My “Big Jim” hatch chile plant isn’t looking very big yet. The Guizeppi Milds and California Wonders are doing a bit better. This was the first day I took them all outside for a few hours to start the hardening off process. I’ve had them inside with a fan and grow lights up until now.
I expected some flowering at this point, but it’s been stupidly cold and rainy here since I planted back in late March (I’m in 6a/6b), so maybe I’m expecting too much too soon? Next week is the first week it will in theory be above 55 degrees F overnight.
I’ve also been battling gnats (sticky traps and mosquito dunks for the win), which is weird to me because with the fan, the top layer of soil dries out pretty quickly, but I think I have them managed now.
I would say heat and light are the two big things pepper plants love.
I put some pre-seeds into the a raised box 30 days ago, and they are 3x that size easily. I’m in an 8b flipping 7a though. Lots of light throughout the day, but cold temps at night now which is unheard of for this area.
These plants thrived during the hot days though. Some even started fruiting when too low to the ground.
If these aren’t in direct sunlight for 6+ hours a day with 70F or better temps, they will be on the smaller side. Maybe consider getting a heat mat if they aren’t ready for the outside environment yet.
Peppers like warm soil. They will be slow growers until the ground they’re in warms up. The sooner they can go in their final pot or garden patch, the sooner they’ll fruit. The sooner the soil is warm, the sooner they’ll fruit.
Echoing what everyone else has said, peppers love heat. Ours were started about the same time as yours and they look about the same. They don’t really start popping off until they are outside, with room to grow and it gets hot hot.
Good job getting them started so early, I’m sure you will be rewarded once their established root systems are given the environment they need to thrive in.
They look decent enough, but if there was one thing I see that could be improved, perhaps, it’s that people very often don’t bother adding aeration to their soil. Like a third of perlite, even half depending on the plant. Just keeps the soil so much better draining so watering doesn’t compact it and the plant has an easier time making roots.
I’ve just noticed it’s the most limiting factor usually, and soils nowadays are all pretty shit. Even the supposed “cactus soil” I got was muddy as hell, definitely not good for cacti, I barely used it to plant my cannabis. It’s for the mother plant, so it being a bit slow growing is fine.
But I have noticed the quality and aeriness of the soil impacts the early phases of growth quite a lot. After there’s a proper root ball, less so.
I’ve been using Miracle-Gro Potting mix and then adding Espoma Garden-Tone. It seems pretty light, but after a few waterings, it does look like it’s getting bogged down in the pots a bit. The roots have looked pretty decent so far that I’ve noticed when transplanting them to larger containers, but next year I’ll get some perlite for sure. There was a bit in the seed starter mix I used for the seedlings, but maybe I should have mixed that with the potting mix a bit more in the earlier stages.
Huh.
I remembered vaguely that maybe Jorge Cervantes talked about miracle gro. But I don’t remember what he said. It was almost two decades ago tho.
Anyway, perlite is more expensive so even if miracles gro used to be good, they may have shrinkflated a little, replacing the more expensive parts with cheaper shit and lowering the quality.
I aways add like at least a third of the mix of perlite. Usually half, sometimes even more in my active hydro systems. But even just for soil, I’d aim for at least 20-30% of the soil being perlite or other airy additive.
It’s just when they’re establishing roots, even if the mix isn’t horrible and it’s nice and airy when it comes out, usually the first watering muddies and packs it. So if you don’t add as much aery additives, maybe keep it loose and add something like clay balls as a layer on top, then gently water when you do, and that should avoid the material packing too much.
Idk it’s personal preference and depends on a lot on how you garden otherwise, just sharing thoughts.
Too cold.
You won’t see much growth if nights are below 58–59F.
I don’t plant chillis until a certain time of year and then I have about 18–22 week window to try harvest before temp is off again. I planted as early as possible last season and I thought some species weren’t going to make it to harvest in time.
I used to live in a more tropic climate where peppers flourish fast all year round, so it’s taken some getting used to and been disappointing.
I start mine off under lights, indoors, about 2 months before they’re going into the ground. It’s still cooler than they like, but they usually get the size of OP’s plants, and the head start means plenty of time to harvest.
Yeah, this is what I did, started them out inside, with a Vivosun heat mat, lights, and a tent. I had hoped it would be warm enough here now to start moving the operation outdoors.
My challenge is getting the seeds to sprout when I try to do the same. Indoors is still too cold for sprouting so I’m going to try a heating pad next year.
I got a vivosun seed mat - under $15, around 80°F. Pretty happy with it.
I tried a heating mat for the first time this year, it is a total gamechanger wrt germination reliability and speed, much recommended!
Quite slow. They can take their time at the beginning. But that’s far too long. We’ve had some frigid days where I am so that doesn’t help. If they start getting sun and heat like crazy they’ll take off. If you’re feeding them consider holding off. Just water for a bit.
My tip is to leave them outside permanently and cover them in 1-2 layers of frost cover fabric (no idea what it’s called in english, it’s thin and light and lets light through). Remove layers of fabric gradually while the plants acclimate.
This way you can keep them in full sun (they need lots of light now) without risk of burning them. Also you won’t have to constantly carry them around.
Any time temperature drops to 50F/10C or less peppers can pause all growth for up to a week. You’ll see the difference once it’s a little warmer.
It looks like you are growing those peppers and coco coir? They need to get fed more nitrogen and make sure the pH is between 5.8 - 6.0. of the water/fertilizer you are giving them.
:laughs in zone 11a:
Same here.
