before and it never got posted



Here's my Ghost Peppers. The seven that are doing great are from seeds I harvested back in 2014. Other will come up. Just takes a long time. Currently I'm using a 6500K grow light with a heat mate in a 32 gallon storage container. I line the walls with foil to reflect as much of the light as possible.

More photos to follow

Hopefully my original post will get posted

I'm going to have a pretty big harvest of Ghost Peppers this year. If your interested PM me your info and when the Ghost Peppers are ready I'll send some to you

0patience

WaterNerd said:

wow just did a really large write-up and went to post it and got a little message saying once approved it will be posted. Had this happen before and it never got posted.

Wait. What?
Since when?

Ok, ok gotta focus.

Those look great!
I hope I have that kind of success.
Still haven't gotten any sprouts yet, but they are now under the orange tree grow lights

Yakster

That's happened to me a couple times. I'm starting to think that there is a few key words the forum triggers a moderation process on. Based on some other posts, I think a few words are pretty innocuous. 

Lee.mcglynn

I went through this last year...I grew chocolate scorpions white ghosts,reapers and chocolate ghosts. Honestly I can say buy orchid food to feed them! But yeah start them in small pots work then up to a #5 and then a Home Depot 5gal bucket. If your growning in ground check the ph level of the dirt. Growing certain peppers is a pain and if you don't have the time it's even harder!

peter4jc

I can attest... @Lee.mcglynn has mad hot-pepper-growing skillz!  He tried to kill me last year, dadgummint!

Yakster

Bump

Yakster

Getting started

https://youtu.be/aDaiFGhxnRY

Wylaff

"Most mortals would wear gloves..."

Yakster

Except @Patrickbrick, of course.  He's got sandpaper hands. 

Just had the Wife roll on some Capzasin on my back and Punisher cigars were a thing on vHerf last night. 

WaterNerd

I always germinate my pepper seeds like this. Works great!


Growing Chocolate and White Bullet Habanero and Ghost Peppers this year


Here's a pic of my home made greenhouse. Works great and it was cheap to put together

Yakster

Allan, can you share a few more details on construction and use?  I've got some containers like that already. It's that germinating tray heated too?

WaterNerd

Here’s everything I use to start my seeds. 31 gallon container, heat mat that I purchased on-line. I found that the heat mat really helps with the germination process. I tried one year without it and it took a lot longer to get the seeds to germinate. Size wise, I just measured the inside of the container and found one that would fit. I went cheap and got one that heats up to about 75-80 degrees but you can get more $$$ units that have a thermostat on them. Grow light. For this size of a greenhouse I went with a 6500K grow light. Works great! One year I tried a non-grow light to try and save a few bucks and yes my peppers grew but they were very thin and small. Grow light normally lasts for 2 seasons. I also have a hydrometer and temp gauge in the container just so I can keep an eye on things. I try to keep the box at 75 – 80 degrees with humidity above 60%

Here are some helpful links to items I purchased:

Grow Light:


Heat Mat:


Growing trays:

Pots: Can't find the ones I purchased but will look for them tonight and will post a link. The ones I purchased fit perfectly in the tray above

I'll post more info on here with photos

Yakster

Thanks!

rsherman24

This year while buying the seedling soil, they had bags of worm castings.  I bought a bag and mixed it in, and I have to say this is the best I have ever had my peppers germinate.

WaterNerd

@rsherman24 Yes worm castings work great! Best price I found was on Amazon Link

0patience

I hate you guys.
This area sucks for growing anything. I only got a few peppers last year. 
Even the store bought ones didn't hardly do anything.

Although, our lemon cucumbers took off like a weed and we had blackberries, currants, loganberries and blueberries everywhere.
This year our grape plant should produce some grapes, hopefully.

Yakster

They're starting to germinate, moved them to a grow box.