Stetto's First Winter Grow ('16-'17)

PaulG · Dec 13, 2016

stettoman said:
These, yes. 48 hours in a H2O2 bath. Your F5s in a chamomile bath for the same amount of time. They haven't germinated yet. These were started quite a bit earlier than the F5s too.

I've had the helmet issues before, nature always seems to persevere. Used to get this with tomatoes too, smaller seed, bigger headache.

Don't be afraid to try to germinate all those Aji seeds I sent to max out your
chances of success - there will be lots more fresh ones next year! Yeah,
nature usually seems to know best!

stettoman · Dec 13, 2016

So far everything is coming out of the ground in a better than expected manner. I'm really surprised, I've never been able to germinate amarillos before, and it's hard to explain the sudden success.

It's -10 here this morning, and the first moruga scorpion is finally showing itself.

Paul, if I germinated all those seeds I'd be a wreck. My maternal instinct would have me gutting the whole house for grow space!!

...and no, I can't spell worth a schidt

stettoman · Dec 13, 2016

Oh, and thanks again Paul! A little water was all those plants needed to remove their hats....

Devv · Dec 14, 2016

I saw those helmet heads and knew they would shed. If you can see the split in the first leaves, like those, you're good.

stettoman · Dec 19, 2016

Can't tell me these capsicums aren't hardy! 29 below just outside the window and we be thrivin'!!

the Amarillos

And my T Moruga Scorp plants, which I nervously over-planted...Never again...

There is cold air filtering through the glass on these cheap crank-out windows, but the lights and heating pad are enough to keep the plants comfortable, if not happy.

I'm working on my grow area downstairs, I do believe that the chill may be slowing growth a bit, but the plants all look healthy...I really need to have my grow room done for the aji lemon drop Throwdown though...I may garden by the seat of my pants, but these pants have been through a lot of garden.... :dance:

Devv · Dec 19, 2016

You sound like me, flying by the seat of my pants

Been doing it for close to 60 years, it's served me well so far :rolleyes:

Once those babies are over 4"s tall, there will be no stopping them! Keep on trucking!

PaulG · Dec 20, 2016

stettoman said:
Paul, if I germinated all those seeds I'd be a wreck. My maternal instinct would have me gutting the whole house for grow space!!

I was posting that as a strategy to make sure you actually had some germinate - not sure
about the viability since my seed-drying on the F5s went sort of wacky. Next year, I will
be more careful about saving my seeds. How are they coming along?

stettoman · Dec 20, 2016

So far, better than expected. Your F5 (yeah, frugal me has plenty left) seeds seem to be about 50% right now, but remember I'm sowing now as an experiment to see if I can sustain productive growth over winter. The main planting will be in another month or so, if I get them to the outdoors stage I'll be Amarillo filthy!!

My problem is being in zone 3; no self-respecting aji Amarillo is going to give me less than 4 months to harvest. I need to be smarter than the seed....The potted ones will obviously come in before frost, but anything I have in the eighth acre will be at the mercy of what little global warming we can muster... :hot:

I won't be ashamed to take some advice from others in my predicament growing the slower pods. I've grown anaheims every year for the last 15+ years, and though I've gotten some massive harvests, I get less than 1% of those anaheims ripe enough to get seed from. So planting earlier inside and bringing some in later in the season will be the order of the day for me. I did grow 4 aji lemon drop plants a number of years ago and they ripened up just fine outside, though it was nip & tuck with the frost.

What I have going for me is the insane desire to succeed with these and chiliheads at sites like this one unafraid to urge me on... :party:

Devv · Dec 21, 2016

You're on the right track. The early start is a good thing for sure. I'm in South Tejas and my 2017 grow is just popping. The goal for me is to have the plants in the dirt when they're ready to set pods.

Watch out for the yellow snow where the Huskies go

Brocoli · Dec 21, 2016

I have no experience in this scenario but if it were me, I would do as Devv says, plant out, but then remove all flowers, and then let them reset with a fresh outdoor set of flowers. Basically do all vegetative growth indoors, flower/pod up outside. In my own inexperienced opinion.

Devv said:
You're on the right track. The early start is a good thing for sure. I'm in South Tejas and my 2017 grow is just popping. The goal for me is to have the plants in the dirt when they're ready to set pods.

Watch out for the yellow snow where the Huskies go

Happy Birthday Frank Zappa, RIP.

stettoman · Dec 24, 2016

Well, a happy Xmas Eve to who sees this, the chaos of the day is a few hours off, so I thought I'd update...

I don't know how prudent this move might be, but I'm seeing no adverse reaction in the last 24 hours--I replaced the pair of Phillips 32 watt, 1300 Lumen grow bulbs with these Hyperikon 18 watt 5000K LED tubes. Obviously not red/blue growlight tubes, don't feel shy to let me know if the flourescents are the better bet. Once the grow room is done an LED grow-specific lighting setup will take the place of this. Should be no more than a few weeks.

I assume that pretty much everyone here is more experienced than I am with the tropical pepper varieties, but even I know a "mutant". This is from one of PaulG's F5 aji Amarillo seeds. It's growing, more slowly than the rest, and it may not make it, but it shows no sign of surrender. I'd put it out of it's misery if I thought it was miserable...For all I know this little guy will outproduce the rest...

It's all 5-by-5 in stettogrowland for now, just hoping the lighting change will have no adverse effect.

JoynersHotPeppers · Dec 24, 2016

Looks like a tomato plant

stettoman · Dec 25, 2016

Yeah, it has the serration, doesn't it?

OK, time for the Christmas portrait. My hands are coated in a reaper paste residue, so to keep my fingers out of my eyes (or scratching my____) I'm posting and typing and such. This is just progress so far, though I'm wondering a bit at the Trinidad Moruga Scorp seedlings to the right side. Is it insufficient lighting making the true leave-lettes so much lighter than the cotyledons?

PaulG · Dec 25, 2016

stettoman said:
I assume that pretty much everyone here is more experienced than I am with the tropical pepper varieties, but even I know a "mutant". This is from one of PaulG's F5 aji Amarillo seeds. It's growing, more slowly than the rest, and it may not make it, but it shows no sign of surrender. I'd put it out of it's misery if I thought it was miserable...For all I know this little guy will outproduce the rest...

It's all 5-by-5 in stettogrowland for now, just hoping the lighting change will have no adverse effect.

If that's not the only F5 that sprouted, I'd pull it in case it has a virus or bacterial issue.

If it's the only one, then keep it, but don't let the foliage touch other plants
when they get large and room gets tight on the grow shelf.

Merry Christmas!

Geonerd · Dec 25, 2016

Good looking plants.
If you're going to separate these guys you're going to want to do it soon, before their roots get hopelessly tangled.

Devv · Dec 25, 2016

Geonerd said:
Good looking plants.
If you're going to separate these guys, you're going to want to do it soon, before their roots get hopelessly tangled.

Well said

stettoman · Dec 26, 2016

Geonerd said:
Good looking plants.
If you're going to separate these guys you're going to want to do it soon, before their roots get hopelessly tangled.

I'm giving serious thought to that now. I have no experience in separation technology, but there are only 2 cups with twins.

stettoman · Dec 26, 2016

OK, we'll call this

THE SEEDLING SEPARATION POST

I decided that if I was going to attempt this there was no better time to do it than now...Soooo...

First, to have places for the separated twins to live after the operation and prepping for surgery:

I originally planted these in peat pods, which may have been a blessing.

Got nervous immediately once I started removing the mesh from the pod. the stems began getting rubbery almost instantly, though what little root sticking through seemed to slip out easily without breaking:

Slowly and meticulously I knocked the peat loose, and the more I removed the more knotted up this pair looked to be. I started to consider this a waste of time and a loss of two nice aji Amarillo seedlings.

Then it dawned on me to run tap water through the root "ball" and hope that natural separation would occur.

It did:

Replanting was something I HAD done before and often, though not with such younglings.
Replant #1, taken immediately:

Replant #2, taken immediately:

And less than 5 minutes later, shock.

I may never do this again, it will depend on what these two decide to do, live or die. I have a feeling that I should have used lukewarm or at least a room temperature water to separate roots, what came out of the tap was around 50 degrees (F).

I did nothing to intentionally kill these guys, anyone with input to assist in future attempts (if there ever ARE future attempts), please feel free to comment. It's early, they may snap back before the end of the day, and yes, I know they may slow/stop growth for a week or more if they survive me....

...that is all...

stettoman · Dec 26, 2016

Hokey Smokes, Bullwinkle! It never ceases to amaze me the tenacity of living things to survive...

Just 3.5 hours later...

Geonerd · Dec 26, 2016

Give 'em an extra dose of water for the next day or two and they should be OK.
Needless to say, the sooner you split twins, the better.
Or, just leave them conjoined and put them in a bigger pot. They'll do fine.