peppers and other things - New Orleans

10 years ago

I live just outside New Orleans, and we normally have very mild winters
This year is a bit of an exception, there have been 2 hard freezes so far, and another coming next week.

I have a heating mat and 2 trays of seeds that have a few seedlings an inch or so, and a few just started breaking the soil. - more to come..
(3 different AJI peppers and some HABs)

Some peppers and morning glory germinated, but i still have more, and also papaya, and some cactus

They actually get a decent amount of light, at least when its not cloudy.
I have them in a southern window on a small table.

I do have a greenhouse, but the only heat it has is a small wall-mart cheao heater. last night it was about 34 outside, and in the greenhouse i thing it was about 45-50.

i already had 2 seedlings die.
not sure why, i had a few fungus gnats, but not that many, and i sprayed with neem and clove oil.

i do keep my house rather cold, about 60F or so to keep the heating bills down. heat pumps arent very economical

did the pepper seedling die from it being too cold, or maybe the gnats ?
i dont want the soil to dry out too much, i still have seeds yet to germinate, including papaya and cactus, so i lightly spray the top, it dries fast in full sun

also what im worried about is how big they will get, as opposed to how cold it will be in the greenhouse when i try to move them (late feb maybe?)

any ideas ?

Comments (6)

kuvaszlvr
10 years ago
Wow Josh, I didn't realize you were so close to me (outside of Tulsa). I have had my seedlings in the greenhouse for a month now. I've gone out a few times, early morning, and they were wilted, but they perked up within a few hours. I've got 4 heaters going (I was going to send photos awhile back), we've been getting blasts of cold, single digits at night. So, I got plastic and wrapped it around the shelves and put heaters on the floor under the shelves, I also have a 26' x 8' greenhouse, so I put up plastic to divide it in half- less area to heat. It was around 10 last night, the one heater was showing 49 degrees so I assume it was warmer above. But, I have found that the seedlings seem to do fine down to around upper 40's, anything lower and they wilt but come back. My greenhouse hasn't gotten in the 30's yet. Honestly, I've lost more seedlings to heat than cold. I had a heater going all day and didn't water the night before, I lost about 40 seedlings, just burned up. :-(

Pam
greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a
10 years ago
Pam, different Greenman ;-)
I live in northern California.

Josh
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kuvaszlvr
10 years ago
hahaha, thanks Josh... hmmm, I wonder how many times I've missed that in the past. I thought you were in CA. Too much stress lately with the single digit lows and 1500+ seedlings in a greenhouse too many extension cords running to greenhouse, worrying about house burning down, mind just isn't working properly lately. ;-)
Pam
tomt226
10 years ago
A forced air kerosene or propane heater coupled with a thermostat should keep that GH toasty. I used to do an 8'X20' GH with a couple of milk barn heaters, but after about 22 degrees the stuff inside would get nipped.
Elbourne
10 years ago
I live near New Orleans as well and it has been a very cold winter. I have ice on my steps right now. I almost broke my neck a little while ago. We are not used to this.

I have my peppers germinating in a mini-green house sort of set up. Its just big enough to hold my 6 dozen styrofoam cups. I wrapped the contraption with visqueen and have a little space heater in there. Its staying around 75F. The whole thing is about 5' wide, 2' deep and 2' tall. Since the seeds have not germinated yet, I didn't have to make it that tall, but I wanted to get some air flow.
seysonn
10 years ago
Be careful out there !

It seems to me that this has been one of the harsh winters for a long time for most of us , even for those in FL, CA, LA,

Her at the PNW we have had our share of low teens . But it has gotten more seasonal now. I have germinated most of my peppers inside. In another couple of weeks I will work on tomatoes. For us spring might not be too far away but summer will be LONG LONG time away. We are categorized as zone 8 but we are no better off than zone 5 when it comes to summer gardening.

Happy Sprouting, Everyone !