Broccoli, Week 4

The broccoli is on fire! Well, not literally, but it's growing really fast.

Pepper Progress

Here's a quick rundown on the pepper plant germination after two weeks:

Aji Dulce – 4 seeds out of 12 (Southern Exposure)

Ampuis - 10 seeds out of 10 (Amishland)

Ancho Gigante – 15 seeds out of 16 (Seed Savers)

Fish – 0 seeds out of 5 (Baker Creek)

Hot Lemon – 6 seeds out of 12 (saved)

Kevin's Orange – 10 seeds out of 16 (Southern Exposure)

Orchid – 0 seeds out of 8 (Baker Creek)

Thai Birdseye – 0 seeds out of 12 (Baker Creek)

Trinidad Purple Coffee - 8 seeds out of 10 sprouted

So the sweet and mild peppers are doing well while the hot peppers are not as productive. In fact, the only chilies to germinate so far are saved seeds from last year. Mark is particularly surprised and disappointed to see the Baker Creek seeds performing so poorly. We're willing to give them at least one more week before moving to Plan B: find some transplants.

There is one other trick to pepper seed sprouting that we've employed. We've been placing the seed cells directly on top of the heating mat rather than placing them inside a tray and then on the mat. The soil seems to warm better this way.

Onions

Just a quick update. On 3/12 we planted two kinds of onions: 36 Spanish Yellow and 72 Cipollini. They sprouted in less than a week.

The leeks and scallions are now so tall now that they're flopping over. Hopefully that's not detrimental to their growth. We know you're excited about this, so stay tuned to see if the onions share the same fate...

Coaxing

We've talked about presprouting seeds in a previous entry. The main goal in presprouting is to get the seeds to germinate before they are deposited into the soil-free starting mix or are direct-seeded in the garden. The idea here is that environmental sprouting conditions are easier to replicate in a small incubation microclimate than in a 72-cell tray or garden soil. Presprouting is accomplished by rolling up seeds in damp paper towels and placing them in a plastic bag atop a heating mat. The seeds must be monitored on a daily basis for moisture levels; this periodic inspection also provides airflow, which is a crucial component to successful germination.

Pre-sprouting seems to work well for the small number of seeds we experimented with, but the task soon becomes onerous when applied to a larger number of seeds and varieties. For example, the daily unfurling of each roll of seeds becomes time consuming as the number of varieties increases. At first, we only dealt with 3 varieties of 3-5 seeds each. We then added a few more varieties after some initial success and then started to notice the added inconvenience of unwrapping and rewrapping a greater number of packages. Nevertheless, we did achieve some rapid germination with some of the seeds, noticeably with the purple coffee pepper. The earliest purple coffee sprout appeared within 5 days of starting the sprouts. The hot lemon peppers also performed well, with each of the 3 seeds sprouting on the tenth day. Ultimately, we have decided to reserve presprouting for small quantities or for direct-seeded plants that require warm soil temperature to germinate like melons, squash, and cucumber (i.e., the Cucurbitaceae family).

For the bulk of our pepper starts, we decided to use the same method that gave us great results last year. This is the 72-cell tray system with bottom capillary-action watering, a common seed-starting technique. The system works by placing the tray of seedlings on a water-absorbent mat which is kept damp by a reservoir beneath. This method provides an even supply of moisture to each cell and prevents overwatering. Our mats weren't absorbing enough water this year so we decided to stop using them and simply place the seedlings in a shallow supply of water. Mark then found out through his obsessive pursuit of gardening minutia that seedlings should not be placed in standing water for extended periods of time. These conditions lead to overly damp soil which can foster growth of the dreaded damping-off fungus. We are now keeping the cells watered by setting the tray in water for a half hour whenever the soil appears to have dried out, which is about every 48 hours.

Technicalities

Peppers are tropical plants and require a sustained soil temperature of about 80°F to germinate. Even under optimum conditions, most sources agree that pepper seeds started in a soil-less mix will not sprout in less than 7-10 days. The real trick with starting pepper seeds is to raise the temperature of the starting medium without denuding the medium of moisture. Airflow is another important factor in sprouting all types of seeds, so the growing medium needs to accommodate this condition as well. Furthermore, the conditions that favor pepper seed germination can also encourage mold to form which can smother new seedlings.

Although the challenge of starting peppers from seed seems formidable, we know it's not only possible but quite commonly accomplished by home gardeners, including ourselves. We grew about 50 pepper plants last year from seed and are hoping for similar success this year. The main difference for us this year from last is that we are growing a larger variety of peppers this year but a smaller number of each type. This means that we will be starting fewer seeds per variety and need to achieve the best germination rates we can get. We don't want to repeat last year's experience in which we ended up with way too many plants and not enough space to plant them. In other words, we would like to fine-tune the seed starting process and develop a clearer picture of how many seedlings to start with in order to arrive at a target number of adult plants. We expect to repeat this refinement process for the other vegetables we will be growing as well.

A Peck of Purple Peppers

Before launching into a tedious description of the various seed-starting methods we have employed, here's a basic overview of the 9 heirloom varieties we are growing and our target numbers for each type:

Aji Dulce – A popular Caribbean sweet pepper with the appearance and flavor of a habañero but only a shadow of its heat. We would like to transplant 4 of these outdoors at the end of May.

Ampuis – An interesting-looking French heirloom derived from Amishland. 4 transplants.

Ancho Gigante - Seed Saver Exchange's poblano. 8 transplants.

Fish – A moderately hot pepper with a prolific habit and some flashy foliage. 2 potted plants (all of our chilies will be grown in pots this year).

Hot Lemon – One of two varieties propagated from seed saved from last year, the hot lemon pepper is a crowd pleaser around these parts. Originally obtained from Burpee (of all places), this Peruvian heirloom imparts a fresh citrus flavor along with a tolerable level of heat. 3 potted plants.

Kevin's Orange – The only true bell we're growing, this is a medium-length season pepper from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. 8 transplants.

Orchid – a flower-shaped pepper grown more for its appearance than flavor, this type is probably going to remain an ornamental. We're interested to see how well this variety performs as the package label contain a warning regarding its low germination rate. 2 potted plants.

Thai Birdseye – A Baker Creek traditional offering collected in Thailand, these peppers are hotter than the larger Thai Dragon types. Baker Creek has a substantial number of authentic SE Asian peppers and vegetables, a lot more than we can grow in a season. We're growing 3 plants for ourselves and at least 3 to give away.

Trinidad Purple Coffee- This ornamental pepper is extremely rare and is being grown from seed collected last year from a friend's plant. As far as we know, the only way to obtain the plant is from a nursery in Maryland that does not sell seeds or ship live plants. Our friend (we'll call him 'Keeve') happens to live a few minutes away from the nursery and gave me some fruits last summer. We're hoping to get 3 healthy plants this year from which to collect more seed. This purple-leafed variety is incredibly hot and probably won't make it into anything fit for human consumption. Mark is looking forward to blending up a few of these chilies into a garlic/soap spray and then using the spray to melt some aphids.

Mark hopes to visit Maryland in April to pick up a couple more rare pepper plants for home seed propagation. In particular, he's got his eye on another nuclear-hot Caribbean ornamental appropriately named Scorpion. This year will mark our first real attempts at isolating plants for seed-saving purposes, and the rare peppers will be the cornerstone of these efforts.

Broccoli and Leeks, Week 2