I have pepper seedlings that I have been hardening off for the last week or two. How low of a night time temp do you think the peppers can take in Sunset Zone 16/ 17, USDA Zone 9/10, Oakland Ca as of today..Feb 11..I wanted to know if I can leave them out over night yet? Our low tonight will be 46 high tomorrow of 75
Thanks
Sequoia

I have peppers at transplant size, and also an Earth Box with peppers bearing fruit right now. I cover them up with a frost cloth tent if the temperatures are predicted to go below 50deg.

That said, our humidity is probably a little higher than yours so just be sure your transplants are well watered if they're going to be out on cold nights for a while. But just water the soil, don't wet the leaves if you water them in the evening.

Hi Sequoia, and welcome to All Things Plants!

46 can be a normal low temp in the summer for my area and peppers do fine -- but when you first transplant them I would cover them with some type of "floating row cover" to let them get established. (I do that with all of my transplants and feel it gets them off to a much better start; even if the temps are mild, it helps keep them from getting beaten up by the wind and frazzled by the sun.)

Thanks for the advice..I will make some tents tomorrow and the sprouts are moving out ! I will let you know how they do.
Thanks
Sequoia
P.S.
My Zinnia sprouts don't seem to happy ..are they more cold sensitive than peppers?

sequoia said:T
My Zinnia sprouts don't seem to happy ..are they more cold sensitive than peppers?

I would say at least as cold sensitive as peppers. Here they tend to just sit and sulk until the hottest part of summer arrives.

Sequoia, when you say the zinnia sprouts don't seem too happy -- in what way, exactly?

sequoia I start my seeds around Feb. 15th inside the house and then around April 1st when the temps stay above 40F at night they will go into the greenhouse until May 15th when they are planted into the garden. I'm in zone 5b so you should be much earlier on your planting time. Good luck. Roy

To:Weedwacker
The zinnias look limp, but they are well watered and in the sun, not to hot, mostly filtered, outside during the day and in the house at night and I don't run my heater.I think it still might be a little too cold for them yet. It doesn't look like damping off, just weak. With more sunny warm weather this week, lets see if they perk up. Would old seeds react this way?
Thanks
Sequoia in California

Nope, old seed just doesn't germinate at all, in my experience. Limp, weak stems might be from cold, or too much water, or not enough light or heat. Try keeping them warmer at night? On top of the fridge works well. How big are they? Maybe a tiny bit of very dilute fertilizer? Sometimes the seed starting mix runs out of food before you transplant. How's the color on the leaves?

dyzzypyxxy said:Nope, old seed just doesn't germinate at all, in my experience. Limp, weak stems might be from cold, or too much water, or not enough light or heat. Try keeping them warmer at night? On top of the fridge works well. How big are they? Maybe a tiny big of very dilute fertilizer? Sometimes the seed starting mix runs out of food before you transplant. How's the color on the leaves?

Hi
I moved the zinnias, who are just putting on their second set of leaves, inside last night and look alot better today. I gave them a light dose of Maxsea, an organic liquid fertilizer, and so I think they will do ok...it is only Feb and I am planting like it's May. If the zinnias fail I still have plenty of time to replant. All the other sprouts are doing fine. Thanks for all the advice.
Sequoia
The picture does not show the zinnias, only some of the other flowers, like gysophylla elegans and linaria flamenco in the egg cartons with peppers and tomatoes in the plastic cups.

Whooo, I don't envy you that thinning job in the egg cartons, Pea. My daughter makes 'seed tape' for me for the very small, fine seeds. She uses cheap single-ply toilet paper and it works wonderfully. Each cell gets about an inch of seed tape with maybe 3 seeds, so enough to be sure you get at least one to germinate, but not so many that they're crowded together.

Very cool idea..gonna give it a try..with the linaria I don't bother to thin..it seems to do just fine without. The seed tape idea would be great for kids...gonna pass it on to the lady at the school.
Happy Spring..it's 78 out here today..this is February, right?
Sequoia

Will plants grown from seeds saved from very large, beautiful bell peppers from the grocery store bear fruit? Are they GMO peppers? I've been told that their seeds would grow into plants but will not bear any fruit. Do I need to throw away the seeds that I saved and buy packaged seeds instead? Thanks for any help with this issue.

No way to know if they are GMO peppers unless you know the variety's name, Louise.

I've grown peppers from saved seed before. Very large fruited types may need a longer season though. You'd save weeks on your harvest time if you just bought transplants now. Its very late to be starting seeds.

Thanks for your advice. Our first frosts come at about late October to mid November. I guess I was wishful thinking because the peppers were so
outstanding in size and taste. I need two visit the plant store!

Save those seeds for next spring! Keep them in an airtight container somewhere cool.

Start your plants in early March, indoors, and you'll probably get some nice peppers to harvest.

It's news to me that any GMO pepper is licensed in the US. US field trials, I think so, maybe 12. But I'm pretty sure there are still no licenses to produce and sell any GM pepper variety for human or animal consumption,.

I bet China has developed several; they are putting much more money into GE crop research than the US government and multinational corporations combined. I've read that they are developing crop varieties and "keeping them in the bank".

HOWEVER, they have not started production with any yet because their own people object to GM food. They say that that we (the USA) are trying to poison them with our capitalist GMOs. The locations of Chinese field trials are kept secret because they are so unpopular.

I think the Chinese government knows that GE is still valuable / profitable research because, when there are famines, negative attitudes towards GMOs for direct human consumption will yield to positive attitudes towards not starving, or paying half as much for daily bread.

At least the Chinese are seeking traits that will feed more people on less and poorer land, not traits that will increase profits and dependency on Monsanto.

louise said:Will plants grown from seeds saved from very large, beautiful bell peppers from the grocery store bear fruit? Are they GMO peppers? I've been told that their seeds would grow into plants but will not bear any fruit. Do I need to throw away the seeds that I saved and buy packaged seeds instead? Thanks for any help with this issue.

There are no GMO peppers in commercial production, so you don't have to worry about that. The ones you bought from the store are almost certainly hybrid varieties, though. Which means the seeds may not germinate and, even if they do, the fruit will probably be quite different from what you bought (and likely inferior in quality).

I grow many different varieties of bell pepper each summer, always looking for something new or better. But, I plant three varieties every single year.

Bell Pepper (Capsicum annuum 'Flavorburst')

Bell Pepper (Capsicum annuum 'Orange Blaze')

Sweet Pepper (Capsicum annuum 'Yummy')

All three are excellent in terms of flavor, texture, and productivity. They're so good my kids eat them like apples right out in the garden.

I've only grown one of the varieties that Kent listed, "Flavorburst," but I totally agree that it's an excellent variety! Two others that I really like, that produce large, beautiful peppers, are "King Arthur" (formerly called "Fat 'n' Sassy") and Flamingo.

As for growing plants from seeds from a hybrid -- I've never tried growing from supermarket peppers, but I have saved my own seeds from hybrids "just to see," and found that the first generation seeds from the hybrids, at least the ones I tried, were virtually identical to the originals. I never carried the experiment any further, but I suspect that continuing to save seeds from the succeeding years will result in peppers that have more variation.