Sorry to hear that some of the seeds aren't coming up. My Matt's tomatoes and striped eggplant took almost a month to sprout. I did not plant any Ghost peppers this year as I am over wintering the plant I have and, frankly, they are so hot that I only need a few a year. One ghost, one reaper, and one trinidad scorpion, two datils are enough heat for the whole year!
The Matt's tomato is really good so I am disappointed it hasn't come up. But I think you will really like the Datil. I sowed mine in the same stuff I use in my buckets - 3 scoops of peat with 2 scoops of vermiculite.
I hear ya on the totes. I would love to see some pics. I'll probably do a Fall and Early spring crop in the totes then use them for winter lettuce, I am making a third for a holding area for my Hydro Veggies, I'm actually a bit worried that my Maters are already a few inches high, so I may plant a second crop in 2 weeks. Everything is coming along good, Nothing from the Matts or the striped egg but...BUT, I don't want to jinx myself, I think one of the Ghost Chili's may have sprouted.
I can't use those totes for my Kratky stuff. We get too much rain and the tops funnel it into the reservoir. I had to build mine out of 2X6's and use foam board for the top. I think this should be almost mandatory for anyone who uses lettuce - super simple, super cheap, super great to go pick it right when you need it! It cost about $20 to build a box that will hold 8 net cups. It pays for itself the first time you harvest.
Here's a pic of the yellow bell pepper that I finally picked....... yep, it's February and I still have plants growing! Yeah, Florida! I'm trying to overwinter most of my pepper plants. There were over 20 peppers on this plant at one point. A storm tore up the plant and I lost some branches. Then I cut all of them off except for one per branch because winter was coming. I ended up with 8 good sized peppers.
A pleasant surprise was the broccoli, I had harvested all of the main heads back in December but had not pulled the plants or plucked the leaves for greens. Well, I ended up with enough smaller shoots/heads to make a meal last night! When I say a meal I mean feeding 5 people one of which is a college soccer player so he eats like a horse! It was equal to almost 2 big heads. All off of six plants.
Yep 100% germination on everything but the Striped Eggplant, gotta save some seeds this year.
Hey! They finally came up! I feel much better now.
We are going to have a little cold snap over the weekend where we might get a frost. I'm thinking of putting my seedlings out after this cool snap.
Did that happen this year? WOW!
Oh yeah, dilute it down like you are thinking (if you are using the Masterblend). I used a solution of 50% and almost killed my seedlings. They are still alive but I burnt the first set or two of leaves off mine.
Hey wheres the pic?
Here are a couple of the Cherokee Purple tomatoes that I started. I had mentioned that they had gotten leggy because I didn't get them under the light soon enough, but you can see the crispy leaves where the first set or two died. I may have used fertilized water on them too early, don't know. I don't mind them getting leggy as that just allows me to plant them deeper. The late sprouter of the bunch (on the left) looks much better and the peppers that sprouted later look fine.
LOL.... we didn't even have a frost this year and you say you've got 7 weeks to go. How do your mosquito's survive?
I just hope I didn't plant the tomatoes too early, I still have 7 weeks till my last frost!
Got me, seems the cold don't bother those little bastards.
LOL.... we didn't even have a frost this year and you say you've got 7 weeks to go. How do your mosquito's survive?
Coming up nicely, but I'm actually a bit miffed, my soil plants (extra seeds planted in 4" pots) are blowing past my Rockwool plants, the soil plants were at least a week behind in germination.
Scored 15 of the black nursery pots today. They hold 6 1/2 gallons of soil each. There was also about 20 of the smaller 3 gallon pots as well. Someone had set them beside the dumpster outside of of my warehouse. Hello rain gutter garden for the wife's herbs!
I have a big roll of black plastic that is 10' wide. I'm thinking of building the sides out of 2X4X8 and the bottom out of OSB then lining it with the plastic. 3" net cups and we should be ready to rock and roll!
How are the seedlings coming along, Rich?