My first sprouts!

[LGHT]

My first sprouts! pics attached

Well I thought I would take a couple of pics of my first ever pepper sprouts. I ordered 12 different varieties of peppers and put 2 in each cell of the jiffy heated greenhouse. I ran into a few problems and would appreciate any feedback.

I didn't expect that many to hatch so now I'm overwhelmed with peppers as most cells had 2 and only 4 cells didn't sprout at all. Since I didn't plan for that many to hatch I decided to go ahead and just place some of them together in 1 2" pot instead of trying to split them up. Will this cause a problem as they get bigger??

I noticed a few of them are long and leggy because they sat for 3-4 days in the greenhouse while I get supplies to transplant them so I buried them a little deeper and after sprouting I took them outside to get some cooler air and expose them to direct sun. Will this help the long ones and is there anything else I can do to make the stalks thicker?

I was also unable to find ANY 2700k Power Compaq lights for the aquarium fixtures I already own and the only lights I was able to find where 10,000K so I decided to pick up a bunch of small 40 watt 2700k lights instead. Each light has 345 lumans and I have a lot of plants so not sure how many I should setup? I was thinking about buying a piece of wood and just putting a whole every 3-4 inches and putting 1 light in the whole to make a light bar however I'm not sure how many I need to setup or should I not bother and just go ahead and look into getting 1 400 watt HID instead?

Here are a few pics of the sprouts and a pick of the peppers I ordered online.

All the sprouts in their new pots

2 containers of about 45 pots each

A close up of some the long ones that are sharing a pot

12 plants that I got online in their own grow box

 

[imaguitargod]

Aww...a proud parent of baby peppers. Looking good.

 

[Diablo]

Looking good man.

"A close up of some the long ones that are sharing a pot"

I might be mistaken, and I'm not very experienced with peppers, but in that picture those sprouts seem to be experiencing "stretch". This is usually from insufficient lighting or being too far away from your light source.

I'm not sure though, that's just my fist thought. Looks like you're off to a good start though.

 

[LGHT]

Looking good man.

"A close up of some the long ones that are sharing a pot"

I might be mistaken, and I'm not very experienced with peppers, but in that picture those sprouts seem to be experiencing "stretch". This is usually from insufficient lighting or being too far away from your light source.

I agree. I read that it would take up to 4-6 weeks for the peppers to germinate so I put them in the greenhouse asap to get a head start and within a few days a few had already sprouted and less than a week almost all of them had 2 leaves. The problem was it was in the middle of the week and I didn't have soil, pots, lights setup and waiting for them so they sat in the green house for 3-4 days under small house lights. They where actually taller, but the tall ones got buried deeper in the soil in an effort to keep them strong.

 

[gotpeppers]

bury those up to there necks so they get strong.

 

[LGHT]

bury those up to there necks so they get strong.

Are you serious? I burried them about 1" deeper than the rest, but should I dig them up again and burry them even lower? I read here that they should be burried deep, but I didn't know if it was ok to go that deep or not.

 

[SnakeDoc]

nice sprouts. are those seedlings in a closed off jiffy heated greenhouse? i recommend some type of ventilation. i lost 2/3 of my seedlings because of dampening off. also check your water's pH somehow.

tips to avoid dampening off:

have some form of ventilation
boil crushed garlic, strain it, and use it to water your plants after its cooled
sprinkle some cinnamon around your seedlings
lower the pH of your water to 6.5

 

[LGHT]

nice sprouts. are those seedlings in a closed off jiffy heated greenhouse? i recommend some type of ventilation. i lost 2/3 of my seedlings because of dampening off. also check your water's pH somehow.

I actually left them in the jiffy house about 3-4 extra days because I wasn't ready to transplant them. Since then I have moved them to 3" pots and have upgraded my lights and have a small fan slightly blowing on them to provide good ventilation and to harden them up a bit. As far as water I use the water from one of my planted tanks that already gets ferts specific to the EI dosing method and also has c02 injection system so the PH of the water is around 6.3. Hopefully the extra attention will help them grow stronger.

 

[TXCG]

What kind of 40w light only puts out 350 lumens? 42W cfls put out 2800 lumens (at least the 2700k warm white ones do, 6500k is like 2200 lumens)

 

[TXCG]

Oh and check out www.htgsupply.com absolutely amazing prices on HPS lights that's where I got mine. Think you can get bare bones with batwing reflector for ~$140 shipped. I got the upgraded bulb and cool tube reflector and it was about 230 to my door

 

[QuadShotz]

Congrats!

They do seem pretty leggy..light needs to be closer.

Oh, and tad BIG pix...aieeee!

Some of use still run 1024x768 rez

 

[LGHT]

What kind of 40w light only puts out 350 lumens? 42W

These where some very small candelabra lights about the size of my pinky and would allow me to string a punch of them up in a small place, but I didn't get them after all because I didn't want to spend hours wiring them up. Right now the lights I'm using are not bright enough and probably the reason why the sprouts are so long. I'm considering getting the 42w CFL that you mentioned as I found a place that sells them for $5.00 each and they are rated at 3,000 lumens so I figure if I got 6 I would be good to go.

Oh and check out www.htgsupply.com absolutely amazing prices on HPS lights that's where I got mine. Think you can get bare bones with batwing reflector for ~$140 shipped. I got the upgraded bulb and cool tube reflector and it was about 230 to my door

Can you give me more info on the setup you got. I tried to find it on the website, but it's practically useless the way they have it setup.

Hopefully once I get a much better light setup they will start growing thick and not just long.

 

[TXCG]

If you go here
http://htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=47929

You can customize the base 400w hps system with what you want. I got the cooltube 6" reflector and one of the upgraded bulbs don't remember which. If you don't have an enclosed space you probably don't need the cool tube but it is my favorite style of air cooled reflector. I cool mine with a crappy cheap round wal-mart fan taped to some 6" flex duct attached to the reflector and it keeps the glass cool enough to touch. You can see my setup in my grow log. But yeah by far cheapest prices on HID lighting even with shipping. With no extras I believe it's about $140 shipped. Cool tube was +$70(good price for that) and upgraded bulb was like $10 I think.

 

[PepperLover]

good job

 

[LGHT]

If you go here
http://htgsupply.com/viewproduct.asp?productID=47929
But yeah by far cheapest prices on HID lighting even with shipping. With no extras I believe it's about $140 shipped. Cool tube was +$70(good price for that) and upgraded bulb was like $10 I think.

Thanks for the link that is a good deal. What do you think about getting used equipment? There is a place not far from me that sells confiscated equipment from the police. Since i'm in California the amount of ballast and grow equipment is HUGE. They sell a ton of stuff all the time. Most prices are around very cheap, but everything is sold as is and not tested. I figure I can get both a 400 w ballast and hood for around $50 and just buy a new bulb. What do you think about that idea? I even found a 400 watt switchable ballast available. Since I won't pay shipping is it worth the cost and just get used stuff for around $50.00?

 

[TXCG]

Thanks for the link that is a good deal. What do you think about getting used equipment? There is a place not far from me that sells confiscated equipment from the police. Since i'm in California the amount of ballast and grow equipment is HUGE. They sell a ton of stuff all the time. Most prices are around very cheap, but everything is sold as is and not tested. I figure I can get both a 400 w ballast and hood for around $50 and just buy a new bulb. What do you think about that idea? I even found a 400 watt switchable ballast available. Since I won't pay shipping is it worth the cost and just get used stuff for around $50.00?

Do it you lucky bastard! Sounds like a hell of a deal to me. Even if you had to buy 2 to get 1 working one, you'd still be out less than the cost of one new one.

 

[Blister]

Do it you lucky bastard! Sounds like a hell of a deal to me. Even if you had to buy 2 to get 1 working one, you'd still be out less than the cost of one new one.

That's what I was just thinking... Lucky sob. The prices in the link you posted don't seem too bad either. I was under the impression that they were considerably more. With all the money I've spent on the floro setup I have, I would probably only had to lay out a little extra cash for an actual grow light setup. Oh well, live and learn. Maybe on the next setup down the road.

 

[Pepperfreak]

Looking great! You should be proud. Also, burring them deeper won;t hurt anything. You can bury them almost right up to the first true leaves and everything in the soil will grow new roots.

 

[LGHT]

With all the money I've spent on the floro setup I have, I would probably only had to lay out a little extra cash for an actual grow light setup.

Well that's what I'm trying to avoid spending more than I have to. I'll go ahead and try and get a used MH/HPS setup since the prices are dirt cheap and I can just pick them up to avoid huge shipping cost. I noticed they had a grow box thing for sale also Some type of 3' container with a light on the top that's suppose to keep the plants humid? It seems like it has mirrors on the inside to reflect light also. Here is a pic.

Is that something I should consider getting also? It's probably going to be around $30 or so for the whole thing.

You can bury them almost right up to the first true leaves and everything in the soil will grow new roots.

Will do. I noticed that the shorter ones are getting leaves also.

 

[Josh]

Thanks for the link that is a good deal. What do you think about getting used equipment? There is a place not far from me that sells confiscated equipment from the police. Since i'm in California the amount of ballast and grow equipment is HUGE. They sell a ton of stuff all the time. Most prices are around very cheap, but everything is sold as is and not tested. I figure I can get both a 400 w ballast and hood for around $50 and just buy a new bulb. What do you think about that idea? I even found a 400 watt switchable ballast available. Since I won't pay shipping is it worth the cost and just get used stuff for around $50.00?

Where is this place? I have a friend that lives out in CA. I am wondering if I can get her to pick me up one and ship it to me. I know you said that they do not test the equipment, but can you test it on the spot yourself? Even if you had to bring your own bulb it would be nice atleast to plug it in.