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indoor Trying to Grow Peppers Indoors

S

spicy_girl

Might I put out a call for help?  We are trying to grow chilis indoors or at least start some indoors then transplant them.  We have grow stations with LED lights and aluminum foil everywhere, using organic Miracle Grow, Sea Magic growth activator, and organic Miracle Grow plant food.  We are also going to start using Agroflash natural fertilizer and Blue Ridge Organics Super Compost.  One of our "star peppers" (http://www.growitalian.com/pepper-piccante-calabrese-97-115/) is a big concern as these are used to Italian soils.  We are starting our peppers in Jiffy peat pots and transplanting after we see true leaves and the stems have a bit of height to them.  We actually have 14 varieties of chilis and we would love to have at least 1 healthy plant of each.  Does anyone have ideas/advice on how to get our little seedlings to robust plants bursting with yummy chilis?  Here is a list of the seeds we have:
 

Serrano

Hot Lemon

Cayenne

Caribbean Red

Devil's Kiss

Piquante

DeArbol

Santaka Hot Asian

Thai Hot

Arroz Con Pollo

Tobasco

Atomic Starfish

King Pao

Heirloom Organic Pimento

Heirloom Organic Paprika
 
Thanks in advance!
 
There are a handful of helpful posts pinned to the top of the growing forum: http://thehotpepper.com/forum/100-growing-hot-peppers/
 
Note that seeds aren't used to any soil until they germinate - if you're going to grow in pots, use potting soil, if you're going to put them in the ground use garden soil, etc. The key is the pH of your growing medium - peppers like about 6.5 (a bit more or less won't hurt anything.
 
Hey. Chillies just need lots of lights and a fair bit of heat. If they have pushed out of the ground. Light is the most important thing. They need to be in well draining compost. If you don't know what that is then maybe it's not free draining, just garden centre compost.

Don't worry too much about feeding them as the compost is likely to be full of feed for around 6 weeks. Just water from below and top with a reflective style material like perlite. It really makes a difference.
 
I have used solar blankets to reflect light and its alot eazyer to use then tin foil it usualy comes in 4 to 5 foot sections and is cheep.
lots of light is a key to indoor. i use a T5 set up to start my plants then i go to a 400 watt metal haloide bulb and get great results.
 
Sluggy said:
Using aluminum foil is not a good idea. It doesn't reflect all that much light. Plus you could get "burn spots" 
Click to expand...
 
Your best bet would be mylar, which you can get at Home Depot or Lowes. 
 
There's a big difference between starting your chiles indoors, and growing them to maturity, indoors. Which do you prefer to do?

Personally, I'd lose the Miracle Grow soils/products. I suspect they are geared more towards semi-mature, to mature plants. I would not subject my baby seedlings to these products. There are plenty of organic potting soils available to choose from, or, you can make your own, and have complete control over the nutrient content.
 
elcap1999 said:
 
Your best bet would be mylar, which you can get at Home Depot or Lowes. 
Click to expand...
Garden centres (and grow shops) also sell what is called "pond foil" here.
It;s some plastic, pvc like material that is white on one side for reflection, and black on the other. 
The name would imply it is used in garden ponds.

It's very popular in the cannabis grower community.

 
 
The have been a lot of tests done lately by the alternative growers that have shown a good flat white paint has better reflective properties than mylar.
 
Little ones in dirt don't like a lot of ferts, and not sure of the power of your LED's, but t5's are fairly cheap and do the trick nicely.
 
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