2016 is Ohjay's year of the habanero

Ohjay · Mar 3, 2016

And the promised update...

Seeing how great artificial lights are I knew I had to buy more. But since I was on the fence regarding T5's(which may or may not be wrong) I decided to buy some LEDs.
Did some research, looked for a good deal and ended up with this:

Actually two of them.
They are Mars Hydro II 400W switchable LEDs. You can switch from grow to bloom to alter the light so it's more suitable for different phases of the plant cycle.

I have no idea if this is good but I followed the manufacturer recommendation in terms of distance to the canopy, roughly 20" (50 cm):

I honestly think it might be too high up but we'll see... The LEDs are on a 18/6 cycle just like the T5s.
First impressions are first impressions, but I like the coverage of this unit. One thing I do not like though are the fans that cools the LEDs. They are quite noisy.

My current setup:

That shelving will be used for a few plants that will rely solely on artificial light. I will also put up another shelf unit next to it to mount the other Mars Hydro LED unit for a few more plants, but that won't happen until I need to repot I think.

The most recently sown seeds are doing great. Especially the Douglah Billyboy that seems to just grow and grow(far right, closest to the camera):

Still working on getting that jungle :cool:

Ohjay · Mar 7, 2016

Everyone seems to like the Bonnets and I've been intrigued by them but had initially decided to wait until next year to grow any.
Getting the growlights changed my mind though and I had a brief discussion with Trident Chilli about SB varieties and he was kind enough to send me a few seeds. Thanks again! :dance:

The MOA Yellow and SB7J have been sowed but the others will have to wait because now I'm really, really short on space for this years grow. But I'll make due somehow :crazy:

In other news I decided to assemble the other shelf and put up the second LED fixture.
This one is a little closer to the plants, but I still don't know what an appropriate distance is:

While rearranging the plants I took a couple of pictures, enjoy!

Ohjay · Mar 15, 2016

The Bonnets I've planted have finally sprouted. So far 3 out of 4 seeds have germinated and hopefully the last one will as well:

As I rearranged the plants the other day I noticed that most of the containers had roots coming out of the bottom so I decided to repot a few plants to see the root development and to get an idea of how soon I need to repot the rest.
Quite decent root growth on this one(I think it's a 7pod White):

This one was in a smaller pot but not a whole lot more roots(don't remember which plant it was :rolleyes:

):

Good roots on this one as well:

6 plants repotted into their final homes (~1 gallon pots):

The Douglah Billyboy I sowed a month ago is trucking along like a beast. If it keeps this up it will end up being a monster plant I suspect:

In fact all of the seeds I sowed a month ago are growing great except for the Luciferino. I suspect it's a naturally short plant though, hence the less growth so far:

The entire setup:

Still trying to find the best distance between the light fixtures and the canopy, but the recommendations from Mars Hydro actually do seem quite good thus far.

Ohjay · Apr 2, 2016

This season is another learning season for me(ain't all seasons?)...
I've had a couple of watering issues that I will need more experience with to avoid in upcoming seasons.
First one is edema. I had some last season and even though I've been careful about watering this season I am still getting it, on several plants. Going to monitor it and my watering to see if I can avoid it on new growth.
The second issue is slightly more strange but also probably a reason for the edema. When I repotted from the small pots I put the plants in tall pots and went ahead and bottom watered. The problem was that the water didn't seem to go all the way up to the roots so I was forced to water from the top. That means that there was a lot of water left in the lower soil. So my guess is that when the roots started developing in that soil they drank way too much water, causing the edema. It's pure guesswork, but it's my theory anyway.
Either way, both are quite simple to remedy to be honest and something I'll keep in mind further along this season and more importantly next season.

Now less yapping and more images.
The Melocoton wasn't very happy under the lights for some reason but as soon as I moved it to a window it started growing like crazy(height wise at least):

Not sure how visible it is but the stem is kinda funky. Below the second set of leaves it's quite thin and above it's quite thick. I'll have to keep an eye on it so there are no accidents.

All of these has been in the window for a couple of weeks now and they are liking it but at the same time they're not growing quite as much as the ones under lights:

These were moved into another window today in an effort to get them to grow more vertically instead of laterally. They are very bushy!

The peach congo is also quite bushy while only being ~5" tall (~12cm):

The MOAs are doing their thing and trying their best to catch up to their older siblings:

Pretty much the same height all around, I'm hoping they'll start growing vertically soon(the Peach Congo is on the far left, closest to the camera):

The Antillais Caribbean is working hard on getting bushy(it's only ~6" tall (~15cm):

As I mentioned earlier, very bushy(Peach hab):

A lot of lateral growth on this Orange Devil.
Not sure if it's visible in the image but the leaves are not your typical chinense leaves. These are quite thin and elongated:

CGN21566 is a really beautiful plant with great growth:

I'm also liking the 7pod White. Great big leaves, good growth and already a massive trunk considering it's size:

I noticed some buds beginning to show about a week ago and decided to snip them off... Didn't seem to do much since the plants just made new ones, so this time I think I'll leave them, even though it feels like it's way too early for flowers.
This is the Luciferino:

A nice cluster of buds on the 7pod white:

Orange devil:

CGN21566:

The lack of fresh peppers is getting to me so I got me some beer instead:

THE best chili beer I've had, and just like normal peppers the heat varies between each bottle. Great stuff to try and satisfy the chili itch. :dance:

tsurrie · Apr 4, 2016

^ nice pic's - the plants seem so healthy - and the beer sounds tasty

SeaDuds · Apr 6, 2016

Great GLOG, love the qualities of the photos. Also loved the progression of:
"I'm ONLY starting these." -> "Ok, I'll start a few more." -> "Maybe I'll do a little experiment with lights." -> "Ok, I'm getting more lights." -> "Should probably start more seeds."

I can totally relate! Good luck with the rest of the season!

Ohjay · Apr 18, 2016

Thank you for the comments guys. Much appreciated

SeaDuds, haha yeah. I really promised myself that I wouldn't go into that progression but what can I say, I love my chillies :dance:

Update time then!
I mentioned vertical growth in the last update and moving the plants to the windows really helped with that. Some of the plants grew 3-5 cm(1-2") per 24 hours for a few days. I couldn't believe that they grew that fast so I had to use a tape measure and a camera to document the height of a few plants at certain time intervals.
They are still growing vertically but they have slowed down considerably now. The plants under the lights are also growing vertically but a lot, and I mean A LOT, slower. I find it strange that it is such a massive difference between the plants under lights and the ones in the windows...

Speaking of growth, I think I've underestimated the size of chinese plants and I might have to alter my plans a bit and have more plants than intended under lights for the entire season. If I don't they'll end up very crowded in the windows.
Some of the leaves are huuuuge:

As for the flower buds, some of them are now starting to blossom. Here's the Orange Devil:

Paper Lantern(could be Luciferino, I lost the plant markers on these two)

Peach Hab

Antillais Caribbean

The Orange Devil has definitely kicked into gear with about 10 flowers already:

Not only flowers actually, since the first two ended up being peppers :dance:

Leftmost plant is the SB MOA, and the tall lanky one is the Melocoton:

It's about time to move the plants down a level since they are getting a bit close to the light fixture:

Second window:

They are slowly working on becoming the familiar chili jungle in the third window:

Hybrid Mode 01 · Apr 18, 2016

Great glog! It's neat to see the progression from window growing to high tech supplemental light. It looks like it's working out for you so far.

Ohjay · Apr 18, 2016

Thanks, yeah it really is working well so far. I love how much faster the plants have been growing this season with the help of the lights.
Next step is to see how some of the plants react to only having artificial light for their entire life.

dragonsfire · Apr 18, 2016

Looking great! good luck

Ohjay · Apr 29, 2016

Just a quick, no photo, update...

Did some plant inventory yesterday evening and so far I have peppers on 7 out of 27 plants.
Of the remaining 20 there are 12 plants with a varying amount of flowers.
The most exciting fruit I saw yesterday was on my Peach Congo.

When I did my daily pollination run today I noticed that the Douglah Billyboy had a tiny pepper showing as well and I'm even more excited about that. :fireball:

Not only is it the first true superhot pepper(for me), but it's also the first pepper from the plants that solely rely on artificial light.

I'll try to do a photo update in the next couple of days

Ohjay · May 3, 2016

I still find it sort of surreal to have peppers already, it's just May for pete's sake...
Never the less, here's a quick photo update with pepper shots :dance:

Gambia Orange

Melocoton

Peach Ghost Jami (super excited about this one)

Reaper (it looks mean already)

Luciferino (I think, I lost the tag)

Douglah Billyboy

Peach Congo

Antillais Caribbean

Hand Grenade Yellow

Peach Hab

Paper Lantern (I think, I lost the tag)

Orange Devil

And this is the entire Orange Devil plant, which is still setting flowers and fruit. I'm absolutely amazed how productive it is for a container plant.
The image is a few days old and it has even more peppers on it now.

Comptine · May 3, 2016

WOW! I can't describe how jealous I am right now!

tsurrie · May 3, 2016

cool pods in the making... still far to go on this side
rock on!

cubbieblue82 · May 3, 2016

Ohjay said:
THE best chili beer I've had, and just like normal peppers the heat varies between each bottle. Great stuff to try and satisfy the chili itch.

that stuff is great. little local place here started carrying it recently. love it.

Ohjay · May 6, 2016

Decided to do a thorough plant inventory again and I'm amazed at the progess of the plants in a mere week.
From 7 plants with fruit to 18, just amazing!
Not too worried about the Bonnets since I planted them way, way later. I am wondering what's up with the Pastel, Mustard and White Giant though. They should at least show signs of starting to flower but nothing yet. Plants are healthy as well so I don't know. Maybe they are just slow getting started.

Perhaps someone else will find this as interesting as I do. The bold lines are the clear high performers of the week

Code:

Date						- 28/4		- 6/5		- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Habanero Paper Lantern ???			- Flower        - 4 fruits	- 
Habanero Hand Grenade Yellow			- 2 fruits	- 5 fruits	- 
Habanero Roatan Pumpkin                         - None		- Flowers	- 
Habanero Manzano 				- Flowers	- 1 fruit	- 
Habanero Antillais Caribbean 			- 3 fruits	- 3 fruits	- 
Habanero Chocolate				- Flowers	- 1 fruit	- 
Habanero Gambia Orange				- 1(?) fruit	- 3 fruits	- 
Habanero Peach					- 1 fruit	- 3 fruits	- 
Habanero Orange Devil				- 17-18 fruits	- 28 fruits	- 
Habanero Mili (lights)				- None		- 1 fruit	- 
Carolina Reaper					- None		- Flowers	- 
Carolina Reaper (lights)                        - Flower        - 3 fruits	- 
Peach Congo					- 1(?) fruit	- 10 fruits	- 
7 Pod White					- Flower        - Flowers	- 
CGN 21566					- Flower        - Flowers	- 
Aji Melocoton					- 4 fruits	- 8 fruits	- 
Peach Ghost Jami                                - Flower        - 2 fruits	- 
Peach Ghost Jami (lights)			- Flowers	- 3 fruits	- 
Habanero White Giant				- None		- None		- 
Habanero Mustard                                - None		- None		- 
Habanero Luciferino ??? (lights)                - Flower        - 3 fruits	- 
Habanero Cappuccino (lights)			- Flower        - 1 fruit	- 
Habanero Pastel					- None		- None		- 
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Chocolate (lights)	- Flower        - 2 fruits	- 
Douglah Billyboy (lights)			- Flowers	- 5 fruits	- 
SB7J						- None		- None		- 
SB MOA						- None		- None		- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fruit / plant ratio				- 7 of 27	- 18 of 27

Ohjay · May 14, 2016

Not sure if I should keep posting this or not but I find it oddly satisfying to see the progress in "black & white":

Date - 28/4 - 6/5 - 13/5
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Habanero Paper Lantern ??? - Flower - 4 fruits - 8 fruits
Habanero Hand Grenade Yellow - 2 fruits - 5 fruits - 12 fruits
Habanero Roatan Pumpkin - None - Flowers - 6 fruits
Habanero Manzano - Flowers - 1 fruit - 8 fruits
Habanero Antillais Caribbean - 3 fruits - 3 fruits - 6 fruits
Habanero Chocolate - Flowers - 1 fruit - 14 fruits
Habanero Gambia Orange - 1(?) fruit - 3 fruits - 12 fruits
Habanero Peach - 1 fruit - 3 fruits - 5 fruits
Habanero Orange Devil - 17-18 fruits - 28 fruits - 36 fruits
Habanero Mili (lights) - None - 1 fruit - 3 fruits
Carolina Reaper - None - Flowers - Flowers
Carolina Reaper (lights) - Flower - 3 fruits - 9 fruits
Peach Congo - 1(?) fruit - 10 fruits - 17 fruits
7 Pod White - Flower - Flowers - Flowers
CGN 21566 - Flower - Flowers - 6 fruits
Aji Melocoton - 4 fruits - 8 fruits - 17 fruits
Peach Ghost Jami - Flower - 2 fruits - 10 fruits
Peach Ghost Jami (lights) - Flowers - 3 fruits - 13 fruits
Habanero White Giant - None - None - Flowers
Habanero Mustard - None - None - Flowers
Habanero Luciferino ??? (lights) - Flower - 3 fruits - 18+ fruits
Habanero Cappuccino (lights) - Flower - 1 fruit - 3 fruits
Habanero Pastel - None - None - 1 fruit
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Chocolate (lights) - Flower - 2 fruits - 2 fruits
Douglah Billyboy (lights) - Flowers - 5 fruits - 5 fruits
SB7J - None - None - None
SB MOA - None - None - None
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fruit / plant ratio - 7 of 27 - 18 of 27 - 21 of 27
# of fruits - 30 fruits - 86 fruits - 211 fruits

The melocton is growing like weed and was getting too big for the window I have it in so I was forced to top it a little.
Before:

After.

And about a week later it had to be topped again, this is it now:

A nice little jungle in my livingroom window:

The bedroom:

Finally the plants under lights:

They are all quite crowded and I have to try and restrain myself next season. The amount of plants I have this year is simply too much. The plants need a bit more space than I can give them right now. It'll work this season, but changes has to be made next season(or get more lights

)

All plants are quite happy but I do have some manganese and magnesium issues I think. The ferts I'm using seem to be low on both.
It's most apparant on the Douglah Billyboy which has yellowing leaves all over the plant:

All the other plants have leaves at the bottom that turn yellow and fall off, which is a sign of manganese deficiency if I understand things correctly. But it's only the Douglah that seem to struggle with magnesium.

Now for some pod porn! We all like pods, right?

Antillais Caribbean:

Hand grenade Yellow:

This plant is giving a lot of different pod shapes but at least one has the "true" shape:

The monster Orange Devil (it is insanely productive):

Peach ghost jami is showing it's gnarly pods:

Paper lantern... I thought the pods were meant to be smooth but so far none of them are:

CGN21566:

Peach Congo, which I assumed would have round pods but none are as of yet:

Melocoton:

Gambia Orange:

More Peach Ghost Jami:

Reaper:

More reapers. Look at that tail!

Ohjay · May 14, 2016

A poor image of the Luciferino. I was surprised to see that the pods start out black:

Moruga Chocolate:

Douglah Billyboy, these pods are huge!

Habanero Cappuccino:

dragonsfire · May 14, 2016

Great looking Pods

Tango · May 14, 2016

Those reapers look intense!