So I noticed a few days ago that a number of my pepper plants are starting to flower. When I looked this morning there must have been one I missed because it has a full flower on it. Looking online I found that a number of people recommend pinching off the flowers, until after the plants have been transplanted outside. I haven’t pinched any off yet but am planning on doing that tonight. Now the internet did recommend waiting until there was an actual flower to pinch off to make sure you didn’t damage the plant.
Last year I actually had a pepper start indoors, but that plant only grew that one pepper and stayed small until the start of August. It bore a couple more later on in September but overall was my least productive plant.
My pepper plants are currently around 6 inches tall and look like they are ready for the garden. In a couple weeks I will not have room for them under the lights anymore and will have to start hardening them off. By the time I plant on May 19th –May 26th they will be 11-12 weeks old depending on when they are planted. Most sources recommend starting seeds 8-10 weeks before you transplant outside. This is something I intend to do next year because right now they are just huge and I am afraid a few of them may become root bound. Next year I am going to try starting seeds 8-9 weeks before they need to be transplanted.
The tomato plants aren’t any better, well they are doing great but with regards to me planting early. By the time that they are transplanted it will have been 10-11 weeks since the seeds were started. The tomatoes are currently around 7 inches tall and are running out of room faster than the peppers. They haven’t been thinned out yet because I am hoping that might keep their growth down, which is a little ironic. I am thinking a 7-8 week time between seed starting and transplants next year might work out a little better.
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