Another Newbie ?

18 years ago

Hi,

I've searched through this forum and I've gotten a lot of great advice from all of the posts. This place is an amazingly great resource.

I realize there are many ways to start peppers, but since this is the first time I've grown peppers from seed I'm using the method most familiar to me, which is soil, warmth, and light. I've grown tomatoes from seed, but never peppers (and unfortunately I'm starting late too).

For germinating the seeds I intend to use a mixture of perlite and a peat based potting mixture (much like recommended on peppermania.com). But, I've only been able to find potting mixtures that contain some sort of fertilizer. The one that seems most abundant in the stores is the Miracle Gro Seed Starting mix and it's enriched with Miracle Gro plant food. Is the plant food bad for the pepper seed? I've read in a couple of posts on this forum that I need to be very careful with adding fertilizers to pepper plants. That having been said, is this a safe potting mix to use, or should I continue looking?

Thanks for the help.

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Comments (4)

pepper_rancher
18 years ago
Are you able to get the Jiffy Peat Pellets where you are? They are working just fine for my pepper seedlings this year. I also started a few in regular potting mix, and a few in pure perlite.
kj_57701
18 years ago
Miracle Gro will work just fine. It's all I use when growing indoors and have had no problem so far (I get one of the big bags to start. I have not had to buy another and I counted 132 plants in my racks a few days ago). You will probably have to transplant several times anyway. The final destinations for my peppers will be in 12-14 inch pots containing soil I buy from the local nursery (mixed with compost and Peat). Peppers are just as sturdy as tomatoes (at least from what I've seen). I am sure some ways are more optimal than others, but raising some very nice pepper plants is pretty easy.
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icatchfish
18 years ago
I've actually had better luck with the Miracle Gro seed starter mix than the peat pellets. Here is a pic of my Bhut Jolokia, Naga Jolokia & Pumpkin Hab started in the MG mix.

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I also have another 72 plant tray that had 90% sprouted in 10 days.

I have transplanted some into larger cups to start hardening them off. For my first transplant I am using 25% Miracle Gro Seed starter and the rest is either LGM or EB Stone potting soil with a little bit of Perlite thrown in. So far so good.

When I transplant them I water with kelp fertilizer.

This is my second season growing peppers and I am trying to learn everything possible and also learning by experimenting.
azkitch
18 years ago
Hi folks! I sure appreciate the free exchange of information, and I hope I can suck up some smarts about this. I've never been a gardener. Last summer, my next door neighbor had some orange habs from seeds. He didn't wanna eat em, just pretty. We only ate one, but I'm going to start making salsa at home. I'm addicted to Mrs.Renfro's Habanero Salsa, but if I can make something similar...
Dave in Phoenix