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Project Jalapeño II
This was an earlier batch my son had planted. He just spread them all in this big, blue propagator I had bought him. There must have been 40 seeds in there, at least.
I felt he was entitled to making and learning from his own mistakes, so I just let him. Not expecting them all to germinate and grow like weed. I must say he’s taking very good care of them.
This does mean I might end up with more plants than I bargained for. More than I have room for—my back yard is the size of a postage stamp.
The babies—really, it’s sad, but once they start raising their little heads, they somehow stop being plants and turn into something closer to the heart—were crammed together so I figured it was time to give them a roomier residence. Wanted to wait for them to grow a full 2 inch tall, but decided to take the plunge anyway.
So, I took a deep breath—I didn’t want to mess it up at this point—and transferred them to the 4 inch pots.
I filled the 4 inch pots 3/4 with potting soil.
I figured I didn’t have any proper tools for pricking the seedlings out, so I asked J-man to hand me his large paint brush. Have to make do with what I have, right?
I created a deep hole for the seedling. Wide enough so I wouldn’t crash its roots, and to make sure they got enough air.
Held them by the leaves while gently taking them out and transferring them. Be very careful not to touch the root system.
I filled the remaining space with extra soil and watered them profusely.
Then I sat back, waited and worried. And bit my nails. The seedlings started to sag, and J-man and I just sat there, staring at them as though we were trying to will them into hydraulic lifts. Somehow it worked. After about an hour, once the soil was properly hydrated, they perked up.
And they’re having a jolly good time in my window sill ever since, growing strong. Shortly after I transferred them they grew their second set of true leaves.
And this what they look like today. Some of them are growing their 3rd set of true leaves.
I’m waiting for their 6th sets of leaves before transferring them to an 8 inch pot, and should be able to harden them off soon after that. Gives my nails time to grow back, too. I still water them every other day and turn them often.
The ones I planted later, in the pretty propagator, are now about to grow their second set of true leaves, so soon they should be ready for a transfer as well.
And all is well in my small Jalapeño paradise.
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Excellent work! You’ll be a chilehead before we know it! (Living in New Mexico, where the major question asked in all restaurants is, “Red or green?”)
That is great! You will be able to share with neighbors.
Good work, my Galapeños seeds aren’t germinating unfortunately. So sad. I hope my thai chillies are going to do better (I just planted them).
If you have to much plants, I sure would like to adopt one or two :)
I planted a few more Jalapeño (different brand) and some Habanero seeds 3 days ago… they’re already germinating!
Kan zelfs tot een week of 3 ook duren, he… voor ze ontkiemen.
My seeds where quite old, so maybe there gonners.
I bought some more seeds so, I’ll give it another try!
Cant wait to hear about your first green-chili cheeseburger.You have to try em.
Wow, you’re going to have some many jalapeno’s…I see a lot of pepper posts coming in the future. It looks like my big winner this year, is the winter squash, they germinated in a couple of days and now are ready to transplant into their little pots (I use disposable drinking cups…cheap).
Looking good! I may need to come over when you actually have all those jalapeno’s in a few weeks!
Also if u don’t have room outside, just remember they make good houseplants, just sit them near a window or make sure a light near them has a grow bulb in them. In calif I don’t have to worry about the weather during the summer and I am sure our winters r probably similar to yr summers. And during the winters I grow tomatoes and peppers in the house using this method.
Where did you end up ordering your seeds from? I haven’t bothered to even check at Intratuin, because I figured that the seeds would produce paprikas dressed in little jalapeno suits.
I’ve also tried buying jalapeno’s here. They were over-priced and sweet and I was also quite upset at the time. I don’t like jarred jalapeno’s at all.
I would love to try growing a few different types of peppers!
I wanted to make sure I got at least a few different ones, so I bought a batch at peperzaden.nl… I bought another batch at 123zaden.nl and I bought some at the Life & Garden, but not sure about those because the photo on the package (in hindsight) looked more like Serrano peppers than Jalapeño.
The early Jalapeño seeds I bought at 123zaden actually germinated after 3 days!