Swet Pepper Update
 

[quote=rutabagaboy;124250]I planted 12 seeds each of Islander plant 2.2, F4 seed, vial 08-18 and Islander plant 3.1, F4 seed, vial 08-19 in Jiffy peat pellets on 2/21/09. The seeds had no bottom heat, no lights and remained outdoors as much as possible. Although I've had 80% germination of seeds in the dwarf tomato project and 70% germination in the hot pepper project, as of 3/16 I've had only one seed (vial 08-19) come up and it hasn't been able to shed the seed coat. Other sweet peppers sown at the same time and suffering the same conditions are doing much better. I'll continue to watch them.[/quote]

Watching did no good, the one with the stuck seed coat withered away. I planted 12 additional seeds of each lot on April 5. As of today (April 16) I have one seedling of Islander Plant 3.1, vial 08-19). One of the Islander Plant 2.2 seeds sprouted a root and held it skyward - for a time. I am 1 for 48, but I'll plant some more tomorrow.

After my brag concerning my prowess in germinating the sweet pepper seeds in post #16, I visited the pot and found that some critter had made lunch of the one seedling to arise. I now stand at zero for 48.

Bummer, there is nothing like going out to check your plants and they are no longer there are have been damaged in some way.:panic: Mother Nature makes a lot of decisions for us.

sorry,:(
neva

I've got a bunch of flowers/buds on 2 of the 5 TP plants. Nothing else is quite ready to bloom yet, so I hope they set and I can save seeds.
I restarted the Islanders, and they are still quite small yet. Once we get done with all this rain, I will put them in the ground. I can usually keep all my pepper plants going thru the summer with no problems, so if I don't get any fruit b4 the extreme heat, hopefully I'll get some in the fall and save seed then.

Picture of Islander plant 8.2 F4 on 4/29/09 attached.

I have another plant in the garden, but it looks similar and I did not take a pic of that one yet.

On April 7 I planted 12 seeds of Islander plant 2.2, F4 seed, vial 08-18 in six peat pellets - two to a pellet. On April 17 I broadcast planted all the remaining seed in a six inch pot. As of today, Cinco de Mayo, I have four of twelve of the first bunch, all green stems and cots (except for the one which refuses to shed the seed coat) and four of the second group, three green stems and cots, one purple. None have true leaves as yet.

Craig, I've got fruitset on 2 of my Tawny Ports. Woot!:lol:

[B]Islander plant 2.2, F4 seed, vial 08-18[/B]

April 7 plants are on right, the one with the stuck seed coat (forcibly removed) in third from top.

April 17 plants are on left, the one with the purple cotyledons is at the bottom - the purple is fading.


[B]Islander plant 3.1, F4 seed, vial 08-19[/B] was a complete bust after three plantings - sorry about that.

How is everyone doing? Islander 3.1 didn't save well - I completely failed getting any good seedlings from it (will go with a few other lavendar to golden yellow selections next year).

I have two seedlings of each of the other Islander selections in 5 gallon pots as of this week, as well as one plant each of the Tawny Port, Chocolate Bell F3s and Early Sunsation and Yellow Bell F2s.

[B]Islander plant 2.2, F4 seed, vial 08-18[/B]

Four plants each from plantings on April 7 and April 17, 2009. The plant in the seventh photo had purple cotyledons at germination but has faded to green over time and is now a slightly lighter green than the others. The first four are ten days older than the second four, but there is no apparent size difference due to the separation in age. All were planted in the ground on May 22. I put the cages in place before I took the photos and they show up in the pictures, sorry about that.

Regarding [B]Islander 8.2 F4 vial 08-31[/B], I noticed today that the one I planted in my raised pepper bed had not only set peppers, but that three are already a uniform dark solid dark purple!

Sorry, I've had a million and one things going on lately and didn't even really see this progressing! I did kinda sorta take a look about a week and a half ago and had noticed at that point there was some initial set. Just the beginnings, but I guess these peppers grow rather quickly once actual pollination occurs. I see that mentioned in the PlantFiles entry too, [URL="http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/74563/"]for the F1 hybrid[/URL], eg, once they set, they grow and turn purple rather fast. Boy, that was quick!

Will try to take pics asap, but of course leaving these first ones on until red mature for seeds to save.

I don't recall the exact date to the day I planted, but I think it was around Apr 4-5. Will take a look at the second plant in a container too, but didn't see any purple peppers on it yet.

Btw, another purple bell I am growing this year is [URL="http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/81100/"]Mavras F1[/URL], and this is another var that turns purple, but also goes to red mature like Islander does. I looked at those plants today, and while they've set, those first/largest peppers are just starting to show a bit of purple, but are still mostly green.

Glad it is doing well, Suze. The whole point of the Islander project is to get reasonably good to excellent OP approximation of Islander (it, and the probably identical Blue Jay F1, are very, very expensive seeds). What will be interesting to watch is the ripening color, since I've got some that go red, some that go golden yellow (which is something new).

Oh no! I mistakenly put my trays of peppers on the floor and my cat nibbled on the tops of most of them. They are not too damaged, but almost all have parts of the top leaves chewed. :?:

Will they still grow and produce?

Naughty Kitty
 

Just call it a "rough" pruning. If you have, as you should, buds in the leaf axils, they'll sprout new stems from there. It will be more bushy than it would have been otherwise. If your cat nipped a plant to the ground then that one probably won't make it, but give it a few days to see if it is putting out new growth.

Thanks much! Not surprisingly, the cat didn't touch the Fatali peppers.