Stetto's First Winter Grow ('16-'17)

stettoman · Oct 25, 2016

Change of plan...

With the limited space I have in this pantry, my darling bride has diplomatically gotten me to resize my ambitious grow...It's going to be more of a trial balloon, which if successful I'm going to have a green light to build myself a 6x6 foot grow room in the unfinished 1/3 of our cellar. So I've chosen to start a Trinidad Moruga Scorpion that was first set in damp paper towel on Oct. 14, and an Aji Amarillo, seeds arriving from Neil & Charlotte Smith just yesterday, Oct. 24...I'm full aware that some bonsai trimming may have to be in order to keep things civil with the family, besides the space being necessary for annual garden veggie starts that begin March/April 2017...

I know I'm not starting some sexy greenhouse major market crop of rare, exotic, erotic pods, but I'll try to make it somewhat entertaining...

stettoman · Nov 18, 2016

Well hell, I truly suck.

No joy on germination. The seeds have all plumped up nice, one Moruga and one Amarillo have even slightly opened in their shell, but no movement beyond that.

...yet. I will wait them out. It's hardly been 5 weeks on the TMScorp, and a month with the Aji Amarillo. Even my Anaheims took a month to break ground last Spring, I just need a dose of patience.

PaulG · Nov 22, 2016

Good luck, Stettto. It's really hard to be patient, sometimes!

Have you been keeping the seeds on your heating mat?

stettoman · Nov 22, 2016

Hey Paul, thanks for the luck, and yeah, the heating pad's been on 24/7 since mid October. I think I'm dealing with a germination rate issue. I'm so used to sticking a seed in the dirt and having it out of the ground within a couple weeks. These more exotic seeds are either really taking their time or I'm trying too few for the effort. I have plenty of the Trinidad Moruga seeds (thanks JeffContonio!) but only an even dozen of the Aji Amarillo seeds to start, and as much as I want all these seeds to sprout, the Amarillos I'm hoping for most. I'm wondering what germination rates these various species have and if I shouldn't just drop the full dozen in the mix...

PaulG · Nov 22, 2016

stettoman said:
Hey Paul, thanks for the luck, and yeah, the heating pad's been on 24/7 since mid October. I think I'm dealing with a germination rate issue. I'm so used to sticking a seed in the dirt and having it out of the ground within a couple weeks. These more exotic seeds are either really taking their time or I'm trying too few for the effort. I have plenty of the Trinidad Moruga seeds (thanks JeffContonio!) but only an even dozen of the Aji Amarillo seeds to start, and as much as I want all these seeds to sprout, the Amarillos I'm hoping for most. I'm wondering what germination rates these various species have and if I shouldn't just drop the full dozen in the mix...

The baccatums can be bears to germinate. I have a ton of Aji Amarillo
seeds if you would like some. Then you can go ahead and give yours a shot.
I'll send a couple of different strains of Aji if you'd like. Just PM me an addy
and I'll get them on the way. I have had pretty good luck germinating mine in
Jiffy pellets at about 80-90˚F on a seed starter mat in little mini greenhouse
propagators.

Good luck with the morugas.

stettoman · Nov 22, 2016

PM sent.

I'm gonna start holding my face different, it works for fishing, maybe.....

stettoman · Nov 28, 2016

Again, thank you PaulG, you breathed a little enthusiasm and drive into this project.

A-a-a-a-and...The Momma has decided to gift me the space to go ahead with my grow room project.

In a few weeks (maybe more than a few) nobody will recognize it...

PaulG · Nov 29, 2016

All right, can't wait to see how your grow space turns out.
Should give those Aji Amarillos a fighting chance!

Brocoli · Dec 4, 2016

Cant wait to see how your room turns out. Good luck.

stettoman · Dec 5, 2016

I've been growing food for many years, and as much as I've enjoyed virtually every aspect of it, after all this time I don't think there's any rush like having your first baby be borned.

Lil' Aji commencin' to poke his head out...

Know what I mean?

PaulG · Dec 6, 2016

All right, Eric! Is that an Aji Amarillo?

If so, looks like your luck is changing!

stettoman · Dec 6, 2016

Yeah, Amarillo #1. I've got a half dozen of your F5s in peat, this one is out the Australian pack, but switching to the peat pods seems to have turned my fortunes.

Ever thought you'd see pepper seeds germinating with a blizzard going on out the window?

PaulG · Dec 7, 2016

stettoman said:
Ever thought you'd see pepper seeds germinating with a blizzard going on out the window?

That's hardcore, Eric!

stettoman · Dec 8, 2016

Interesting how some of these seedlings race to see sky and others are in no hurry at all. This guy here was the last of four aji amarillos to show themselves so far, but this morning is the only one standing tall. The other three (including the one I posted 3 days ago) still have their little heads in the ground...

Devv · Dec 8, 2016

Glad to see you have some sprouts, keep up the good work!

BTW, in mentioning, the wife said Butch was one of our customers back in the day when we ran a small town ISP (96-08)

stettoman · Dec 9, 2016

So, we have four baccatums above ground so far,

This is the first one to bust through, and the slowest to develop. At first I was afraid it was in the throes of damping off, but upon closer scrutiny it has revealed itself as a helmethead...

The next two are at about the same standstill, one is obviously another helmethead (what's the technical term for that?) and I'm hoping that the other is not going to have to suffer that handicap as well, but my assumption is that they're retarding growth because they're stuck in the seed shell.

Then this one, like I displayed previous, is not but a trooper.

I was hoping for one strong plant to work with in this experimental artificial "season", and I'll have at least that. These seeds were from Neil & Charlotte at Hippy Seed in Sydney Australia, but I have a half dozen more incubating that I got from PaulG and some Moruga Scorps from JeffContonio, so these will have comp'ny.

I've had issues with the helmetheads before, mostly with my Anaheim endeavors, and as long as I don't force the issue they almost always find their way out of the shell. It just takes them longer to get to the real work of growing "up"...

...I'm thinking about planting a few of the seeds I won in mpicante's football contest. I may again wait till my grow space is completed.

stettoman · Dec 11, 2016

One of those days...

PaulG · Dec 12, 2016

You can spray the helmets with some water to soften them. Also in worst case scenario,
you can use a pair of fine scissors or a nail clipper to snip the side of the seed
case to allow it to spread out as the cots grow. I have used both methods with
some success. Good luck - helmets heads are frustrating. Did you soak your seeds
before germinating?

stettoman · Dec 12, 2016

PaulG said:
You can spray the helmets with some water to soften them. Also in worst case scenario,
you can use a pair of fine scissors or a nail clipper to snip the side of the seed
case to allow it to spread out as the cots grow. I have used both methods with
some success. Good luck - helmets heads are frustrating. Did you soak your seeds
before germinating?

These, yes. 48 hours in a H2O2 bath. Your F5s in a chamomile bath for the same amount of time. They haven't germinated yet. These were started quite a bit earlier than the F5s too.

I've had the helmet issues before, nature always seems to persevere. Used to get this with tomatoes too, smaller seed, bigger headache.