♪ ♫ ! I can show you sweet onions to go with your peppers ッ.

Snapdragon seed went in the mix just today but that's going a little far afield!

... Yes, it's time to get some pepper seed started! I'm committed this season to potting up in 3½" pots, at least.

Steve

Mine are up, and showing off their cotyledons. Not all, still a few slugabeds in the tray. Petunias are poking their noses up. I'll be interested to see what you end up with, Zack. I have Aji Limon, as well as Aji Colorado. Just a little localized humor in the garden. :)

I will go from the cell packs, probably to dixie cups then up to I THINK 5" pots, but, I don't honestly remember the size. It very well may be 3 1/2 inchers. I won't be planting them for about another 3 months, lets hope I can keep them alive that long, I'm already getting requests for jelly!

We'll take any seeds, Steve. Snap dragons are a-okay, and petunias! I will trade you some peppers for onions, last year I messed up my onions big time somehow and nearly every single one of them went to seed on me.

How long after you start peppers do you start your eggplants, Steve? I think you said you started them around the same time, I was planning on putting seed in the dirt next week when I repot the peppers?

With the exception of the helmet-head, mine have opened up, too, and I got one more lemon and one more Thai breaking through the dirt. We will have to compare, I have never grown a baccatum before, just annuum's and chinese's, but the folks over in the pepper forum really seem to like them. I it took me a while to get the get aji Limon humor, in my head I kept say "lee-mohn", what the heck does that have to do with...oh WAIT! Like the town! DUH! I love it! You know, there's so many "aji" peppers out there, you think I could find an "aji Littleton" LOL!

ZachS. z5 Littleton, CO said, " ... How long after you start peppers do you start your eggplants, Steve? I think you said you started them around the same time ..."

Yes, real close, Zach ...

However, there are some eggplant characteristics that makes them less than a pleasure to have around indoors for very long. For one thing, trying to get them outdoors!

They are miserable in the cold! Eggplants will wilt so bad as to lose leaf margins or drop leaves. They are hard to harden, they are so sensitive.

Also, bugs love them. Any aphid that finds itself indoors will head straight for the eggplant. Then what? They aren't just sensitive to the cold but to bugkillers, too!

Steve

Hmmm now I am rethinking my plan to do eggplants at all, I don't like extra work, well, I already have the seeds so I guess I ought to give it a go...Maybe I should wait and start them closer to the end of the month. I probably wont be able to plant them outside until almost June or June.

Started the first tray of the year on the heat mat before the weekend. A few lettuce and onions popping up. Nothing on the peppers yet.

Quite a bit is sprouting from my winter solstice sowing in the cold frames and tunnels. Lots of cilantro, carrots, lettuce, beets, mache, radishes, celerey etc. It was good to see everything thriving after the recent cold.

Nice radicals, Zach.

I've got some thai hots, red bell, and "burpee hot mix" seeds all started and showing their colys in a starter cell flat under 2 super-charged T8 bulbs in a shop light fixture. The New Mexico and Guajillo seeds I saved from grocery dried peppers have shown no life, unfortunately.

I've winter-sowed some eggplant and tomato seeds, and am trying to focus on the indoor starts for peppers only this year since I love them so.

My peppers are being slow this year. 10 days and I've only got 15 breaking through the soil, Looking back through the notebook, it seems I usually have nearly 100% germination by the end of the first week. They are the only things I have started inside this year, and the PLAN is to only start peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes indoors, last year was overwhelming with everything I had inside.

I think I have better plants when I direct sow lettuce, so, that's what I'll probably do again this year. I had really bad luck with onions last year, not planting any at all this year.

I did winter sow some perennials back in January, so far, nothing going on in those jugs. I want to get a jug of dill seed out there, neither direct sowing or indoor sowing has ever worked for me with that stuff.

The Thai hots and mushroom peppers, both from SSE, are the most disappointing germinators for me. Only two have sprouted of each. The hot lemons and hab's, both from Burpee keep popping up like gang busters, and they are both 2-3 year old seed. The other ones are fresh bought this year. Maybe I should see if I can find an old pack of Burpee Thai's in the discount bin so I can get some plants!

I think those grocery store dried peppers are dried at too high of heat and most, if not all, the seeds get cooked. I tried poblano's from dried grocery peppers, nothing happened with them either.

I wish I would have known about eggplants before I signed up to grow some for my neighbor. Oh well, they might have to die "mysteriously" ... *evil laugh*

This is my first year starting anything indoor, so I pretend to know what I'm
doing when I'm really just flying by the seat of my pants for now, haha (shh, don't tell the mister). Guess I'd
better get my research on. How do you handle aphids and bugs when growing indoors? I'm growing in my garage and when the weather's nice I open the door. So far so good, but it might be Bug City later, right?

I started some of my peppers in mid January, so a few of my plants are already a decent size. It's a little daunting knowing I have to tend to them for almost 3 more months. The good news is, I kept seeding periodically, so I have many in various stages. I have way too many peppers already, whoops!

I can't seem to get my Cayanne or Jamaican Hot Chocs to germinate no matter what method, but all others have been cooperating. I have some classic jalapenos, early jalapenos, Ancho/Poblano, Anaheim, Pasillo Bajio, Red Marconi, red jalapeno (which confuses me, because don't regular ones turn red, also? Are they all guaranteed to be red? I guess I'll find out), and some basic red and green bell peppers. I hate the thought of killing peppers I don't need, but I don't have room and I need to thin out long prior to the swap.

An experiment sounded fun, so I took my oldest red jalapeno and topped it when it had
four set of true leaves, just to see what would happen. The leaves have gotten bigger and it seems
to be beginning to Y branch out, I hope. It will be fun to watch what it does. I might do this with one more pepper, perhaps an Anaheim.

Also on the growing list are basil, parsley, cilantro, tomatillos, five types of tomatoes and those damned eggplants (oh joy) that I just seeded on Saturday. I figure it's too late for me to start any superhots since they have
such a long germination rate but there's always next year :D Maybe my
JHCs will pop up eventually? Wishful thinking!

Zach, soaking the pepper seeds in tea was an idea I picked up off some dude on youtube, but I haven't found it to work any better or worse than the paper towel method or even just starting the seed in seed starter. I've read it might even hinder growth, so I'm not really sure if it's truly beneficial or not.

-GG

GrouchyGardener said "... I wish I would have known about eggplants before I signed up to grow some for my neighbor. Oh well, they might have to die "mysteriously" ... . How do you handle aphids and bugs when growing indoors? ... red jalapeno (which confuses me, because don't regular ones turn red, also?"

Don't allow me to corrupt you! Every plant is in a unique environment and yours may be perfect for eggplant, GrouchyGardener!

Bugs on such tender plants are tuff. Pyrethrin can damage them. I think the humid atmosphere in my greenhouse is not conducive to insecticidal soap being very effective on aphids. So, I find the most benign location outdoors and spray them there - allowing them to dry. In a home, the arid environment may work against the plants, I don't know. Of course, you can "mechanically" squish 'em. The aphids! Not the plants!

I like bright green jalapenos. Long before they turn orange, I want them to come off the plants. Your "red" jalapenos must just stay nice and tender longer than some of the others. Maybe it has something to do with sugars. Most sweet peppers sweeten with maturity ...

Steve

Hi guys,

I don’t grow peppers, but in the eggplant department, I have
to say I’ve never had a problem (knock on wood!) with aphids (or mites or
anything else) getting on them when I’m starting them in the house. I’m wondering if maybe the length of time you
have them inside could possibly make a problem like that worse!?? I won’t be starting my eggplants and tomatoes
until later this month, then as soon as they have a couple true leaves I start
carrying them in and out pretty much every day there’s sun out and it’s warm
enough for them to suck it up!

If (any of) you have a problem with aphids (or mites—or any
other “unidentifiable critter”), my recommendation is Palmolive dish soap in
water, and drench the plants with it—NOT when they’re in sun—until they dry. That’s my Amazingly Effective cure-all for pretty
much anything that seems to be “going wrong,” both inside and outside! But you NEED to get the stems and undersides
of the leaves wet too, or you’re leaving a “hiding place” for whatever critters
you have! A spray bottle will work
fairly well for small plants, but to truly get the bottoms of the leaves you
really need a pressure sprayer that you can get into any position, and which
has a lot more force than a little hand spray bottle! The other way I do it—for house plants since
I haven’t had a problem with the veggies—is to fill a bowl (or pot) with the soapy
water and invert the plant and dip it in the water (holding it carefully so
the—moist to wet—soil—AND the whole plant, don’t fall out of the pot into the
water!) That ensures that the whole thing
gets dosed with the soap water! And
that’s one (of the lesser) reasons why I don’t grow in plug trays anymore! I start everything in 2” individual pots, so they can be handled separately, depending on how
well each plant is growing—and what it is.
But that’s just what works for me!

But! Don’t shy away
from eggplants till you find out for sure what your own experience is! Like most other homegrown veggies, they are
so much better than the “stuff” you buy in stores! And in stores you can only get the equivalent
of Black Beauty or some other “old standby” type. Since I’ve discovered the “good” kind I very
rarely buy an eggplant in a store anymore, even when they’re cheap! And, on that note, I VERY highly recommend
Rosa Bianca, Galine, and Listada de Gandia!
They can all be eaten by just peeling them (tho some people leave the
peel on!), and then sautéing them in some HOT olive oil! They DON’T get mushy like the “commercial”
varieties do! They brown very nicely
(with no breading or coating of any type!) and just get nicely “soft” in the
middle! Yum! I’m drooling!
(Haven’t eaten yet today!) Those
varieties are all fairly small, and I usually Eat The Whole Thing when I cook
one! I consider it a whole meal! (Sometimes with some homemade bread and butter!)
I like them cooked that way so much that
I just add salt, but you can put in whatever you want with spices or tomatoes
or onions or… And those varieties can
also be cooked in any of the “old” ways you did the Black Beauty types! (Which I haven’t done for a couple years now
because I love them just sautéed so much!

Alright! This is a
pepper thread, and I have no business here!
But—I didn’t start it!!! ;-D

Is it June yet???

Skybird

Zach said it was okay for me to mention my snapdragons, Skybird. (They are beginning to come up ... the Red Rockets & Chantilly, anyway. ;o)

Your Rose Bianca didn't get a very fair trial in my garden. One of those volunteer tomato plants was left to grow too close to it and did better than the usual volunteers. I wonder about my olde trials, like Black Beauty. Ppfftt ... Yes, but was it the varieties or me? So many years pass, I begin to question my earlier performance.

Anyway, if you'd like an Italian Bell there is an early one, once called Dusky. It isn't a very large plant nor large fruit but is quick maturing. It is now called Epic. Jung's Seed sells it but there are other seed outfits with Epic.

I used to think that green eggplants were never bitter. David recommended Apple Green and I like to have that one every season. I learned different about the bitterness when the potato beetles discovered my eggplants one year. (See above about how tasty eggplant must be to bugs.) Stress ... that'll do it! I hadn't yet discovered Spinosad. I'm well-armed against potato bugs these days.

Steve

My eggplants get spider mites, but after they've grown pretty big. But skybird has the solution - keep a spray bottle handy with soapy water - soap, not detergent - and spray them often.

I have a brazillian snap dragons that germinated. In January, went around and collected seed heads off of 6 plants, shook them out, sifted out the seed, and planted a whole bunch with the peppers using a heat tray and dome, and another whole bunch using dome but without heat. The heat ones came up, the others didn't.

I wouldn't say that it's too late for super hots. With bottom heat, my hab's have proven to be the fastest germinators for the second year in a row. I don't have experience with things like ghost or scorpion peppers though, so, I don't know. Hab's are plenty hot for me and about "super hot" as I care to go...for now. I'd start a new batch of the Jamaican choc's and cayennes, whats the worst that can happen?

I experiment and fly by the seat of my pats all the time. This year it kind of bit me in the tuchus though, because of poor foresight on my part. Oh well, I should still have plenty of peppers this year, with even more to spare.

As far as I have ever known, jalapenos always ripen to red, but, maybe I'm wrong, I'm certainly no expert.

I wish I had more room, I was going to grow pablano's and chilaca's this year because I use the dried ones ( ancho's and pasilla's) in my chili, but, I couldn't find a spot for them. Oh well, maybe next year right?

Great tip Skybird, and David! I have used a soap and garlic spray (not sure of the garlic helps, but I like to think it helps cover the "scent") but usually, I don't get too many aphids on my peppers (knock on wood) unless they are stressed. We will see how the eggplant experiment goes. That sure sounds good, ! I don't eat eggplant very often, but, I do like it, and I am growing both diamond (an Asian style) and galine.

This is certainly NOT an exclusive pepper thread, but, that's the only thing I have to show right now, so that's what got put up, haha! We are an inclusive bunch and tomatoes, snapdragons, eggplant, and anything else is definitely welcome ;). I agree IS it June yet? I don't know how much more of this freezing weather my truck can take, it's starting to have a hard time getting out of 4-high and whenever I brake too hard (thanks ice, and no, I'm not going too fast) my fluid warning comes on. 10 day forecast looks nice, though, 50's and 60's!

I hear ya, Zach! My truck has been on the road a lot more than the Corolla this last month.

Picked up a heat mat last week and started eggplant (Black Beauty, Listada de Gandia and Rosa Bianca) and Italian Marconi Golden pepper on Thursday. Lots more peppers to be sown this week, then on to tomatoes. The Big Jim and Alma Paprikas pepper sown last month didn't germinate so I'll try again on the heat mat.

I'm almost sitting on my hands to stop myself from starting tree seeds. Pinus koraiensis (Korean pine) requires 90 - 120 days stratification and went into damp starting mix in the fridge in early December. Patience for a few more weeks!

Isn't that a nice looking weather forecast?

Barb

Barb said, Isn't that a nice looking weather forecast?

An excuse to mention our weather!

Outrageous, I may see 60° this afternoon. it wasn't 60° until April 6 in a warm 2014! I checked ...

Steve

who has both cookie boxes of snapdragons out of the kitchen and in the South Window this morning!

Well, it finally did it, Barb, it wouldn't come out of 4x4 at all, so I tried knocking it into 4 low and see if I could get it into 2WD from there. It made a terrible sound and now my "service 4WD" light is on. Great, I probably need to fix the transfer case. I guess 11 years and 150,000 miles, I should start to expect to see things going wrong.

I have been finding that my pepper germination is EXTREMELY erratic since they are no longer on the heat mat (I always take it off at the first sign of germ.). I wanted to separate and re-pot the ones I have tomorrow, but, I don't know if I should give them some more time to let the rest catch up.

I want to try some tree seeds, but I don't think I have the patience for it haha. I did find a silver maple seedling in my garden one year and I saved it and gave it to my grandpa to plant in his yard. I'm guessing it didn't survive lol. Part of me wishes I had kept it because it was from a tree my dad planted nearly 40 years ago, but, I also really don't like silver maples (their messy and have shallow roots that ruin the yard) so, I am not too beat up over it.

Nice Steve! Maybe Spring IS in the air, course, here in Rockies that means 10 more feet of snow haha!

Mentioned I'd germinated lotza snapdragons, I had a 6 pack of 2" cells. Today teased apart two cells of the six, and filled two 36 cell trays with the things. Four more cells to go. That should be enough for this season......

Asters and statice. Scotch kale and celeriac. Eggplant - several different kinds. All are in their cookie boxes and in the kitchen. For a brief moment, I thought there were some peppers sprouting, not yet ...

Since the hoop house is up -- sowed 3 types of bok choy in there.

The over-wintered bok choy in the greenhouse was too close to bolting to be transplanted into the hoop house. There will be a little gap in bok choy production - oh, no!!

Steve

That is a ton of snaps, David! You should post a picture of all them blooming.

I am holding off on the eggplant until Monday. I'm giving a few cells of peppers one more week to pop up since I've only got a couple Thai's and I want to try them in small and large pots.

You do love your bok choy Steve, lol. I'm going to ATTEMPT a late summer sowing for fall of it this year, but, I'm typically not very good about following through with the whole succession planting thing.

Potted up about 20 of the peppers, I'm shooting to have ~5 of each kind, but I'll probably end up with more than 5 habs.

Zach,succession planting is all about having a green grocer right outside your backdoor for as long as possible.

If there was a vegetable that would grow on top of snow, I'd change my diet to accommodate it ...

I had those stir-fry Asian greens from the greenhouse for lunch, today. Little smokies in the greens and marinated Portobello mushrooms from the store ...

Life of Riley!

Steve (or, Riley - if you talk like I did in elementary school :o)

Started several varieties of toe-may-toes!

I don't know if I'm early, late, following my plan, tossing the plan ..! It's 66°f! I'm not sure if the thermometer within 10° of that much warmth by this time in 2014!

The greenhouse is cookin' with everything open. I very nearly need to get power to the exhaust fan and blow some of the heat out. Clouds and rain supposed to be coming in tomorrow. After weeks and weeks of winter fog & overcast, I've now forgotten what a cloud looks like.

This may be the year for 80-day tomatoes!

Steve

A vegetable that grows on the snow hmm.... spruce needles make a tea that is high in vitamin C and supposedly can be turned into a tasty jelly.

I have typically started my tomatoes around mid March, I'm holding off until April this year due to space concerns. Not sure about 80 day thing, never know when winter will abruptly interrupt the summer..could be August, could be November....