Nee's first pepper season. (Australia) Pics, vids & banter.. yey! \\(^o^)//

DonLava · Mar 9, 2012

look like a good start! :cool:

SocalChilehead · Mar 9, 2012

Great list and nice start good luck through the season

Mezo · Mar 9, 2012

Im following with interest, glad to see you have your gloves on. :fireball:

Good luck,

Mezo..

nee · Mar 13, 2012

DAY 4

Thanks for the comments and encouragement! Sorry, i didn't spot them until now

Appreciated....
OK, I had a quick peek before i left for work this morning, and still the same....but was over the moon when i checked after work this evening....as it seems my Bhut Jolokia and Hot Fish are doing stuff! Yey!
My wife is calling them "our babies" due to the excitement...lol

430059_10150721838471815_512806814_11854645_825907573_n.jpg

Mezo · Mar 13, 2012

Ive got some Bhut Jolokia`s (98 of them) on Jiffy pellets for the first time, unlike you ive nothing to keep them warm overnight.

Mine went in on the 10th (day after yours) so it will be interesting to see how much longer mine take "oh natural".

They are notoriously slow to sprout, so hope you have a few good books to read in the meantime.

Mezo.

nee · Mar 14, 2012

DAY 5

Cheers for the info info Mezo

Hoping yours do ok

OK, Bhut Jolokia and Hot Fish still going, and joined by the Macedonian, which decided to pop out and say hello to the world today!

424022_10150724202626815_512806814_11861914_1615619882_n.jpg

Mezo · Mar 14, 2012

Wow that inefficient cable modem works a treat. :party:

Mezo.

nee · Mar 15, 2012

7 pot / pod red crossed yellow is starting to happen now too. Will hold off on the pics until there's something different to show!
Couple of Q's if anyone can answer them for me?

How often should i be watering them at this stage? Currently im putting a bit of water in the base every couple of days, so that the peat soaks it up as opposed to watering them directly overhead. Is this a good idea or not..and is this too much / too little?

Also, at what stage should i be putting them under lights? I think i read somewhere that you wait for the second set of 'proper' leaves..is this right?

When under lights, do they remain there until spring..or at what stage is it safe to just pop them in the window sill as a new home (bear in mind we're coming into autumn here in VIC, and temps are heading down a bit...sort of 22 or so during the day and 18 overnight)

Any advice is much appreciated

Mezo · Mar 15, 2012

Well im new to jiffys as well bhut you seem to be doing everything right as far as i can tell, i think i may be over watering my lot?
Bhut i did read whatever you do don't let your seeds dry out, some of mine have gone a bit moldy on the paper towels (to wet).
When mine sprout they go out in to a pot & in a sunny spot, my way of thinking is that`s what would happen in nature right?

You must have the gift of growing or there's a bit of beginners luck happening & obviously you purchased your seeds form Grant.

Id hate to give wrong advice seems its going so well right now, bhut id be introducing them to light as soon as i can see the leaves, a word of warning though,,windows can get mighty chilli in the winter at night time.

Is there another sunny spot indoors that`s not direct up against a window pane? slightly back or even a conservatory?
how is the house heated during winter? my sprout counter hit 201 yesterday.

Mezo.

PaulG · Mar 15, 2012

Hey, Nees, you are on your way, bro!
Have fun watching the babies grow!

nee · Mar 16, 2012

Mezo said:
Well im new to jiffys as well bhut you seem to be doing everything right as far as i can tell, i think i may be over watering my lot?
Bhut i did read whatever you do don't let your seeds dry out, some of mine have gone a bit moldy on the paper towels (to wet).
When mine sprout they go out in to a pot & in a sunny spot, my way of thinking is that`s what would happen in nature right?

You must have the gift of growing or there's a bit of beginners luck happening & obviously you purchased your seeds form Grant.

Id hate to give wrong advice seems its going so well right now, bhut id be introducing them to light as soon as i can see the leaves, a word of warning though,,windows can get mighty chilli in the winter at night time.

Is there another sunny spot indoors that`s not direct up against a window pane? slightly back or even a conservatory?
how is the house heated during winter? my sprout counter hit 201 yesterday.

Mezo.

Hi Mezo! Yeah, space is a bit tricky here....mainly due to our 9 month old who has just started crawling and is into everything! All of our windows are at waist height and higher, but we haven't got deep windowsills to place pots on.
The house is heated by a ducted gas system, but we tend to keep it at 19 degree's...is this going to be too cold for the plants? At the moment they can be kept at 25 in the propagator, but i am a bit concerned regarding moving them to pots as we are coming into autumn here. I plan to get some fluorescent lighting sorted, but i'm guessing the lights don't give out any heat. Hopefully it will work out ok!

Mezo · Mar 16, 2012

That`s luxury compared with what temps mine are going to get over winter.

As soon as mine start sprouting (not leaves) i transfer them in to seed raising mix & keep them in a sunny spot, days later they all start popping out of the seed mix & are one there way.

The good thing about theses jiffy pellets it doesn't affect planting out, they are in there own little environment in the little baggies, when they are ready to burst through the bag in to potting mix they will in there own time & no shock to them.

My daytime temps here have dropped of a tad this week, ive been at 30 & now its around 27 but as ive got them in the tent (wedding marquee) and then again with domes over the top (water bottles cut in half) its keeping up at perfect germinating temps with the bonus of moisture & humidity.

But once they are in to the plastic cups (in seed mix) the temp drops right down at night (late teens at the moment) and in a couple of months a lot lower than that at night (single digits) and hopefully they will just go slightly dormant until spring.

They will still be getting 20+ days & loads of sunshine which should keep them going till it warms up again, then its "the big pot"
And with any luck come Christmas time ill have a big harvest (famous last words eh).

Sprout counter hit 227 yesterday (in the pots) and by having a quick peek late last night might hit 250 today. :party:

Mezo.

nee · Mar 17, 2012

wow....250! that's a score!!! well done

Today, my wife was "thrilled" to learn that i wanted to use the hallway to rig up a couple of fluorescent lights for the chilli plants! It was a no brainer though, as overnight we leave the hall light on anyway for the kids, and just in case we need to check on Charlie our 10 month old....plus the fluorescents use less power than the standard globes....so i put across a convincing argument and gained a win on that one!
I managed to get the light fitting for $20 from a local reclamation yard, and went to Bunnings for the tubes. I opted for 1 x 4200k & 1 x 5000k, as i figured it was better to try and cover a broader spectrum of light. Hopefully that's a good thing? I mounted the lights on chain so that i can raise them when needed.

So the seeds start off in the propagator on top of the modem which keeps them nice and warm, and once sprouted move on up to the lights!

422388_10150730529361815_512806814_11880211_1430442401_n.jpg

I've had a couple more sprout in the last day or 2....going well so far!

424424_10150730529241815_512806814_11880210_864676219_n.jpg

Mezo said:
They will still be getting 20+ days & loads of sunshine which should keep them going till it warms up again...

Yeah, that's what worries me regarding what i'm trying to achieve here, as VIC tends to get pretty "brrrrrr" over the winter months, and there's going to come a point where (hopefully!) there's too many plants to fit under the lights.
If it all goes too pear-shaped i'll just try again in spring, but you kinda get attached to what you've sown don't you!?

Mezo · Mar 17, 2012

Did you find the studs when you screwed them brackets on the wall? looks about 600 centers from the pic & 600 away from the door frame, you don't want that lot falling down.

Weird weather where you are, hot in summer & freezing in winter, you cop it all from the southern ocean (Antarctica) kinda reminds me of blighty (but upside down) i guess i must be living in the south of France here?

And yes you do get attached to these things, i guess because they are slow growing & fail pretty often.
Two of my Bhuts were pecked to stumps by two chickens, i was gutted when i saw them.
But they grew back to fully mature plants with fruit just appearing just now, they are taller than my first three plants also for some reason?

Mezo.

Mezo · Mar 17, 2012

Do you have two seedlings in one jiffy bag there? i would have put just one seed in one jiffy.

You will have problems separating the roots if they grow much more, the idea of these jiffys is you allow one seed to grown in one jiffy & then let them grow through in to the potting mix.

I should have spotted that before, sorry mate.

Mezo.

nee · Mar 17, 2012

Hi Mezo! OK, the brackets are fixed part studs and part plasterboard wall plug things (sorry...cant remember the tech name, but they are designed for the job!) As for the 2 seedlings per jiffy, i spotted someone else suggested putting 2 or 3 in one, and then just running with the strongest looking one (ie pull the other 2 out) That way, you haven't wasted a Jiffy if only 1 grows..
So should i pull the smaller ones now, before the roots grow more?

Mezo · Mar 17, 2012

nee said:
Hi Mezo! OK, the brackets are fixed part studs and part plasterboard wall plug things (sorry...cant remember the tech name, but they are designed for the job!) As for the 2 seedlings per jiffy, i spotted someone else suggested putting 2 or 3 in one, and then just running with the strongest looking one (ie pull the other 2 out) That way, you haven't wasted a Jiffy if only 1 grows..
So should i pull the smaller ones now, before the roots grow more?

Jiffys are cheap enough, and your not wasting them if they fail to germinate just bung another seed in there (that`s what i do).

Every one of them seedlings will grow in to a mature plant, why weed out the little ones?
seems a waste of a good seed to me.

But yeah id be gently separating them out right now in to individual jiffy`s, leave it any longer and the roots will become tangled to much to pull apart.

Get the fresh jiffy ready (swollen) poke a nice hole down the middle with a knitting needle or something & drop the tap root right in there & then gently squish the jiffy shut again.

Mezo.

nee · Mar 18, 2012

Sounds like a plan! Thanks for that

(also cheers for the pm'd links too!)

nee · Mar 19, 2012

DAY 10

OK, the 'doubles' that i had in the Jiffy's seem to transplant to their own Jiffy ok. I'm not sure how long it would normally be if it wasn't going to make it, but they seem healthy enough so far. Next time i'll just plant one seed per Jiffy to save messing about. I read that someone else planted a few per Jiffy, so i just went with that.
I've had a few more spring into action in the past couple of days, which is cool!

I've swapped out the 4200k tube for a 6500k, as i read that 6500k is better for the growing stage? Is that right? I have another 6500k tube here, so if anyone can tell me if 2 x 6500's would be better than 1 x 5000k & 1 x 6500k? I'm guessing it's worrying a bit too much on my part, but if someone says that it'll make a big difference, then that's all good!

I noticed today that one of the seeds in the propagator has started sprouting, but without leaves...from memory i think it's the Pimenta da Neyde, is that normal?

Also, i need to move to bigger pots (going to use plastic cups) at some point....can i confirm that it's best to wait until the 2nd (or proper) set of leaves are through?? Or can repotting be done at the stage i'm at now?
The Bhut Jolokia that i set into its own Jiffy seemed long enough to have been quite near the bottom of the Jiffy

Anyway, thanks for listening

Neil