• Blog your pepper progress. The first image in your first post will be used to represent your Glog.

Thebats 2012 glog

So this year I wanted to grow some peppers after being bored at work and browsing the internet. I found out that the ghost chili isn't the hottest pepper in the world anymore. That got me interested in what was and all sorts of other things. Then I found this website and am constantly on it reading. Because of this my girlfriend says I have problems because of how much I'm on here. So that's a bit of a backstory on how I got started on this. :)

So for my first grow I'll be growing

yellow bumpy
australian lanterns
white habs

provided by muskymojo:
trinidad scorps red
chocolate habs
7 pot barrackpore
7 pot yellow
7 pot douglah
7 pot brain strain
fatalii
bhut jolokia indian carbon

Hoping to have a good grow from this for my first year! :)
I'll be ordering some more seeds that aren't c chinense soon to start a little later.

Lets start with my light
20120205233542.jpg

I picked this up at menards with 2 sets of lights, 2, 5000K bulbs and 2 6500K bulbs.
The fixture is a 4' T8 25-40W supporting fixture but my bulbs are 32W.

Then I have my 72 cell tray with a dome and heating mat
0202122211-00.jpg

I have 2 different thermometers and a new one in the mail. I have a long tube one that sits on top of the tray and one that goes down into the soil to measure the temp closer to the water/heat mat.

I filled my trays with Jiffy seed starting mix
20120205233442.jpg


Then added water to the bottom and placed it on the heat mat for 2 days to soak up water and get a good regular temp idea.
20120205233428.jpg


I soaked my seeds for 8+ hours today to prepare to transfer to the soil.
0205121441-00.jpg


After I got all my seeds planted and covered in soil with all the excess water drained from the bottom of the tray I put the dome on. I was able to achieve ~90F with a blanket over the top of the dome ally haveat the soil and air temp. Without any covering I usually get ~80F at the water and ~78F air temp. I'm hoping with partial covering that isn't too heavy I can have 80-85F air and soil temp.
20120205233357.jpg

(Planted 2/5/12)

If I can't maintain a good air temp I'll have to break out my heat lamp to raise it 2 or 3 degrees.
0205122323-00.jpg


I bought a 48"x25' roll of mylar for when the seeds sprout.
I am currently in the process of making mylar reflective shields for my light fixture and a mylar tent that will cover everything. Maybe this will help raise the temp if I can't keep it high enough. If I get hot spots in the tent for some reason or another I have a spare computer fan I can wire up and put in the tent to circulate air. It can also be used to "harden" up the plants before I transfer them outside.

Sorry for the cell phone pics bit I don't have a very good camera (I do have a decent video camera though so I may make my glog video based and have 1-2 min updates every so often)
 
I got my grow light hung up today.
0208121552-00.jpg

Holding the chains together and the light up are these little guys
0208121553-00.jpg

One side goes up and around a support for an air vent and then the magnets are holding the chain to it
20120208211841.jpg

This is how I hold the chain to the light. Note the use of magnets.
20120208211916.jpg
 
I just got a new phone with an 8mp camera so that means better quality pictures. Yay! :) I just soldered up a computer fan with a switch to a 6ft usb cable that i might use to circulate the air in the grow tent I'll be making. I'll have a video of it up soon and hopefully some pics of my tent when it gets made.
 
Woo sprouts! Its late tonight. Was out with some friends and the girlfriend so I didn't have time during the day to set up my peppers. I have 3 sprouts now with their leaves up craving some light. I bought the cheap-o florescent fixture from menards for $8. It didn't come with any light reflectors so I decided to make my own! Also kinda figured it would work as a mini "grow hut" for the time being as to help keep the air warmer than my cold basement air.
Here you can see the odd construction of my mylar reflective shield
IMAG0031.jpg

I used good ol' elmer's glue to glue the mylar down and cut the excess off of the sides after I applied a bit of pressure to adhere the mylar a bit better.
And here is the reflective grow tunnel!
IMAG0035.jpg

I'll be making a grow box later on with foam core board and mylar to fit larger plants before they are planted in the yard.
The picture lies, the tunnel is 4 ft long because the fixture is, you guess it, 4 ft long! I have a foam core board cap at the end and am gonna add a heat lamp on the open side with a fan to help keep it warmer.
 
Added a bit more to my set up
Got my ac to usb power adaptor
I hooked it up to a comp fan to blow cold air over everything to help keep the heat from rising too much
IMAG0048.jpg


Another photo of it
IMAG0050.jpg


Then my heat lamp on my sprouts with a thermometer
IMAG0051.jpg
 
Quite the setup you got here. I especially like the pepper decoration. I'll be following with interest.
 
So some of my sprouts are having some yellowing around the edges and curling downwards. I haven't given them any nutes yet and they're about 5-6" from my light.

IMAG0075.jpg


IMAG0074.jpg


IMAG0073.jpg


Any help?
 
I would give them a very light feeding, and make sure to only water when needed. Your starter mix looks wet in the pics. It shouldn't be like that all the time, only just after you have watered. They should green right up.
 
I only water cells when the soil looks light brown and airy/dry. Some cells stay dryer longer than other while some dry out a bit faster. So lighten up a bit on watering and they should green up? How much ferts should I give them and what type? Alaskan fish ferts good enough for these lil guys?


I need to get more pics up. I have 15 cells in my tray that have sprouted and need to be taken out while I have little cups (probably 4 or so cups) with 3-7 seeds in each one that have sprouted and need planting. I'm growing almost all the random seeds from peppermania that I received while I'm also sprouting my other seeds soon. I got the seed that should be a manzano to sprout and am very excited for it!

Also old growing medium from mushrooms makes for good soil additives, correct? I've read about people buying organic mushroom compost/soil to put in their gardens.
 
It's really hard to judge watering by how the surface of your soil looks. I bottom water, and the surface of my soil always looks completely dry, even 5 minutes after I water. The best way to tell (at least for me) is judging by the weight of the trays. When they are almost as light as brand new mix straight out of the bag (which is very light), that is when I water. I hear you about some cells drying up faster than others. I usually have a couple plants around the edges just starting to droop when I water them all.

Alaska fish fert is great. I would mix 1/4 TBS per gallon of water every other watering for now, and see how they respond. Maybe add a pinch of epsom salts too.

I'm not sure about the mushroom stuff. I've heard mushroom compost is good, but I wouldn't add it until later on. The whole key to growing chiles is doing as little as possible to keep your plants happy, whether it be feeding or watering. Just don't let them get so dry that they shrivel up and die.
 
I would suggest do one thing at a time. It's easy to get consumed and throw a bunch of things at it. I agree with Musky... Let them dry out and see. What kind of water? What is your Ph? I check my PH everytime I water.
 
Ok, I'll try watering them less first and if there is no response I'll give em a little food. Its just regular tap water too, shouldn't make a difference right?


I'm not gonna be adding that till later on for sure but I may go get some since I've heard its pretty good.
 
Also, I've been top watering all the cells I remove so wouldn't that also run some of the nutes in the soil out? I'll start to try bottom watering though.
 
Also, I've been top watering all the cells I remove so wouldn't that also run some of the nutes in the soil out? I'll start to try bottom watering though.

Yes, but I don't think there are any nutes in Jiffy seed starting mix. Also, top watering tends to compact the soil, which means less oxygen for the roots. I would try a light feeding next time you water. Using and un-cut plug tray to hold your individual cells makes bottom watering easy.
 
Sounds like you're getting things under control, bat!
Getting things dialed in is tough at first, but once you
get some seedlings transplanted things mellow out a
teeny bit.
 
Could be a nute issue...or nute lockout due to too much nutes. If they're still in seed starting mix they definitely need some food. They still look pretty damp. You may have just watered them??? I water by weight. I don't water them until they are pretty light. To get an idea what they weigh when dry you could fill a cell with dry mix and compare the weight of that to your plants and see the difference. You could also use a food scale if you have one. I bought a cheap meter to read ph from hd that included a light and moisture meter as well. Makes it easy to double check how wet they are at the middle and bottom of the containers with the probe. Hope you figure it out!
Shane
 
Back
Top