Peppers are on the move!

Did you grow from seed?

 

Unless you buy plants that is the only way.

Sheal, I think we need to differentiate between sweet peppers and chillies.
The chillie growers are fairly well established.
But we dont hear much about growing capsicum, the sweet peppers, mostly what I would grow for salads.
Of the two, I would suggest Capsicums need slightly less heat than chillies, but both only do well under glass.

 

Yes they were all sown from seed,

I'm a newbie so I thought they genuinely doing good if there growing and look healthy I thought they were, lesson learned.

I've moved them now on the window sill and that's where they will remain, would I be able to put them in the grow house whilst still in the propagator ?

 

Thanks dan, ditto newbie here!
Was it a packet of seeds or seeds from inside an actual pepper? (I dint even know if one can use the seeds from inside a pepper?!)


Sent from my GT-N7000

 

They were from a packet!

 

Now they've germinated I don't think they need to be in a [heated] propagator any more.

They need a minimum (night) temperature of 10C, preferable more. If they are in your house, and provided that the windowsill doesn't get cold (it will if you draw thick curtains - if so move the plants into the room at night) then that will be a nice temperature for them. If they are in conservatory / greenhouse then you need to make sure that they have a decent minimum temperature - which might mean leaving them in a heated propagator.

Seed from within a supermarket Pepper/fruit may:

1. Be bred as "F1"
2. Be bred for a warmer climate - and thus be unsuitable for here
3. Be bred for the supermarket <Yuck!>

1) this means that the "First Generation", that's the plant that you buy the fruit from in the supermarket, will have specific characteristics (Sweet, Thin Skins, blah blah blah). The Second Generation (i.e. the plants you get if you sow seeds from that fruit) may have Sweet+Thick Skin or Sour+Thin Skin. You don't know what the original plant was, of course (unless the supermarket lists the actual variety), so its pot luck. It might be that the Pepper/fruit is an "open pollinated variety, in which case plants grown from its seed will be the same as the parents were (and you can then keep the seed from the ones that you grow, year-to-year).

3) Lots of things in the Supermarket are bred for the convenience of the Farmer and the Supermarket. For the Farmer it might be that the whole crop ripens at once, whereas as a gardener you'd probably prefer that the crop ripened over some weeks - so you have enough time to eat them before the crop goes past its best!

For the Supermarket they might want fruit that does not bruise easily - that usually means thick skins, and thus "less tasty".

As a gardener you can buy a variety that you like. Thin skins ... you don't care if they bruise easily, you'll handle them carefully, so what you want is best taste and flavour. You also want a variety that will ripen easily in the English Summer - which is shorter, and not as hot, compared to a Spanish one. Over time you'll find varieties that you like; plus you might want to grow some novelties - Purple Peppers for example. I'm growing some Peter Peppers (chilli peppers) this year as a novelty. They have rude looking fruit ... you can Google for a picture

Of course you can save money by using seeds from a supermarket fruit. My advice, and doubly & trebley so for a Newbie, is don't. You'll spend months lovingly growing them to then find out that they don't taste nice / don't ripen before Autumn comes / whatever. As a more experience gardener you might try some alongside a packet of bought seed, or you might discover a variety and keep your own seed year to year, but the last thing you need as a newbie is to have failures - they will dishearten you and potentially put you off grow-your-own altogether.

If you find that seed packets are expensive concentrate on buying them cheaper Wilkinsons / Lidl / Pound Shops usually sell cheap seeds, you just won't have as much variety to choose from. I buy nearly all mine in the Autumn sales (i.e. last year's seed). Premium Seeds on eBay have good prices, no doubt there are other bargains to be had too.

 

My propagator is just a normal one ie not a heated one, and the window sill where I keep them gets a little drafty, so should I keep them in the propagator o er night then by the window throughout the day ( obviously out of the propagator )

And when would I transplant to a slightly larger pot ?

 

I know we have had this discussion before regarding using seed from supermarket fruit, I've grown them for years that way.
I've always found if the seed is planted still moist it germinates faster.

In this picture I have two plants both grown on the same shelf and sown around the same date, the one on the left is the supermarket one, those long Italian red peppers,
mine didn't get that big, but I put that down to the 8in pots they are in.


Not saying its the way to go, but it is a very viable option.

 

My only reticence is for newbies Pete. I think its important that they have minimal failures in order not to lose heart, that's the only reason why I think "by the book" without experimentation is best in the first year or so. With peppers, just taking that as an example, apart from the F1 risk I think there is a real risk that the variety in the supermarket needs a lot more summer heat that routinely we get here; with your knowledge you'll probably be realising that and giving them that heat, or you've found a variety that doesn't have that need, but I think a newbie would be better served with a variety out of a packet designed to stand a fighting chance in Blighty's summer.

I also think it avoids newbies using their initiative and "upgrading" from supermarket Pepper Seeds to Spuds, with greater disease risk, or things that are sprayed to delay / prevent sprouting that will then be difficult to get going.


But I'm only voicing my opinion, and I would hate to be doing it in a way that drowned out any other views.

I'm certainly with you that there are all sorts to be had from having-a-go. Look at Sal buying up anything and everything tropical that his Asian greengrocer gets in - and leaving him scratching his head as to why anyone would want to plant, in this country, tropical delicacies he is importing for people to eat!!

 

Stupid Q - are those chillies or peppers? They looks the shape of chillies? Whatever, they look fab!!

 

What do you mean by F1 ?

 

See Point #1 in my earlier post:

http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/peppers-are-on-the-move.50451/page-2#post-659477

 

She explains here


Kristen, I appreciate your responses, as I do everyone's. and I am thankful that you point us newbies in the direction which will have most success. I do agree with you, I have only done veggies 2 years running (2010 and 2011) and both were very successful years. Had they not have been, I wouldn't have even done 2 years.

 

Here's wikipedia's definition of F1 in case of interest:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F1_hybrid

 

They are sweet peppers, but the long type that you see in supermarkets, usually Italian and very tasty, they are not hot or even warm.

F1, isn't that something to do with motor racing.