Been having trouble with eggplants and hot peppers. I found out after two years of trying and fertilizing and watering my heart out that Black Beaty eggplants are terrible for where I live unless I have a greenhouse. Is there a variety that is good for my zone or am I s.o.l. on the eggplant front? I'm also looking to grow 5-color Chinese hot peppers. I have had success with jalapenos and cayenne, but tried these peppers from a crappy website that enticed me with promises of beatiful ornamental peppers that grew well on pots. Needless to say they were a complete bust. I've found a more reputable site, so I was looking for tips on growing them from seed in my area. My house is pretty cold, and I actually live in an area of New York State that I once heard gets the least amount of sunlight in the north east. Am I going to need grow lights and heated germinating pads for these little suckers? I was on the verge of sticking my electric blanket under them last year, but I have a bad habit of getting antsy and desperate for green things in the winter and starting plants in a windowsill greenhouse in February (yes, February!). Is this bad for them? If they do manage to germinate in my cold house that is... I just love planning my garden in the winter. Really fights off that barren wasteland feeling.
I think you might find that vegetable plants started now will give you a lot of problems before planting time. If they do not get enough light they will get leggy and as they get bigger watering becomes trickier. Smaller plants can get a real growth spurt when first planted outside, while larger plants often suffer a setback. But you could try both ways. I'm in zone 6 in Southern Ohio and each year seems unique. Last Summer the temperatures never really got hot enough for some of the heat loving plants to thrive. I don't know if you had the same problem. If you don't mind a lot of small eggplant instead of the big ones, you might try the newish varieties, Hansel, Gretel, or Fairy Tale. They are all small plants (Fairy Tale is actually a dwarf) but each plant puts out a lot of fruit. Like peppers, they do not like it cool, and you may need to wait until Mid to late May to put them out.
I can't help you with any Eggplant advice, as I don't grow any. But I do grow hot peppers and bell peppers. I usually start mine from seed during the first week or two in March. I use peat pellets and put them on plastic flats, next to a window with some supplemental fluorescent lighting. I keep the temperature in my house close to 65 degrees Fahrenheit. I have never used a heating pad and have never had any problems with seeds not germinating. I usually wait until mid May before putting them in the ground or leaving them outside in containers. I usually put my Bell Peppers in the ground. I put my hot peppers in containers, so I can move them indoors and extend their growing period past the first frost in October. Good luck with your plants!
That is very helpful pepper advice, thanks! March feels soooo far away, but I'll do my best, haha. Good idea about the containers. The ones I'm getting are supposed to be great in pots and are ornamental, so it'll bring some color into the house. How long will they produce if you bring them inside? And will they be better producers next year if I keep them alive all winter (I know this is a controversial one, but in your experience)? Thanks for all of that great advice! Oh, yes, this last season was horrid. I'm emotionally scarred, in fact. But the fact that I got as far as I did with a blight going around, constant rain and cold temperatures (and yet I still ended up with one tiny Black Beauty, haha!), I've got to be doing something right, so I've tried not to take it personally. It's still shaken me up, though, and I'm determined to plant better for my area rather than just getting the stuff that looks just like the grocery store produce. I'm into some funny-looking heirlooms this year, but at least I know they can take a mild summer with some rain and won't keel over and die if it isn't 90 degrees for 3 months.
My experience with hot peppers, is that they will keep producing and ripening indoors for 2 to 3 months after I bring them inside before the first frost in October. It is possible to keep them producing longer if you give them plenty of light and warmth, but I usually have enough of a harvest to last me until next year, so I don't bother to keep them going. I have never kept a pepper plant alive through the winter, as I like to try growing different varieties each year. Here's a link to an article on bringing pepper plants indoors for the winter... http://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp?ai=641&bhcd2=1264587351
I've just sown some jalapenos. My previous attempts at peppers have failed miserably. I think I would be in 'zone 6' too, though I'm not sure, because we don't use that system here in Scotland. The short growing season meant they didnt have time to fruit on my last attempt, so this year I have tarted early, and sown them into pots in a heated propagator inside my cold house. About April I'm hoping to plant them out into my (new, big 12x8 ) greenhouse.
You'll have to let us know how you get on, I'vem sure I've mentioned in other posts, I've got Numex Twilight, Numex Centennial, Cayenne Long Purple, Scotch Bonnet Red, Ricotto and Habenero's growing, started them realy early mid Jan and had them growing next to my combi boiler and they started too germinate and poked their heads thru 2 weeks ago, I have them now on my window sill wil plastic cups over them (a cheaper alternative for a propergator) they all seem to be doing fine & hoping to plant them out when it gets warmer.
Peppers need a hot climate and get hotter with the temperature. You could try a dark mulch to warm the ground temperature, and put them where they will get the most sun. Your soil temp should be at least in the mid seventies.
Peppers don't necessarily need hot climates, I'm growing a fair few verieties and I'm in the U.K where we don't get the best of weather
Just wondering how your garden is growing. I'm just a few miles away from you! Not growing eggplants this year, but if I did, I would've gotten young plants from the nursery. Starting from seed can be a frustrating endeavor. This year I started tomatoes, peppers, dwarf sunflower, dahlia, african daisy and basil from seed. Only a few of the tomatoes and sunflowers are still around. The tomatoes were chomped once by deer, so not sure if they'll make fruit... It's easy for me to say in July that seed starting is just not worth it for me, but come february, I'll do anything to get my hands in the dirt. I'm looking at a book on 4 season growing by eliot coleman right now to see what i can do to stretch the growing season- it's so short here! Right now, in my higher-fenced garden I've got tomato (san marzano, something else, and super 100 cherry), pepper, salad greens (still going!), watermelon (doing amazing- it's an experiment), carrot, pea, green bean, and beets. I just made 12 pints of pickled beets, and need to get another crop or two in. I'm thinking tuscan kale and more beans. We haven't had much yield yet due to deer pruning. Oh, bright lights chard and strawberry, too. Whoops, sorry about the thread hijack!
