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DocNrock's 2013 Glog - 7/11/13

My 2013 grow officially began 10/14/2012, when seeds hit soil. After seeing Fernando (SocalChilehead) growing in his greenhouse "sanctuary" and KiNGDeNNiZ continuing to start new growth in his AeroGarden, as well as the community HP22B grow thread already being 8 pages, I broke down and started my 2013 grow. I was going to limit it to 50 varieties, but that ended up being 64, 77 including the plants I want to save from 2012. If some varieties don't pop or I end up losing some along the way, I might still be down to 50 (or less!) in no time. The grow list with pop dates is at the bottom of this post.

Since I had plenty of seeds I wanted to try an experiment. Which is better for germination, soil or Rapid Rooters? I have two mini-greenhouses with 36 soil cups each, and one mini-greenhouse with a 72 cell insert loaded with Rapid Rooters. All seeds were soaked overnight in water that had been boiled and cooled and contained a dilution of brewed chamomile tea and H2O2. The Rapid Rooters and soil were both moistened with the same mix. The soil is Sungro Sunshine mix #1 amended lightly with Ancient Forest and worm castings. Wondering if the organisms in the amendments might help break down the seed coat. Each cell contains about five seeds. This will force me to cull the weaklings, as opposed to trying to save them, hahaha! At most I will end up with two seedlings for each variety. If both survive, I can try to gift one of the two. I am thinking that some varieties may germinate better in soil, some better in the Rapid Rooters, and for some it may not make a difference. I read somewhere that kelp solutions are rich in growth hormones. Has anyone added a light kelp solution dilution to their germination setup? I was thinking of adding a couple of drops to each Rapid Rooter cell. Fert-wise, the kelp solutions are very, very weak. I doubt it would do any harm. Has anyone ever tried the kelp? I have not, but might try it later on anything that seems stubborn to sprout.

I am hoping these guys are all budded up come springtime, and ready for an early harvest. Since my indoor space is limited, I am giving serious consideration to building a small greenhouse in the backyard and putting in a couple of space heaters for the night time. I decided against a raised bed, and will probably go with 5 gallon Root Pouches for the larger plants. Some of the annuums and plants I'm as yet unsure of I will grow in 2 gallon pots. If I end up liking them, I can always up-pot them.

Getting organized:

cupsandseeds.jpg


Man, I hope I didn't mix any of these up! 64 cups to keep straight is a far cry from 3. It will be 6 months until I know for sure!:

soaking.jpg


Rapid Rooters:

rapidrooters.jpg


Soil:

soilcells.jpg


Let the waiting game begin!:

germination.jpg


Also, in case anyone is interested, the white plastic labelling tags are available at Discount Hydroponics, $2.95/100! Cheaper than popsickle sticks!

Regarding the plants I already have, I am going to try to start cuttings off most of them in the event the plants don't make it over the winter. I won't need to start those from seed, although there are four varieties (Douglah, Fatalii, Barrackpore and Yellow Bhut) I am starting from seed, as well.

Question: When we start a new grow season, is it typical to just add to one's glog thread, or is it appropriate to start a new thread for the new grow year?

Anyway, happy growing to you all and thanks for looking. I'm hoping all the lessons I learned this year will help me to make this grow much more successful!

GROW LIST: I will try to edit in pop dates for both soil and Rapid Rooters. The Rapid Rooters might get earlier pop dates since I can see the rootlets before hooks form.

Sown seeds (65):

Trinidad Scorpion (AJIJOE) 10/20/12 (RR)
HP22B (Pepper Joe) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/27/12 (soil)
Primo (Primo) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Billy Boy Jonah (Silver_Surfer via Coheed) 10/22/12 (RR)
7 Pot Congo Gigantic (Pepperlover) 10/23/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
7 Pot Barrackpore (Biscgolf) 10/27/12 (RR)
Dorset Naga (Pepperlover - pods) 10/24/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Naga Morich (Biscgolf - pods) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/24/12 (soil)
Bhut Jolokia (JoynersHotPeppers)
Red Rocoto (SocalChilihead) 10/22/12 (RR)
Malawi Peppadew (Refiningfirechiles) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/24/12 (soil)
Trinidad PI281317 (Pepperlover) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/24/12 (soil)
Anaheim (Pepperlover - gift)
7 Pot Chiguanas (Silver Surfer via Coheed) 10/23/12 (RR)
Red Devil's Tongue (Pepperlover - gift) 10/28/12 (RR)
Butch T (Pepperlover - pods) 10/24/12 (RR)
7 Pot Jonah (Pepperlover - pods) 10/27/12 (RR)
7 Pot Burgundy (Silver_Surfer via Coheed) 10/23/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Infinity 10/20/12 (soil), 10/22/12 (RR)
Yellow Moruga (Pepperlover) 10/23/12 (soil), 10/23/12 (RR)
Yellow Brain (Biscgolf) 10/24/12 (RR)
Yellow Bhut Jolokia (Biscgolf) 10/26/12 (soil)
Fatalii (AJIJOE) 10/22/12 (RR),10/28/12 (soil)
7 Pot Yellow (Biscgolf) 10/24/12 (RR)
Peach Bhut (AJIJOE) 10/28/12 (RR)
Beni Highland (AJIJOE) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/22/12 (soil)
Trinidad Morova (Pepperlover) 10/23/12 (soil), 10/28/12 (RR)
7 Pot Orange (Silver_Surfer via Coheed) 10/23/12 (soil), 10/28/12 (RR)
Golden Cayenne (SocalChilehead) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/20/12 (soil)
Yellow Scotch Bonnet (AJIJOE) 10/22/12 (soil), 10/22/12 (RR)
7 Pot Brown (Biscgolf) 10/24/12 (soil)
Douglah (Biscgolf) 10/27/12 (soil)
Black Habanero (Refiningfirechiles) 10/20/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Chocolate Scorpion (KiNGDeNNiZ) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/23/12 (soil)
Douglah x Chocolate Scorpion F4 (Silver_Surfer via Coheed) 10/23/12 (RR), 10/24/12 (soil)
Black Naga (Refiningfirechiles) 10/20/12 (soil)
Pasilla Bajio (Refiningfirechiles) 10/22/12 (soil), 10/27/12 (RR)
Long Chocolate Habanero (AJIJOE) 10/24/12 (RR), 10/24/12 (soil)
Chocolate Habanero (AJIJOE) 10/23/12 (soil), 10/24/12 (RR)
Black Stinger (Refiningfirechiles) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/23/12 (soil)
7 Pot White (Pepperlover) 10/24/12 (RR), 10/27/12 (soil)
Giant White Habanero (AJIJOE) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/23/12 (soil)
White Bullet Habanero (AJIJOE) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
White Devil's Tongue (Silver_Surfer via Coheed) 10/28/12 (RR)
Serrano (Pepper Joe - free) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/19/12 (soil) ***FIRST SOIL***
Jalapeno (Pepper Joe - free) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/20/12 (soil)
Red Bell (store bought pepper) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Andy F1 Gochu (Stickman via SocalChilehead) 10/17/12 (RR) ***TIED, FIRST OVERALL*** 10/23/12 (soil)
Korean Winner Hybrid (Stickman via SocalChilehead) 10/17/12 (RR) ***TIED, FIRST OVERALL***
Pimenta de Neyde (SocalChilehead) 10/28/12 (RR)
Trinidad Scorpion Green (SocalChilehead) 10/19/12 (RR)
Most Prolific C.chacoense (Pepperlover - gift) 10/23/12 (RR)
Royal Black (AJIJOE) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Assam (SocalChilehead) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/22/12 (soil)
Trinidad Scorpion "FG" (AJIJOE) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/24/12 (soil)
Australian Lantern Habanero (AJIJOE) 10/26/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Aji Yellow (AJIJOE) 10/23/12 (RR)
Jamaican Hot Chocolate (KiNGDeNNiZ) 10/22/12 (RR)
Aji Omnicolor (OROZCONLECHE) 10/19/12 (RR)
Not-Trinidad Scorpion (long yellow pod from Arboretum, KiNGDeNNiZ) 10/22/12 (RR)
Mystery Chocolate Mix (Silver_Surfer) 10/23/12 (RR)
Red Congo (AJIJOE) 10/23/12 (RR)
Peach Habanero (AJIJOE) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/22/12 (soil)
Yellow Hablokia (AJIJOE) 10/20/12 (RR), 10/22/12 (soil)
Sown 10/20/12
Yellow Bell (store-bought pepper) 10/23/12 (RR)
Sown 10/28/12
Chocolate Bell (Refiningfirechiles)
Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion (Refiningfirechiles)
Malaysian Goronong (Refiningfirechiles)
Douglah (Refiningfirechiles)
Peter (Refiningfirechiles)
Yellow Bhut (Refiningfirechiles)
Chocolate Bhut (Refiningfirechiles)
Aji Pineapple (Refiningfirechiles)
Aji Dulce 1 (Tradewinds)
Datil (Tradewinds)
Goat's Horn (Tradewinds)
NuMex Big Jim (Tradewinds)
Paprika (Tradewinds)
Brain Strain 7 (PepperRidge)


What I hope to save from my current grow, either whole plants or clones (13):

Carribean Red (local nursery)
Aji Panca (Refiningfirechiles)
Peter Pepper (Refiningfirechiles)
Jamaican Yellow Mushroom (Refiningfirechiles)
Moruga (Refiningfirechiles)
Malaysian Goronong (Refiningfirechiles)
Thai Dragon (North Park Produce)
Chenzo (North Park Produce)
Red Brain Strain (Baker's Peppers - pods)
Chinese 5-color (Orozconleche)
Aji Dulce (Orozconleche)
Datil (Orozconleche)
Bonnie "World's Hottest Hab" (Fatalii?) (Home Depot)

I'm going to do my best to keep one of each alive, but with 77 total, I might be lucky if a few croak!
 
Plants look great looks like a tranplant is in order soon for them. That great news about your plants starting to pod now hopefully they continue through the season the greenhouse will help in case of sudden rain or cold.
Have a Great Thanksgiving as well

Thanks, Fernando. Hopefully gonna move some little guys into the greenhouse tomorrow. Yesterday and today just did not happen.

Sweet looking set up doc!! And nice looking plants. Turkey sound s like it is going to be mighty tasty as well.

Thanks, Trippa, and thanks for stopping in. Turkey is looking smoked at this point. Pics coming later!
 
Looking swish Doc!

Thanks, and thanks for stopping in, Neil. Your grow is looking far more advanced. Awesome first season you are having! I'm thinking the greenhouse is going to really jump start things. We'll see!

So, just about dinnertime. :party:

turkready.jpg


Now that these are off the smoker, I prepped some frozen Bhuts and Brains to go on the smoker. Changing over to mesquite and over the weekend planning on some smoked Ghost Brain sauce.

ghostbrain.jpg
 
The turkey looks awesome Doc, and make sure to give us the details of the ghost-brain sauce once it is made. That sounds hot as hell and pretty tasty too.
 
The turkey looks awesome Doc, and make sure to give us the details of the ghost-brain sauce once it is made. That sounds hot as hell and pretty tasty too.

Thanks Jeff! Still trying to decide on the ingredients, but I've got a few ideas floating around in my head.

Here are the Ghosts and Brains after removing them from the smoker. Looking forward to making this sauce!

smokedghostbrain.jpg


Anyway, off the foodie topic and back to Glog stuff. Three more plants are starting to set pods, all from RFC.

Moruga:

morugapod.jpg


Yellow Bhut:

ybpod-1.jpg


This Peter plant I previously thought was infected by some kind of mottle virus, but I think it was just a sequellae of overfertilization. The mottling has gone away. I'm glad I didn't toss the plant as I had planned. Anyway, Peter pods:

peterpod.jpg


Finally, I had done some cloning attempts. I didn't keep up with the ones in Rapid Rooters, but I had put this one in about a week before that. This is an Aji Panca cutting that I put in soil about a month ago. I used Clonex on the cut stem. The one whole leaf is new growth and you should be able to see the roots through the cup wall.

apclone.jpg


So today, I need to finish the details on my greenhouse, like caulking the panels and running power out to it. After that, time to pot up my seedlings and put them in their new home. Pics to follow, of course.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.
 
Looking good Doc, I tried clonex one time n had no success on cloning a piquin cutting. Will have to give it another try one of these days...
 
Everything is looking great Doc! Wish I would have started a glog when I began around the beginning of October. Just started another container of about 10 different peppers 2 weeks ago.
Your green house is awesome. Trying to warm the wife up to getting one, I figured if I stuff enough plastic bins with lights and plants in the window sill and the bedroom she will give in to get everything out of the house. Happy growing!
 
By all means post pics... Just give us a break and a little warning first so we can get the bibs on before checking them out... :drooling:

Hahaha,Rick! I'm done with foodie pics, for now. You're safe. ;)

Looking good Doc, I tried clonex one time n had no success on cloning a piquin cutting. Will have to give it another try one of these days...

Thanks, Portuge, and thanks for stopping in. Give it another try! This was my first one, so probably beginner's luck. I have to check on the others I tried to clone later today. I think I neglected them for too long, though.

Everything is looking great Doc! Wish I would have started a glog when I began around the beginning of October. Just started another container of about 10 different peppers 2 weeks ago.
Your green house is awesome. Trying to warm the wife up to getting one, I figured if I stuff enough plastic bins with lights and plants in the window sill and the bedroom she will give in to get everything out of the house. Happy growing!

Thanks, Zoomzoomam, and thanks for stopping in. There's no rule saying you can't take pics of what you currently have and start a Glog from there. I always like seeing pics of other people's pepper plants! Looking forward to getting the greenhouse up and running. The structure is done, but yesterday and today I've been doing a few "customizations," like running power to it for the space heater (and possibly a light), weatherstripping the windows, and caulking the panels to seal in heat at night. Once those are done, then I can pot up my seedlings and get them out there. Hope I can get it all done within the next two days, as I have to be back to work on Monday. Great coercive plan with your Wife. If that doesn't work, just start up a bunch of chile plants for "house plants!" ;)
 
screw the grow i want some of that BIRD!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just had some leftover bird. Tasty! I was starving. Had breakfast about 8 this morning, then worked straight through until about 5:30, when the job was finished.

done1.jpg


done2.jpg


First "note to self," I need to lengthen the chains holding up the lights to get them closer to the plants.

ghlights.jpg


The lights are on a timer so that they come on about 4 pm and go off at 9 pm, so the seedlings get a bit more light than our currently short days. I also have a thermostat-controlled space heater to come on when it gets below 55 F. The lights are sealed units designed for outdoor use, but the heater is not, so its on a GFCI plug.

timerngfci.jpg


heater.jpg






I noticed that it gets really hot in the greenhouse in the early part of the day. It was only 70F outside, but was 91 inside the greenhouse, so I decided to put some shade cloth over the top that still allows the top windows to open.

shadecloth.jpg


It seemed to help. When the oudoor temps went up another five degrees, the greenhouse actually cooled by four degrees.

thermodisplay.jpg


Greenhouse temperature sensor:

thermosensor.jpg


This is a good stopping place for a natural break in the photos. I have seven more, which obviously will bring me over 10...unless I get a BUMP.... :party:
 
Looks like you were being busy today.
Keep the picts a coming.

Thanks for stopping in and thanks for the bump, GA. BTW, I haven't forgotten. I have three packages to send out this coming week, your's is one of them.

To conserve space and to at least minimize root circling, I needed square-like pots. Found these window planters at the 99 cents only store for...99 cents each! Got 25 of them. With some cardboard dividers to keep the roots separate, these will be good for 75 seedlings!

threeperpot.jpg


Some of these got up-potted just in time. Root balls on an annuum and a chinense:

rootball.jpg


chinenseroots.jpg


When these were under the lights in the closet, some of the taller plants obscured my vision of some of the smaller ones. Three of the cells were bone-dry...and had dead seedlings. One had a duplicate, but the other two were both Infinities. Guess I'm not growing out Infinity this year. ;) No worries, I have quite a few other varieties that are not too different.

oops.jpg


Here's a shot for Stickman...a couple of Gochu varieties from his seed stock via Fernando (SocalChilehead):

gochus.jpg


For SocalChilehead, Pimente de Neyde grown from seed I harvested from pods he sent me:

PdN.jpg


And my contribution to the HP22B Community Glog (alongside a Primo):

primonhp22b.jpg


That's it for now. Vacation time is over... *sigh*...back to work and the real world tomorrow.

Hope everyone is well.

Brent
 
It all looks amazing as usual, Bent. I especially like the shots of the greenhouse, and I envy the amount of room it gives you to grow out your plants. It never occurred to me that they would get too hot, but I guess the temp swings with the cool nights would cause some serious damage to seedlings.
 
Hi Doc
Sorry about the Infinities... at least the rest of your babies look happy in their new greenhouse home. Hope you like the Koreans, they're vigorous growers and should produce well for you. They take about 80 days to ripen, and the heat doesn't really kick in until then. Cheers!
 
Great setup with the cardboard. We have the equivalent of 99 cent store here but its called the 100 yen store. Will definitely be using your method with the cardboard. My last plants I grew them in the exact same pots and when transplant time came I just cut the squares through with the shovel and surely severed some intertwined roots. Thanks for the tip!
 
I like your attention to detail with your temps and lighting ... should make for a great foundation for your grow in the future. Best of luck !!
 
It all looks amazing as usual, Brent. I especially like the shots of the greenhouse, and I envy the amount of room it gives you to grow out your plants. It never occurred to me that they would get too hot, but I guess the temp swings with the cool nights would cause some serious damage to seedlings.

Thanks, Stefan. The greenhouse most certainly has allowed me to start seeds much earlier, but I'm surprised at how quickly it filled up! There are about 150 seedlings in there, but only (!) 90 of them I want to keep around to become plants. Our climate definitely has wide temp swings in the winter. We don't get as cold as you do up there, but the delta between datime high and night-time low can be over 50 degrees. My hope with the greenhouse is to protect from frost while dampening those temp swings somewhat. I too was surprised at how warm it got inside, over 20 degrees above ambient. Fortunately, the shade cloth was a relatively inexpensive and easy fix.

Hi Doc
Sorry about the Infinities... at least the rest of your babies look happy in their new greenhouse home. Hope you like the Koreans, they're vigorous growers and should produce well for you. They take about 80 days to ripen, and the heat doesn't really kick in until then. Cheers!

Thanks Rick. No worries about the Infinities. They got planted because I had seeds and they seemed like they might be interesting. I have so many supers that I think they will not be missed. I have more seed if I decide I still want to grow them out. I'm just glad it wasn't one of the other superhot varieties that I really want to grow out, like the Moruga, Brain, or Primo. I'll be honest, I know little about the Koreans. As you probably surmised from the labels, I have the Korean Winner Hybrid and the Andy F1 Gochu. I know exactly zero about their flavor profile, only that you love them. Can you tell me a bit about them? I have gathered they have heat, but not at the level of a super. Are they sweet, tart, bitter? Any flavor notes like citrus or berry? From your Glog, I gather they are used in Kim-Chi, is that correct? Any other Korean dishes that use them? I wanted to grow them to round out the overall flavor, heat, and aesthetic profile of my grow. Thanks for stopping in.

Great setup with the cardboard. We have the equivalent of 99 cent store here but its called the 100 yen store. Will definitely be using your method with the cardboard. My last plants I grew them in the exact same pots and when transplant time came I just cut the squares through with the shovel and surely severed some intertwined roots. Thanks for the tip!

100 yen store? That's awesome! Glad something I came up with could help. Given the biodegradability of cardboard, I'm hoping the roots don't just grow right through it. This is my first time trying this, so we will see. Thanks for stopping in.

I like your attention to detail with your temps and lighting ... should make for a great foundation for your grow in the future. Best of luck !!

Thanks Trippa. It seems to me that temps and lighting are as fundamental as watering and nutes when it comes to plants. They are alive, and living beings depend upon optimal temperatures to make their enzymatic processes work. And since they photosynthesize, obviously lighting is their primary source of energy. I think all four of these things, as well as protection from the food chain (ie, pests!), will form the foundation for a strong grow. We will see. I'm just flying by the seat of my pants guided by what I've read on THP and my own knowledge from years of study in biological sciences. Plants and humans are clearly different, but at the biochemical level there are marked similarities. And while the specific processes are different between humans and plants, there are many conserved physiological principles. Thanks for stopping in.
 
Your set up looks great! The greenhouse makes a big difference in what you can do in a year. I'll be trying to take cuttings too in the near future, It seems like a under utilized technique in the pepper community.
 
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