How to grow a Vietnamese pepper?

10 years ago

2 months old to the day. Have transplanted once already due to soil mold problems. Mold problems persist, with the added joy of small bugs. After trolling for an hour, I do not believe they are springtails or fungus gnats... They don't look like them. Kind of tan, oval, with three legs in front. What the hell do I do from here. I'm afraid a second transplant will be traumatizing HELP Didn't baby this thing for two months to lose it

Featured Answer

maxjohnson

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

A light spray of diluted hydrogen peroxide can get rid of the mold, but it can harm the seedling as well. Mold seems to appear more often with peat moss only grow medium that is waterlogged. Good drainage and air circulation helps (which mean the soil/grow medium have to be able to breath). I would look for a quality potting mix and add either vermiculite or
perlite into the mix to improve drainage, and have drainage holes for
the container.

You can still grow pepper inside during the winter if you can give it good lighting source, and it helps if you can keep the soil warm around 75*F. Vietnamese pepper from my experience especially like a lot of sun to produce well. Of course, when it's in seedling stage you have to be careful, although its winter now.

You get more success germinating extra plants. What I do is germinate 6 seedlings in a seed tray, once they get to a few inches tall, I transplant them into those red plastic cups with drainage holes. During the first transplant, you can have some nutrient added, but not too much or it may stress or kill the
plant, maybe a weak slow release fertilizer like TomatoTome. Personally I only use a compost + vermiculate/perlite to grow my seedlings, but compost is more for outside growing since it may attract insects indoor.

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Comments (9)

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
10 years ago
A lot of things could be going wrong. Firstly, is there a drainage hole in that container? Secondly, what is the mix? It looks heavy and sticky. Thirdly, it looks rather wet. Moulds and some bugs are attracted to over wet conditions. Fourthly, where are you growing this pepper? Inside? If so what lighting do you have? Fifthly, the plant is deep in the cup thereby reducing the amount of available light even further. Sixthly, unless you are in Australia, what is the rationale behind starting a pepper in November?

I think you are facing a lot of challenges with this little seedling. It clearly isn't progressing well if it is 8 weeks old and the conditions and timing are not making it any easier for you.
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Jes Lynn
Original Author
10 years ago
There was a lot of things wrong with this - I didn't have any type of grow light, I had never fed her and I think I was over watering - I mean it's two months old in this picture!!! I ended up taking her out down to the VERY roots (I'm talking I literally held her in my hand and rinsed the roots to make sure there would be no bugs in the new container... Welll... I kept researching. The poor thing had to go thru ANOTHER transplant
Jes Lynn
Original Author
10 years ago
I just wrote a ton.. Where's the rest of the post..? Ah well. I just posted in the hot peppers forum under the topic "edemA yellowing leaves help" pretty much summing up what has happened over the past week
Jes Lynn
Original Author
10 years ago
Sorry trying to get used to this.. Can't find my forum one either.. Ugg. Long story short that in the time since the last post she quadrupled in size once I fed her, cut off her seed leaves, and put her in a shallower cup. We expanded the family and the 15 Vietnamese babies to her left are barely 4 weeks old - plAnted Dec 9th - they're going SO much faster than Sheba did poor thing. Only now worried about babies.
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
10 years ago
Jes - you don't ever need to cut the seed leaves (cotyledons) off a seedling. I wonder where that idea came from? They feed the plant as long as it needs them and then they fall off of their own accord.
maxjohnson
10 years ago
Looks like you're off to a good start. When the plant is tall enough I cut the main stem to allow the plant to branch out and be more bushy. Not saying you have to do this, but this is what I do with all my basil and peppers.
Jes Lynn
Original Author
10 years ago
I got it off of one of the pepper transplanting YouTube videos I watched.. He put the soil all the way up to/above where the seedleaves were, and cut them off to prevent rot. He stated that this was fine because they produce no fruit, and are only there to kind of jump start the plant with some photosynthesis and once there are large seed leaves, there are ample enough receptors and the plant is wasting nutrients on these over shadowed baby leaves - And if there aren't enough receptors when you remove them, it will push the plant to make more.. More leaves. Thought it sounded like it made sense so I just rolled with it?
Jes Lynn
Original Author
10 years ago
Everything is good!! I have 15 babies that were One month old yesterday, and that middle picture is my Queen Sheeba that was that tiny spring I posted in November - I can't believe she held on so long I feel so bad The other babies have far surpassed what she did at 2 1/2 months in one month ! So glad she made it!