My Winter Peppers

Just planted my first real pepper garden. I set the seeds using the # 7 Jiffy Pellets in trays on a heat mat. The hot peppers are: Aji Dulce #2, Caribbean Red, Sport and Cascabella. The latter being the one I accidentally bit into last year thinking they were sweet. I never want to do that again.
The sweet peppers are: Red Marconi, Red Knight x3r, Ancho San Martin, Lafayette Hybrid, Giant Marconi, Bounty Hybrid, Romanian Rainbow and Blushing Beauty.
This is the first serious time for me with anything but tomatos. I got sick of paying $3.50 lb at the supermarket for my favorite red pepper and aries 44(Flip) convinced me to go for it. Of course I'll be growing them in Earthboxes and Flip alias "Dirt Boy" will be growing some of the same variety in-ground. We have kind of a contest between us to see who grows the healthiest. Probably will be about 4-5 weeks before I set them in my EBs. I'm going to use Miracle-Gro potting soil in one EB and Jungle Growth in the other to see which soil is best. There will be six pepper plants in each EB. Any tips greatly appreciated.

No tips here, but I'll be following the results of the MG vs JG soil contest with interest. Good luck with those peppers! If they're anything like your tomatoes, you'll be in salsa heaven.

Thanks Zeppy. Will do my best and now that I have a digital camera I'll be able to show step by step including my tomatos.

Well, Mr TP glad to see you got going with your peppersI You're starting more varieties than me. I'm not sure why you'd use a heat mat down here though. I just seeded in Jiffy mix and sixpack cells and set mine out on the patio. I think almost every seed (9 seeds each of 10 varieties) sprouted within a week. The only one we have in common is the Giant Marconi.

It will be fun to compare how these grow. If I was short on space, you could bet I'd be using them EB contraptions; however, I have plenty of room and I like to see things planted in the ground (dirt!). You know, I may just get an EB anyway. They sure seem to work well.

I transplanted my Gypsy and G Marconi seedlings into 3" pots last week. They all have their third set of leaves. (These were started 3.5 weeks ago - the rest were started 10 days ago.)

Keep us posted on your new venture.

I'm interested in your results, too. I have four peppers in an EB, but they seem to produce lots of small peppers. Not sure if I need to remove some fruit. The small varieties do well, though.

Ritchh can help us on the growth as he does a fantastic job with peppers in his EB. What say Ritchh ?

Flip -- I use a heat mat because I start my seeds indoors as it is easier for me and I don't have a covered patio. You can imagine what our rain would do to seedlings exposed to the elements.

Tplant & Flip: I'll be watching the progress of your peppers with much interest. I'm growing a few from seeds, as well. Some of them are at the 4 leaves stage and some are a bit smaller. I don't have EB or self-watering containers. I use mostly 3 gallons plastic pots. Everything is done by the old-fashioned hand and eyeball method. Please post some pictures from time to time. I'd love to see how they do for you at this time of the year.

Wilco-Will do!

My hubby wants me to plant a real hot pepper. Is that Carabian Red real hot?

Oh Yeah, it is one of the hottest according to my mouth but there are hotter. Try www.tomatogrowers for even hotter peppers.

Here's another place to compare the heat levels of peppers.

http://www.chileplants.com/chart.asp?OrderBy=Heat%2EHeatOrder+Desc%2C+Product%2EProductName+Asc