Looks very nice. I'm impressed with your landscaping skills, though I think my yard might look a little nicer if it was smaller. I'm also impressed with your peppers and jealous of how much earlier you can start them than me.

As for the small plants, I have one plant out of my 12 that is less than half the size of his counterpart, but is still steadfastly growing a single pepper. It just happens sometimes. Better than my poblano, which is massive but has no peppers. It is all a learning experience.

thanks! I supposed when I listed how much I have invested in the place I did not take into account the amount of time I put into it. it was three 10 hour days of work, ripping up all the weeds, laying down cardboard to prevent new weeds, putting in the liners, and spreading the mulch. luckily Lowe's had mulch on sale for $1 per bag, which is the only reason we could pull this off, going only $20 over budget.

no other commentary on the plants themselves from anyone else?

Nice plants, especially the dark green with nary a yellow leaf anywhere.

Nice plants and setup Judo. Now get more diversity into the flowers -- you want different "beneficial" flowers flowering throughout the year so all sorts of beneficials are visiting and propagating throughout the year. You still got that link I posted?

Now is the time to visit Lowe's again and ask where the recycled containers are so you can transplant out of those buckets in a few months -- in your climate, you're sure to outgrow those buckets And Lowe's will have some 10-15 gal free for the taking... make frequent visits and you can stockpile them.

Overall...GREAT job for a 1st time grower.

Kevin

I just noticed something else, very few sunburnt leaves on your plants. Must be tough to do in Florida, as I get quite a few in NJ.

I have never seen a free pot over 5 gallons. everywhere you look around here, people will load you down with as many free 3 gallon pots as you can carry, but nobody wants to give away their bigger ones.

but really, these things are gonna grow out of their 5 gallon buckets? those things are huge. I probably do still have the link somewhere, I just gotta look thru my old threads. the trick is getting a beneficial attractor that is cheap. I got the wife sold on marigolds because they're $0.75 each when you buy them by the tray, and even then I only pulled it off because I agreed to also get the orange ones that she thinks are "prettier." she doesn't realize that I don't care how pretty they are. I just wanna attract some friendly bugs. the wasps do like the herb garden though.

I've got quite a few bhuts setting, and lots of habs. this makes me a happy gardener.

also, just for kicks, here's the first pod to set on my 7pot who was previously doing badly (not the one that the caterpillar munched on). does he think he's a thai pepper or something? why is he pointed upward? do I have some sort of cross or something? I know the first pod to set is always weird, but seriously, wow. that's cool. my garden is just full of surprises. as you can see there's another beginning of a pod pointed downward, but this one was initially pointed downward as well.

so I went and looked at the holes drilled in the bottom of the pots. sure enough, in the ones that have been in their new home the longest, I can already see roots. my wife is gonna be pissed.

also, that 7pot is beginning to droop. maybe it's not a hybrid after all. I was getting excited!