23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

As Davef1 mentioned, cross pollination could cause it, but highly dountful, imo.

Run by us how you saved the seeds... when I save bell peppers seeds, I pull ripe pods. Within a day or 2, I cut the flesh away, leaving the seeds attached to the placenta and stem. I then just let the seed mass dry out for a week or so on a plate. I then dislodge all the seeds on the plate and let them dry out for about another week. Put in envelopes, store in a cool, dry, dark place.

Other varieties, I may just scoop out the the placenta and seeds and do the same as above. Superhots, I'll just split in half and do the same as above.

Btw, contrary to popular belief, one doesn't have to wait for a pepper to FULLY turn color to harvest seeds. If a pod is STARTING to turn color, the pod is fully mature and seed development is finished. In other words, "mature" comes long before fully "ripe."

Kevin

Thanks everybody! I know about seed expiration date and usually just try couple of seeds about a month before actual seeding date for germination, but hot pepper doesn't store well for me more then 3 years , even if kept refrigerated - they may germinate, but seedling are not as strong as from fresh seeds. I usually do not take seeds out of the pods at all for hot pepper - they dry very well at room temp natural way and seeds always were fine for me, but this year. So I do suspect the particular type I bought and hybridization.

It depends on what you are growing. I start onions in the 72s and never have to move them until it's time to transplant, but broad-leafed plants need more space above and below ground.

72 cells is pretty big, you can get market packs that size in a 1206 tray (12 packs per tray, 6 cells per pack for 72 total cells in the 1020 tray). I've seen plug flats of onions sold in 200 cell trays. My experience has been that plug flats are more of a personal choice rather than a necessity of the plant. The use of plug flats minimizes the footprint of the seedlings in the cool months when you start them. You would only need to heat/light a much smaller space if you use plug flats vs starting seeds in their final size pot. You do need to transplant into larger cells though so that the growth of the plant is not stunted in the smaller cells.

For example, I currently have tomatoes in a 288 cell flat. That same number of tomatoes would take 12 2401 flats or 16 1801 flats, which will be their final sizes before I plant out or sell them. Right now it would be challenging for me to support that however by the time they get transplanted to bigger celled trays it will be warm enough to put them in the unheated greenhouse I have.

I did stumble across a Transplant Action Plan with a table on page 3 that states when to transplant various crops and to what size containers to use. That should give you a decent starting point. Also here is an article on The Effect of Container Size as it pertains to various crops, lots of useful info in there.

I was thinking maybe peach, but definitely a tree I would think.

Perhaps it's a pecan?

Rodney

Thanks Dave! Yeah, my wife has to sometimes remind me that gardening is supposed to be relaxing........ LOL Planting later is certainly another thing I'll try this season, I've yet to start my seeds for that reason.... Avoiding ideal EB conditions as much as possible might help.. .. Worth a try...

OBTW Dave......... You still da man! ;)

I got so annoyed with the disease and pathetic tomato plants that I stopped growing them for a couple of years! I just started growing them again last year. I had a bumper crop. I really don't like using any chemicals on the garden. I do use either red or black plastic (as suggested above.) I do also prune the bottom stems so none of them are touching the ground.

Hahaha! I totally missed that...and I have my auto-correct turned off (maybe I should turn it back on...)! I did mean on the deck. I used just regular potting mix in my planter box. I bought 4 little plants (the pots were probably 2" square) and I grew them on the deck because the little garden patch I have is too shady for zukes.

Thank you all for the suggestions...I definitely have a better idea of what to do this year. And if all else fails, there's always the farmer's market!

I grew zucchini in 5 gallon paint buckets I bought at a big box store. I just drilled drainage holes in the bottom of the buckets. I planted 1 plant per bucket. I still have shredded zucchini from the summer in the freezer (I should really use that up already!)

The post being brought back up is fine. What I meant in my previous comment was that if a question is posted on this forum, it's usually answered within a day and usually even within the hour. So it's odd, or rather it's kinda inconceivable to me, that back in 2011 this post could have gone unanswered or have been skipped over when the answer was a simple one.

Rodney

Where were YOU rodney? ;)

As for me, The thread was posted on July 28, 2011... I was probably out covering MY bells with some shade cloth to prevent them from getting sunscald. :P

Kevin

Thanks Dave for mentioning the potting mix--I do make sure I use blends with no added fert so that I can control. It would make a huge difference to the equation.

Thank you all for your help. I'll have to head over to my garden store this weekend and take a look at the bag for potting mix that I used. Next year I'll put my setup in the basement where it's cooler. So much more complicated than I thought. I guess I have to learn sometime though if I want to keep gardening :)

I usually grow five or six Diva cucumber plants in a 25-gallon tub and get a LOT of cucumbers that are never bitter. I picked Divas because they were reputed to have less of the compound that causes bitterness, and therefore were less attractive to cucumber beetles. I have since learned that many experienced gardeners believe cultural practices -- like uneven watering -- play a bigger role in causing bitterness. I do know that in the hottest part of summer, I have to water my cucumbers every day. It is harder to keep a 5-gallon bucket well watered than a 25-gallon container.

Cucumbers- best for non-bitterness?

Thanks for some feedback guys/gals.

Lorabell: WHat ORGANIC ferts are you putting in your containers? I've thrown cottonseed, bone,and kelp meals in my wine barrels with potting mix, compost and perlite before, but I still feel they need synthetics throughout the season. What are you fert schedules with just organics?

Dave: So, maybe 2 vining plants in a 15 gal might do?

Thanks ohiofem...Ain't that the truth regarding moisture retention in a large container. It's amazing how long I can go without watering my barrels.

Kevin

Sorry! I was answering two posts at once. Charlieboring had cut the tops of his leeks.

The Pic is from Febuary, I try to do year round gardening which is possible in 7b/8a thank goodness. I have four 4x4 boxes with lettices/kales/mustards, that we have been harvesting since December. Plus overwinter/store in ground potatoes and turnips. I just noticed some of the winter greens are flowering out which is good as I keep the seeds for planting in Aug/Sept. Ive started a new crop of kales, lettices, etc for next months harvest, have peas in ground, just put in potatoes, beats, carrots, Everything else is either started inside, tomatoes, peppers, gingers, tumeric, eggplants, and the rest goes direct in ground mid next month. Spring is here!

I found a bottle of Tums under my car seat the other day. I also wonder if the calcium would be a good a thing to throw into the compost.

The limestone under my soil would cure a few million people of indigestion. Nothing wrong with Tums for compost, except that a dozen eggshells or a small handful of gypsum would do pretty much the same thing.

Thanks, this has been very helpful. I will be running all my beds east to west and just take extra time planning so nothing gets shaded, that doesn't want to be shaded.

In the past before heavy amending, I had to make sure that I had good drainage. This meant going up and down the slope and NOT impounding water. Still, my slopes are very gentle...actually perfect degree...maybe 1 or so percent. Now with sand and peatmoss amending into the good but slightly heavy topsoil, the beds absorb like a sponge.

I have beds and rows in e/w in one garden and n/s in two gardens. Both are fine.

Get your wallet out and just pretend that the beds are large containers; I use a soilless mix like ProMix BX or Fafard's #2, combined with compost--at least a third since the soilless mix is almost nutrient-free, unless you use something like Miracle-Gro.

If you are square foot gardening, do a search for "MEL'S MIX" formula, which uses about 3 or 4 ingredients including granular fertilizer (not water soluble like M-G.)

Most of my raised beds were started with a 3-part mix including topsoil, and regret it; now, I try to refresh them with compost or a mix of peat moss and M-G Garden Soil, which looks exactly like the compost I used to truck in (the town's compost facility got bought by a commercial topsoil company and no longer sells a pickup truck bedful for under $20. They also sold a garden mix, but I really needed just the compost.)

Most of my raised beds are either 3 or 4ft by 7 or 8ft and everything settles over winter, so I add a bale of peat moss and a couple bags of the Garden Soil to each bed, all tilled or forked in.

Hope this helps!

My raised beds at a former home were about 12" above ground and a similar amount underground. Because of the quantity of rock in our weathered granite soil, we put the native soil through a sieve to remove rocks and then added composted manure and top dressed with composed or shredded leaves. It was a great garden!

Thanks!

I'm going with Tomato Tone this year and some Mir-A-cal too at planting time for extra BER insurance. I'm going to also use them on my peppers.

In order of best IME - beans, carrots, potatoes, broccoli. Agree with what jeff said about the carrots need to be left longer, the broccoli heads will be smaller (1/2 size) the potatoes will be less and smaller. What does better than any of them in shaded areas is leafy greens - lettuces, spinach, chard, kale. even some cabbage.

Dave

Certainly worth experimenting to find out what the partial shade area will do. I have a strip along the west side of the house that gets an absolute maximum of four hours of sun per day (approx. Noon-4pm). I usually always have chard, kale, chives, and catnip in this area, but have also had success with tomatoes and pickling cucumbers.

The tomatoes were quite acceptably productive, although probably a bit less than they would have been in sunnier locations. I staked them and they ended up growing almost a couple of feet higher than the gutters – the pic below was taken standing on step ladder close to gutter level. I eventually ended up with tomatoes resting on the gutter guards!

Pickling cukes did quite well and I think the bee-attracting catnip nearby may have helped them along.

Bush beans have done well in this area. Multiple attempts with peppers failed (as I expected they would). Oddly, lettuce and spinach production was a bit of a disappointment and I’m not sure why.

I’ve never considered trying potatoes in that area but might try that this year.

How to Grow Rice

How to Grow Rice

Soak the seeds in water for about 36 hours and allow to dry for another 24 hours.

Fill a bucket with 6 inches of a mixture of soil and compost.

Add about 5 inches of water to cover the soil.

Evenly spread the seeds in the bucket and place in a warm, sunny area.

Dave

Thanks guys, I will try both methods with just a few seeds each and see which will work.