Bell peppers

[PDX Mommy]

According to sproutrobot.com, I should be starting my bell peppers indoors right about now. I've never started indoors from seed, so tell me everything I need to know. Planning to go to Lowes this afternoon for seeds, dirt, and pots.

ETA: I think I'm going to grow these in containers this year.

[inesperada]

I'd love to grow my own (and Abbott would LOVE gardening) so.... :popcorn

[Psyche]

Wow! Already! When are you supposed to plant out doors?

The start pots are really helpful. Actually planning on transplanting them to several different pots before putting them in the ground was most helpful for me

[Macky]

When you start your peppers has to do entirely with when you can plant them out. When is it warm enough to transplant the peppers outside where you live? Count back 10 to 12 weeks for a starting date for bell peppers. Hot peppers grow more slowly; count back roughly five months (:jawdrop :yes) to get a starting date for them. Caveat: I live in a zone where peppers can't go out into the garden until the first week of June at the earliest, so take that into consideration when you read any of my gardening posts. I just started my hot peppers this past weekend (they sprouted yesterday) and will start my sweet peppers the first week or so of March.

[PDX Mommy]

:haha I am an idiot! It says to stat indoors on 3/12! Whew! I was like, "Already?!?!?!" I just wrote down the wrong date on my spead sheet. Anyhoo.....

---------- Post added at 12:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:58 AM ----------

Wow! Already! When are you supposed to plant out doors?

The start pots are really helpful. Actually planning on transplanting them to several different pots before putting them in the ground was most helpful for me

Says to start indoors 3/12 and transplant outdoors 5/1. That makes more sense. I did mine late last year and overcrowded my beds. I think I got one, maybe two bell peppers. :( And I bought a mismarked pepper. Said it was a red bell pepper plant, but it was really a hot pepper plant.

[Johns_Gal]

I have the best luck with those greenhouse kits; just a black plastic tray divided into individual sections with a plastic lid.

I despise peat pellets, though.

[Macky]

Forgot to answer your other question. :giggle

Peppers are a tropical plant and require a nice toasty warm spot to germinate (especially the hots), moreso I find than other veggies, even tomatoes. (For the purpose of simplifying gardening convos, I'm not getting into the veg/fruit/berry argument ;)). The soil level in the container you're going to sprout them in shouldn't be overly deep or the heat won't reach the level of the seed as efficiently (as usually the heat source is from the bottom). Read your packet; it'll give you the particulars about planting depth, etc. Pepper seeds are super easy and quick to germinate, so it's a good seed for a newbie to start out with. :)

They say not to transplant them until you have two true leaves, but I've gotten consistently better results transplanting them as soon as the seed leaves are sturdy enough. As long as you do it gently, it's better ime. Seed starting mix is usually sterile to discourage damping off and rotting of young seedlings and seeds that take a long time to sprout. You want to get them out of that sterile environment into a nutritious soil medium sooner rather than later.

Whenever you decide to transplant the seedlings, plant them deeper than they were growing before; bury them up to their seed leaves, as far as you can while keeping the leaves from actually sitting on the soil surface. When they've grown on more, you'll pinch off those seed leaves and transplant them again, this time up to their first set of true leaves. That's usually the limit to how many times I "pot them on" before they go outside into the ground. The last pot I put them in to is quite large and the roots never fill it, but that's somewhat the point (no transplant shock then). I tried root-pruning pots one year and they just didn't compare in size or sturdiness to the ones that got transplanted to the roomy pots, even though the pots seemed waaaay to big at the time.

Good luck!

---------- Post added at 02:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:10 PM ----------

Posted at the same time. :)

I wouldn't wait for March if you can plant out May 1 in your zone. I'd start sweet bells in mid-February, if it were me.

[PDX Mommy]

You're such a wealth of information, Robin! Thank you!

[Macky]

More like I tend to overthink things in far too much detail. :giggle

[Sonata]

Plant in mid-Feb if you want to keep up-potting and can have them growing in gallon pots before you plant them out. That will give you the best chance of peppers. If you can't up-pot them, don't plant until March.

PLANT OUTSIDE JUNE 15TH, NOT EARLIER!! Peppers love heat, and our early summers just aren't hot enough for them. If they are in cold, damp soil for the first month, they won't grow, the slugs will eat them, and even once it gets warm they may be stunted. You can plant your other warm-weather plants May 15th (last frost date) but wait till mid-June for peppers and eggplant.

That's the Willamette Valley report!! :lol

[Macky]

Peppers can go out earlier in cold frames or with cloches. :tu

[Sonata]

Yes, I do that too. I put some out May 15th in cold frames and some June 15th without. I still wouldn't plant them any earlier than that in this climate, though. :shrug3

---------- Post added at 01:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:44 PM ----------

Although we're predicted to have a really cold wet spring this year, in which case even that wouldn't work. :yuck