Dec 28 - 6 1/2 week old peppers

Well another week has passed. Not much to report...getting ready to transplant for the 2nd time (probably this coming week). The peppers are about 7 inches tall, which is about 1 inch taller than last week at this time. I attribute the "slow" growth to the fact that I'm letting both plants develop all the buds they want. No flowers yet, but likely in the coming week (judge for yourself in the pictures below).

Meanwhile, the tomatoes continue to take over. What a wild plant. The smell of tomato leaves reminds me of my childhood.

 

Solstice post

Well here we are on the shortest day of the year, in the middle of the long Alaskan winter, growing warm weather crops :) Nothing like it... the satisfaction just keeps on coming with this nearly 1 year old experiment!!

This week, the tomatoes have continued to erupt. I am starting to see why they are considered a vine, as they grow FAST. They are now over the edges of the pot on 3 sides, and I need to think about when I am going to transplant them into their final pots.

The biggest development of the week is definitely the fact that the peppers are forming buds! If you recall, I pinched off the first wave of buds on the Cayenne's near this stage, so that the plant would grow bigger and more productive. I kind of wonder if that "wound" perhaps contributed to the bacterial spot, so I'm still undecided whether or not to do that this time. I may just let them AU NATURAL and see what happens.

Saturday December 14 Jalapeño Roundup

Not a tremendous amount to report here. After a slow start after transplanting, the tomatoes are really taking off now. Meanwhile, the Jalapenos are happy and healthy, and looking very "bushy" the same way the Cayenne's did at this stage.

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Sat Dec 7 - A date that will live in infamy

...obviously that is a reference to Pearl Harbor day (today!). On the garden front, things are going well. Halfway through the week I transplanted the tomatoes into the medium pots, because it seemed like their growth stalled in the peat pods. Well, they've continued to grow SLOOOOWLY, and just today have started popping out this first set of "true" leaves. Perhaps growth will take off now? Or, Shaun says tomatoes grow slow, so maybe it'll be the pace of Rosemary all through this. Guess I'll find out!

The pepper are doing marvelous. I have been thinking a lot about that bacterial fungus that plagued the Cayennes, and although I'm still not sure where it originally came from, I am almost positive that through hundreds of repetitions of careless watering I probably spread it to every plant in the garden. Thus, this time, I am being VERY careful to never touch the watering can to the soil, or splash water onto the leaves, etc. Even though it might all be for nothing, the scientist in me wants to control as many variables as possible to try to isolate the issue (if there happens to be one!). To that end, the leaves on the shorter of the two Jalapeno's are nearly touching the ground sometimes. So I placed these small strips of wood on the sides to prevent the leaves from touching soil (one of the big ways bacteria can move up to the foliar portion of the plant.

As you can see, they are doing very well, and have popped 3 new sets of leaves over the last week. Hurray!!!

Tomatoes growing fast

Wow, the tomatoes were supposed to be 7-10 days to even sprout, but instead they came up after 4, and here they are after only 24 hours above ground. They must be faster growing than the peppers, I think! I must say, it is kind of neat to have a "main" crop to think about that is of a different variety than peppers! (gasp)

And here are the Jalapeños....its hard to say but the 2nd set of true leaves is already quick on the heels of the first.

1st set of true leaves

Well here is a Saturday Nov 30 update. The plants are receiving 16 1/2 hours of "daylight", which is down from 18 on the Cayenne's. Reasoning: Other things (herbs) in the garden grew TOO FAST and I couldn't use them all. Speaking of, Rosemary has re-joined the collective (thanks Shaun).

OK, so the cotyledon leaves have given way now to the emerging first set of true leaves. These should get quite big over the coming weeks, and really increase the amount of photosynthesis the young plants are able to accomplish. I remember how it seemed to take a while for that first set of real leaves to come out on the Cayenne's, too, but then I remind myself how the plant is doing significant root growth (especially after transplanting) and the growth will become exponential soon! I'm watering lightly twice per day. I am very pleased with the temperatures in our new garage, as even when it's 0F outside, it still stays about 70F under the grow lights. I think that'll work out just fine.

Also of note, the TOMATOES were planted in the greenhouse last Wednesday evening (Nov 27), and hopefully we'll see some sprouts within 3-5 days.

Potting #1

Well here they are in their interim homes. I have opted to pot twice with these plants, rather than immediately going into the big pot (like what I did with the Cayennes). The hope is that it will be easier to control soil moisture and reduce the chance for Bacterial disease to become established.

They look so small! :)

10 days old

...and 100% germination! A few more days and it will be potting time!

Dixon Microfarms, v2.0

Alright, time to get serious here. The Jalapeños have sprouted, which meant I needed to get the grow set-up in some kind of working shape. I had mounted the light a few days ago, but had some power source issues. Now that that is rectified, it was time to get these newbie plants under the light and get the photosynthesis rolling! Interestingly, the strongest plant that sprouted and was significantly taller than the others had totally stalled and within 24 hours had begun to turn an even more pale green color. After 3 hours under the light, it was already turning a nice green again. What this tells me is the stored energy in the seed really is just BARELY enough to get that bad boy up above the soil. Anyway, phew!

I should explain why I am NOT growing Cayenne's again, since it was SUCH a wild success. As you may recall from the start of last growing season, this whole thing is a big experiment. Growing quasi-tropical plants in the dead of winter in Alaska is a deliciously antithetical thought. The Cayenne's were a starting point...and now I have a year-long (or more) supply of crushed red pepper flakes in my cupboard. In reality, they are TOO spicy for most things. I am intrigued by the different types of heat that peppers can display. The cayenne's are the quintessential thin-walled hot pepper, and the heat they bring when you eat one plain starts slow and dry, and builds like a gigantic destructive freight train until you're lying on the floor crying in the fetal position. Seriously, those "Ring of Fire" Cayennes were blazing hot (just ask my daughter, friends, and other co-workers). And now that that experience has been a success, it would not be as exciting to grow them again right away. Why Jalapeño's? I dunno. I like them on sandwhiches, and they seem like they may potentially be more broadly enjoyable than the extreme heat of the Cayennes. I'd also like to do a little comparison to see if these things get the same bacterial leaf spot disease as the Cayennes (I'm cleaning all garden implements with bleach to ensure no bacteria make it into the Jalapeño soil).

So, last wednesday (1 week ago,Nov 13) I planted the seeds in the green house and germinated on top of the hot water heater in the garage. It is now wednesday Nov 20, and the picture below represents the 1 week point for the newest young pepper plants in Alaska (ok, well, probably).

As soon as I get the peppers out of the greenhouse and potted, I plan to grow some bush-variety Tomato plants this time, as well. So...look forward to that! Even though I do not like Tomatoes, everyone else in the house loves them, so that will be rewarding to see them love on some FRESH produce (assuming they grow). I will be getting the Rosemary plant back from Shaun that he's been taking care of most recently in our round-robin of moving and unpacking. Kendra has requested Cilantro and Basil again, so I will oblige.

So to recap, I anticipate that in a month the garden will feature:
2 X Jalapeño Plants
2 X Tomato Plants
1 X Rosemary
1 X Cilantro
1 X Basil

OK, without further ado, here is a picture of the growing space....

And here are the brand new Jalapeño plants!

Germination

Well, the Jalapeño seeds were planted last Wednesday, November 13, and sprouted yesterday (Monday November 18) which was Day 5. Faster than the cayenne's I think. Shaun has once again decided to join me on this journey, so I think we will each choose 2 of these 6 plants in a few days, and then I will plant the TOMATO seeds!!!!!

Jalapeño

New house. New plants. NO RULES!

Long lost update

I can't believe a month has passed. Even though I'm sure the 3 people who follow this blog have heard an update from me verbally, for the sake of continuity and completion, here is perhaps the final update (for now) of the Pepper Blog. I strung along the 2 remaining pepper plants until the 3rd crop turned mostly red, and then plucked them. I estimate that I ended up with about 80 red peppers, plus the roughly 90 green