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Darkgreen's first chili plant glog - 2015

Good day and welcome to my glog 2015 :)
 
This is my first official chili plant grow log. I've decided to keep this log because i think it will be mutually beneficial to compare experience and knowledge on the subject of chili growing. It is a hobby i've had since summer 2008. I've grown a number of different chili's with different traits, from habanero's to fluorescent purple's. My method has always been a simple windowsill garden at a sunny window. I've tried different kinds of soil mixes and fertilizers but never really conducted any experiments to compare one fertilizer from another. This grow log is not going to differ in that aspect, however, i'm going to try cross breeding for the first time. Not to try and beat the heat, but just for the fun of it. Ultimately i hope to breed some fertile funky phenotypes with, and perhaps with time stabilize and refine certain strains - but that's somewhere in the future. If i succeed, this glog marks the beginning of that endavour =)
 
 
Varieties
  • Carolina Reaper
  • Pimenta De Neyde
  • Pink Tiger
  • Czechoslovakian Black
  • Habanero Dulce
 
Equipment list
Germination
  • Glass of tap water
Sprouting
Soil mixes
  • Peat based none-fertalized soil mix for sprouting
  • Peat based fertalized soil mix for growing
  • Vermiculite
  • Perlite
  • Leca nuts
Additives
  • SuperThrive
  • GHE pH-down
Fertilizers
  • GHE Micro (Hard water)  NPK = 5 0 1
  • GHE Bloom                     NPK =  0 5 4
  • GHE Ripen                      NPK = 0 6 5
Additional tools
Light Source
  • The sun
 
Comments:
The combi moisture/temperature/pH-meter is a cheap thing from eBay that i'm yet to recieve. I dont expect it to be precise, but i can compare it with some standard pH indicator strips, and do hope its at least indicative for something. The Caliber III Hygrometer doesnt look like much, but it's by far the most precise hygrometer i've ever had. It reacts rapidly: just by touching it, or blowing on it, the rH and T changes. Highly recommendable. They are rather expensive, but you can find them on ebay or aliexpress at a discount. I havn't tried SuperThrive before, but recently I've sadly seen some experiments with SuperThrive actually showing that it doesn't work any miracles. However, money it spent, so i might aswell add a bit of it. Regarding the choise of fertilizer: i do have some GT Chili Focus, but i like that i'm able to fine tune the NPK value by using the GHE products. I plan on starting very mildly with 3:1 or 2:1 ratio of GHE Micro and GHE Bloom to help foliar growth. At one point i'll switch to a 1:1 ratio (NPK = 5 5 5), and in the end use something heavy on the P and K side, to increase flowering and fruit development. I've chosen GHE simply because i have it in the house. I do however contemtplate using GHE BioThrive instead, because it is organic. It comes as a two part series also enabling fine-tuning.
 
I recently moved to a new place, and i've now got a 4m wide windowsill facing towards the sun. Just outside that, i got a balcony 5m wide, on which i plan to have a small greenhouse towards one of the ends. It has been a couple of very nice sunny days, and i happened to measure the light intensity in my windowsill at 80-90000 lux, which is rather intense. I might have to find some white curtains to shield the plants on the sunny days, but lets see how they handle it =).
 
Lastly i have a small comment on my sprouts. One of the Carolina Reapers happen to have three cotylodon leafs. I'll keep an extra eye on that one, and see if it also develops three sets of true leafs :)
 
If anyone have any suggestions, comments or questions, please feel free to write. Cheers.
 
KUi8Zvi.jpg

 
Darkgreen said:
 
Lastly i have a small comment on my sprouts. One of the Carolina Reapers happen to have three cotylodon leafs. I'll keep an extra eye on that one, and see if it also develops three sets of true leafs :)
 
One of my sprouts from some mixed seeds from last year's harvest has three as well.  Moved it to a cup today.  It shall be interesting.
 
:welcome:
 
Are you setting out to make a purple or black reaper?
 
Also, I find imgur to be a fairly quick and effective free image hosting site... never tried using microsoft...
 
Also, you can have your images appear on the page by pasting the direct link into tags...
 
[IMG]https://ulumja.bl3301.livefilestore.com/y2m3ac-WSI1VIgDDjXJ-v9kKvdciqCrIBioWGDy0RoJ9yDii8xMT_dD0oHMS607LSf7Yo5EaCyaQJgUSx4PN59UMgFQJcfLqM4A6uHfuzePAxdzJ68JpPpSuoxEIoI3bxo5p05II5JUOqNfEpIe1puzwQ/20150315_221523.jpg?psid=1
 
 
Also, I find imgur to be a fairly quick and effective free image hosting site... never tried using microsoft...
 
Also, you can have your images appear on the page by pasting the direct link into tags...
[/QUOTE] 
I used to use ImageShack but it didn't want to upload my pictures, so i shared them directly from OneDrive cloud service. I'll look into imgur. :)
 
I Tried using the "image" icon, posting my picture links inthere, but they didn't display. Think i'll just get me an Imgur account. Or maybe try some more with the [img] tags.

Thanks
 
 
[QUOTE]
 
 
[COLOR=rgb(0,0,0)]Are you setting out to make a purple or black reaper?[/COLOR][/QUOTE] 
 
You ruined the surprice! :-p
 
 
But the Dulce Hab isn't black or purple, is that just a favorite from previous years?
I actually choose the seeds before i got the idea of cross-breeding. Previously i choose the Czech. Black and Hab. Dulce for taste (Snack peppers for food), the Pimenta and Pink Tiger for aesthetics, and the Carolina Reaper for fun. Then i came to think of the cross-breeding and was subsequently determined to use the black and purple ones for cross-breeding. Had i thought of that before, i'd perhaps also have choosen to include some white chili's aswell.
Update, 16/3 2015
 
The GHE BioThrive series including BioThrive Grow, BioThrive Bloom and BioRoot Plus is now ordered.
 
Because organic.
 
So the new fertilizer plan looks like this:
 
Fertilizer
GHE BioThrive Grow  ( 3 1 6 )
GHE BioThrive Bloom ( 2 3 4 )
GHE BioRoot plus
SuperThrive
 
I'm quite keen on the idea of getting a good microbial environment for the plant roots. Something these nutes should accomplish. I'll start using the BioRoot plus right away, i think..
 
 
 
Good success to you!  I must say that's some crazy looking potting soil!  What is it?
 
Its a layer of vermiculite on top of some standard commercial potting mix without fertilizer. It retains water from evaporating.
 
Welcome, and good luck.  It looks like you have things well in hand.
 
I've had many seedlings with three cotyledons.  They always seem pretty normal once they develop true leaves.  It would be cool if they would carry on the tripling through the whole life cycle.
 
FWIW, I use http://tinypic.com/for image hosting.  It's free and doesn't even require you to establish an account.  Just be sure to keep the image code recorded somewhere or you'll never find your images again.  Images I uploaded two years ago are still showing up in my 2013 glog.
 
Hey Guys
 
I'm trying to decide on the final container size. Since it's a windowsill i cant have them grow into giants, but i dont want to restrict them too much either. The sill is quite wide, and i can always train the chili's to grow wider in one direction. It's more of a weight concern - dont know how much the sill can take. 
 
So i'm contemtplating 5.7L (1.5 gal) or 11L (2.9 gal)
 
What do you use?
 
Cheers :)
 
If weight is the concern, you should probably discuss that with the building owner.  I have successfully harvested peppers from plants grown in #1 nursery pots, which are only around 3L.  On the other hand, plants in #3 nursery pot did much better and those are very close to 11L.  Up to a point, I think most people would agree, the bigger the better. 
 
Update, 17-3 2015
 
Sun: 34700-37100 lux (Semi sunny)
rH:   48-55%
Temp: 26-28 degC
 
First dosage of GHE BioRoot Plus( ~1ml)  and SuperThrive (~0.5ml) disolved in 500mL water. First true leaves starting to appear. Pink Tiger's seem to do best atm.
 
Got two overwintering plants. Savina Habanero and Black Knight. A couple of days ago i repotted and cut them down quite significantly. One of them was scrawny and the other was a mess with dead twigs here and there. It seems they are doing fine, and new leafs are emerging. Blossoms aswell, but i pinch them as soon as i'm able to, to keep them in the vegetative state.
 
true leafs:
F7GZ7xm.jpg

 
Black Knight chili
eQaNYub.jpg

 
Red Savina Habanero
a2ez0UY.jpg

 
The seedlings
NgRfQ4z.jpg

 
And thats the Hygrometer i was recommending ;)
 
Update 20/3 2015
 
Began watering with a very dilute mixture of fertilized water. 10 ml BioRoot Plus, 0.5ml BioThrive Grow, 0.5ml BioThrive grow, 1ml SuperThrive dissolved in 2L water. This suspension was then diluted 1:2 with water again.
 
Added a little supplementary lighting. Had a "supposedly 54W" e27 led lying around consisting of white leds and a couple of blue ones.
 
2 of my 4 carolina reapers seem to be mutants. One of them had three cotyledons as mentioned. The other one had some slightly malformed ones. I thought they were perhaps damaged by escaping the seed shell, but i can see the forthcoming true leaf has the same signature shape. Do you guys know if its a mutation, or if it's a virus? Perhaps some kind of mosaic virus?
 
Here are pictures of them:
Virus?
9s74t3.jpg

 
 
Three cod's
30wkn5t.jpg

 
 
Reapers and Pimente's
14lhde1.jpg

 
 
Cheers.
 
Three cotys are fairly common.  The plants will grow normally once the true leaves kick in.  I wouldn't give up on the deformed one just yet.  I've had similar situations and the plants usually grow out of it.  If it starts looking sickly otherwise, though, kill it with fire.
 
Update 24/3
 
Went full on and watered with a fertilized solution according to the brand's chart. They seemed to take it quite well, but i'll probably go back to half strength a while again. Less is more when it comes to fertilizer. Sometimes...at least.
 
I was recommended to try and use endo mycorrhizae when i get to transplanting the babies. I was recommended this brand: TNC mycorrEndo
The reason why its not a colony of both endo and ecto mycorrhizae, is that ecto mycorrhizae is not at all capable of forming any symbiosis with plants such as chili's. Rather they actually prevent the endo mycorrhizae to establish a colony.
 
I came upon an article where they actually determined that endo mycorrhizae is only symbiotic in nature when the P value of the soil is below 25ppm. At a P value of 25ppm the roots stop benefitting from the colony and at ppm above 30 the relation was rather parasitic in nature. What i gather from this is - that in order for the mycelium to actually work for your plant roots, you have to be very careful with fertilizing.
 
In either case, i have 2-4 of every strain, and i'll probably use the MycorrEndo on half of them at first, to see if the roots benefit from it. I'm not growing soilless, so i won't be able to display roots before they start emerging on the perimeter of the pots and through the drain holes. But i will at that time.
 
Secondly i'm so very close to ordering some other light bulb for my plants. One that in fact is so strong that i'd be able to grow perhaps 4 plants all season by this artificial light alone, and thereby accellerate stabilization of possible hybrid strains a great deal.
 
A small picture of the babies. 
6gek21.jpg

 
 
I know it's not the best picture, but my phone's battery went dry. I'll post more when it gets more interesting :)
 
Thanks for following the thread, and happy growing. cheers =)
 
:welcome:   to the grow log forum, Martin!
 
Your OW plants look great; they should make great
bushes this season.  I'm with Sawyer, don't worry
about the deformities unless they tank.  Chilis can
grow out of some pretty weird stuff.
 
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