This is my first year growing peppers can someone tell me what they like? I seem to recall hearing they don't like to much water is this correct? How often should I fertilize? I'm use to tomatoes in Eb's so I'm at a loss...
Peppers
I can't answer your question about the water because I'm not every experienced with peppers either but those are some pretty happy looking seedlings you have there. What kind of peppers are they? I read somewhere that when you transplant peppers to put the ends of a book of matches in the bottom of the hole. Supposedly they like the potassium in the match head.
I have a two Banana Peppers and a Yellow and Green/Red. This was the first time I had started seedlings (banana peppers) other than tomato so I had fun with my cucumbers, peppers and herbs...LOL watch out veggie world here I come!
Water them the same way you would most veggies. When the soil gets dry but not solid. Mulch would help and also keep the weeds out. Peppers are easier to grow than tomatos. My opinion only but Flip grows more than I do so he would know best. This season I am growing a large variety of veggies so it should be real interesting for me. Of course all are in EBs as it is much easier for me.
Your plants look great! hope you get a good harvest
Sweet pepper in particular, grow under the same conditions as tomatoes. Hot peppers do seem hotter when drier conditions prevail at ripening.
I finally talked to the guy behind me about his EB's and he's thinking about selling them so lets keep our fingers crossed
Chile peppers pretty much grow like weeds (at least in my area) They don't require much of anything. I grow the mild jalapenos and the hot chiles.
Bell peppers I have to nurse along with special care - even then the peppers are small and not fat and juicy. They don't like my garden.
I'm not doing any Chile peppers as I am a wimp...my peppers are bell & sweet banana peppers or is that banana sweet pepper?
I've had good luck with sweet banana peppers. They grow like my chiles do - like green energizer bunnies :-)
I'll tell you that I am very glad that I grow all my veggies in Ebs with a large water resevoir because as of yesterday our tri-county area was put on a water restriction schedule to water from 4 am to 8 am three days per week using the alternate odd and even system depending on your street address. The fines are $500 and/or imprisonment for thirty days with no second chances for anyone. This is the strictest regimen that I have ever seen so our water reserve must be critical?
T, you might just check with the powers-that-be.... sometimes those watering restrictions are meant more for sprinklers and don't apply to more water-conserving methods such as soaker hoses and reservoir containers. The "3 days a week" makes it sound to me more like they're targeting watering of lawns. When our water reserves were low several years ago, they said no watering of lawns at all, although they made an exception for newly-seeded or newly-sodded lawns that would die without water.
Saint, those smaller plants on the right of your photo might be a little too wet -- they look maybe a tiny bit yellow. It's easy to overwater new transplants in a nice big pot... but those roots will catch up soon enough!
You've had some great advice, and I think those plants will soon just take off for you!
Peppers, especially chile peppers, will withstand drier conditions... but they grow even better with regular watering. The heavy rains we got toward the end of last summer did seem to wash the heat right out of some of my chiles, but I generally water the peppers (sweet and hot) on the same three times a week schedule as the rest of the veggie garden, and they taste wonderful! (Since I often grow varieties of habanero, I just feel no need to restrict watering to make those puppies any hotter.)
People will often say that herbs (other than basil) "need" dry conditions... that's just not true.... they will *tolerate* dry conditions better than most plants, but they will grow better if they get water, as long as they also have very good drainage.
Now that you've branched out into peppers and cukes.... you need some basil to go with those tomatoes.... Dmail me if you'd like a few seeds!
Transplanted another 175 mixed pepper types last night to go with 93 planted earlier still maybe another 75 to go . I will plant about 50 and give the rest away to friends and some to the farm store Judy gives me lots of flowers and I give her peppers and onions and some tomatoes to sell we share a lot.
Araness your plants look super to me agree with the watering advice of letting the plant dry a bit before watering but obviously don't let it wilt. I grow my peppers with lots of water after they get in the ground. I use T Tape and water deep. Sweet yellow Bannana Wax is smaller in size than Bannana Hybrid supreme which do you have? Again good job enjoy. I resemble the crowd who say bells are hard to get real size on them I need to coach them and some just dont get more than medium to large never any braggers with peppers for me except with the long guys. I think the pepper in the basket is bounty. Ernie
P>S> and I grow a lot under plastic for heat because normaly we get about 10 days of 80 degree and 3 days of low 90's all summer most in the 60's. LOL I am handicapped right now it is in the low 50's and we are not safe from frost till the 10th of may so I cheat like mad and cover and un cover to try to get some season extension.Ernie
Ernie from the thumbnail image I thought you were in my kitchen or maybe the other way around...
-Kim
both pictures look yummy, and thanks for everyone's advice. As to what type I have it just says Pepper Sweet Banana by Ferry Morse Seed Co. LOL with my mater's I'll get picky but with this I'll use Wally world stuff.
hahahaha.... jest you wait! You'll be over in the Pepper forum soon enough, debating the relative merits of your 'Sweet Banana' vs. the hybrid 'Bananarama'! (Unlike many tomato hybrids, I haven't been able to tell much difference in taste with hybrid versions of sweet peppers -- and the productivity has me relying on them for my "main crop" plants.)
LoL Kim right you are even the dishwasher is in the same place.How much alike they are cept my tomatoes are tastier than yours lol. At first I said I didn't mean to post this ha ha Ernie
Ernie, what are those tomatoes in your last post there? Very abundant!
Both of your kitchen counter veggie shots made me want to cry. Must be over emotional today. It seems like forever until summer. I miss the veggies.
Don't worry jen my picture was from last summer. Ernie on the other hand was just showing off. I am sure those are a hybrid variety anyway- LOL ;)
Back to peppers. Mine have not germinated as of yet even though I stare at the soil every day.
Hey, Kim, me, too! But I think it's working after all. I swear...while I was staring at them yesterday I saw the earth part and 2 little seedlings poker little noses out. Whew! I was beginning to feel like they would never show!
I had to do a double-take on the kitchens, too. Very cool! (And what are those funny shaped tomatoes towards the lower right? And how did they taste?)
Are you talking about these? http://www.growitalian.com/Qstore/Qstore.cgi?CMD=011&PROD=000110 Very meaty - better for sauce not a good slicer. Must be something I didn't love cause I am not growing them again this year although the yield was very good. Or are you talking about the ones in the basket? Hey maybe you are refering to Ernie's pic. LOL
Kim lol yes they are a very good hybrid for production. The stingey H toms are in the next row over Prudens Purple is my fave so is Aunt Rubies and Black prince ha Abe L is pretty good to and the Earl of Edgecombe is no slouch either. I have some seed from an unknown H from The Ohio area that is big red and taste good but cracks want some? Really looks like German Johnson to me.
Jen the tomato is Buffalo a variety used for commerical productions it is a beauty the vine looks awful but it produces clear clean smooth skinned tomatoes with good taste and is a great slicer. In fact Country Gardens uses this as his main crop tomatoe for his market garden sales he has a green house or two full of them.
Last night I see the Giant anaconga poked its head up and Orange sun as well
seems that some decide to be a week or more after the majority of the rest. Some do start hard others seem to jump funny so much difference.
LOL kim here is a H for you lol lol.
Janice I saw that lol carrot indeed lol I need a back hoe to digs me carrots and a chain saw to slice them ha ha . Ernie
This message was edited Mar 25, 2007 8:24 AM
Upside the head, my friend - and just possibly with a rotten tomato! Yes, that was the one I was referring to. I love the look of it, but shied away from it, thinking it probably wasn't as tasty as it was cute!
PS - I'm sure ernie was putting us on. Thems not peppers, thems carrots! And mighty big ones at that!
Ok - the sun's out so I best go see what damage the ice storm did to my cold frame last night. Then it's off to ta-da - Home Depot for more gardening supplies.
Today's garden shot...
That's funny you said that about the carrots that is what I first thought when I saw the picture. Now what did I say to deserve a rotten tomato? If anyone wants any of those seeds just yell.
~:-)
LOL not two of you ha ha peppers come in all sorts of colors and at different times of the season. Onions to go with peppers and tomatoes for yummy salsa.
Oh, man! I want onions bad!!! I'm trying them for the first time this year. Taters, too. Can hardly wait...
ok I have a onion question LOL I found some at Wally world (look like a scallion but are "Georgia Sweet Onions") when do I plant them? How do I plant them? How long do they take? INFO INFO...I'm jones here folks...lol. I couldn't resist...I saw the Bonnie truck, I know I know no Bonnie bashin the guy was a sweetheart and we chatted for several minutes and I saw the crate with the onions...I just had to buy em. So now what do I do?
Plant them now or sooner :) Frost won't phase them much and they will regrow from the bulb if they die off. They can be as close as 3-4" apart and bulb to full size. They take like 90-120 days depending on the type. They're triggered to bulb by the amount of daylight hours. If you put them in now you're looking at full size onions in late June but you can eat them anytime before that. Use a fertilizer geared more towards root development than foliage development.
I won't bash Bonnie, but I will say that some Bonnie's Broccoli I bought recently 'Buttoned' immediately to small heads and is useless to me other than snacking. My own Broccoli started from seed is doing much better.
Jeff
lol frost...heeheehee what frost? I won't see frost again till next year. Ok I'll build the raised bed ASAP ROFLMAO gonna spend 50 bucks on a raised bed for a handful of onions. I've been to the Dixonland site and I saw they sell 10-20-10 fertilizer, have to find some of that...I have Stockton Onion seeds but don't think those are short day are they?
What Bonnie sells under the banner Georgia Sweets are standard Yellow Granex Hybrid. They are a short day type. It is one of many short day varieties approved for marketing as Vidalia onions. Usually planted in late fall or early winter for harvest in April and May. Bonnie usually ships its plants at the appropriate planting size, but unfortunately they can sit around the retailers for a month or more. I have seen whole flats of broccoli and cauliflower buttoned and the retailer was still trying to sell them.
Ok checked on Dixonlands website and mine are to be planted late winter or early spring so still time for me...I got these off the truck as they unloaded today...can't wait to make me a raised bed to put them in...DH is gonna kill me, if I don't post again tell the police to look under the raised bed in the backyard for the body! LOL
Don't worry Saint, Zapita will dig you up!
I'll send Scooter over to help Zapita dig you up unless a squirrel should run past?
To help out attach a GPS device to your person the kind the extream skiers carry in the back country in case of snow slides and register it with your local search and rescue. Maybe tell DH you know some one who has done this it may make him wary wondering if it is you lol.
On the fertilizer note I bought into the Dixondales special mix and did better with super potassiam at planting and at three weeks ammonium nitrate each two weeks untill they started bulbing then pour the water to them lol there is not a shortage of water here Ever just sun and heat. Ernie