For seedlings you could go to 8". Once they get 3-4 sets of leaves you can go down to 4-6". The past 2 years I pretty much stayed at the 4-5" range and had good results.

Thanks again!

What lights do you have? If you go full spectrum now they'll last you the rest of your life more than likely.

This is what I have, bought two of them.

Grow Lights

They are 24w, not 20. My seeds just got here from Pepper Joe! Picking up my trays tomorrow.

wow that's a nice station

2' long, it otta work. I wanted a bigger/fancier one, but trying to keep it cheap right now.

I've got it all planned out, how many of each in the trays. Starting 13 kinds of peppers, and 6 kinds of tomato's. 144 plants LOL.

I wish I wouldn't have given all of my containers away.

solo cups work good for starters, I use the clear ones. I have a wood tool where you can make cups with newspaper for starting seed that you can plant directly in the garden. If your looking for containers hit up the nurserys in your area they usually have surplus.

Cool!

I'll do that.

What exactly are you looking for? I have a ton gardening stuff I've accumulated/inherited over the years.

and hit the feed stores for tubs

I'll be growing the peppers in med/large containers and 5 gallon buckets. I grew some big productive pepper plants before in containers, just had to fertilize them regularly (I used Miracle Grow in the soil and Epson's Salt in water to spray the foliage, alternating).

I never had any luck growing tomatoes in buckets, so this year if I don't put them in the ground they're gonna be in tubs or I'll build a few raised beds. Just can't spend a lot of money on all that right now.

I've also been watching videos on growing onions & garlic in large containers. May give that a shot too.

Raised beds would be the best here, screened in too. I had a vegetable garden & tomato garden in the ground, and the critters around here freakin' killed me. What the deer didn't eat, the birds, squirrels & coons did, and then the pocket gophers found my tomato plants and ate all of the roots off. Oh yeh, and then there were the tomato worms.

When I grew gardens here before, it was really tuff finding spots where there was enough sun for a garden. My whole property was solid Live Oaks with Lodge Pole Pines mixed in, too much shade. I hated to do it but I finally had to cut down some trees for more sunlight. Well, after the hurricane sunlight's not a problem anymore! LOL. Have plenty now and chingos of fire wood.

You can grow anywhere if you put your mind to it, I grew a cherry tomato plant in one of those large miracle grow potting soil bags one year just to experiment.

zombie apocalypse test run

put a bunch of marigolds in your beds/garden they'll help with the pests

do you like asparagus?

Yes Sir, love it!

I've been told that it's too hot down here to grow it though. Heard the roots need to freeze/go dormant during the Winter. Don't know if there's any truth to that or not...

they take 3-4 years to get established and they improve tomatoes ( I always put a basil seed next to the root for taste) so if you make a bed of them near where you grow tomatoes you have a companion set for year to come. Asparagus is really productive if you maintain them.

Interesting, I'll have to read up on that. Never heard of asparagus or basil improving tomatoes. I do love me some fresh basil.

I could go on and on about companion planting. Using flowers for pest control and enrichment but battle bots is on....

When researching just type whatever your looking up and look for their companions and nemesis.

It requires very little effort to improve your garden and is better for your plants.

Gotcha. I went to a companion planting class one weekend years back, and that's what I did in my vegetable & tomato gardens. Companion or (3 Sisters) gardening, the way the Indians used to do it and all by hand. Corn with snap beans growing up the stalk & squash for cover. All of the Marigolds and others for natural bug defense. Beneficial bugs etc....I need to freshen up on it. The deer is what killed my vegetable garden. I used a ton of coyote piss granules and all sorts of things but did no good. Deer found my garden right when everything was producing and looking real good. In one night, they ate everything. Leaves and all. All that work for nothing LOL.

Need to hot wire your garden, they killed me last year. I'm thinking hot wire on 6' t post this year.

That's a nice light stand! That a T5 6400k fluorescent blub. You're golden at the 4" range. The ends will put off a little heat but no biggie. If you'll run a fan on them to disperse the end heat and help harden off the stems you're good to go. My fan is like 6" diameter and a few feet away on low just blowing a little wind on them. Helps stiffen their stems to get ready for the strong southern spring winds.

10-4, may have to do just that! I have a pile of brand new hot wire stuff in my garage that I was about to use when I had my pig dogs. NIB charger, wire, isolators, ground rods etc....Need to break it out. Just need T-posts.

Thanks for that advice! Will do that.