It is the end of March here at Fruition Seeds and we are finally sowing some seeds friends, and I wanted to share with you a couple things today, I wanted to share with you the onions that we have already started and the peppers we’ve already started and my general progression of potting up our peppers and a couple things I’ve noticed tips for you so that you can do it even better than we do. So, here we are. Take a look at these beautiful Amanda’s New York earliest and they’re about a month old. And you can see we’ve sown them and they are going for onions and shallots. And leeks are the very first seeds that we sow. And not scallions. They don’t take nearly as long as any other Allium isn’t as important to start it so early but onions, especially if you want them to be really nice big onions. It’s really important to get them sown in the earliest in March as you possibly can. Many of our farmer friends actually start them in February. But even if you find yourself here in the third, fourth week of March, it’s not too late. Go for it. So those alliums and you won’t be sad. Now is also the time that we’re selling our first peppers and friends there are two different species of peppers that we grow here at fruition and that you can grow easily here in the northeast. The vast majority of the peppers that we grow here are capsicum annum, and those are classic bell peppers. Basically any pepper that you think of, that’s most likely capsicum annum that genus species. But capsicum chinense is a whole other situation and they love to be started even earlier than classic peppers, and they need extra heat. So we actually have them on a germination mat, a heat mat that’s 85-90 degrees fluctuating between those two temperatures. So they need ludicrous heat. So our Aji Dulce pepper and are Habanada pepper are all are two of the ones that are Capsicum chinense. And those were starting early. So these we started about a month ago as well. And you can see we started them in channel trays. And I love these channel trays, definitely check out our video about channel trays. And they’re called channel trays because check out these long, lovely little channels and they just are really great at a fish efficiently and maximizing all of your surface area. But take a look at these peppers friends because we were actually a way and we are transplanting them now we’re putting them up now but ideally, we would have potted them up a week ago and take a look as they look really healthy really happy, really beautiful. And they are but they’re right on the edge. Look how tall they are. These are actually a little leggy and usually legginess is a function of too little light, they’re stressed, not enough light. But in the case of these, they had plenty of light. They’re just simply growing so close that they’re actually competing with each other. And that competition is making them edge higher and higher. So that is another function of that’s another reason that legginess can happen. And so I’m really glad that we just got home from the Boston Flower Show and are putting these up today and not a moment longer. And take a look to I wanted to share that it’s really fascinating to take a look at this channel tray. And can you see there are these peppers here that are much shorter, and look at the kata lead ins those first leaves that are that emerge, and then the true leaves that have all the crenellations in the veins, those first true leaves are merging. With Gosh, this whole area doesn’t look nearly as robust as this area, right? These are much taller. They actually have multiple sets of true leaves. And so something happened here whether it was maybe they got not enough moisture, maybe they were sown slightly deeper, there’s any number of, of scenarios that meant that for whatever reason, this section of the tray is less resilient, less robust, less vigorous. So as I’m putting them up, I’m actually going to not be putting these up, I’m going to really focus on just only potting up the most healthy and, and you can see when I bring them out of this cell trait of the channel trays, they’re there because the root systems are so extravagant already. They’re already in that channel. peppers are very resilient. And you definitely want to be delicate, gentle with them, their stems, especially they can snap. But the root systems, they’re pretty resilient. So I’m just gently going to be using my fingers and gently prying them apart from each other. And it’s really important as you’re selecting them here. So take a look like this pepper. Yes, it’s a little laggy but man, it has a really nice root system. I’m definitely going to pop this one up, where this guy was shorter than the rest, still has those cotyledons, that first tiny little true leaf, look at that root system hardly exists. So that one, I am going to send to the compost pile to our neighbor’s chickens. So as I pot them up, it’s really important. But the vast majority of plants that you’re putting up this season, you just
want to be potting them up. So that that soil level as they were growing, is this is maintained at each stage. So as I’m, as I’m piling it up, I’m just, I already have this cell tray with a little bit of soil in it. And I’m just tucking it right in and making sure that I’m not burying it any deeper than the actual level of this of the stem and soil itself. So as long if you bury them, their stems will simply rot. So it’s really important that as you’re separating them, you Gently Look at that beautiful root system. Oh my gosh, that here I am tucking it in and maintaining that soil level on the stem. And that is perfect. So there you have it friends, I am so excited for you to transplant peppers this season and know that we’re probably going to have these peppers here in this cell tray for another three weeks, maybe closer to two weeks. So much depends. Our goal with them is to have that growth curve be 45 degrees, never have them stop growing. So as soon as they get a couple more sets of true leaves that we’re going to be putting these up into four inch, four inch containers so that they’ll have that much more nutrients that much more soil, that bigger root system. They’re going to be nice, beautiful plants. And again, our any goal with any transplant you’re starting is for them to be short and stout and that is a function Have nutrients and light and so many other things. But I’m so delighted to share with you these tips especially for starting some of these earliest crops, peppers and especially for the peppers of the Capsicum chinense genus/species and other just really long season, peppers that you might be growing this year.
