John,
Take another tip and save yourself some grief. A longtime WSing guru testifies that the one-gallon milk jugs are the best WSing vessels, bar none.
So, nix on the 2-liter bottles, and go for the jugs....uh, in a WSing kinda way....duh...
I've already got my seeds! So guess what I'm doing for New Years???!!!
Linda
This message was edited Dec 30, 2009 4:42 PM
Peppers for 2010 - Whose in?
Come to think of it, when we were in St. Louis, every year I had volunteer tomatoes come up. They even went on to set fruit, so why not?
Can't wait to order my EB's. The best crops I got were in pots. Probably because of the advice I got here. I don't think the bat guano hurt either.
Yehudith
Joooohhhhn.. not going there!!! And do not even think about cross breeding that thang!
It probably all started from a California Wonder and a big Bertha and some dang banana pepper....
Its pure E_vial~!
LOL, BlossomBuddy!
Ok, so what I hear some of ya'll saying (Gymgirl, locakelly, Yehudith) is that Mother Nature does not need "grow lights" to grow tomatoes/ peppers from seed?? Ha ha ha. I am not sure why I thought tomatoes were best started indoors, but somehow I got into that mindset. I definately won't be posting in the "Master Gardeners" forum any time soon.
Anyway, I am excited about WS'ing my peppers and tomatoes. Unfortunately, my seeds from Parks have not yet shipped! I just found this out. Of course, I placed my order on Christmas Eve so maybe it will ship on Thurs? I might need to call or e-mail to see what's up.
John, they may have taken the week off. Many businesses do this since so many employees want off. (Not sure if this is the case, but it's a possibility.)
John, I sew my stuff in my GPS and under lights sometimes. Many of my tomatoes come up volunteer in the garden or like this coming year they will be popping up under where I had all my hanging baskets of them. I will just do the volunteers on those maters instead of messing with seed starting. And hope too maybe some of my Big Beefs will volunteer Its one plant that is one less headache that gives me space to do something else .., especially my cherry maters. The earlier you can get them maters sown though is the earlier crop you will have. I have had years where I did not have anything but green tomatoes deep in the fall...only because I planted late from seed but the cherry tomatoes are always a realiable red on for me.
I am hoping to start a new tomato this year that I have never tried before. Its supposed to yeild a bushel plus per plant but you have to trellis it. Its actually a hot house tomato, but I am going to grow it on my hoophouse frame and let it climb that. It gets 12-14 foot tall. That one I will have to start from seed and probably will try to start several series of them early to late just to make sure I have something growing. I only need about 12 of them, but I want as early a start as possible. I dread the thought of tomatoes though in my livingroom! The odor is bad enough! Its one of those CONTAINER plants that is sposed to be a space saver.. yano, if it cant go out, go UP!
As for peppers.. last year was the first time I had luck with them in a long time.. I bought plants.. I cheated.. yeah, so stone me! But I still have those plants in pots in my house and am hoping they make it through winter! Talk about a pepper tree! They have been losing a few leaves, but getting new growth.. just need to get after misting them...their trunks are woody and the plants are probably just shy one, maybe two months of being a year old.
I am going to start some peppers this year but it will be late March even on the some indoor stuff. I can get snow until May. Maybe do a few onreymentals.
Im not starting any plants that resemble any body parts! Male or female! LOL!! no no NO! Im leaving that up to my evil twin. LOL!
I have tried planting peppers direct seed in the ground and also the lil plants.. but no good for me here as I flood. So last year I thought I was gonna try them in huge pots. I was and still am VERRRRRY HAPPY!
You guys got freaky weather in TX! Right now, I got 2-3 inches of snow! Sposed to be 12 tonite! Which always seems warmer than 30 cuz its dry. You dont get the deep chill we do... but I bet you seem colder than us just because of the dampness. Last year I had pipes bust 4 feet under ground with the deep chill.. UGH! You probably dont get that bad of a frost line. I think our frost line was much deeper than that. It was a very cold spell. Colder than most years. Normally we dont get thaaat bad. So much for global warming!
I dont try to make rocket science out of gardening.. it takes too much of the fun out of it! I use the theory of if it dont suceed, reseed again.. !And again and then buy plants.Outdoors I use organic fertilizer.. horse poo, chicken poo....donkey dung. Make tea of it, sometimes plant direct in it. Indoors I use Thrive and Oh, I will use Oscomote in potted plants, even outdoors. Been thinking on trying that Agroflash.. but that is about as deep as my gardening goes. To me if it cant thrive on neglect, it almost aint worth the headache. Now mind you, I do not have a small garden! I just cant get from end to end in one day. So what gets neglected, better be stuff making it good on its own.
I have not tried winter sowing....I am tempted on a cold frame though..but have not just yet. My electric bill is high enough with the house plants. And I will not heat a GH. My GPS heats up on its own time. LP would kill me.
What I will do though for plants I want an earlier start on is buy plugs. Its cheaper in the long run for me and saves some labor.
Yeah, I had big ideas earlier this month for growing plants indoors. I was thinking about buying shelves and all kinds of lights- the whole 9 yards. Then, luckily, someone told me about WSing and my focus has shifted in that direction.
Right now, I have a bed for about 10 pepper plants. Earlier this week (on Mon), I dug up the grass in my backyard for a 10' x 4' raised bed. I did it all at once and the cool weather really bailed me out. I'm thinking there is an easier way to build beds...I saw someone mention lasagna gardening in the WS forum but I had a rough idea of what it was (some type of soil building technique involving the layering of various soil amendments.) However, one key piece of info eluded me...the part where you lay down card board over the grass and/ or weeds and just pile everything else over it. Needless to say, I need to do more research before I build another bed.
I want to use the 10' x 4' bed to grow lettuce, spinach, swiss chard and bush beans. It hasn't been constructed yet and I have some 2 x 6's for the job. I'll need a deeper bed for my tomatoes, though. I've got about six 10 gal pots, too, but I need to think about where to put them so the ants don't make themselves a home when things warm up.
Good luck with your new tomato, BlossomBuddy.
Thanks John.. its still fermenting out in the GPS... its pretty ugly now!
Heres what they looked like at the greenhouse that I got the seeds from! You whaack off the side growth and tie a string from the pot to some place high and let it go up that. You have to wire tie it as it gets tall so it does not flop. They get tall. She said 12-15 feet.. And the maters are like Big Beefs, huge! Only thing is is they are a wee tad "pink" and I prefer red red maters. They are meatier.... I figure by planting mine on the hoops they will met in the middle and so that ought to be fun.
Im gonna plant mine in staight horse manure after I get them started...
BB
Here's what greenhouse tomatoes look like when they are managed. Never over 7 ft off the ground. Plants are trimmed on the bottom so they can be let down on the ground. You do not want leaves touching the ground.
Well Countrygarden, these tomatoes are not meant to grow like those tomatoes.. and in my pic, they are managed....they are different variety than yours and they grow up on the vine 12-15 feet tall. Yep 12-15 feet UP! They were bred for that.
And they are not let wild, they are not let back to the ground as with your variety, they are to be pruned and managed. So there we go, two different types of hothouse tomatoes not two different methods, allthough you could say that too., just not all varieties get that tall! Your short ones and these long ones. Thats the instructions we got to grow them.. Tall and tied, pruned not wide. Although they are about a bushel wide as they go up! Very leafy even at the top at 12 plus feet..... Most awesome GH mater I have seen! You do have to space them out about 3-4 feet from center if growing a tight line row of them as you show yours so close together.
One string up to the tallest part of the GH and no cross-string to let them back.. just a periodic tye to the vertical string thats all. And in containers. Pretty neat and space savers if ya ask me and man they had the maters on them that way! Keep the side branches off.
You do the math on the space.. 7 feet tall vs the 12-15 foot tall? Im going UP on mine! And then if one was to put them so close together.. well, then the volume of produce is also a no brainer. (Not saying yours are not a good tomato, as I am sure they are.. but for a yeild producer and space saver.. more bang for the buck in that direction with these that go UP!!)
And dont forget to fertilize. Doing them in the horsemanure will give them a pourus media, but you will still have to fertilize and water. You can use other mediums. Thats just my plan for 2010. I will be putting chicken poo tea to mine once a week..maybe more.. depending on how they handle it. They are gonna want to be fed, but you dont want them to burn. And you will know it if they burn. Im trying to stay more organic.
I wish I had the hybrid name of them, but the gal I got them from did not have the name. She said they were something new they were offered to try. They had so many tomatoes from them they were giving them away. It was very impressive how they had them growing. WOW! And as she said, more bang for the buck.. in less space rather of letting them go wide and short, but like she said, you let them go up not out. And yup, tomatoes up in the top of the vine! Very cool! Im really liking the concept of this variety. For a smaller GH, its more practical. And I can use the other space for other plant varieties. Yup, Im liking that!
About a 2lb tomato to boot.
That picture was taken July 28. By November 1st when we cut them down they were about 20 ft. But most was laying along the floor.
Mine were Buffalo, Arberson, & Gerranimo. All available from Johnny's Seeds.
Why then cut them down?
Can't afford to heat the greenhouse here in the winter. Our market closes Nov 1st.
John,
What I do is just lay down cardboard like an old packing box over the area I want or a thick layer of newspapers or both. Then I dump all the leaves I rake up in the fall and all my neighbours, old potting soil, cleaned out compost pile without layering mind you and just let it sit. The next spring I plant. Its so full of worms you can't dig without chopping them up and the soil is so moist and wonderful. That's it.
Yehudith
My friend just E-mailed me about the Peters. "OMG its circumsised!!!!" Well....
Yehudith
LOL, Yehudith. OTOH, there is the Opalka variety I suppose.
I still say you should have gifted one or two of these plants to your friends, under the guise that they were some anonymous (but quality) pepper plant. Then when the fruit started to take form...what the?!?!?
Hahahahahaha!!!!
LOL, is this how we're starting off 2010? With an anatomy class??!! Eating peppers will never be the same!
John
Oh no... I'm definitely sending him some seedling! His wife is one of those self-rightious prudes who knows nothing about gardening. Wish I could be there !
Yehudith
I heard the anatomy class was on another thread...
Oh red, did ya do it??? DIDJA HUH?
Shes to embarrased about all this anatomy stuff so I started a new thread for her.. here we go..
Plant and Veggie anatomy 2010... it looks like WHAT?????
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1066147/
Wish I could be a fly on the wall when she sees the pepper, Yehudith. One for the books...
Nice thread, BB! LOL.
Which one? LOL!
I dont know why but most of my threads end up going bonkers.. I dont know what Im gonna do with you all!
Ya bunch of dirty gardeners thas all yar! Kent keep yer mind out of the dirt!
Here I thought the Redneck Gardening thread was a hit! LOL! BUt it appears yer all redneck gardening!
Better go up my stock in Depends.
Well, got my depends...
then I went bonkers and whacked the indoor peppers back.. they was a losing thar leaves...but still have side shoots, so maybe they will make it to spring and take off...then on the other hand.,. maybe not!
My pecker oops peters uh peppers are here. I got Red, Yellow and Orange ones. While I wait for them to sprout I'm going to entertain myself reading this http://nyenoona.wordpress.com/2008/05/25/a-coco-de-mer-or-is-it-a-sexy-coconut/ You're going to love it.
LOL!! I hope that is not more pepper porn!
Oh no, much better! (Leer)
For all you titillated middle schoolers, the Chilewoman offers a female version named Goddess. http://www.thechilewoman.com/listofchiles/alphabet/#G
Et tu Brutus?
Ya'll should not be having this discussion until the Ides of March!
ok, but then I cannot not tell you about the green peppers I had growing in the laundry room well I did until a little bit ago.. they PETERED OUT cept for this one lowly staulk. Will ya just look at the bush at the base of that thang?!
Its still kicking...and and and.....the trunks a woody.
SOz.. no far peeking at it until next Monday!
Im telling ya.. NO PEAKING!
Awwww dang ya, YUUUUU PEAKED!
That's what my 6 in the gh were supposed to look like. Instead only one survived the cold and it's one I grow for my son that's so hot I won't touch them. Good job.
BP UPDATE: These Emerald Greens, King of the North, and Largo Purples went outside on a field trip yesterday.
I think I need to go ahead and plant out the ones I'm keeping, under a hoop house for protection against any of our freaky frosts.
I'm expecting them to start blooming any time now...
They've been getting MG and Epsom Salts inside every 7 days or so. What should I feed them after plant out? More Nitrogen? I have a bag of bloodmeal...
LMK.
Thanks!
Well, I had those 8.. I dont think the last one its gonna make the full gist of spring, but time will tell. The rest bit the dust! They kind of soured shortly after I whaacked them back....owell! We tried!
LOL!
I sowed some seed.. that was a few days ago.. so far ...NADA...! Its probably to cool
I gave mine horse doo. and chicken poo tea last spring....
Linda - when you plant I would mix some bone meal and alfalfa meal into the bottom of the planting hole. Not too much Nitrogen - you want Phosphorous and Potassium for good root development and fruiting.
Blossom if that's new growth, it will go on to make a good plant. If it's old growth and has died back to that point, it's still alive and has potential. Last year mine died to the ground as in looking dead and sent out new growth as soon as it liked the conditions. I'm fixing to drag my dead ones out of the GH and they better do something fast or they and their soil will soon be recycled.
Gymgirl I'm going to do the milk jugs next year. You've convinced me.
I see a lot of people around here put Epsom Salts in at planting with with their tomatoes and pepers. But don't you need to put something else in to make that effective? Why do folks do that? I can't seem to remember!!!!
Hey, Twiggy!
Just consider that I WSed my bell peppers at the wrong time (January 9th). I didn't take into account they would be coming up in the WINTER (duh....) and couldn't go outside. So, even though they were germinated (in 9 days) in milk jugs, the jugs were inside on my light shelf. I used one (1) two-bulb regular fluorescent shop light over 5 jugs.
I turned the lights on daily when I came home from work and off when I woke up (6p-6a).
The dining room vent blew lots of heat into the area over the course of our winter, and I guess they liked the conditions enough to germinate so readily in the space.
Drat.. maybe I should have keet the old numbins longer? Shucks!
Is it significant that a bell pepper goes "woody?" I have two 2-yr-old bell peppers that went "woody" last year, but they're still cranking out bell peppers.
Please explain. Thanks!
Linda