"Marbles" and Master Gardener Kit..done.

[artisanrox]

Today I used the Master Gardener kit again, and planted some Marbles...little decorative hot peppers that change through many colors, getting hotter as they're left on the plant.








Not much to report except the machine's finally really clean again....lol.  Will update as needed.

[Bobbie]

Those sound like a lot of fun to grow--and to eat.

[artisanrox]

I hope so!  Even if they're not eaten, they're very pretty from what I've seen in pictures on the Net.  I'm sure they'll be great both on and off the plant!   

[bab43]

Another interesting garden!  Good luck with it - am looking forward to seeing it grow. 

[artisanrox]

Thank you bab!!  There'll sure be updates when I see some greenery!

[artisanrox]

I can't believe it's been over a week already.  I had taproots on Monday but was at work or tired from work too much to post anything.  Then the time flew so fast, I had these before I knew it!



There's like 2 or 3 sprouts in every pod.  I hope that's not too crowded...I don't really know if I should take some out and plant 'em in a pot or what!!  I know the best time to do that is now while they're tiny so I don't know.



They just came from outta nowhere!

[shane arthur]

you would want to limit it to one plant per pod. Treat them like normal peppers and pick the healthiest one and remove the others. having 6 pepper plants is already pretty crowded much less having more than one per pod.

On the positive side, they look excellent. a quick trim and you are ready to grow some peppers.

[artisanrox]

OK, here is the new (probably temporary) setup now:




I've transferred three whole pods to a shallow pan (donated generously by Mom!) with starter soil and lots of MiracleGro water.  I've plugged up the holes in the machine with my cute little spacers from my eons ago Cherry Tomato kit.

Now at least I won't have to trim the plants in the pan for a bit.  Next spring if they're still around they can go outside.  The ones in the machine I'll hold off on; I see some trouble with fungus (this is beyond awful) already in there and can smell it already, so when I see which plants grow strongest I'll save those in the machine.

If all the plants do OK, I'll have enough peppers to make my own homemade sauce...LOL!

I'm considering buying the sponge replacements from Aerofalls; the peat pods are just way, WAY too susceptible to this fungus for me to continue using them.

[bab43]

Sorry to hear about the fungus in your machine.  Maybe you can get it under control with a little hydrogen peroxide.  The plants themselves look healthy so it should be a good grow for you.

In my first cherry tomato garden I did see a little fungus at the top of the peat pods now and then and dabbed it with hydrogen peroxide on a Q-Tip.  I think it was from the plants I had snipped off to leave just one growing or maybe there were ungerminated seeds.  It never developed into anything, so here's hoping you have a similar result.

[graycyn]

Looking good! I've done the Q-tip dab with hydrogen peroxide and it seemed to work.

[artisanrox]

Hi bab and graycyn,

I've tried the hydrogen peroxide thing with previous gardens and the fungus was too out of control for it.  In fact I ended up really injuring some flowers I was growing in the AG because of too much HP.   


However, these pepper plants look wonderful!  This is the best looking garden I've grown yet.  All the herbs and tomatoes I've gorwn NEVER looked this good!

See!






Those two pics were taken about a week ago.

These two pics were taken just now (before a bit of pruning):

 




They look so good!!!


And yes I know there's still more than one plant per pod.  I really want to make sure I choose the strongest ones before I go snipping anything.

The other plants I took out to hopefully keep in pots didn't make it.    I'm too irresponsible with watering, plus there are factors beyond my control to be able to take care of anything in pots right now.

Here's a closeup of some of the stems.  Some stems are colored, some are not.  Doesn't seem to have anything to do with the health of the plant, tho.



What's cool is they seem to naturally grow out instead of up.  There are lots of branch/leaf growth points that are sprouting all the way up.  They on;y get 12-18 inches tall so I'm completely not worried about height!     What a great plant to pick!!!

[bab43]

These do look really good - good growing!  I'm so curious what these will look like when they start to get fruit.

I've not had problems with hydrogen peroxide but don't use much of it - I'll heed your warning. 

[artisanrox]

They look awesome.  I don't understand why I couldn't grow flowers, but these pepper plants are really taking off.


Pruned 'em a little.





The leaves alone are such a beautiful deep green color!




There are still multiple plants in one pod, yes yes yes.  I am starting to see some plants struggling so they'll probably be the first ones to get cut so far.


My best garden yet!!   

[bab43]

They're growing nice and compact, not lanky at all.  So far this looks like a very good choice for the AG. 

[shane arthur]

I agree, nice and compact, an excellent choice!

[artisanrox]

I have TONS of flower buds and beautifully filled-out plants.  The hood isn't even on max height yet!



Check it out.






A pepper flower.



What am i gonna do with all these peppers??  Well, if I get that many peppers as there are flower buds...cause ALL the plants (even the ones I didn't bother trimming, pruning,  or snipping!) are covered in flower buds!!
I hope I'm smart enough to save some seeds!

[bab43]

These plants keep looking better all the time!  I noticed in the other thread that you said you didn't thin these.  I wouldn't have tried that since we're advised to thin pepper plants, but it's worked out well for you.

I guess it's a bit of work pollinating the flowers. 

[artisanrox]

Seriously, bab, there must be something about my house.  There was no reason for the flowers I did not to grow and they flopped.  There was a lot of concern that my Japanese garden would NOT grow and it did pretty well.

And now I'm supposed to thin the pepper plants, and I didn't, and they're doing great.  I don't know.     From now on I'll just always do the most WRONG thing so my AG will turn out better.

So whatever I do to make my plants grow, everybody else just DON'T do that. 

 

And yes, I'm going to have to start pollinating like crazy!  I get up in the morning, check them out, then give 'em a quick fluff.  Some times before I go to bed I fluff 'em a bit too.

 

[bab43]

That's too funny!  Glad it's all working for you. 

Too bad about the flowers.  I'm enjoying my flower kits a lot - maybe they'll work out better next time...

[Cherylann]

I just checked out the seed website, and WOW ... they have some great pepper plant seeds!  I am dying to hear how the Marbles are coming along ... any peppers yet???

I just might be able to talk hubby into an AG Classic to try these and/or the black foliage ones.  What nutes did you use?