Pepper Pricking Problem!

Furny

Hi Folks

We have done a silly thing, my son & i bought a kit where following instructions you sow all the seeds in to a 4inch pot we have
Birdseye Peppers, Jalepeno,Sweet pepper,Aubergine & Marmande tomato on our windowsill thriving.
Now all of the seeds have sprouted to about an inch & higher & there is about 15 of each per pot (apart from toms, only 3 ).
Loooking up info i realise we should have really sown them in trays then potted them on (not followed the kits guide).
With us doing it a bit wrong i am now confused as to which size pots they should be going in as i really need to seperate them, they will be eventually placed in Morrisons flower buckets!.
Thanks

kimmee

Hi Furny,

I'm certainly no expert but I sowed all of my sweet peppers and chillis into 2 seed trays and I was going to pot them on into Mullerlight yoghurt pots that I have been saving.

I grew a pepper plant last year that I bought from the garden centre and I guess when I bought it it was about 4 inches high and came in a pot that wasn't much bigger than a yoghurt pot. I then potted it on to a larger pot when it was bigger.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that chillis and peppers don't like being in too large a pot (but that may just be my imagination :rotfl:)

foreign_correspondent

If you can get some three or four inch pots they would be ideal for pr1cking out into - if you are planning on growing them on a windowsill for much longer, you may want to give a few away to reduce your numbers.

ETA - make sure you label them all carefully as you pr1ck out - it is very easy to get similar looking plants mixed up otherwise (I have often had this proble with chillies and peppers - they all look the same!!)

Furny

KIMMEE-Thanks, I must turn my yoghurt munching 4yr old off Fruit Corners (argh its the 'white' yoghurt as he calls it what he likes) in favour of Muller lights then!ha!ha!
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT- Thank you, i have a few pots & have been cheeky & asked my local florist shops & convinience stores to save me plant pots, all have agreed so hopefully some will be on the way for pricking on.

Thanks for advice so far.........

foreign_correspondent

it may be worth asking on freecycle if you are short of pots - people often end up with more than they need!

peachespeaches

We also have a garden centre nearby which sells huge bags of used pots for £1, and let you have the polystyrene trays for for free. Its worth looking into!

Furny

PEACHES,PEACHES= I must get my hub to run me to a few gardening centres near us to see if any do similar offers, because i don't drive i only have local shops & both charge 50p a pot which i thought was quite steep when you need quite a few or there is E-Bay i suppose.

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT-Thanks. I did have a quick peep on freecycle but couldn't view my local page because i didn't have a Yahoo i.d/e-mail address, it gave me an option of setting one up, then i got scared it may change my e-mail address or something so i logged out, is this not the case? you can all tell i know nothing about computers or gardening! ha!

peachespeaches

The one I got mine from was in North Derbyshire, (Wards at Coal Aston) I dont suppose thats any good. Wilkinsons are cheap for pots, also look at pound shop type places. Morrisons also sell batches of black used flower buckets for about a pound, these are good for the garden.

misskool

if you're using yoghurt pots, don't forget to punch some holes for drainage

Davesnave

Furny wrote: »

Hi Folks

We have done a silly thing, my son & i bought a kit where following instructions you sow all the seeds in to a 4inch pot we have
Birdseye Peppers, Jalepeno,Sweet pepper,Aubergine & Marmande tomato on our windowsill thriving.
Now all of the seeds have sprouted to about an inch & higher & there is about 15 of each per pot (apart from toms, only 3 ).
Loooking up info i realise we should have really sown them in trays then potted them on (not followed the kits guide).
With us doing it a bit wrong i am now confused as to which size pots they should be going in as i really need to seperate them, they will be eventually placed in Morrisons flower buckets!.
Thanks

You havent done it wrong at all. Plants like peppers always grow too fast in their early stages because of high heat/low light at this time of year. The first thing I always do is replant, about four to a 9cm square pot (or one in each corner) and about twice as deep as when germinated. I grow them on like that and only move them into their own pots when well established.

Given that I start with up to 50 seeds per 9cm pot, I'm not sure how many I'd need to plant to fill a standard seed tray! In fact, for most plants, seed trays seem a waste of time and space at a difficult time of year.

Plants pricked-out into square pots are easy to separate when the time comes, each having their own corner.

Furny

DAVESNAVE-Thank you that makes sense now.
I think i will !!!!! them out the pot then maybe put 3 or 4 back in each pot (as they are 10cm pots) spacing then in the pot & the leave until its time for there final container once established.
I think thats similar to your suggestion, it would be good for me also at the moment as i'm short on pots!.
Thanks for replying.

P.S I'm thinking of the final containers been Morrisons flower buckets 9/10 inches how many would you put in these just 1 ?