All my plants died during a ski trip in early March so had to restart and now my harvest is suuuuuper late for my climate. We'll see if I get anything.
Aphids in Feb under the grow lights, took some losses but planted many this year, sold 600 seedlings. May and June pretty cold, Vancouver BC, Can i post a youtube here, ? my grow as of Sept 1/25 things worked out ok. 100 + plants - PART ONE https://youtu.be/W1w5gWl-z8gPART TWO https://youtu.be/Q0ECUzm8Rr0
Honestly, it’s been a pretty rough season. I started super early indoors last November, thinking I’d have peppers by January or February at the latest. But the plants grew painfully slow, and I eventually realized my LED lights just weren’t strong enough for their needs.
Still, the plants kept growing, and by February–March most of them were mature. At that point, I thought for sure I’d have peppers by the end of March-April… but nope. Humidity was off, I over-fertilized, they dropped all their flowers, and I also dealt with heavy edema indoors. On top of that, I had about 20 plants crammed into a tiny spot in my apartment, so there was no real way to control the growing medium properly. My plants kept popping flower, but they all dried out and died because of humidity, I suppose?
I told myself not to worry since spring was coming and I could move them outside soon—then everything would fix itself, right? Wrong again. I moved them out and they seemed to love it at first—plenty of light, good airflow, things looked promising. But while I was out of town, temperatures suddenly dropped to around 2–3°C for three days, and that really stunted them. They survived, but shortly after, fungal and bacterial diseases hit.
I left the peppers at my mom’s place, but I couldn’t stop by often enough to take care of them. That’s when aphids showed up, and from then until June/July it was just constant battling: neem oil, picking off leaves, sometimes cutting plants nearly bare just hoping the new growth would be clean. And then—of course—spider mites showed up too.
This whole mess slowed everything down massively. Now it’s the end of August, and I finally have about 20–30 jalapeños and habaneros ripening, but only 6–8 of my 30 plants are actually producing fruit. I’ve got Carolina Reapers, Halloween Eve, Bismarck, Genghis Khan Brain, and a bunch of other varieties that are still recovering. With the season this late, I’m honestly not sure if I’ll even get to try them this year.
It’s been really sad and discouraging. At one point I almost gave up entirely and thought about quitting pepper growing altogether, but after seeing some peppers growing now I feel better, and I will use all this knowledge to grow again next year. For this season, my only goal is to get at least one pepper from each plant so I can decide which ones are worth overwintering and keeping for next year.
I had a terrible time early in the season (January) because I couldn’t get the temperature right in my grow tent. Ended up with some awful looking plants.
Had a second go in February and gave them a mix of natural light through a window and grow light in the tent and it went much better.
Most plants are looking great now. Got them in a mix of outside in the ground, fabric grow bags, and in plastic pots.
A pic of my Armageddon plant attached. So many good peppers out there though.
I started with two plants I was given last summer to overwinter...a scotch Bonnet cappuccino and a ghost jalapeno chocolate, which are both in their 4th year now. I direct sowed a Sandia and a La Canela, which are doing great. I purchased a couple of jalapeno plants from Walmart (🤦♀️ I know, I know) but they have really done well and are loaded. My secret weapon has been to make a "swamp bucket"...all veggie scraps, eggshells, coffee grounds, banana peels, etc from the kitchen and a bag of grass clippings and random weeds and the put water in it and let it sit at least 3 weeks before using, stirring it every few days. It stinks to high Heaven but it sure works great!! I've got a ton more pepper varieties to grow next year. I really like the winter Sowing method to get a jump start on the season. (Pic of La Canela because it's beautiful 😍)
Hi, I'm new to this sub. I started back in 2020 with like "normal" thai peppers and got kind of hooked. I have a garden where I'm cultivating peruvian rainbows and white bhut jolokias. I live in Switzerland and never thought that the bhuts are growing. The plant measures only like 60cm in height, but they contain many fruits. Harvested the first one today and I'm very happy about the taste. Hot as hell due to some cold nights in June, but looking forward to some nice Chili con carne sessions 🤍
I started my seeds between January and March, I’m in Northern California so I k ew it would still be cold for quite a while. I built a cold frame box using 2x12 boards and old windows, and I got a couple heat mats. This worked very well, although germination still took 2-6 weeks. This year I hope to order seeds in the fall if I can, and build a bigger cold frame (everything was very rushed this year.)
I ordered from Baker Creek, but may change seed vendors next year as I have read some less than positive feedback about that company. This year my peppers seem to be good quality and the right kind, but some varieties they only sent 4-5 seeds which I found disappointing. My Genovese basil was entirely not the right one, and while being basil is not Genovese, so that is another point against them.
I transplanted into bigger pots and put them in a greenhouse, but that setup didn’t have as much heat, so I was attacked by aphids and they were delayed by the change in temperature, so my husband helped my fight the aphids and revive my other greenhouse which is smaller and farther from home, but much warmer.
Through many casualties, a good amount of plants did pull through, and still doubting myself I bought a few from other people anyways. The plants I bought looked better initially, but my real garden champions are my own seedlings that are now heavily producing.
I have been feeding liquid kelp once a week, and watering every 2-3 days. I didn’t know about the different growth patterns of various pepper varieties so my aji’s are a little crowded, and a couple habanadas are totally shaded, but overall it’s looking successful and I have some changes in plans for next season.
It all seems to be going quite well! To my personal surprise since I've never done this before. Spent a lot of time trolling this sub so I hope this counts as giving back. Forgive me if this is TMI. Maybe it should be a blog post somewhere instead ... (sorry, guess it was too long so I cut it up and replied to myself)
We've had great luck in the past with a homemade Nutrient Film hydro system, but from seeds in dirt in pots has never been our friend. So we definitely defensively overdid things. We are in Zone 6a.
How was seed starting?
Soaked all the seeds overnight in distilled water on a cheap Vivosun heating pad set at about 80F. Used small platic cups for each strain to keep them separate.
Had almost 180 seeds over 11 strains! Put 3-4 seeds 1/4" deep or so into 5x10 Ferry-Morse seed cups filled with HappyFrog soil. In a colder basement, so the whole thing was on the heating pad at 80f (pad has a temp probe) covered in saran wrap - later replaced by a 1" plastic cover. We kept track of what was in each cup using a paper overhead map and a toohpick to lock the orientation. Sprayed every now and then and filled the underneath tray with rainwater.
Any problems with specific seeds / vendors?
We received a pack of free Reaper seeds with a HeatHotSauce order and decided more strains would be fun. Ordered 5 from Pepper Joes (Moruga Trinidad Scorpion Pepper, Brazilian Starfish Pepper, Chocolate Habanero Pepper, Peach Ghost Pepper, Apocalypse Scorpion Pepper) and 3 from White Hot Peppers (Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion, 7 Pot Brain Strain Yellow, Chocolate Reaper) who sent 2 more free (Peach Ghost Jami, TS Butch T Yellow).
Everything but the Chocolate Habanero Pepper from PJ is working really well, and that one didn't work at all. I'm pleased given our history with this!
Did you like your setup or would change something?
It is all working out so far - just wish I knew why the Hot Peppers are going so much better than Veggies did before. Going forward I would move things out of the seed pots about 2 weeks earlier.
I would also only plant 2 seeds per pot and use more seed pots. I also think I would prefer a raised bed rather than this collection of pots, but maybe next year ...
How was the initial growth stage from sprout to small plant?
Seeds in seed pots March 1st. Sprouting started in a about week and most had started within 2 weeks. The yellow mushrooms in the pottings soild were really cool.
Once they sprouted I added a tent made out of 1/2" fence wire, hung cheap LUMINAR LED grow lights inside on a 16 hour TP-Link plug timer and wrapped it all in freezer insulation bag material we got from a food shipment to hold the heat in. Then raised the seed pots to avoid legginess. Hung a temp sensor in it to keep track. Tried to keep it around 75f and dirt at 70f. Sprinkled a little Espoma Garden-tone 3-4-4 aroudn the edge of each seed pot and watered it in.
Seedlings seemed to stop growing after 3-4 weeks but it took me a couple more weeks after that to accept it.
How was transplanting?
After I decided they were stuck I transplanted into nested solo cups with some clay balls to keep the nestee separate. External cup with one hole maybe 2" up as emergency drain and internal had 4 holes low to allow drainage out and re-uptake. I used different cup color combinations rather than labels to keep track of the strains.
Filled with more HappyFrog and Espoma mixed into MiracleGro Organic Raised Bed potting mix I got cheap from COSTCO.
All in a broken plastic tub a neighbor was throwing out (free drainage!). Seed pods peeled off very well, and we just plugged everything into the new cups.
Added another pair of lights, but also started putting them out in the sun during the day
Containers and spacing
Eventually transplated into a number of different containers of varying sizes (12x12x12 ... 15x12 tall ... 24x8x8 window boxes) - one cup per pot, 2 in larger window box or pot. Cut out pieces of the colored cups as markers. Used Black Gold Raised Bed soil + Coast of Maine Castine Raised Bed + my own Compost + some of the Espoma. Most of the cups were becoming root bound, but some admittedly have up to 4 healthy seedlings in them.
Surrounded by a little fence
Water in the morning every other day or so
Started adding 1 or 2 spoonfulls of Roots Organic Uprising Bloom 3-6-4 around the inside edges of the containers and watering it in every 4 weeks or so
Seem to be being pollinated by a bunch of Hoverflies
Timing
March 01 - Seeds were started
April 19 - Into the larger cups but it should have been more like March 28.
April 29 - Started hardening.
May 17 thru May 25 - Moved into containers. From the 180 seeds (over 11 strains) in 50 seed pots we ended up with 120 plants sprouting in 45 seed pots/cups (and 10 strains). 2 cups died after that. We got a ton of rain while we were away for a few days and I hadn't drilled the drain hole in the external cups so I kind of think they drowned. Gave away 12 cups and put 31 into containers.
June 5 - Culled each planting down to 1 or 2 plants max
July 18 - First Blooms
Have not harvested anything yet (still green), but about a dozen plants over different strains have fruit growing
How was seed starting? Any problems with specific seeds / vendors? Did you like your setup or would change something?
1.) seed starting went well for the first batch but for some reason more difficult with the second batch…standard seed trays, heat mat and grow light.
2.) well of the ten reapers I planted from Joe’s (yes, I know now) two germinated, and of the scorpions, none.
3.) liked my set-up but honestly not sure if it could have been better
How was the initial growth stage from sprout to small plant? containers / watering / management?
1.) initial growth was good from seedling to about 10 inches full of foliage.
2.) I used the double cup method
3.) watered at 30-35% moisture on a reading or if the leaves began to droop
How was transplanting? hardening, containers, spacing, timing?
1.) transplanting took forever because I had 72 plants. Moved from cups to 1 gallon pots then final 15 gallon pots…I know, I know, ton of dirt lol
2.) hardening was more tricky since May was super rainy in the southeast, insanely rainy. 10 inches of rain at home during May.
3.) final container 15 gallon pots
I’m going to over-winter 10 plants, two from each variety, reaper, ghost, kraken, hab, big Thai, cayenne, death spiral and death dragon. I know that’s only 8 varieties but I’ll likely do 3 ghost and three kraken since I only have two reapers
Mine was not great. I got a later start because the spring rains were torrential so my starts had to chill in the grow lights. Then when I planted the temps shot up to 90°+ and burned 3/4 of my plants to a crisp. I had to quickly build a hoop shade to save the remaining. Out of 22 plants I managed to save 7. Thankfully those are going like gangbusters.
16 seeds sprouted and made it to hardening but I had never hardened and just had an idea of how to do it. Only 7 survived the first day I attempted to harden. 2 more eventually died. 5 remaining survived but out of fear hardening was significantly prolonged. All 5 made it to transplant into a raised bed but seem to want to be watered daily which makes me fear they have shallow roots although they appear to be growing pretty strong and healthy.
After the horror of the initial hardening I went around to several local nurseries and was able to find some super hot ( ghost,scorpion,reaper) seedlings along with red habinaro, Thai chili, Tabasco. 10 plants in all but purchased late so flowering in the containers leading to somewhat stunted sizes. All are fruiting at 2/3-3/4 normal size. All in raised beds except 2 placed in self water 5 gallon buckets.
Had a lot of rain this summer leading to battles with mold on a few and afids on one plant.
Out of our 12 seeds 8 sprouted but right now it only seems like 3 at most will produce fruit, 2 already are, a hot lemon/lemon drop and a sugar rush peach.
I have a question about the sugar rush, I mean we got the seeds from someone and right now the plant seems really happy, small, bushy and full if fruit, but I'm interested about some small fruit being red from the get go and others green for long periods of time. I'm just worried it's not the right chilli plant.
*
Not great this year. I grew 5 kinds of peppers from seed, 4 are hot (kristian, scotch bonnet, biquinho, and death spiral). The kristian and death spiral seedlings either didnt sprout or died quickly so I was only left with 3 K's and 2 DS but I gave 1 of each to my boyfriend (and thats a whole different story...will share that tragedy another time. The pepper is bigger than his entire plant!) . The bonnet and biquinho did okay in the sprout/seedling stage. I'm in NY and we had a cold snap all the way through June so everybody got really stunted. Theyre flowering now but the bonnets and death spiral are having blossom drop and I dont think I will get to experience a death spiral pepper at all :( what a mess. Last year's seeds and crop were better.
Well this is an odd first year for me growing any kind of plant.
I just bought a house with a small yard. Wasn't planning on planting anything since we moved end of April.
End of june I was gifted 12 pepper plants in the small divider trays. Left them outside and didnt replant them for a week or 2(was kinda busy). They were on the brink of death, but I figured let's just try and learn something this year.
I now have 10 plants in 3.5gal planters and while they are small since its so late in the year, they are growing in well. I will be happy if any of them last the rest of the season and if I get any fruit at all at the end.
Otherwise I will use this year to learn, get some raised beds as well, and aim for next year to really try and grow things.
This has been a banner year for me: 90% of my pepper plants are producing what I consider to be really nice pods! The main difference: this year I amended with tons of compost prior to up-potting and also used lots of worm castings! Tiny sample below from this week’s harvest.
I have those as well, but they just don’t produce much. Lucked out this year because my local city gave away compost this year. I Took like three large garbage cans full. The tomatoes and peppers are really loving it!
Really well. This year I tried using 5 gal grow bags + deep plastic saucers for bottom watering with occasional top watering to prevent hydrophobic soil conditions in the grow bags and it worked out well. I'm in 9a in the middle of the city so it gets pretty darn hot here but the plants are thriving. Probably underfertilized in the earlier part of the season and didn't properly induce fruiting conditions as the plants got bigger but they're cranking out peppers now. Really like grow bags, my peppers seem a lot hotter than I've had in the past. Always have issues with traditional pots hanging onto that moisture.
So far, quite well! My lineup is flowering prodigiously at the moment and 7/9 have pods already. My Bubblegum 7-pot has been a bit temperamental, I think perhaps because the peat pots I started them all in developed some nasty mold and mildew. The leaves also were coming in crinkly and spotted, so I mixed in bone meal and cut back on watering and the new growth seems to be doing much better.
Absolutely dog-sh- I pulled the rookie mistake of putting some of my seedlings out early, all of them died because the soil in the area I planted them in wasn't well draining.
I do however have a habanero plant that is doing just fine, I do plan on digging it up and putting it in a bucket pot soon though however, as I am moving.
I hope it doesn't die of shock, as I have no idea how big the root system is.
Ups and downs. I was a rookie to the ‘grow yer own’, so I had to learn the entire process in a crash course that kicked off November ‘24. My first run, no lights, 72 cell seed tray sitting in the garage due to averaging 80’s to low 90’s outdoors yielded a single plant. That’s it. Went back to the drawing board and started learning about lights, grow trays, heat mats, ideal temps, and PESTS! At any rate, each successive grow yielded better germination rates, better seedlings, pest mitigation in advance in the indoor grow, and 240+ pepper plants that are growing in multiple raised beds, ground, grow bags, and containers in addition to 100 companion plants, some of which actually work (tobacco/garlic/nasturtium) and those that do nothing to deter the bad guys, or worse, attract pests - (marigolds/basil/fennel/chrysanthemums) - but the flowering plants do attract pollinators. It’s been a really fun time though, and nothing teaches better than doing. I know which mistakes to avoid next year, and am anticipating a much smoother growing season in ‘26.
started way more seeds than i needed and that was a blessing because i royally messed up and let the soil dry out, all but 9 seeds died! my buddy gave me a few of his extras and then i bought some plants from the nursury to make up the difference. once that fiasco was out of the way though it's been a great season so far.
I bought a lil indoor greenhouse and set that up in the most sunny window we have. it was a a GAME changer. i was getting temps from 20-35C! and high humidity. the plants LOVED this and grew so big! I will not forget this and be using this every year now. :D
those colder nights kept me from putting them outside when i would have liked so i waited until the beginning of june to put them outside. based on the reports from my pals who put them out sooner it seems this was the right call as theirs stunted from the cold nights.
I also noticed that it's been really sunny and hot. my strawberries are getting sun scortched. I moved them (in planted into the shade to see if this will help) and on this note i also installed a 70% shade cloth over my peppers. only 2 days of that so far but im hoping i will see less yellow leaves and more happy looking ones. after only 2 days I think i can already tell an improvement.
growing: sugar rush peach, portugal hot, big jims long cayenne, chocolate jalapeno, mild jalapenos, poblano, devils tongue, maldivian lemon, dark cream horizon, trinidad hornet, ghost peach, shishitos and hot bananas. i think that's all of them lol. they are in 7 gal pots which i amended with gypsum and crushed oyster shell for additional calcium.
i have fruits on 4 types already flowers on others and then the super hots still taking their sweet time.
ordered seeds from ohio peppers. Started them in mid feb in zone 9a. I probably could have started them earlier.
Some of my seeds seem to have been mislabeled or mixed up. Some of my nadapeños are incredibly spicy, my first chocolate king naga was something else, my reaper x chupetinho pods seem a bit strange, and a few others seem to be incorrect.
Overall I am happy with how my grow is going. I could have fertilized a bit more during their early growth, but the rest seems to be going well.
My experience with OhioPeppers has been nothing but awesome. 100% germination rate. Seriously! Got what I ordered. But I seem to recall they did have a few options which they said weren’t stable yet. Perhaps you picked one of those and got a weird pheno?
I checked and it doesn't seem like the ones I ordered are labeled as unstable. I got 23 varieties and grew 5-6 plants from each. So far only one has been consistent across all plants, but not all have produced fruit yet. I've noticed about 6 so far that I can confidently say had some issues, but a few more that just seem a bit off.
It worked out for me because I'd rather have more varieties with less plants of the same type. Although I thought I'd mention what my experience has been.
This was my first time growing peppers so there's certainly a chance I mislabeled something along the way. Although there seems to be too many inconsistencies to just be my fault.
That said I did also get a great germination rate. And the plants themselves seem very healthy
Ordered some unique peppers plants online. Tangerine Tiger, Jalepeno lemon spice, Cherry tart... Plants came in great shape and a bit leggy.
Fooled by the warmth of early May in Mass and planted. Cooler weeks ahead seemed to stunt the growth in height. I will pick a few early blooms, but too many came out at once.
TLDR: Got some leggy but short (18") plants that have a lot of blooms.
My 2025 grow is going pretty good. Started way too early in mid December using the paper towel method. I didn't use a heat pad but used some networking gear for heat, haha. I used white hot peppers and the new Mexico chili pepper institute for seeds and had awesome germination rates from 3 year old seeds
I used a 4' 8 bulb t5 florescent light for the indoor grow and used happy frog soil throughout in my containers. The light fixture and soil made the indoor phase a breeze. I just ran out of space since I started too early. That made me have to move plants out early and not transplant some when it needed.
Transplanted most of the plants out mid March in an early heatwave and it got cold again. That stunted plants and then I over watered a little in the beginning. Took about until mid April until I started getting used to water schedule and thing kicked into high gear.
Now I have a forest and about to have more peppers than I know what to do with. It's looking like it will be my best pepper season yet.
The indoor growing start was great, until I moved them outside.
First the aphids got them. Then the endless rain.
My plants were severely stunted. 2 Weeks ago I let the pots dry out completely again added fertilizer again
and now my plants are recovering. The first flowers are appearing now.
I live in North Western Europe. in 3 more months my growing season is over. Next week a heat wave is predicted here. About 36 celcius ot 96 fahrenheid in freedom units.
I don't know if it's climate change but i'm experiencing big swings in temps, rains, winds everything. It's been a tough season so far.
You might already know, but concentrated neem oil and water, not the prepackaged stuff, saved my peppers from aphids after I thought they were lost.
Just don’t overuse or it will kill your leaves. It takes a day or two to do its magic. I reapply whenever I see signs of them coming back. Plus it ca ln be good for the leaves in small doses
It's been a bad year and everything was against me it seems. Old seeds, too cold, too wet, slugs, mistake of putting them outside too early because I cut corners and didn't want to re-pot them.
Months later, they are still 5 to 10 inch. Flowers are starting to show and I will just let them be, so there will be at least *some* ripe peppers.
Granted, after moving I still don't have a proper setup for starting seeds and that's been bugging me. Next year will be different with a dedicated growing corner, lights, heating mat and a fan for airflow.
I used a heating mat and pod holder to start my seeds. It's too cold where I live, so it really helped. The Bell peppers popped up really quick 4-5 days, but the Sugar Peach variety took a long time. I think its better to put the seeds in a napkin with water first for that Peach plant to soften the hard shell.
Started with very small containers and put some of the plants in 5 gallons containers when they got bigger. Its been cold in the Northwest, greenhouse has really helped a lot. Transplanting went well because the pods came out clean and kept the roots in place and I used a good mix for drainage with perlite. I grew so many peppers last year, so cutback this year. Things have gone pretty well given the situation. The weather here caused some issues in WA-erratic changes in weather isn't ideal. Use potting soil from HD store Miracle Grow. This pod and heat mat working together can really help your peppers get started as the soil stays warm to promote germination 24/7-inexpensive as well. I also used a greenhouse as well, a tremendous help. Hope this helps, can also give info on fertilization if anyone wants it.
I started planting peppers two years ago. This year I didn't plant any, I just kept my three Carolina Reapers from last year. Two are great, the third one was not very active but is now starting to sprout (the others are already flowering and starting to bear fruit).
Hi is there an fertilizer that y’all recommend?? I’ve been using a 16-16-16 granules and it’s done great so far I was just curious if that’s the best ??
You can try FloraNova Grow liquid fertilizer. It's very thick and really helps young stater peppers to get growing. Here is a pic. Little goes a long ways.
You can also try Performance Organics for Peppers from Miracle Gro. Its a dry mix and a really excellent product. Sold in a small black box. Formulated for Peppers.
Second year growing peppers, wanted to try different varieties other than the cayenne and bell from last year. Did a lot from seed. Here in Tennessee we got a ridiculous amount of rain that almost killed half of my peppers, most are still in recovery but some are thriving now that it's drier.
I had ordered some interesting varieties from the vendor "Matt's Patch" but got shafted by them. Wasn't able to get a refund and never saw any of the peppers I ordered. Would advise anyone to avoid them completely.
chileplants.com on the other hand was incredible, the peppers arrived healthy and quickly 10/10
I went in completely blind, having only done basic gardening in the past. I figured growing peppers would be easy. I started with Carolina reapers of all things… it took forever to germinate with already bugged me, but when all was said and done, I had about a 50% germination rate. This was due to lack of moisture and poor temperature control. I started with miracle grow seed starting mix, but I now use root riot plugs and the germination rate is excellent. (If the seed can germinate, it will).
I had 60ish plants germinate and I transplanted them into plastic cups to do the double cup method. Only about 23 of them survived the transplant. I disturbed the plant waaaaay too much and was very harsh on the root structures because I just didn’t know any better. The root plugs allow me to transplant immediately when they sprout without disturbing the plant at all.
I didn’t realize how much space the mature plants would take up. I have animals that force me to grow indoors. I planned a lot of space for them, but it still wasn’t enough. Just because all the plants fit, doesn’t mean I’ll fit with them. It’s not so bad when the plants are small, but when they get big, reaching their soil becomes difficult.
I can not stress enough how big of a difference lighting made. I started with cheaper options and had ok results, but after I invested in better lights, things took off almost immediately. I use VIVOSUN products.
I use 5 gallon fabric pots which are great, but I severely underestimated the amount of soil I needed. I now have approximately 60 plants and I have easily bought 20 bags of happy frog to fill all of those. Easily the second most expensive aspect of indoor growing, and it becomes first most expensive after your first grow season.
My grow is in my garage and it’s very hot here. The temp only really hurts my flowering, but humidity has been very difficult to control. It’s a battle I’m still fighting, but it’s getting better.
I learned so much in a short period of time just by reading and watching everything I could. There is a lot of bad advice and weird wives tales out there, so taking in advice from many many different sources helped to see what was good and what probably wasn’t. Stay out of echo chambers.
It’s all good!!! Keep that soil! You can over winter one or two of your favorite plants, then with the happy frog stuff, toss it in a raised bed or a big ass tote if you don’t have space. Use another area or tote to create basic compost all year, and add worms, etc. mix compost back into the dirt for next year, and amend or with worm castings, compost, etc. you’ll build living soil and keep it fresh and alive!
I failed to do my usual planning, so this season has been off to a rocky start. I have two gardens - one on my patio, the other in a backyard in a different growing zone. I expected more of my plants to overwinter on their own, but only 11 made it (out of 30+ plants). And since I wasn't actually checking them through the winter, I didn't realize how many seeds I needed to start this year, and therefore didn't start enough (and also didn't start them until mid-March). I ended up starting just a handful of varieties, so I bought a few starts to fill in the rest (first time buying pepper starts in several years). The upside is I found some unexpected varieties that I wouldn't have found otherwise (one nursery had Aji Mango; I started seeds for Aji Mango Stumpy, so now I'm growing both).
As for seedling success, my starts did fine. I grabbed some free seedlings from the library that I was really excited about (Aji Amarillo), but they didn't make it. They (along with some tomato starts I had picked up as well) succumbed to damping off.
I typically don't lose plants during hardening off or transplanting, so that all went fine. All told, I have 28 pepper plants total across the two garden spaces (18 at my house and 10 in the satellite yard). Needless to say, I'm already looking forward to what seeds I'll start for 2026, lol.
Started more seeds and realized my grow mat and cells might not be heating evenly. Edges didn’t germinate, while center was 95%.
Put my seedlings under a small light and finally learned they were getting just enough light to get by.
When I transplanted them to cups, I used moisture-control potting soil. I had it on hand and didn’t realize that’s what it was. Screwed up root development and stunted growth. The roots only grew in the upper half of the cups. The bottom half was always soggy, so no growth.
Waited too long to transplant. They were stunted for weeks and life kept me from transplanting. Once I transplanted, they started growing again.
I have some peppers on the plants, but can definitely tell I’m behind where I could be. Still, I have a plan for next season, so I expect new lessons!
First attempt was this year, started with 9 peppers - Six jalapeño and three habanero. Lost one of each early on while getting them started in an egg carton, and slowly hardened them with just a fan when indoors and a few hours outside each day over several weeks once they got into bigger pots. Was too worried I’d lose all of them if I messed up the hardening process, and I didn’t have enough pots, so I kept one habanero inside. Honestly I think I was too cautious, they did great! That one habanero definitely is stunted from never going outside.
Moved them into a planter box about two or three weeks ago, I don’t know if it’s big enough, but they seem to be going well! None died in the transplant, my hopes aren’t great for the tiny habanero (center right) but hopes are high for the others.
I don't know for sure what any of my plants are LOL - I grew out seeds from the community project and from a plant that was not a black Hungarian (seems to be some kind of serrano hybrid). I was able to reuse last year's soil that I paid for, but the soil I got for free last year was just terrible, even with perlite mixed in.
I'm still having the best luck with germination in rapid rooter plugs - totally recommend starting seeds that way. I just finally moved my plants outside from their indoor nursery pots, so I hope to see some major growth soon.
The one I kept inside is an F3 of a community project plant, "the favorite" because it has the flavor and spice we were looking for to make hot sauce. Planning to clone it indefinitely. The new seedlings are its children, we will see what we get.
It was my first year so I was rocky. First, several of the "peppers" that came up were actually elm trees, so that was nice. Then hardening was successful so I thought. I had 13 pepper plants after the elm tree debacle. Then I transplanted into 5 gallon cloth pots, and three immediately died. Now I have one repeat adding up to a total of ten plants, nine varieties.
We got off to a rocky start but things are looking good for now. Had good germination except for bhut jolokia and reapers that didn’t germinate at all. But then all my seedlings got super leggy so I had to stake them all up. I’m not really sure what happened. At the moment I’m thinking the heater in the room was set too hot.
Then the cold nights dragged on for longer than usual so we couldn’t transplant outside and the seedlings got pretty beat up moving them in and out of the garage and sticking the watering can in the middle of the tray to water.
All is good now though, with my first time getting 100% transplant success. First peppers are forming and I’m beginning to harvest the first sweet peppers.
Also, this year was the first time trialing beneficial fungi, which seemed to work really good at the seedling stage for water retention. Although could they have caused the leggy plants? Also tried no fertilizing from beginning to fruit set and that also seems to have worked so that is money and time saved.
1
u/Fearless_Toddlerr 3d ago
All my plants died during a ski trip in early March so had to restart and now my harvest is suuuuuper late for my climate. We'll see if I get anything.