Spring came to New Hampshire!

[Fat Charlie]

Ignore all the snow on the ground and in the forecast. Spring has come to my dining room- the peppers started to sprout over the weekend.

[Fat Charlie]

Now tonight the jalapenos are coming up and even one of the seeds I got from a grocery store pepper. I'm curious to see what those things produce.

[Deborah]

It's always a thrill, isn't it? I wish you a great harvest !

[Father'sDaughter]

Isn't it great! About half of my peppers are up and have been moved from the dining room table down to the basement under lights. I'm hoping the rest, all hots, pop soon.

And in less than two weeks I'll be staring the tomatoes. We're almost there!

[Crandrew]

YAY SPRING!What is sprouting exactly?

[Fat Charlie]

Sweet California Wonders (I read about them here) are the bulk of the sprouts and meant to be the bulk of the crop.

"Early Jalapeno" that I got from Fedco a couple years ago. Not performing great, but a little old.

Out of curiosity, I took some seeds from one of the red peppers I get at the grocery store. Two of them are up so far.

[roadrunner]

Also in NH zone 5b and just put my peppers in the garage to start the hardening off. I tried the store bought pepper seed one year with mixed results. One plant did well although the size was not even close to the store bought. The other plant did poorly and produced poorly and dropped most of its blossoms.

I be interested to know how you do.

[Father'sDaughter]

Originally Posted by roadrunner

Also in NH zone 5b and just put my peppers in the garage to start the hardening off. I tried the store bought pepper seed one year with mixed results. One plant did well although the size was not even close to the store bought. The other plant did poorly and produced poorly and dropped most of its blossoms.

I be interested to know how you do.

Be careful with those pepper seedlings - they don't like cool temperatures, and we're in for some pretty cool nights for the next week or so. Tonight they're even talking about frost in some areas. Mine never go outside until mid to late May, and usually get planted out around June 1st.

[tjg911]

i agree peppers are not like tomatoes! i have had mine in the basement under shop lights for a month. i wouldn't put them outside unless it was at least 65 and out of the wind. i usually don't put them outside until i want to harden them off around the 3rd or 4th week of may.

last year i put out some plants and it was cool about 50-55, the sun was in and out but mostly out with a 10 mph breeze and darn near had my hot peppers die! they recovered and did fine all season but they were really sensitive to this being just 2" tall.

tom

[Fat Charlie]

I figured out this winter (reading here) that peppers need to be sown way earlier than everything else, and I don't put anything in the ground until June- which didn't work well last year because it was just in time for several days' worth of rain. Almost everything drowned. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this year.

[roadrunner]

Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter

Be careful with those pepper seedlings - they don't like cool temperatures, and we're in for some pretty cool nights for the next week or so. Tonight they're even talking about frost in some areas. Mine never go outside until mid to late May, and usually get planted out around June 1st.

I didn't mean to mislead when I said "starting the hardening off process." My garage runs consistent temps in the 50's and low 60's. They have also got a two to three week jump on yours that are just emerging. I definitely do not put them outside this early.

I do what is called "the cold treatment" many others also use which results in earlier blossoms and in most seasons higher yields. I have found in the ten years I have been doing this that you should allow an extra week or two in developing the plant before putting it in the ground. So I end up planting about the same time as you do around late May for sweet peppers and early June for hot.

The basket on the left in my avatar is two days picking of cayenne from only four plants. The rest are celebrity tomatoes picked that day. This method works - try it.