What Peppers and Tomatoes are you Starting for 2012?

This is what I planted today and yesterday.
Pepper Seeds Planted
Albino 18
Aji Dulce 4
Aji Lemon Drop 13
Anaheim Chili 20
Ancho/Poblano 22
Big Bertha Hybrid have one that has been growing since last year
Big Jim 14
Black Hungarian 18
Bolivian Rainbow 11
California Wonder 20
Chinese Giant 14
Chocolate Sweet 15
College 64L 9
Condor's Beak Pepper 5
Corno di Toro 16
Colossal Hybrid 12
Corno Di Toro Giallo 20
Cubanelle 22
Czech Black Hot Pepper 11
Early Jalapeno 20
Fresno 20
Golden Calwonder 23
Goliath 7
Habanero Chocolate 11
Habanero Orange 17
Habanero Red 14
Habanero White 12
Hot Red Cherry 17
Hungarian Wax 20
Ivory Hybrid 5
Jamaican Hot Red 15
Jamaican Hot Yellow 14
Jupiter 9
Klari Baby Cheese 22
Long Red Cayenne 20
Maui Purple 11
Mulato Island 13
Pasilla Bajio 13
Pepperoncini Italian 12
Purple Beauty 23
Red Marconi 15
Sante Fe Grande 14
Serrano 20
Sweet Banana 24
Tabasco 15
Thai Hot 26
Tricolor Variegata 12
Yellow Nocera 14

Trying a Yellow Pear tomato, "Nugget" tomato, Thai pepper, a Jalapeno, and a couple of Calif. Wonder green peppers. Still thinking about the other tomatoes I'll do. Have several seeds to choose from, but just trying to decide how much space to take up with which plants. We're making a new garden this year, since we've only been in this house for about a year. Last year was spent doing landscaping and house stuff, so the veggie garden had to be put on the back burner. But, I'm trying the Square Foot Garden method, since it's just the two of us, and we just don't have the stamina to work a large area anymore. I have my posts up for the deer fence, and I've been working the soil into a nice flat space, to accommodate the raised beds. If it would just stop raining, maybe I could get the fence up. Several seeds are started already, and I have more to get going after these are up large enough to put outside for hardening off. Wish me luck!

Wow Doug........what do you do with all those peppers? Sell produce?

WOW is right, I have lots of different seed just no where to plant all of then indoors right now.

Pimentos are up
searched out a few more varieties to work up today
Charleston Hot Peppers
Alma Paprika
and some sweet Yellow Bells (so beautiful when stuffed with Quinoa)

I am sure I will find some space for a few more things, I am anxious to get out of doors and get my early beans and peas in the ground.

I need some bell pepper expertise :0)
Can I start them in 170ct trays and hold them there for at least 8 weeks after germination? Or would they have to be potted up?

I think the 170 count might last 5 weeks.

I don't grow bells because I don't get good yields but I do grow other sweets. I use a 72 ct tray and pot them up at about 4 weeks. In that small a tray they won't have enough root development IMO.

I normally use 32 count trays so I do not have to repot, they can grow out and go straight into the garden.
This year I am running two plantings so I am only working with 18 ct trays (3") pots
I am expecting my plants to be stocky before they go into the prepared area :O)

I am working my tomatoes the same way, even using a scant bit of soil to start them in the bottom of their pots, then when they have gotten to size with their first set of true leaves, I am filling the pots up with soil, giving them a sturdier planting and a deeper root system. We get really dry here so when my plants are about 8-10" tall and ready to plant, they will be going deeper into the ground to try and keep a more stable amount of moisture to the plants. (I plant in mounds)

I will sell if I get enough. Mostly I have a field to fill, I like the looks of peppers among other things and I want to figure out what works and what doesn't. I want to get a greenhouse up in the next year or so to sell plants from and also to have a small commercial garden to ad to my income.

Rule #1 of starting a business: identify a market for your product. If there is no market, and you don't have the resources or know-how to create a market for a product, then you are just a hobbyist.

Not that there is anything wrong with being a hobbyist.

-Rich

I am getting together with a gardening friend and taking my over plantedness (plants and harvests turnips/kales) to our local Farmers Market close to the time of the Midlands Plant Show...with a pile of handouts and business cards with my business' mission
It'll be a 2-fer cool plants cheap veggies and advertisement. If I pull 1 job off the handouts It'll be worth it :O)

I admit I'm tempted to look further into market gardening. It would take a LOT of work in this soil, and a bit of start-up money because I'd have to buy in mulch and other supplies. But the local farmers' market (open 1 day/week) typically sells out of their better vegetables within an hour (I've heard but haven't witnessed that there are some scrambles over who gets to the freshest stuff first). I love growing greens like kale in the cooler time of year (also my favorite time to garden) and they are always one of the first veggies to disappear - and expensive, even the locally-grown stuff. I can only imagine what something like local artichokes or broccoli raab would bring in.

-Rich

Another idea that I just happened to stumble into: selling plant starts, like tomatoes and peppers. I have the lights, heat mats, and two spare bedrooms for starting indoors. A friend who is unsuccessful starting tomatoes from seed asked me to start some for her, I started 'a few' extra (188 plants germinated). A different friend mentioned me at her church, who are attempting to start a community garden but were unsuccessful with their seedlings (no lights or heat mats). They took all I had left and now they will buy 100 tomato plants each time I have them. They want to feed the needy in Phoenix. Another gardener who has no time for seed starting will purchase 50 at a time.

I've been selling good, strong plants in one quart containers for $2.50. Last Sunday I saw a tiny little tomato someone wanted $8 for - price adjustment is in order here. I think $5 is fair.

I'll post a follow-up to the picture that started this thread.

That's how I started out. Mary, your prices are WAYYYY to low, I realize that you were just trying to pay for your addiction. There are state and federal regulations in most states that you may want to check into. Sometimes they depend on how much you sell a year. I get out about 350 - 400 plants every 2-3 weeks. It's a lot of work and timing is key. I love it tho.

Ok. Ya'll KNOW how much I love to start tomato seedlings. I want in.

MaryMcP,
Where're you getting those 6" grow bags?

1Lisac,
I just wanna do the Farmer's Market/parking lot thing. Come to think of it, there are enough backyard gardeners in just my NEIGHBORHOOD who would gladly pay $2.50 for a seedling that looks like MaryMcP's. We have a whole strip I could set up tables on not a 1/2 mile from my house, and, with more in and out weekend traffic than you can imagine.

I could post flyers right in the neighborhood for the sale date!

Oh, my, goodness!

Wow!

Thank you so much for the pepper potting info, looks like I've got to pot up tomatoes soon, so that will free some 72ct size trays.


I so happy to see everyone is venturing into selling their produce, hobby or bigger. Can't wait to see how the ventures go, and wise the best! Same discussions going on here. My oldest wants his own egg biz. He's thirteen and convince he's going to be a gazillionair by the time he's 18.lol I've been wondering if I can produce enough good veggies to tag along with him :0)

The Farmer Markets here require a nursery licence certification. Can't remember how it's classified and you may need a vendors permit to set up on the side of the road. Depends on what your city/county requires. I would check into it before I set up in public. The fines are pretty hefty. In Texas it goes by how many acres your on.

I'd be really careful about selling in public without all my ducks in a row. If Mary is filling orders for people that's one thing, but there are a lot of regulations around plants and I'd be cautious.

Lisa, that's just the kind of info and feedback I need to hear!

I've already reviewed our local Farmer's Market regs, and it's a piece of cake, here. The one I have in mind will only allow seedlings less than 12" tall, so the timing is critical. Would 'a recouped almost 2 years of expenses with my 2011 tomato seedlings if I hadn't poisoned 1/3 of them with OVER-fertilizing...I got zealous...up to that point, was the best crop of seedlings I ever grew!

Hugs!

Linda, the half gallon grow bags are from my local hydro store, Sea of Green. I'm looking for quart instead because the half gallon size takes WAY too much soil and it will break the bank. SOG does not stock/cannot purchase wholesale the 1 quart bags so I will look at other local hydro stores. I can find them on-line but the shipping is $28 whereas 100 bags is only $12.

Lisa, that's interesting it's how you started with your mega growing. I have a full-time business and if I switched to growing any more veggies than this I would need to find a new bookkeeper for my clients and I'm not ready for that step yet. But in 5 years I'll be 67 and ready to retire. By then I should have most of my mistakes out of the way and plan to hold onto a few good clients and grow grow grow instead of crunching numbers.

Thanks for the encouragement y'all!

I am having a hard time keeping up with all the threads and working too.

I just want to say this about pricing plants for sale.

food and money for thought:
First of all, Walmart and Home Depot prices, which is nearly road side robbery, and other similar places are charging high prices cause they have high expense cost. Employees being the highest on the list.... etc... The small business owner does not have to charge that much to make a great profit. You want to make "at least" a 50 percent profit for your time of doing all the hard work. Also, Folks up north including Canada companies can't see how I make a profit charging low prices...........the simple fact that is not thought of is.......I don't have the heating bill that they have.

Where we are timing is everything, You cannot believe the excersize you get everyday when the weather is nice out of doors and then the nights are questionable...Veggie plants in and out every A.m. & p.m. just to make sure we have the best, acclimitized plants ready at the correct planting time for these folks around here.
I love late winter Early Spring, you can loose 5 pound a week on our "wild and crazy winter I wanna Be spring wonderland days"...LOL...We moved 100 flats every day for a month in and out...Now I wonder how many reps that would've been in the GYM...LOL

I've overwintered my peppers. I've got cowhorn, thin cayenne, red hot chiles, big Jim, 4-6L chiles, and cubanelle. I went to NM and brought back a couple of plants and seeds for Hatch chiles

L-o-o-k-i-n-g good! What's that soup? Finally, another person who like cheese as much as me!!

Cheen chile chicken stew. Slow heat...

Well I had an issue with some of my Tomato plants getting a little leggy (Caspian Pinks). My recycling option instead of purchasing new pots...
finished Toilet paper roll pots, they are just tall enough to plant the long legged things all the way up to their sweet little necks. They're bottomless cardboard and wick the water right out of my bottom watering tray. And they fit neatly right in between the other recycled yogurt containers perfectly. There was not but one variety that got leggy so there are not enough to blocke light and make the ones planted in the less deep pots leggy reaching for 'The Light'.
My first planting are also getting to spend their first night our of doors(temps down to~ 53degreesF) , hopefully they will get to continue out there until about this coming Tuesday(Temps predicted ~38degreesF) when I will probaby have to bring them in for at least one night due to temps :O)

What is cheen chile?

I think it's Green Chile Chicken Stew. ;-)) Simmered slowly.

Yes, green chile stew. Typo

What holds your yields back? Are they just not blooming? Are the blooms falling without being fertilized? Or are diseases causing plant stunting or fruit loss?

Just curious because I used to feel that way about Bells, then found a few that thrive in our summer heat and shrug off the diseases we have here.

-Rich

I know a lot of gardeners that don't feel the yields are as good with bells and since I grow mostly O/Ps I've found other non bells that taste just as good but produce better.


All the reasons you gave for why I might not grow them would affect non bells too, it would seem. I like Marconis and they get so loaded with fruit I have to stake them.

I actually prefer the long Italian-style peppers and southwestern Anchos for most of the purposes I used to reserve for Bells. But I wouldn't say I've ever run into any that taste exactly the same. I mostly gave up on bells because I lost so many to fungal and bacterial diseases, which usually seemed to hit just as the fruit was ripening. But then I found a few hybrids that are actually worth growing here because of fantastic disease resistance. My best last year was "Blushing Beauty", an odd bell pepper whose fruit starts out a very pale yellow (not green at all) but ripens to a beautiful deep red. One I grew last year - and ate from all summer and fall - is still producing peppers in a Gardener's Supply self-watering container that I rolled it inside when freezes threatened. The peppers that formed during the winter didn't elongate properly (no pollinators, I suppose) but now the plant is back outside and producing full-sized peppers again.

As for the non-bells - I would agree with reservations. The vast majority of older varieties (especially those passed along from family seed collections) were never properly tested under controlled conditions, so there aren't any specific claims made for them. That doesn't mean they are not disease resistant. One of the reasons I favor the Italian long sweet types in general is because they have performed well for me growing right next to other varieties (including Bells) that succumbed to leaf or fruit disorders or just didn't thrive under identical conditions (mostly hot & humid, but really more a matter of extremes).

I have to admit I still grow Anchos mostly out of stubbornness. I still haven't found a variety that tolerates our climate conditions well, but I also haven't found any other peppers that have the same combination of rich pepper flavor, size and shape for stuffing, and that little bit of heat. I have started seed of five varieties I haven't tried before, hoping to find one that won't give up early.

-Rich

Peppers, like tomatoes and Eggplant are self pollinating they don't need pollinators, only a breeze. The strange shape was probably do to the cooler temps.

I don't grow many, if any hybrids. Yes, they have disease resistance, but since I grow O/Ps all my peppers are pretty much open to the same diseases bell or not.

We have put our first bit of calcium on our plantlings, this week.
We use whatever is left in our milk carton mixed with water about halfway. Since we started using eggshells in the growing space and starting a calcium watering very early, we do not have much in the way of blossom end rot any more. Now if we could only find a cure for the no rain...LOL...Luckily the soil has been organically worked for a while now that it is just like cake about 12 inches down all the time.

Bell peppers are "self pollinating", but these peppers were not pollinated. If the pollen doesn't ripen, or the pollen tubes don't grow, or the stigma isn't receptive (e.g.: because it's too dry), then you won't get pollination even if the species is known to be self-pollinating.

The abnormal fruit on this plant is parthenocarpic. There is no seed. In fact there is none of the normal placenta to feed the seeds. If you look at the interior where the peduncle is attached, you can see there is no indication of any development.

The images show the fruit on the plant; the abnormal whole fruit; and a cross section of the fruit showing NO seed or placental development.

BTW, the pale green color is normal for the unripe fruit of Blushing Beauty (the yellow in the second two shots only appears under my under-counter LED lights, and only on the camera). They stay this pale green color until they start to ripen, when they get their characteristic "blush" before turning deep red.

-Rich

Cool looking pepper but now I'm confused. How would having pollinators have helped if the pollen wasn't viable, anyway? I must be missing something. I kind of like that shape.

This message was edited Mar 7, 2012 8:57 AM

What does calcium do for peppers? I'm hoping the answer is that it gives them that waxy sheen or makes them bigger. Last season my big Jims were dull and not so big.

I was told it had something to do with lessening the scalding of the skin of the peppers.
Hey I grew the Blushing Beauty Peppers last year and only had a few in the beginning of the growing season to have ANY seed whatsoever. Although my fruit were small because of the extreme dryness of the summer, mine never changed shape.

But my Big Bertha peppers, were twisted, and small, and looked more like large jalapenos than Big Bertha Bells. they were a waste to plant.

We did put down a few yellow bell pepper seeds from a pepper from the grocery store the other day (Sunday) and they are up and I am going to have to transplant them to their new single celled pots this weekend.


I am letting my tomatoes and broccoli, spinach, agastache and another something we potted out today get some air tonight since our low temps are supposed to be around 56Degrees F

Most likely the bell that you got at the supermarket was a hybrid, so you may get a variety of different plants. Save the seeds from the best one and pull the rest.

As long as it is bell pepper my little one will not care....LOL

How may 3 year olds favorite foods are tomatoes, Bell Peppers, lettuce, asparagus and broccoli...

Thank goodness they are all pretty easy to grow here

I think there was no pollination because the stigma was not receptive - one of the options I named. There were other peppers present that could have acted as pollinators. Not many insects stirring either, though.

The flattened shape is OK, but the production was way down. The normal shape/size of the peppers is a medium-large bell pepper, so you get a lot more food for the same effort.

I didn't notice a drop-off in the flavor/aroma like I had with the over-wintered tomatoes, though. Just a lot more fruit to pick and clean and a lot more knife-work for a little flavor-and-crunch addition to my salads. The winter fruit are not really big enough to stuff. Once the "top" is removed, all you have left is a nearly-flat bottom.

The new fruit that has begun forming since the weather has warmed (in the middle of the photo below) are completely different: nearing "bell" shape and already showing the intermediate color before some of the "winter" peppers that were actually initiated earlier. That may also be an effect of the parthenocarpy - presence of seeds induces production of hormones involved in ripening. The surprise to me was that the fruits stayed on the plant and didn't just drop.

-Rich