I’m proud to announce that I’ve fathered the first pepper plants of my season: Cayenne. The little guys appeared last night, six days after planting. As I recall they took 10 days last year to break soil; I attribute their early appearance to a change to the way that I started them.
I used a one of those cheep 72 space planting trays I pick up at WallyWorld and packed the little soil holders with a seed starter mix (last year I used potting soil).
Once I placed two seeds of five types of pepper into their new temporary home, I placed the entire tray into a cabinet that is heated by a 70 watt bulb. That bulb keeps the interior of the cabinet between 78 and 82 degrees.
These Cayenne peppers are called ‘Thick Cayenne’ because the fruit is about 4 times the size of normal Cayenne peppers. I did not order new seeds of this variety last year and did not plant seeds for it, the plant just suddenly materialized among some tomatoes. I saved the last few fruit of the season and captured the seeds.
Here is a photo of the Basil that I mentioned the other day. Only three days in the soil (under the heat of the lamp) and they popped up.
Everything in this tray will get replanted into plastic ‘soho’ cups once they get their first set of ‘true leaves’. When that happens they will go under a set of shop lights that I’ve managed to keep for the last 4 or 5 years. 1 May is my planned garden planting day
I have heard of using eggshell halves as starter cups, so when you go to re-plant/upsize the starter pot, you can just give the shells a quick crush before placing rather than having to ‘tap’ the soil out of the starter pod.. This allows the roots to grow past the shell but also provides some calcium and other minerals for the soil in a slow release format.
Used Keurig pods also make great starter cups if you have a source for those. They stack well for compact storage and come pre-punctured for drainage.
Thanks for the tip. By the time my peppers and tomatoes are ready to go into the ground they are about 5 and 8 inches tall (respectively) and have a root ball that is circling the the cup! So far my only problems with getting them into the ground has been cutworms and frost. I’ve solved the cutworm issue with tinfoil! Weather is always ‘iffy’ and an unexpected frost can cancel out weeks worth of work and put the garden 6 weeks behind schedule.
Thanks again buddy
Solo cups also solve cutworm problems. cut the bottom off and slip over the rootball from underneath when you transplant. Make sure the bottom edge of the cup goes at least 1″ into the soil.