First time grower, only thing I have ever grown is a watermelon plant in my teens, all I did was dig up about a 6" circle of soil in the yard, pop a seed in, water often, and I had incredible results! Many rediculous sized melons!
I started late, and on a tight budget, and I don't have a yard, was living on a 1st floor apt, now on a 3rd floor, only receiving about 4.5ish hours of direct sunlight a day after moving to a 3rd floor
My grow is tiny this year, I started with 2 already growing melon plants, and an already growing Jalapeno plant, I have since then added a pair of baby red bell pepper plants. The baby bell plants were already around 18" tall or so, and one already had fruits started. Next year I plan to start much earlier, start some more "rare" pepper varieties, as well as other plants/herbs/etc, and try to start from seed.
I'm using supplemental lighting since I don't get many daylight hours, I had been using 3 43w 2900k CFL's (43 true watts), but I was clumsy and broke 2 yesterday, and then did research, and found out 2900k is better for flowering not vegetation, so now I'm running 1 43w 2700k, and 4 23w 5700k's. I plan on adding back in 1 or 2 more 2900k's before long on top of what I'm running. When winter comes, I hope to try and keep the pepper plants in a closet, and keep them thriving all year and producing!
This is a hobby, it's fun! I realize I could save more money just buying the basic peppers that I have from my local grocery store, but I wouldn't be learning anything from that!
Edit: I used the cheapest potting soil I could find, its full of mulch, drains well. I'm using a full dose of liquid fertilizer every week, sometimes using it dilluted halfway through the week depending on how much I water depending on temps. Last week was fairly cool, got away with watering every 2 days, but its about to it 96-100 everyday for the next 6 days straight, so I'll likely be watering daily
June 9th, day I bought my Jalapeno and 2 types of melon plants (crimson sweet and sugar baby)
June 10th, transplanted, melons got about 2.7 bags of the cheap potting soil, Jalapeno got the rest in a tiny jug
Melons looked sad
June 15th Melons perked right back up, Jalapeno plant already growing strong
July 4th, moved to 3rd floor, less daylight hours, transplanted my Jalapeno into a 5 gallon bucket with around 3.5 gallons of cheap potting soil, transplanted my melons from the old tote with 2.7ish bags of soil to around 10+ bags of potting soil, broke most the rooting system doing that
July 5th, added supplemental lighting to Jalapeno plant, 2 43w bulbs, move plant to corner of porch during indirect light hours, and in sunlight during direct light hours
July 8th, added a pair of red baby bell pepper plants, they came in a tiny pot but were already growing strong and one of them had 3 tiny peppers starting, transplanted them into a 5 gallon bucket and added a 3rd 43w light, this pic is taken during sunlight hours while also applying supplemental lighting from behind
July 13th, a couple of my red baby bell peppers
July 17th, just out catching some rays
July 19th, this morning at 6am, I know, I know, I need to get some more of my lights above. I plan on adding 1-2 more lights, and I know I need them higher on the plants, but at the same time, since CFL's dont penetrate foliage well, I plan on keeping some down low.
Almost forgot this pic, my baby red bell peppers from 2-3 days ago.
I started late, and on a tight budget, and I don't have a yard, was living on a 1st floor apt, now on a 3rd floor, only receiving about 4.5ish hours of direct sunlight a day after moving to a 3rd floor
My grow is tiny this year, I started with 2 already growing melon plants, and an already growing Jalapeno plant, I have since then added a pair of baby red bell pepper plants. The baby bell plants were already around 18" tall or so, and one already had fruits started. Next year I plan to start much earlier, start some more "rare" pepper varieties, as well as other plants/herbs/etc, and try to start from seed.
I'm using supplemental lighting since I don't get many daylight hours, I had been using 3 43w 2900k CFL's (43 true watts), but I was clumsy and broke 2 yesterday, and then did research, and found out 2900k is better for flowering not vegetation, so now I'm running 1 43w 2700k, and 4 23w 5700k's. I plan on adding back in 1 or 2 more 2900k's before long on top of what I'm running. When winter comes, I hope to try and keep the pepper plants in a closet, and keep them thriving all year and producing!
This is a hobby, it's fun! I realize I could save more money just buying the basic peppers that I have from my local grocery store, but I wouldn't be learning anything from that!
Edit: I used the cheapest potting soil I could find, its full of mulch, drains well. I'm using a full dose of liquid fertilizer every week, sometimes using it dilluted halfway through the week depending on how much I water depending on temps. Last week was fairly cool, got away with watering every 2 days, but its about to it 96-100 everyday for the next 6 days straight, so I'll likely be watering daily
June 9th, day I bought my Jalapeno and 2 types of melon plants (crimson sweet and sugar baby)
June 10th, transplanted, melons got about 2.7 bags of the cheap potting soil, Jalapeno got the rest in a tiny jug
Melons looked sad
June 15th Melons perked right back up, Jalapeno plant already growing strong
July 4th, moved to 3rd floor, less daylight hours, transplanted my Jalapeno into a 5 gallon bucket with around 3.5 gallons of cheap potting soil, transplanted my melons from the old tote with 2.7ish bags of soil to around 10+ bags of potting soil, broke most the rooting system doing that
July 5th, added supplemental lighting to Jalapeno plant, 2 43w bulbs, move plant to corner of porch during indirect light hours, and in sunlight during direct light hours
July 8th, added a pair of red baby bell pepper plants, they came in a tiny pot but were already growing strong and one of them had 3 tiny peppers starting, transplanted them into a 5 gallon bucket and added a 3rd 43w light, this pic is taken during sunlight hours while also applying supplemental lighting from behind
July 13th, a couple of my red baby bell peppers
July 17th, just out catching some rays
July 19th, this morning at 6am, I know, I know, I need to get some more of my lights above. I plan on adding 1-2 more lights, and I know I need them higher on the plants, but at the same time, since CFL's dont penetrate foliage well, I plan on keeping some down low.
Almost forgot this pic, my baby red bell peppers from 2-3 days ago.
