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Ignite's 2015 Superhot Grow

Introduction:
 
Now that things have finally slowed down for a few weeks it's time for me to get my 2015 grow log going.  We had a great year in 2014 and spent a lot of time over the winter upgrading our indoor space and searching out some of the rarest superhots being grown today.  We're growing almost 90 varieties this year but I'm only planning on posting about the superhots and other rare strains here.  I'll probably post random shots of the others here and there, but the main focus of this GLOG is the supers.
 
We grow select types inside in our indoor "lab".  We usually reserve the best of the best for that area and a few months ago I started a GLOG that focused on those plants.  I didn't have time to keep things updated but I'm going to kill that old thread and focus both indoor and outdoor plants in this thread.
 
Enough with the long talking, here's what everyone wants to see...the list.
 
Grow List:
 
-  Borg 9
-  Chocolate Borg 9
-  Bleeding Borg 9
-  Red Lava
-  Yellow Lava
-  Bubblegum 7
-  Chocolate Bubblegum 7
-  Carolina Reaper
-  Yellow Brainstrain
-  Red Brainstrain
-  7 Pot Katie
-  7 Pot Lucy
-  7 Pot Wes
-  7 Pot Primo
-  7 Pot Primo Yellow
-  7 Pot 007
-  7 Pot 007 Orange
-  Bad Brains
-  Chocolate Brazillian Ghost
-  Red Brazillian Ghost
-  Caramel Bhut Jolokia
-  Chocolate Bhut Jolokia
-  Big Bang Naga Chocolate
-  Morugalah
-  Moruga UV
-  CP115
-  Jay's Peach Scorpion
-  Jay's Red Scorpion
-  MA Wartryx
 
Here are the interesting non-supers that I'll be adding into the GLOG as well:
 
-  Ice Scream Scorpion
-  Bubblegum 7 x Yellow Jalapeno
 
Progress:
 
Our indoor hydro plants were started the last weekend in October and have really started to their stride.  We have bleeding Borg 9s, Chocolate BBG7, Red Lava, and Yellow Lava plants currently producing fruit with some that will to start to ripen in the coming weeks.
 
Group Shot
hydroGroupShot.jpg

 
Chocolate BBG7
chocoBBG7.jpg

 
Bleeding Borg 9
BleedingBorg9.jpg

 
 
We started seeds the second week of January and started seeing hooks within a few days.  We ended up with really good germination rates and had around 200 seedlings before we knew it.  A few weeks later we're up to almost 500 superhot plants that are simply thriving under our CMH lights.  
 
We use grow tents early in the year to help contain heat and to provide a nice micro-climate for the young plants to survive in.  Each tent holds about 200 plants in P86D 3.5" pots.  
 
seedlingShot.jpg

 
seedlings_Group2.jpg

 
Blockbuster.jpg

 
Since it seems to be one of the hottest types out there right now, here's a shot of a young chocolate Borg 9.  These came from true pheno seeds and are not like the non-true bleeding type.  Those are standard red Borg 9 plants surrounding it.
 
Borg9_Small.jpg

 
Here is one of the most unique crosses that we're growing this year.  The Bubblegum 7 x Yellow Jalapeno.  These plants are growing twice as fast anything else that we have and this one is special because it's taking on more traits from the Bubblegum 7.  The other 9 plants we have like this are showing typical Jalapeno traits.  We're going to keep a really close eye on this one.
 
BBG7_Cross.jpg

 
I'll snap some more pictures tonight and I'll keep this thing flowing with updates.  We have a few surprises up our sleeves as well, so stay tuned.
 
If anyone wants to just see the pics or quick updates and currently use Instagram, check us out on Instagram @thepeppergeek.  We're on Twitter @thepeppergeek.  We're on Facebook as well, just search for ThePepperGeek.  I'm not going to post direct links and if anyone has a problem with me mentioning our social network handles just let me know.
 
Thanks!
 
Everything over there looking great!both plants and pods.That DOUGLAH x CH.BUTCH T. THAT POD LOOKS OUTTA THIS WORLD!!!!!SERIOUSLY WANT SOME OF THOSE...
 
Thanks for all of the kind words. The late nights from feeding and singing to the plants is worth it when someone else appreciates it. :)

We had some really bad storms come through this afternoon and a few of the plants have some minor hail damage as a result. It's nothing major though, just a few torn leaves and some dropped flowers. I gave them some of our light compost tea to ease the stress a little.

The Douglah x Chocolate Butch T is a Chris Phillips creation. The plants are showing alot of variations right now but only one is producing those really gnarly types. I'll take some pictures tomorrow to illustrate the variations.

As long as the weather doesn't pound us for a few days straight we should have fresh peppers ready to ship in the next two weeks. I hope you guys are ready for some peppers.

Thanks,
Stephen
 
I tried to create video tonight and just wasn't happy with the quality my Note 3 was giving me, so I guess I'm going to go pick up a go pro this weekend and see if it works better.  Video updates should be easier and will allow me to show more of the plants and pods than a few pictures here and there.  
 
We've been getting alot of rain over the past few days but the plants don't seem to be too phased at this point.  I learned from a few mistakes last year and upped my perlite content in order to keep things draining well during those summer days when we get inches of rain out of the blue.  Most of the peppers have finally started turning colors and it's exciting to see them change and develop.  I've finally got the nutrient mix really dialed in and the feeding systems setup which is good because I'll be able to devote my time to picking instead of feeding.
 
This one isn't a superhot, but it's a very interesting Wes Lane cross between a yellow jalapeno and a bubblegum 7.
20150612_174234.jpg

 
7 Pot Katie starting to turn red
20150612_174305.jpg

 
Moruga UV
20150612_174452.jpg

 
20150612_174528.jpg

 
Yet another gnarly Chocolate Borg 9
 
20150612_174730.jpg


I meant to post these in my last reply, but here's a little "root porn" for the guys that are into that kind of stuff.  These plants are in our custom made undercurrent system running chilled 65F water that is highly aerated and maintained.  Each bucket is 8 gallons and we have to prune the roots once a week to keep them from growing down the 2 inch PVC pipe that pulls the water through the system.  Plants are in 6 inch pots with hydroton and are less than 2 months old from seed.
 
FB_IMG_1434163188217.jpg

 
FB_IMG_1434163195154.jpg

 
 
mpicante said:
stephen as always very nice pics.Very interesting grow tecniques.
 
Thanks!  Undercurrent systems aren't anything new in terms of the design, it's basically just a RDWC system but instead of pumping water into each bucket or relying on pressure to equalize the buckets, you pull water through the system.  This creates a natural flow in the system and helps to oxygenate the water while ensuring that fresh nutrients are available.  We couldn't run ours without chillers because of the SC temps, but I wouldn't recommend running any type of RDWC or DWC system where water temps are going to be 72F+ for extended periods of time.
 
Thanks again,
Stephen
 
You want to cut the runners first and then remove some of the remaining long roots. You never want to remove more than 20% at any given time. By pruning the runners and longer sections it will encourage nice white fibrous roots to grow in bunches. Current Culture actually has a blog post about it if you would like aome light reading.
 
It's been one of the hottest weeks I can ever remember, and it's only mid June!  Since Saturday we've yet to have a day under 100F with the heat index.  We've been watering the potted plants almost daily to keep them happy and I've been checking on them mostly at night when it's bearable to go outside.  I hope we get a little break in the weather soon.
 
The good news is that the plants have really started turning colors and almost all of the plants have peppers that should be ready any day now.  We've been picking a few here and there and should have plenty ready very soon.  We may have ended up with a Troy Primo BRM (Big Red Mama) to go along with our BBM and it's producing the gnarliest pods I've ever seen.
 
Hydroponic BBM:
BBM_Ripe.jpg

 
Douglah x Chocolate Butch T Scorpion:  I posted an errant pic of these earlier, more on that later
 
Douglah_Cross.jpg

 
Red Borg 9:
 
Ripe_Borg9.jpg

 
Ripe BRM:  I first thought these were the Douglah cross mentioned above, but my tags were mixed up.  I blame my wife :)
 
Ripe_BRM.jpg

 
Ripening 7 Pot Katie:
 
Ripe_Katie.jpg

 
007 Orange:
 
007_Orange.jpg

 
Thanks for looking!  Stay tuned for updates.
 
Stephen any chance of an update of your superhots especially the Borg and Chocolate Borg growing both varieties have heard that there is a lot of untrue seed in circulation and I would like to use your photographs as a benchmark

Superb 007 perfect lobes could it have been crossed with a Bonnet
 
Trident chilli said:
Stephen any chance of an update of your superhots especially the Borg and Chocolate Borg growing both varieties have heard that there is a lot of untrue seed in circulation and I would like to use your photographs as a benchmark

Superb 007 perfect lobes could it have been crossed with a Bonnet
 
Sure.  We've been incredibly busy shipping out fresh peppers and I haven't had the time needed to keep this thing up to date.  

There are alot of Borg 9 types floating out there right now, and you need to understand why.  The Borg 9 was released without the creator's, Jon Harper, permission by someone who did a video review for him.  The seeds that were shared were from a F2 pod.  The "bleeding" pheno that most people are growing is from the pod reverting back to its Bubblegum 7 roots.  The others that you see floating out there are probably crosses or variations from the original F2 seed that came from open pollinated stock.  The correct version has no calyx, no bleeding stem, and is very bumpy and gnarly.
 
The chocolate Borg 9 was discovered by Chris Saunders while growing out true Borg 9 seeds from Jon.  It has a slightly different shape but has a brutal heat.  We're waiting on our chocolate pods to finish ripening up, but I have some great pics to show you.
 
Correct Borg 9 Pheno:
Red_Borg_9.jpg

 
Here's one of ours.  It's very close to what we need to see.  The pic above was from F3 pods. Ours is currently F4 so some pod variation is normal.

ripeTrueBorg.jpg

 
True Chocolate Borg 9:

choco_Borg_9.jpg
 
Stephen phenominal pods thank you very much for posting these pictures ... judging by the British Chilli Forum there must be less than a handful of us growing these varieties hopefully with true seed ... I will post a picture when my Chocolate tiddler puts on some weight

Thank you again
 
Trident chilli said:
Stephen phenominal pods thank you very much for posting these pictures ... judging by the British Chilli Forum there must be less than a handful of us growing these varieties hopefully with true seed ... I will post a picture when my Chocolate tiddler puts on some weight

Thank you again
 
That would be correct.  I can count on one hand the number of people I know that have true seeds from the UK.  There's a lot of stuff floating out there, but very few are true Borg 9.  We only released a small amount of the red this year and will not be releasing any chocolate pods.  We will not be offering seeds for either type as well.  It's too rare and deserves time to stabilize.  The yellow bubblegum 7 is the only other pepper that we won't be releasing anymore of this year.
 
Thanks,
Stephen
 
My god! Your pods look fantastic, Stephen! You've got some of the gnarliest pods I've ever seen. That BRM is something else. Very wicked! And I love the chocolate Borg 9. Incredible! I might have to look into getting those for next season. I always look forward to your updates. Keep up the good work!
-Adam
 
Everything looks great man. Glad I got two of the yellow BBG7 pods. Seems like I made it just under the wire. If you do end up with another one or two I'd love to buy em (in a mixed box of course) but if not it's all good. Just got done trying a few slivers of one and gotta say I absolutely love it. Just glad I was lucky enough to get what I did. Shame about the Choc Borg. Would've loved to try one of those bad boys but completely understand wanting to keep it under wraps for now. Keep up the awesome grow.
 
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