In my previous pepper starting post, I showed you all how I sprout my pepper plants on paper towels on top of my fridge. In this post I am going to delve into the most fun part (for me anyway), moving the sprouts to their growing pots!
To start with, as with all things on occasion, my sprouts took a bit longer to do their explode into life thing thanks to a cold snap. Honestly, that didn't bother me too much because it just gave me more time to get things ready, namely washing the grow shelf, putting it all back together, and getting the growing pots and medium ready to roll.
Here's a not at all pro tip for ya'll: If you read my last post about turkey pot pie, I talked about the French concept of mise en place (put into place), when it comes to gardening I have the best experience if I practice that whole putting into place thing in this realm too.
That of course means, I don't start my sprout transplanting process without getting all of my equipment needed out and organized. Sprouting on, as I like to call it, isn't a labor or time intensive project, but it's not fun to stop in the middle of it, hands covered in soilless growing medium and realize that you don't have the labels you need or a pencil for the sprouts (more on this in a moment).
So, with that sentiment in mind, I laid out a barrier of newspapers on my kitchen counter, I got out my grow pots, brought in my bags of soilless growing medium, grabbed a pencil, a Sharpie, and some previously used plastic eating utensils. After laying all that out, I lifted the sprout plate off of my fridge and was ready to get to work!
Okay, well, actually before I got down to sprout transplanting business, I went in to my bedroom and turned on my big ol bluetooth speaker and started blasting Come And Get Your Love by Redbone. Now, dancing is not required while sprout transplanting, but singing and dancing while you work is pretty much always a given around these parts.
Only two of the seven varieties of peppers that I started were ready to transplant, jalapeno and serrano. They are always the first two out of the gate. The rainbow blend sweet peppers are right behind them, as are the bhut jolokia (ghost pepper). Just seeing those little green cotyledons did my soul a solid, I am so excited for spring, Squee!
Normally I am a bit of a loon and start way more plants than any sane non market gardener subsistence homesteader should. But this year I resolved to try to be more, ahem, wise and only started a few of each variety. So, I only had to transplant seven jalapeno sprouts and five serranos. I gotta say if felt weird not doing several dozen, but I am hanging in there!
After I filled each pot with soilless growing medium (this is important btw, you want a sterile environment for your baby sproutlings, bring on the compost later when you pot on or transplant!), I began the sprout transplant process.
My elation hit a crescendo at that moment because to transplant the sprouts, I use this:
That's right, a humble little pencil.
To transplant the sprouts, I carefully pull a sprout from the damp paper towel, hold it gingerly, and with my other hand I poke a hole in the soilless growing medium. I then use the tip of the pencil to tenderly push the root of the sprout into the hole, remove the pencil, and gently press the soil against the sprout.
You might notice I keep using the words careful and gentle. That's because you have to be tender in your handling of the sproutlings, it's no fun to spend 10-14 days sprouting something and then break it because you have a propensity to handle things like The Hulk or something.
As I went, I used my super fancy labeling process to mark my progress. By fancy I mean I recycled some old plastic flatware from our annual Fourth of July extravaganza. Using scissors, I cut the end off of a plastic spoon, and then marked the amount of whatever variety along with it's name on the end with a black Sharpie. Upon sticking the diy label into the soil, I then stepped back and smiled, because hello baby plant!
After transplanting all the sprouts and marveling that I somehow escaped wearing soilless growing medium for once, I packed my tray of sprouts into my bathroom and placed it on the grow shelf under the already blazing grow lights. The only thing left to do was water the little ones, which I did with lukewarm water because peppers don't like the cold. I also keep a plastic spray bottle on the grow shelf and give the rooting sprouts a spray every now and then.
Here's the thing, you want to keep them moist, but you do not want to over water them. In the beginning I water them every morning when I plug the lights in. I plug the lights in in the morning and unplug them when I go to bed. They get around 12-14 hours of light that way. Plants like to sleep too!
And that is that! Of course I will be doing it again and again for the next few days as more sprouts achieve ready to grow stage. What amazes me is just how fast the little sprouts start rooting and growing. It's only been two days since I transplanted them and already I notice the difference in their overall size and growth.
And that's all there is too it! In a few weeks I will pot on the peppers to a bigger pot so they don't become rootbound or transplant them in the greenhouse. They'll just need watered and fed. Plants want to grow, it's just up to us to provide the best possible growing conditions if we want them to thrive. And you don't have to live on a big farm or have a massive garden to enjoy growing things, peppers do lovely in pots on a terrace, their bell shaped flowers and growing fruit are beautiful to behold. I believe everyone who has a desire to can be successful growing food, they just have to find their groove, and it all comes from giving it a try!
How could anyone who enjoys playing in dirt and planting seeds not open your post with that awesome opener "click bait" image?
What kind of lighting do you use on the seedlings and what's the average temperature in the house or wherever you keep the peppers? @generikat
Fantastic write up, step by step instructions and photographs! Great upcycling use of plastic cutlery that every curbside and carryout restaurant provided us with in excess during tthe pandemic. I have a bag with surplus utensils waiting to be used for projects such as yours. It's not quite warm enough to start planting in my region - April 15th is the normal.🔆
Keep up the terrific work and I look forward to seeing your hard work pay off!
🌱🌶 🌱 👨🌾 🌱🌶 🌱
Ha ha ha! Thanks! I love garden themed click bait images lol!
I have 4 foot grow light bulbs that I purchased from the hardware store, I think they were like $10 per bulb, but they might be more expensive now, and it stays between 65-70 in the bathroom where I keep them.
And I hear you about not putting things outside, we have a pretty short and somewhat crazy growing season (it can go from 50- over 100 F in a single day and has even snowed during the summer!), so I don't dare put anything outside before Mid May without frost protection. That said, I have to start lots of plants like peppers and tomatoes early so they get enough growing days in to fruit.
Thank you so much for such an awesome comment and upvotes! Hope you had an awesome day!
Are these heirloom seeds or left over seeds from a store bought variety?
They are heirloom seeds that I bought from Pinetree Garden Seeds. They are a family run garden seed company in Maine that I have bought seeds from for years, they have a ton of great heirloom varieties. Some years I save seeds too, but this year is a try a bunch of new varieties year!
!PIZZA
WOW @generikat - who would have thunk it. A green thumb extraordinaire in our mist. You are a superstar.
Oh @jimmy.adames, you are too kind! I am far too often covered in homestead detritus to be considered anything remotely close to a superstar, if only I could look that put together when I drive my John Deere lol lol!
Big smiling thanks for you here, you made my day 😊
I tried with my 100$ bill, it didn't work. I demand a reimbursement or I will sue!
Ah, well unfortunately money doesn't work like that, but at least you learned something! Good luck with your lawsuit though!🤣
!PIZZA
Thank you. You still needed to be prepared to hear from my lawyers in the next 5-8 business...... years
Oh good, I have plenty of time to develop a strategy. Once again, thank you kindly for the heads up!
Yup, I do the same, make a list and collect all the stuff at once. Once I get started, I don't want to stop to hunt for something. Having said that, the first seed starting found me outside in the cold garden not once, but twice, hunting for small trays for vernalizing/stratifying various plants in the fridge. Not something I do each time and had forgotten I had to do this time.
Ah, I like that I do what you do in regards to pre job prep, seeing how you are seriously beyond experienced in the homesteading department, this knowledge made me smile! And you get big double props from me for growing things that need stratifying, I avoid that most of the time, hopefully your foray in to the cold yields glorious plant babies:)
That said, I have a hankering to start some delphinium seeds now...should I or shouldn't I get stratting lol!
I like it, it takes time to get them to grow but I know I will be able to do it
Yes you will! And the cool thing about plants is if you have a failure you can easily start again! I know I have had crop failures lots of time! Good luck!
I'm 100% sure that when we have landed in our new home in Spain in a few months (hopefully), that I will go through these blogs of yours again to start growing my own stuff. I truly can't wait! Not worth it here anymore, will wait until we arrived there ;)
Keep sharing and stay awesome :)
I'm so elated for you to get all moved in to your new home in Spain, that's so exciting! And thanks in large part to being inspired by your awesome posts where you create links to all previous themed topics, I am going to go back through all my posts and make a garden themed digest post with links to all the tips and tricks I've posted over the years in this area. So big thanks to you from me!
Hope you have a splendid day!
Oh that's so sweet, that means a lot to me. When I look at your profile and your content I'm only jealous about the amount of knowledge you seem to have about growing your own stuff. I can learn a lot from you!
And I have the feeling it helps to link previous (relevant) parts, people can easily find them back and I bet it won't hurt in google either.
Your new email looked awesome!!! Really appealing! Well done and keep it up!
Enjoy your weekend :)
This is so great, because I feel the exact same way when I look at your posts, I've learned a ton from you already! And I am all about sharing knowledge, I was a librarian for almost a decade, and my favorite thing in the world is learning from other people and then sharing what I learned!
And thank you so much, I used Canva a lot making promotions for the classes I taught at the library, it's really easy to make quality emails there, and using your HTML embedding tip makes it super easy to crank out a halfway decent looking email.
Your feedback made my day!😊
Only thing bad about your posts is I have to wait 48 hours in-between. Lol.
I never read posts like yours on Hive before. I am enjoying them greatly.
You got me looking forward to spring in Newfoundland so I might try some of what you post.
How's ListNerds doing for you so far?
Bradley
!BBH
!ALIVE
@generikat! You Are Alive so I just staked 0.1 $ALIVE to your account on behalf of @bradleyarrow. (14/30)
The tip has been paid for by the We Are Alive Tribe through the earnings on @alive.chat, feel free to swing by our daily chat any time you want.
Aww, you are too kind!
With how crazy my life is, I only have a good quality post in me about once every 48 hours, sometimes I can crank out more, but I am going to now blame that lack of post production on the livestock and the children.
For instance, tonight I took 6 teenagers to a local pizza parlor and let them order half the menu as a thank you for them stacking my hay. Man, can those kids eat lol!
I bet spring in Newfoundland is gorgeous!
And I am loving Listnerds! So far I think being brave and diving into the Enterprise membership was beyond a great thing, the sheer volume of new traffic to my blog has been amazing, and I adore getting to send two emails a day! Plus, I am learning a ton, which is pretty much my favorite thing ever!
Hope you and your wife had a lovely day!
!PIZZA
🌱🌱🌱👨🌾🌶☀️
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Thank you!!!😊
Love seeing those beautiful sprouted seeds. They are !ALIVE
Yes they sure are! And I love it too lol!
Thanks for stopping by!😊
!PIZZA
Excellent little peppers. How big do you expect the plant to grow. I'm growing witchstick peppers in my hydroponic system. They're coming along nice. I don't plant to transplant unless I really have to.
Thanks!😊 My peppers usually get about 24" tall or so and have a nice round habitat.
I've never grown witchstick peppers, they look amazing, kinda like the long cayennes I have grown. And hydroponically too? You are awesome! I wish I didn't have to transplant, but with our brutal growing season I have to be creative in that deparment!
I so hope your peppers do excellent for you!
Thank you! I've never grown any peppers, and I don't even know what witchstick peppers look like, so it'll be a surprise if and when they pop out. 🌶
Ooh! I hope you share pictures of them with us! I'd love to see your progress!
And I totally have faith that they will show up:)
This is absolutely brilliant!
My wife and I tried to get into growing some basic food and had no luck at all. So much so that we ended up buying a 'Click N Grow' which was...A so-so experience.
Appreciate you sharing this in ListNerds for us wanna be green thumbs :)
Thank you so much!
Okay, so full disclosure, I had to look up Click N Grow, and DANG! They are beautiful systems though, and I am dying to know why it was just so, so for you and your wife. I'm such a cheapskate, I built my indoor growing shelf for less that $40 using scrounged and recycled stuff lol!
Growing food definitely has a learning curve, and I have had (and still have) plenty of failures, but eventually you just get a feel for it, you start to intuitively know what your plants need to thrive: climate, water, fertilizer, light, etc. But I won't blab for hours about it here, I totally could!
Listnerds rocks! And I am so super excited to hang out and exchange plant lore with all you green thumbs😊
!PIZZA
Nice!
I have bell peppers, red chillies and habanero seeds somewhere. This post is making me ITCH to get to planting.
We moved into a new home about 4 months ago and I have a lot of plans for the garden... just havent quite gotten to it yet. It is looking better though.
I did not know you could germinate in the fridge.
What is your house temperature at that you do them in the fridge?
Congrats on the move into a new house, that's awesome!
I throw them on top of the fridge in their damp paper towel filled pie plate that is covered with saran wrap, it stays nice and warm up there, around 70ish. (This post has step-by-step details on how I start the sprouts!:) We heat in the winter with a wood stove, so sometimes it's even warmer, but pepper and tomato sprouts don't mind!
Good luck with your garden! I love habaneros so much, okay, I love all chilis, lol!
Thanks for stopping by!
!PIZZA
Great post. Pre-germinated seedlings are a perfect way to start plants and not have to overseed each pot to get a yield. Very clever method. Awesome use of ListNerds as well.
Oooh, @beststart, I am starting to really adore and look forward to your comments, they are so glorious! Plus, you totally get it, like, why I do the whole sprouting thing, so I am all smiles!
And I just love Listnerds!
Thanks for stopping by😊
!PIZZA
And I upvoted your email on Listnerds just a minute ago!
Thank you for sharing this great #gardening, #gaming, #cannabis content, You have been manually Upvoted by @skybuds-gaming,
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Thank you so much @skybuds-gaming! Love the Hive Garden Community😊
Great post. you did a fantastic job with your step-by-step instructions. The best part about this post is all the bees in the HIVE that are pollinating your work.
Oh I am so very grateful to those bees for sure! And wow, have I ever been working hard flitting around Hive to show it!
Thank you so much for the kinds words!
I like eating red peppers, it has more healthy benefits for heart🌶️ your transplanting method is simple, I will try it and see results, thanks for sharing
Thanks for stopping by! And I love red peppers too:)
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. Keep up the fantastic work
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This was great thanks for sharing going to be starting on growing more food this year.
Have a wonderful day came from Listnerds
@generikat 😎
Soooooooooooooooo exciting! Every time we plant it is exciting waiting for the germination! Now with the kids involved it feels like we spend more time staring at the soil in eager anticipation. That idea of using the plastic spoons as markers is excellent! I cut up yoghurt containers but they are too soft