This year I've bought three 'Super Plug' grafted mixed sweet peppers on-line from Suttons, though at the moment the only thing looking super is the price 3 for £9.99! (though I did have a £5 off voucher to use against them) To be honest the seedlings are a bit of a disappointment at that price I'd have thought them bigger, they'll also need to be kept warm enough to grow on well.
I can't see how they will be able to produce enough of a crop to justify their cost vs home sown seed.
They arrived in a black plastic tray covered in clear film, with an address label and a plant identification label. I got the varieties Chelsea (Yellow), Britney (Red) and Melina (Orange), no mention of root stock used. They look healthy enough but a few leaves crushed from their packaging.
I've potted them on and put them under lights along with the other two varieties of peppers I'm growing, Romanian Rainbow and Palermo F1, both sown March 15th. It's not going to be scientific but I'll try and update as they progress and give an idea to total harvest.
Pictures are of them when they arrived, after being unpacked and then potted up. Final picture is in comparison to Palermo F1 which are the darker green in colour.
Lets hope the first looks are just deceiving and there is plenty of good things to come.
Trouble with chillies and peppers are that when they are young..they don't looks much..and then one day they decide to go for it and they 'beef up' almost over night.
I'm looking forward to hear how they get on... (huh..£10 for just 3...day light robbery I say!)
I looked at grafted pepper plants in my local garden centre they are very expensive. I am also not clear what the benefits are over the cost. Though the plants were quite a size.
They do look quite anaemic, but that might just be having been without light in the post. Not very big plants are they? Looks like they had lots of orders and then had to re-graft some more in a hurry.
A bit reminiscent of the tiny sweet potato slips that were sent out too late to do much, when they first started doing them.
Sometimes they mention pot or plug size in the advertising but never plant size.
I think I can see a graft join on the middle one, but not on the others? It is not obvious.
Hope they will pick up soon. After all it is what happens at harvest time that matters. Hope they will have been worth the investment. :wave:
Quote from: Digeroo on April 27, 2014, 05:18:34
I looked at grafted pepper plants in my local garden centre they are very expensive. I am also not clear what the benefits are over the cost. Though the plants were quite a size.
I don't have much experience of growing grafted plants but I was really impressed with the grafted Aubergine plant I grew last year, it did produce an amazing amount of fruits and for that I'll be growing one again this year, I guess to give me a better idea if aubergines are worth it.
The general claim for grafted plants is by using the vigorous rootstocks you get much increased crops resulting from the strong and healthy plants they produce. They are meant to crop earlier and go on longer, be more tolerant of disease and feeding imbalance and generally do much better. I think Suttons even say they are suitable for growing inside or out! But as you say they are very costly and I'm dubious they can be worth the cost.
Quote from: galina on April 27, 2014, 06:08:37
They do look quite anaemic, but that might just be having been without light in the post. Not very big plants are they? Looks like they had lots of orders and then had to re-graft some more in a hurry.
A bit reminiscent of the tiny sweet potato slips that were sent out too late to do much, when they first started doing them.
Sometimes they mention pot or plug size in the advertising but never plant size.
I think I can see a graft join on the middle one, but not on the others? It is not obvious.
Hope they will pick up soon. After all it is what happens at harvest time that matters. Hope they will have been worth the investment. :wave:
The join line is currently very minimal on all three, I had to use a magnifying glass to check! I would think this will become more evident as the plants grow. Mmm agreed they used the term 'super plug' which to me denotes something looking a bit more super than they do at present!
It's hard to see that they can be worth the cost, but more and more of the companies are pushing grafted plants. Whether you get more for your money as they say or it's just to line their pockets? But I'm interested enough to have bought the peppers (and an aubergine not yet arrived) and do a sort of 'is it worth it trial?'
I'm glad you are willing to trial them..
I just looked Sutton's catalogue and what they are saying about them...they are promising "up to 75% increased yields" :drunken_smilie:..??
Well..I usually get more than eat from few plants and generally haven't had 'yield problems'...if the plants are happy they will yield.
I've only grown one crop and variety with those long self watering planters..and they did really well with that system..hard to believe craft would have made any difference....having any bigger plants, and they wouldn't fit in GH!
Plenty of photos of further developments please!
Oh...and if any of the rootstocks should want to make growth of their own...feel free to let it grow and set fruit...there might be some seeds for future crafts... :tongue3: I've got some crafting clips ready... :icon_cheers:
I'm getting grafted Jalapeno chillis and have normal Jalapeno seedlings....so will be interested to see how they do. I've also got a normal New Ace Pepper and have got Ace Grafted Peppers coming. Cost is a bit of an ouch....but hoping to overwinter them.
Quote from: Hector on April 27, 2014, 13:30:43
I'm getting grafted Jalapeno chillis and have normal Jalapeno seedlings....so will be interested to see how they do. I've also got a normal New Ace Pepper and have got Ace Grafted Peppers coming. Cost is a bit of an ouch....but hoping to overwinter them.
Look forward to hearing how your plants do :happy7:
Yes cost is a big bit of an ouch.
Progress made in just under a fortnight, the grafted plants have all greened up well and are certainly growing strongly. They are due to be potted on again, a few roots are visible from the bottom of the pot. But as the weather is quite cold here at the moment I'll be keeping them growing on inside for another week or ten days. Chelsea has flower buds forming, Britney too but smaller, Melina is lagging behind a little with none visible.
Picture 1 varieties as above from right to left
Picture 2 Chelsea
Picture 3 Britney
My regular peppers are also growing on well, Romanian Rainbow have lots of big fat buds visible, with a few flowers open. These really look like they are living up to their description as an early pepper.
Palermo F1 is making decent growth and shaping up nicely, a nice amount of buds forming. Both varieties have roots showing at the bottom of their pots although I won't be potting these on again until they are planted out - I hope.
Picture 1, Grafted peppers in front, Romanian Rainbow behind
Picture 2 Grafted peppers in front, Palermo F1 behind
And now it is just waiting game to see what happens..own sown vs. 'posh plants'..
Your own do look good to start with.. :icon_thumleft:
Some great pics there, folks! I'll take some at the weekend :). I got Suttons grafted plants in local garden centre....fairly big, some a bit on the pale side but looking good :)
Also succumbed to two non-grafted Snackbite ones :)
Gardening Which trialled most of the grafts available and the best ones were Aubergines and Cucumbers - the others were hardly different from good ordinary plants.
Since aubergines are a long shot even 200% yield isn't worth the money in my opinion - they will still get spider mite indoors and do very little outdoors in anything less than a 1 in 20yr summer.
I find the red (or striped) turkish aubergine has smooth leaves like a pepper and is almost immune to spider mite - wish they would graft those...
Grafted cucumbers are excellent in a bad year but last year was a good year and there was hardly any difference until September - the grafted ones kept going for an extra month (home grafted on sharkfin melon C. ficifolia).
Cheers.
Hi Goodlife,
It is the usual choice - and no - as it was a good year the ordinary plants were vigorous at first and with my grafting skills it's no surprise I could see no obvious difference apart from major resistance to neck rot right through the season until October. The 1L pots (tiny) of C.ficifolia that I didn't graft were stunted but still alive outdoors in December.
Just a really good insurance policy.
Incidentally I got around my ham-fisted grafting problems by using approach grafts - but still had only 50-60% success.
On the pepper issue I suggest you try growing Capsicum pubescens (manzano, locoto, rocoto) - now is a good time to sow as they are too slow to fruit this year anyway but very reliably overwinter at 3C. You will get massive 1-2m+ plants next year producing loads of early fruit (hot but not very hot in a bad summer) and I intend to try grafting sweet pepper on them this year. NB. They sulk in anything more than 10% shade May-Sep.
Cheers.
I potted the grafted peppers on last week picture left to right Melina, Chelsea and Britney. They are now out in the greenhouse and look to be growing well. no open flowers yet.
My patience has been rewarded and I have got three nice plants reduced to £2 each.
It will be interesting to see how much they produce. They are about foot tall. Reduced from £4.99.
Well done you :icon_cheers:
Just realised they are chillis. Looks like we might have a hot winter. :tongue3:
Lol, what variety?
They are Medina
I've got baby peppers appearing :)
I've been slugged. :BangHead: :BangHead: :BangHead: :BangHead: Every single leaf has been eaten.
Oh no, will they be able to pull through? Medina look like gorgeous chillies.
Quote from: Digeroo on June 01, 2014, 06:06:11
I've been slugged. :BangHead: :BangHead: :BangHead: :BangHead: Every single leaf has been eaten.
Oh no- I hope they get belly ache!
Quote from: Digeroo on June 01, 2014, 06:06:11
I've been slugged. :BangHead: :BangHead: :BangHead: :BangHead: Every single leaf has been eaten.
Did they pull through?
Slugs are a menace this year.