PLANTING: Bell Peppers

I have recently fired up my AG Extra, along with my AG 7. Last year I tried to grow a tomato and a pepper plant in the same AG Extra. The both grew, but because their rates were uneven it caused a lot of problems. I got 5 or 6 decent tomatoes and a couple of nice green bells.
The bells were from Aerogrow and the tomatoes were from Park Seed Co.

Anyway, I am at it again, though I am just planting bells. One pod is the second one that came in the Bell pepper kit from Aerogrow, so it will be interesting to see how it likes living with another bell. The other is a Cajun Belle Hybrid from Park seed.

There are 4 seeds in the AG Bell pod and I put 3 in the Cajun Belle pod.

P+6 Days
I activated these on the 4th. Below are pictures of each pod, taken on the evening of the 10th. Fast-growing lettuce, these aint! Although as you'll see, one plant is a sprinter, relatively speaking.

First up is the second Bell pod from AG. Keep in mind that this pod has been sitting in an unsealed box since March or so of last year. And the seeds were harvested before that. So to be honest I have no idea if any of the 4 seeds will germinate, and if so, how healthy the plant will be. But as soon as I know, you'll know.

Hard to tell but there might be something happening.

Next are the Cajun Belle seeds from Park Seed. I estimate these are probably 6-10 months "fresher" than the AG seeds.

All three seeds germinated!

So the Cajuns have a "leaf up" on the competition!

I'll post here again once the plants have come up through the slitted cover.

P+7 Days
WOW! That was fast. No lie. The picture right below this text was taken less than 24 hours after the one above it. In fact, the Cajun is growing so fast I panicked and thought it might be a tomato instead of a pepper. A quick browse to Park Seed allayed my concern. Still, though. The AG seeds need to get going. Their label says germination in 8-14 days. Obviously that's not true for the Cajuns.
On a side note, I am really really impressed with my Samsung Galaxy SIII camera. All of the pictures taken for the current projects are from it. It takes some really nice close-ups!

Just motoring along!

P+13 Days
Well, the AeroGrow pod has finally showed up, and the Cajuns are motoring along. My Extra had a failing pump so I replaced between now and the last posting. Since the plants are so small now, I just popped the pods out of the grow deck and laid the down on some moist paper towels while I worked. It took about 15 minutes. They don't seem to have suffered.

I had to use foil light blockers because I misplaced my light blocker pods. Oh well.