Radishes, Peppers 2/15/22

[lynnee]

The Burpee catalog had an irresistible photo of the Sweet Mocha Swirl pepper, so I started one in a Bounty Elite on 2/15/22.



I'm also dying to grow radishes, thanks to you folks, so I took a suggestion from a YouTube video, and added radishes that hopefully will mature before the peppers even become seedlings. I planted a few of my saved AG banana pepper seeds, just to find out whether they will germinate. I also planted a few Poblano seeds, because I'm determined to grow happy Poblanos!





Fun to come!

[Shawn]

I was also looking to get those peppers too Lynne.

[Sher]

Those peppers look amazing, lynnee!

I don't have an availabke Aerogarden or I would order those seeds, too.

What a great project!

[lynnee]

Sher, the Mocha Swirl seeds were temporarily out of stock a couple of weeks ago when I tried to order them. So you'd have to wait for the seeds anyway.

After that disappointment, I was looking through my recent seed purchases, and found a packet! At least I'm consistent in my tastes.

[lynnee]

The radishes (no domes) are UP!

I also added an Organic Ancho Grande pod to the garden. I always tend to crowd my AGs, but I'm only going to keep two or at the most three peppers in this garden. If all of the pods sprout healthy plants, I'll relocate some elsewhere.

[Sher]

Another exciting project to follow! I love the idea of growing radishes before the peppers need the space.

[waterphoenix]

Yay! It’s a great time of year to start transplants

[Shawn]

That was fast.

[lynnee]

Yesterday (day 4) I separated the radish seedlings--all of the seeds germinated--and added radish pods to other gardens that had unused pod space.

It'll be interesting to see whether I planted the relocated radishes at the right depth. The roots suffered some damage, too, but I expect the plants to recover.

[lynnee]

All of the peppers have germinated, including my saved banana pepper seeds!

Photos to come in a day or two, when there's more to be seen.

[lynnee]

Day 10. The peppers have germinated.  The banana pepper from my saved seeds is in the center in front of the post; the Burpee Mocha Swirl pepper is at the far left.  The radishes are doing well, and one of them is beginning to look like a radish!

[Sher]

That is so cool, lynnee!

[lynnee]

It's Day 14, and the radish that's farthest along is really looking like a respectable radish.



The other radishes are turning out more long and thin--I've got to hurry up and lift all of them, per ERR0R1755 's helpful Instructions.



The peppers planted alongside are coming along as expected, almost ready to thin, so I want to remove the radishes asap.

[Sher]

That one radish probably wouldn't last very long at my house. I couldn't resist! 

[lynnee]

Day 16. The radishes were kind of blocking the light to the peppers, so I moved them to another Bounty that has the extra germinated radishes from the same batch.

In order to develop properly, radishes do seem to need to be lifted to the level where the roots start into the sponge. So far I haven't been able to do this very effectively with foil. I need to find something to place at the bottom of the pod that will hold the sponge up.

Once the red stems were lifted to get some light, the radishes started to fill out. The hourglass-shaped radish on the left shows what happens when half the red stem is below the pod cover for several days.

[Sher]

That is interesting, lynnee. I wonder if a toothpick could be used to hold the sponge up?

[lynnee]

Mar 3, 2022 22:01:30 GMT -5 Sher said:

That is interesting, lynnee. I wonder if a toothpick could be used to hold the sponge up?

That's definitely an idea worth trying, Sher! I am open to any and all suggestions, because I love radishes and want to grow more of them. Different varieties should be fun.

[Sher]

When I was in Georgia, I bought a pack of seeds that had all colors, shapes and sizes of radish seeds, including the giant daikons.

Unfortunately I never got to plant them.  So I am vicariously enjoying your project. 

[lynnee]

It always amazes me, the amount of abuse that hydroponically-grown seedlings and transplants can take. 

Yesterday (Friday) I separated the pepper seedlings that were sharing their Bounty temporarily with radishes into pods with one seedling each.  I feared that I'd killed them all--you can see they were nearly prostrate when I was finished (top photo). But today they are standing up, except for the one at the far right that is at least holding its leaves up (bottom photo). (I added a little trellis later to help that one regrow its roots.)



The pepper seedlings were unusually hard to separate because the roots were mostly growing sideways through the sponges. I ended up having to cut some of the sponges in half vertically to get two plants that both had some roots.

I'm hoping that the seedlings from my saved banana pepper seeds do okay. I'd really like to know whether the mother plant is an heirloom or a hybrid.  These are the four pods in the center.

Back row: Burpee Mocha Swirl; Banana; Banana; Organic Ancho Grande; Burpee Poblano.

Front row: Burpee Mocha Swirl; Banana; Banana; Burpee Poblano.

[Sher]

It always amazes me how living things are determined to survive, given half a chance.

Yay for your little fighters!