BeagleStorm vs 2011 - My Chile Grow Log

Beaglestorm · Jan 10, 2011

Finally got all the supplies I need to start my seeds today. (AJ look for a big box to be sent your way Tues or Wed) I have room for 66 plants in the ground and about 40 pots. So I am starting 3 trays of 72 or 216 seeds. I am hoping for at least a 50% germination rate, although if it should end up at something like 80% or more with beginners luck….. I am going to have a lot more plants than I need. (Which I agree is a good problem to have. LOL) Using a 48” Hydofarm heat mat, Hoffmans seed starting mix and some extra deep 72 cell plug trays under a 4’ 8 tube T5 Grow light. Seeds will get planted Wednesday night, I have too much work right now to do it tonight or Tuesday. Here is the grow list:

TRAY #1 Salsa Hots
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6 x Avenir
6 x Bahamas Goat Pepper
4 x CGN 21500
2 x CGN 21566
4 x Cheiro Recife
6 x Habalokia - Chocolate F3
6 x Habalokia - Peach
6 x Habalokia - White
4 x Habanero - CGN 22207
4 x Habanero - Martinique
6 x Jamaican Hot Chocolate
4 x Murupi - Red
4 x Scotch Bonnet - Chocolate
4 x Scotch Bonnet - Papa Joe's Market
6 x Scotch Bonnet - TFM

TRAY #2 SuperHots A
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4 x 7 Pot - Barrackpore
9 x 7 Pot - Brown
9 x 7 Pot - Chocolate
4 x 7 Pot - Evergreen
6 x 7 Pot - Orange
4 x 7 Pot - Primo
6 x 7 Pot - Savannah
6 x 7 Pot - Yellow
5 x AISPES Pimenta Tiger
6 x Douglah
3 x Fatali - Red EK
4 x Morouga - Long
3 x Rocoto - Costa Rican Red
3 x Rocoto - San Isidro

TRAY #3 SuperHots B
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5 x AISPES Trinidad Scorpion - Chocolate
5 x AISPES Trinidad Scorpion - Chocolate var.2
5 x AISPES Trinidad Scorpion - Morouga Yellow
4 x Morouga - Red
6 x Scorpalokia - Peach
6 x Scorpanero - Chocolate
6 x Scorpanero - Red
9 x Trinidad Scorpion
9 x Trinidad Scorpion - Butch T
9 x Trinidad Scorpion - Morouga
8 x Trinidad Scorpion - Sunrise

lancecook · Jan 10, 2011

Beaglestorm said:
Ok first up is some photos of my over wintered plants. Scorpion, Naga Morich, Chocolate Bhut, and 2 x Harold St. Barts. More of an experiment... I have never tried to over winter plants before. Did not super prune the plants or the root balls. I just left them in their pots out in the semi-cold during early November and most of the leaves started falling off. Then I did a minimal prune to remove any remaining leaves and to clean them up a bit. Gave them a cup of water each and threw them in my parent’s garage. I gave them a second cup of water last weekend. They seem to be doing great. One plant had what seemed to be a few Aphids so I sprayed it with Organocide but they have been bug free for the last month. I want to keep them in pots, so I think I will need to transplant them into fresh soil and maybe bigger pots this spring. Just not sure how I am going to do it or what process I am going to use. I do know that I am going to keep them at my parents so they do not pass any nasty critters to my seedlings before spring comes. Any recommendations?

its looks like ure doing a great job there. there looking good i dont think they will need to be repotted but ill have a search for more info for u

lazienfat · Jan 10, 2011

I dont believe they need to be repotted after the firsst over winter. Of course I have never over wintered a plant so I do not know for sure. Good luck look forward to your 2011 season.

Josh · Jan 10, 2011

I am growing the CGN 21500 this season as well. By any chance did you do a test video on this variety?

NorTexChiliJs · Jan 10, 2011

Nice list Beaglestorm. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress. I will be starting my growlog shortly. Good to see some Texas Growlogs!!

Beaglestorm · Jan 10, 2011

Josh said:
I am growing the CGN 21500 this season as well. By any chance did you do a test video on this variety?

I have not tried it yet. (Trying 31 new varieties this season) but after seeing pictures of the 21500 on a russian site that does not seem to be available any more.... I was hooked and had to try it. If I remember correctly they said they have a strong habanero flavor which does not sound very good to me.. But worth a try seeing as how beautiful they grow. Going to take lots of pictures of this one. Maybe Chris can comment on the flavor.. I think he told me he had already grown it even though I could not find any pictures of it on his grow log.

Josh · Jan 10, 2011

I bought mine from here.. You have to scroll down a bit. Does it look the same?

Beaglestorm · Jan 10, 2011

Josh said:
I bought mine from here.. You have to scroll down a bit. Does it look the same?

I got mine from semillas also. The pictures on the Russian site were similar but were smoother .. looked like a blushing plum or huge cherry. Colors were similar but the photos were high resolution and really made them look amazing. I will keep checking to see if the site comes back up... it is the first site that comes up when you Google "CGN 21500"

Beaglestorm · Jan 15, 2011

Ok so still no seeds planted. They start tomorrow night. Been working on the other details. Started to build a rack out of angle iron, but ended up just buying a muscle rack (48x24x72) for 69 bucks at lowes. Using half of it on a table it works great to support my light and I will be able to wrap it with mylar (ok survival blankets) very easily. Placed a 3" piece of foam on the bottom to insulate the 48" heat Mat on the bottom. Then got 3 rubbermade containers that are just big enough to hold my plug trays. Plan to leave them covered but not sealed. More pictures later today. Wish I could update more.. doing this from my phone.. internet still not in at my new house.

Beaglestorm · Jan 16, 2011

Wow 216 seeds with 42 varieties take a long time to sow. Then add never having done it before and 2 kids waking up to come see why your up late. LOL Got in bed at 4 AM... started about 11. Stilll lots of fun though... note to self.. next year better planning. OK so based on AJ's advice I started with an 18L bag of Hoffmans seed stating mix. Dumped it all in a tub and slowly started adding water to get it hydrated. Long story short, I used 1 gallon of warm water to hydrate the 18L of mix. I think it could have held more but It was what I decided at the time felt good with out risking making it too wet. Here is my set up for the hydration.

Then I filled my 3 - 72 plug trays with the most soil and placed 2 of them in their tubs on the heating mat to start warming while I start the sowing. Sowing took so long the other trays warmed up to 86 while the plug I had just finished was at 69. Started thinking it would be hard to stabilize the temperature in 3 independent Tubs if they are different temps at the start and you are only using 1 temperature probe. Decided to let them all cool down equally and finish then put them oh the heating pad together.

NorTexChiliJs · Jan 17, 2011

Heck ya that is alot of planting. Last year I used Jiffy brand seed starting mix. It is WAAAAAY harder to get wet than hoffman's. But Hoffman's is still time consuming. Looking Great!! Can't wait to see them babies uncover their blanket of dirt. I like the setup. How many watts does that heating pad use??

naganumbness · Jan 17, 2011

holy crap mike! that an assload of varieties! from what i see , your doing everything right. i'm gonna have to get some goat peppers off you this year! those things are so good. i drop seed this coming week. i think i have about half of the varieties you have though focused mainly on all the new superhots with the exception of jimmy nardellos'. i'll sendyou some of those. they are awsome! 20 plants from last season in my room but the damn things will not stay dormant. my room looks like the brazillian rain forest! i sleep on the couch! did you try the red 7pods i sent? just curious to know what you thought. if your overwintered plants get bugs again just use neem oil. that'll fix em! take care!

Silver_Surfer · Jan 17, 2011

Nice setup and variety. Makes my seed planting finger itchy.

Best of luck this season.

logchief · Jan 17, 2011

Looks good MIke, you were very industrious. That's a whole lot of plants. :dance:

I planted seeds for my first time yesterday (much smaller scale, 30) and also used Hoffman's on AJ's advice. Did a 6:1 water ratio to wet the mix, hope that was good enough, it felt right, however that supposed to feel.

Beaglestorm · Jan 17, 2011

Josh,

Finally found a working link to the great photos of the CGN 21500. Shows how cool these pods can look.

CGN 21500 Photos

Beaglestorm · Jan 17, 2011

lancecook said:
its looks like ure doing a great job there. there looking good i dont think they will need to be repotted but ill have a search for more info for u

Thanks lancecook, I was not real happy with their growth last year, Only the chocolate bhut and naga produced well. Going to get some ProMix BX for this years potted plants. Will do a minimal root prune in late Feb and put them in new soil.

lazienfat said:
I don't believe they need to be repotted after the first over winter. Of course I have never over wintered a plant so I do not know for sure. Good luck look forward to your 2011 season.

Thank Laz... since they are test subjects I think I may only repot half and see what happens.

NorTexChiliJs said:
Nice list Beaglestorm. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress. I will be starting my growlog shortly. Good to see some Texas Growlogs!!

Hi NorTex... Will watch your progress, DFW is about two weeks ahead of me weather wise, so when I see you do something I forget about, I still have a week or two to get it done in time. LOL

Josh · Jan 17, 2011

Beaglestorm said:
Josh,

Finally found a working link to the great photos of the CGN 21500. Shows how cool these pods can look.

CGN 21500 Photos

Very nice. Thanks for the link. I hope mine look that good.

Also, good luck with your grow. Looks like your are going to have quite a few this year.

Beaglestorm · Jan 17, 2011

NorTexChiliJs said:
Heck ya that is alot of planting. Last year I used Jiffy brand seed starting mix. It is WAAAAAY harder to get wet than hoffman's. But Hoffman's is still time consuming. Looking Great!! Can't wait to see them babies uncover their blanket of dirt. I like the setup. How many watts does that heating pad use??

It's a 110 watts or so. Bought it from Amazon.com for $45 dollars. ($55 now) They also sell the Hydrofarm Digital heat Mat Controller for like $22 bucks. Will warm 4 trays nicely.

Hydrofarm Digital Controller
Hydrofarm Heat Mat
and to control my lights
Hydrofarm Digital Timer

naganumbness said:
holy crap mike! that an assload of varieties! from what i see , your doing everything right. i'm gonna have to get some goat peppers off you this year! those things are so good. i drop seed this coming week. i think i have about half of the varieties you have though focused mainly on all the new superhots with the exception of jimmy nardellos'. i'll sendyou some of those. they are awsome! 20 plants from last season in my room but the damn things will not stay dormant. my room looks like the brazillian rain forest! i sleep on the couch! did you try the red 7pods i sent? just curious to know what you thought. if your overwintered plants get bugs again just use neem oil. that'll fix em! take care!

It did not seem like a lot of plants until I actually sat down and tried to make it happen. I was barely half way through the first tray of 72 and I was ready to fall asleep. Next year I need a higher table to work on; my back was killing me after the third tray. Let me know if you want some goat pepper seeds for this year... still have a few left that I did not use. Otherwise I will be happy to just send you some pods when their ready. I remember I tried a 1/4 piece of your other red 7 pod, It was only to try the flavor (not the heat)and I remember I thought it was similar to the other red 7's I had had. That is why I chose to grow your Savannah 7... it tasted much more unique and mellow and had a nice flavor compared to most red 7's and still managed to be one of the hottest I ever tried. I am planning on growing 2 Savannah’s in the ground and 1 in a pot to make isolating easier. LOL with your Brazilian rain forest... I can totally see that happening to me next year after I find 8 or 9 or 27 plants that I really like and want to save. I have always wondered about Jimmy Nardellos they get such good reviews from everybody. How do you use them? 10-4 on the NEEM, will have it ready to go now that I am going to have plants in the ground and can’t baby them.

Silver_Surfer said:
Nice setup and variety. Makes my seed planting finger itchy.

Best of luck this season.

Hi SS, Thanks. Looking forward to seeing how you do it. I hope you got a faster internet connection for Xmas. Your garden deserves to have high resolution photos posted every day.

logchief said:
Looks good MIke, you were very industrious. That's a whole lot of plants.

I planted seeds for my first time yesterday (much smaller scale, 30) and also used Hoffman's on AJ's advice. Did a 6:1 water ratio to wet the mix, hope that was good enough, it felt right, however that supposed to feel.

Thanks Chief, If I did my math right you put just a tiny bit less water than me. Glad we were both in the same ballpark. Lets see what happens.

Beaglestorm · Jan 18, 2011

I was not happy with the swing in temperatures I was experiencing with my set up so far. Thermostat is set at 85 degrees and the temp swing is about 82 to 87 every 1/2 hour or so. I had planned to put up Mylar walls but not till sprouting and the lights were turned on.

Since I needed to do it in a hurry I decided to see if I could find something other than plywood which I had planned to use. Went into my construction yard and found a bunch of left over insulation. It is only 1/8 inch thick and is extruded into a huge folded sheet 4 ft x 32 feet long.

Really neat stuff and it just happens to be the exact size of my shelving system 2x4 soooo...

Still need to cover the two other sides with Mylar (Wal-mart survival blanket $1.89) but the foam worked better than I expected. It is extremely stiff for only being 1/8" think and it has a bit of insulating value as well. I will report back if it helps to stabilize the temps. Now that I have a small sealed enviroment I am also going to take the covers off of the plugs as it just bothers me that they are stuck in there with no fresh air and that none of the water can evaporate.