Peppahs!

Well, here it is, the world premier of a Stephani Freitag blog post. Emily's weeks of nagging finally paid off. From here on out, we are attempting to make one small post daily between the three of us. Wish us luck! It's easy to get lost in the farm.

The lovely Piedad, seeding away in the greenhouse.

Whipstone takes great pride in it's pepper production, due in most part to Cory's adoration of the spicy fruit. It was almost two weeks ago now that Emily, Piedad and I had a pepper seeding extravaganza in which we began the life of over 10,000 pepper plants. Some like it hot, and peppers are no exception. Last year, we wrapped the seed trays up for extra warmth. This year, however, we were able to make good use of our new, fancy, water-heated propagation tables.


These tables have small (1/2 inch in diameter) PVC piping running underneath a big piece of sheet metal. Heated water runs throughout the pipes and circles back to be reheated and used again. The hot water in the pipes heats the sheet metal and we place the seeded trays on top of the metal. We are able to set the water to whatever temperature we desire. This allows us to heat just the water and not the entire greenhouse, saving on gas usage (score!). A project for next year is to install solar water heaters;
no more gas for the greenhouse and less greenhouse gases!

Piping that runs under the sheet metal.

Reflective, insulated tents.

To beef 'em up even more, we built tents made of a reflective insulation in which we cover the tables at night (when sunlight is no longer available). This aids in decreasing heat loss. Bottom line: perfect new beginning for a little pepper plant. Just a few short days after seeding, with a dash of sunshine and a sprinkle of water, it's cotyledon city.

DEFINED: 

cot·y·le·don

  [kot-l-eed-n]

noun Botany .

Kind of boring, I know. I can just see the image from my BIO101 textbook in my head. The little leaves that live within in the seed and pop out of the coat at germination. The idea put me to sleep when lectured in school, but is actually pretty incredible to witness in the real world. It's a beautiful thing to look down 2 30-foot tables, and see them completely filled with little bitty pepper plants.

Corny biology textbook drawing.

Cotyledons with seed coat still attached.

Peppahs!

Pepper germination looks great this year, thanks in most part to our wonderfully efficient propagation tables. I can't wait until we get them in the ground in May so I can be eating delicious fresh guerritos come August. Yum.