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wayassfasterthanyou_gw

I love all this stuff but I may have gone too far!!

It all started this last winter.

my wife had an idea to start a small greenhouse and grow some flowers.

It went from an 8' x 12' to a 20' x 48' then a second 30' x 60'.

so we are now in the greenhouse business.

I have always liked hot peppers and with a greenouse and seeds in all the stores i picked up a bag.

well i had no idea that every seed would grow and i would buy so many kinds..

so i have about 25 8'' pots of peppers.

after reading that you should only have ONE per pot i now have enough for 300 pots.

so today i had a mass killing of pepper plants that didnt make the cut.

I have orange habs,pepper fish,long cayenne, yellow ??,and chilly hybrid.

this is all a learning thing and i am sure i am over watering and using the wrong fertilizer and my soil is promix so i may be ok there .

I have alot of the long reds growing and the pepper fish are just starting to flower well.

next year i want to grow more kinds but less of them.

maybe 3 each.

seeing i can keep them indoors i am sure i will have alot to pick from in the years to come.

so here is a question or maybe a good place to try a side by side comparison.

pruning ???? good idea to cut or not?? i have a pepper fish plant that i cut off all the big leaves and left the small second leaves and flowers.

2 pepper fish plants i cut down to 6 inches and they are bushing out but i am unsure if in the end that is a good idea??

anyway if you have an idea of what i should be doing please post it.

thanks.

shayne

ps if you want pics of anything i can take them

Comments (21)

  • 19 years ago

    I suggest you go a little slowly and hang around this forum everyday. there seems to be more activity at other times of the year.

    you can modify your information so that your state and zone comes up automatically without entering it every time.

    welcome to the world of pepper growing. I find the fun is in learning and experimenting.

  • 19 years ago

    Never a good idea to cut, IMO, unless you are talking about an overwintered plant. Even then, it sets the plant way back.

    If your intention is to set the plant back and stagger the harvest, then go for it.

  • 19 years ago

    I prune both root and top of chiles pretty extensively in hydro just to control plant size.

    Pruning seems to help the plant. I pruned the tepin below and it regrew just fine.

  • 19 years ago

    willard, lots of the stuff i see you do is simply amazing. you definitely have a grasp on plant growth.
    i hope you arent a barber. lol :)

    Shayne, if you look around you will notice that nobody is gonna say you have 'gone too far'. Some seriously pepper crazed folks here.

    Michael

  • 19 years ago

    I've been encouraged over the years by Maine John to do pretty much what I want to a chile....they are very hard to kill....

    Just think, if they grow in a dry, unfertile, sunny upland desert and are cropped back by wild animals frequently, what's a little pruning with sterile instruments going to do?

  • 19 years ago

    Wayassfaster, I did a small-scale experiment on this. If you want the results I will share them with you. E-mail me if you do. Njchilehead@aol.com.

  • 19 years ago

    I had a really good yield out of my seeds and was looking at 100 plus plants; my idea was to get the sprouts growing and sell them on Craigslist. I put a feeler ad out and got a nice response; unfortunately I lost about 2/3 of my total crop so now I'm just looking at 30 or so plants. I plan on giving a bunch away and potting the rest, wintering the good ones.

  • 19 years ago

    did the zone thing ... 3a time to move??
    anyway thanks for all the replies.
    all is well in the greenhouse if you are a pepper that is.
    tomatoes a little dry after the 2 days away but the peppers dont seem to care.
    thing i like about growing stuff is that it is easy if you just take the right steps.
    if you can get past the dreded damping off that i have seen but never had to deal with you are on your way to success.
    this forum is a very strong tool that a novice with a little reading time could take on a pro.
    I will post some pics in a day or 2 to show off my crop.
    so far my mix of water and small amount of fetilizer is working.
    I also spray down the plant at night with fish fetilizer as it stinks .
    later

    shayne

  • 19 years ago

    looking forward to your pics

  • 19 years ago

    ZONE 3a WOW

    you are up NORTH

    Peppers like it SOUTH.

  • 19 years ago

    Welcome from another 3a canadian. I started growing a few years ago and this year I have about 85 plants in pots and another 20 in the garden - around 50 different kinds. Some years are better than others but you can ripen some habs etc. if you get an early start and use pots. I got started by reading this forum.

  • 19 years ago

    All you 3a'ers are encouraging me! Here's to a great pepper crop!

  • 19 years ago

    My friend exposed his 2 tiny hab seedlings to a monsoon rain and it killed 1 of them and the other has turned yellow.

  • 19 years ago

    Ciao wayblinkfaster,

    So where are you? Canada is a big country, you know. I think you went too far in killing your extra plants. Next time, you might consider donating them to food banks, churches, or getting involved in a gardening group and participating in some plant swaps. I grow lots of extra tomato plants and I always find homes for them. Community gardens are also desperate for plants most days.

    Cheers and good for you on your successes,
    Julianna

  • 19 years ago

    Julianna,

    would be interested in how to get ahold of the community gardens in the Toronto area. I refused to kill anyplants this year and i think i crowded them all a bit. i also swamped all my friends with peppers and tomatoes.

    thanks,
    Michael

  • 19 years ago

    I live in saskatchewan.
    lets not get into the 300 spitfire tomato plants that had to go in the hole because they were getting too big and with snow on the ground who could take them.
    I did not want to kill them but this year we just had no room in the greenhouse.

    shayne

  • 19 years ago

    {{gwi:1186224}}
    {{gwi:1186226}}
    {{gwi:1186227}}

  • 19 years ago

    wow nice settup. were did you find that greenhouse? love to have one of them.

    thanks for sharing pics

    Michael

  • 19 years ago

    Shayne,
    What area in Sk?

  • 19 years ago

    Yorkton
    sask

    hour and a half from Regina.

    shayne

  • 19 years ago

    Ok. I'm west at Maple Creek.