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2021 GLOG

Well I figured it's time to start one of these. Like all good grow logs a good year starts with a clean table and lots of room to work before it falls into the usual mess of dirt and cups.

You can follow our grow here or for a 'to the minute' updates on instagram http://instagram.com/pepper.merchant

Here's to the other growers and to all the plants people ordered!
 
Winter is hanging on as much as it can right now. But the peppers are in full swing, still debating starting a few more if I can.
 
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Meanwhile outside...
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Im seeing a lot more green on my list:
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Yeah. I have to start seeds around january, Atleast At the beginning of february. Summer is short so have to be ready to roll asap.
Usually plants go outside around mid-june and summer is over around end of september. :(
 
Inoks said:
Yeah. I have to start seeds around january, Atleast At the beginning of february. Summer is short so have to be ready to roll asap.
Usually plants go outside around mid-june and summer is over around end of september. :(
 
Oh man that such a short season, you really need to make the most of it. 
 
Ok Grow Update: 
 
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I told myself other seeds would not be going into the ground. I lied to myself again have added 3 more plants of seeds that just arrived.
21,22,23 have been added to the grow.
 
Here is the progress so far. I have used the same 45w grow lights for the last 5 years. Last year early spring I decided to run a volt meter on them and noticed one would pulse and draw massive ammounts of power. Being as they were cheap Amazon lights we moved to a new brand that are full spectrum and they are doing much better, so much so when I compare how far along the plants were in 2020 to 2021 I feel I can start later.
 
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I did some topping today on some fast growers and am working with rooting gel to see if I can use the 'toppped' cuttings as a clone. Not sure if it will work but its worth a shot! My grow bags shipped today and we are expecting rain finally. 
 
 
Pepper Merchant said:
I did some topping today on some fast growers and am working with rooting gel to see if I can use the 'toppped' cuttings as a clone. Not sure if it will work but its worth a shot! My grow bags shipped today and we are expecting rain finally. 
 
 
Cloning is not that difficult, but in my experience, it is not really faster than sowing from seed. There are several post in my GLOG, for instance cloning SB Beth Boyd and Scotch Brain.
 
ahayastani said:
 
Cloning is not that difficult, but in my experience, it is not really faster than sowing from seed. There are several post in my GLOG, for instance cloning SB Beth Boyd and Scotch Brain.
 
Interesting, I had not had much luck with it as of yet. Any suggestions I see online some people just put the stem in water.
The process I have been trying is:
 
-Take cutting and immediately submerge in water
-Wet rockwool and make hole
-Apply rooting gel to the cutting 
-Remove any large leaves 
-Wait
 
I have done lots of cloning, and I agree with Ahayastani.
It's only worth the effort if you have a specific specimen
you want to sustain for some reason. Too time consuming
for general growing IMHO.
 
I have had the best success with placing the cutting in
water until there are some roots extending, about two
weeks. Then put the cutting in the AeroGarden for root
development before transplanting to a larger container.
I sprinkle a little Rootone into the sponge slit before
putting the cutting in. If you want a lot of a particular
plant, cloning is the way to go. Your method should
work fine.
 
PaulG said:
I have done lots of cloning, and I agree with Ahayastani.
It's only worth the effort if you have a specific specimen
you want to sustain for some reason. Too time consuming
for general growing IMHO.
 
I have had the best success with placing the cutting in
water until there are some roots extending, about two
weeks. Then put the cutting in the AeroGarden for root
development before transplanting to a larger container.
I sprinkle a little Rootone into the sponge slit before
putting the cutting in. If you want a lot of a particular
plant, cloning is the way to go. Your method should
work fine.
 
I have tried with two cuttings and maybe my ambient temp is not high enough but they all seem to wilt and die after 1+week I started leaving larger leaves on them as I worried maybe I took too much off. I do have a aerogarden right now I can try out. 
 
Pepper Merchant said:
 
I have tried with two cuttings and maybe my ambient temp is not high enough but they all seem to wilt and die after 1+week I started leaving larger leaves on them as I worried maybe I took too much off. I do have a aerogarden right now I can try out. 
I forgot to mention one thing, the cuttings need to be
taken from tender shoots or branches. It the stem is
too lignified, shave off some  of the bark so the water
gets to the cambium .
 
I have tried growing plants from cuttings by placing them in water and in moist perlite. Both approaches worked, but I prefer water because it is possible to visually follow root development. With perlite, that was a bit complicated... I remove most leaves. Plants must invest energy in maintaining leaves; a large leaf surface can generally only be maintained by an established plant. Where does a rootless plant get all the required water that will be evaporated through large leaves  :confused:  
 
Even though its practical usability might be limited, I'd still advise people to try it out if they have the chance. It's a handy tool to have in your toolbox, and it's better to have the experience ready for when you really need it. 
 
Thanks guys, this is more helpful than what I had read in the past. I will attempt some more cuttings this week as I have a developed plant but no more seeds.
 
ahayastani said:
I have tried growing plants from cuttings by placing them in water and in moist perlite. Both approaches worked, but I prefer water because it is possible to visually follow root development. With perlite, that was a bit complicated... I remove most leaves. Plants must invest energy in maintaining leaves; a large leaf surface can generally only be maintained by an established plant. Where does a rootless plant get all the required water that will be evaporated through large leaves  :confused:  
 
Even though its practical usability might be limited, I'd still advise people to try it out if they have the chance. It's a handy tool to have in your toolbox, and it's better to have the experience ready for when you really need it. 
 
 
PaulG said:
I forgot to mention one thing, the cuttings need to be
taken from tender shoots or branches. It the stem is
too lignified, shave off some  of the bark so the water
gets to the cambium .
 
Ok so I have a large plant that has been touching the lights this last weekend. I figure this is a good chance to get my feet wet in cuttings.
I have snipped off slices that are 1/8th this size, 1/2, and the size below.
 
How much foliage should I leave on these, so I need anything in the water ot just simple every day well water will do?
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Those heavy stems may be problematic.
Might be better to root a bunch of the
smaller branches rather than one big one.
Cut them off close to the tip. Leave 2-4"
of stem. Try to root the tenderest branches.
 
Change the water every 2-3 days. Put
somewhere there isn't a lot of light. Room
light is okay.
 
Yes, cut off the big leaves. Leave only a
couple of small ones. the plant cannot
support the foliage, so cut it off.
 
Good luck with your rooting project. I can
see a half a dozen or so good choices for
rooting in your pic.
 
That looks like it will have a better chance of success.
I would still take off the bigger leaves. Just leave a
couple of small ones on each cutting.
 
I hope your experiment is a success!
 
Quick update. We are finally hitting highs of +14c (57.2f) on occasion here.
Lots of time being dedicated to syrup and not enough to peppers right now, but I am always amazed to find that even after weeks of being out of the dome I still get some germination. The dome is humidity and temp stable (something the plants to do not once I bring them out of the dome) and I still get the odd plant coming up.
 
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Germination after round 3 of placing seeds has been up, updated my list with the proper names of what I am doing. Originally this was just a quick refrence.
Some seeds have 3 of 2 germinated as I did not account for how many additional I added. I did 3 rounds of placing seeds in the starters that did not have high germination.
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Grow bags are on order and we are waiting for the ground to be thawed enough to flatten for the greenhouse. 
 
Hey, PM, how's the rooting experiment going?
 
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