My real start of the season is still months away but I couldn't resist to put something in the soil already - Tasmanian Black! 
2022 - too early to get started...
- Thread starter MarcV
- Start date
MarcV
Extreme Member
Never enough but the same is true about growing space...
MarcV
Extreme Member
Status of today... 3 of the Stuffing Scotch Bonnets are up. Still only one of the Bahamian Scotch Bonnet though.
To my surprise a second SB7J seedling appeared this morning. I wasn't expecting this to happen anymore, but I'm very happy with this as I really wanted to grow that variety and the first seedling didn't look all that strong. I might keep both seedlings!
To my surprise a second SB7J seedling appeared this morning. I wasn't expecting this to happen anymore, but I'm very happy with this as I really wanted to grow that variety and the first seedling didn't look all that strong. I might keep both seedlings!
Looking good, my friend. We both are going to be deep in peppers this year. I usually don't grow this many plants at once. I had 6 pepper plants last year. Looks like 11 this year. I was going to grow 1 or 2 paprika plants this time around, but I'm going to wait until next year.
MarcV
Extreme Member
Looks good to me but my wife thinks differently as I'm not growing any annuums this time except for the Tasmanian Black. We have the habit of eating the annuums directly from the plant when they are in my wifes taste/heat range. The scotch bonnets are too hot for her and she doesn't like the taste either...
I find it increasingly difficult to stick to a certain amount of plants. I have a certain grow in my mind and I don't feel like splitting it up over 2 seasons. But this way I don't mind eliminating a variety if it turns out to not grow very well as it will free up room for the other plants
I find it increasingly difficult to stick to a certain amount of plants. I have a certain grow in my mind and I don't feel like splitting it up over 2 seasons. But this way I don't mind eliminating a variety if it turns out to not grow very well as it will free up room for the other plants
PaulG
Extreme Member
That's the kind of mathematics everyone can love!The peach SB has given up and I'm not going to retry it considering the amount of varieties I have growing right now. But I have 3 chocolate SB hooks in the propagator. Lose one, win 3
MarcV
Extreme Member
Not sure what is the problem with the chocolate scotch bonnets... 3 came up. One had a helmet head that I tried to get off but of course I failed. The second one seemed to have a problem with the root and didn't make it. The 3rd one is still present but not doing anything. The leaves do not open, it is still in a halfway curled state and does not grow. It's probably not going to make it either. I think maybe something is eating the roots of the little seedlings and killing them? I'll post some new pics tomorrow....
PaulG
Extreme Member
Can't put a like on that last post, @MarcV.
I hope you get that issue straightened out.
Are there a lot of fungus gnats around? I
think the larvae chew on roots, although
I have never seen any damage that I know
of on the seedlings, and there are always a
few fungus gnats around (until they land on
the sticky yellow
)
I hope you get that issue straightened out.
Are there a lot of fungus gnats around? I
think the larvae chew on roots, although
I have never seen any damage that I know
of on the seedlings, and there are always a
few fungus gnats around (until they land on
the sticky yellow
)
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MarcV
Extreme Member
There are some but much less than I had last season. And I haven't actually seen them fly around my seedlings or messing in the soil of the seedlings. My daughter has this carnivorous plant in the veranda that works a bit like sticky paper and it does catch quite a bit of gnats. But the seedlings aren't in the veranda where most of the gnats are. I'll take a picture of that plant tomorrow. I don't know what it's called...
PaulG
Extreme Member
On the other hand that third seedling could be like the BOC - very slow.
BTW, if it's any consolation, the little BOC is putting out leaves and will
probably be a good plant! Hang in there, Marc!
MarcV
Extreme Member
It's soil for sowing and rooting cuttings from the company I usually buy the soil from. But I did notice a change compared to older bags, the composition is not the same as it used to be. It seems much heavier and now contains sand. But the other seedlings seem to do reasonably well although I have a feeling that growth is slow...
Last week i had a meeting with some sales representatives from Pokon, one of the biggest suppliers of potting soil etc. in my country. (I work for a big gardencentre) they told me, that there has been some big changes in soil mixes since last year. Most of the spaghnum and peat used in our part of Europe comes from Poland. There is still plenty off it, but it's not accessible due to environmental laws or property ownership. To fit the big demand they started experimenting a lot with other raw materials like bark, wood fibre etc. The scarcity also causes big pressure to produce, so a lot of the raw materials are not aged enough, wich causes bad soils. When these half ripened soils are bagged and stacked, the weight pressure of all those bags compacts it even more. Add some high humidity of the soil to the equation and you will end up with a bag of rotten organic matter.
MarcV
Extreme Member
I usually buy my soil from Aveve. I noticed that the bags had a new print on them, but I also noticed that the bag was really heavy for the amount of soil. I actually had a bit of a problem lifting it. After opening the bag I found that the soil was quite wet, which was maybe the reason for the excess weight...
I hope their vegetables soil is still the same. I've been using that for a couple of years now and the plants do quite well with it...
I hope their vegetables soil is still the same. I've been using that for a couple of years now and the plants do quite well with it...
MarcV
Extreme Member
As promised a couple of new photos. I moved the seedlings to a location higher up (they've been standing on the floor until now) where it should be a bit warmer. I do hope this will kick off their growth because they look basically the same as they did a week ago. The lamps they're under are Sylvania T8 Grolux lamps. The light is pink but not as bad as the pink light from LED panels, there's actually still some green light in their spectrum also.
Setup overview...
Next photo's have been white balance corrected to eliminate the pink hue.
Caramella market
and Humble Servants Homestead scotch bonnets...
White and Cappuccino scotch bonnets...
Stuffing scotch bonnet and JA Red Habanero. The photo revealed a fourth stuffing SB seedling popping, which I didn't notice before.
The rear JA Red might have some health problems, it looks like it is yellowing...
Scotch Brains and Bahamian scotch bonnets. These seedlings are tiny...
SB7J and Chocolate scotch bonnets. The petioles of the rear SB7J don't look too healthy but it seems to be ok otherwise.
The Chocolate SB in the front has been sitting like that for about a week I think and I noticed that it's turning brown now so I'm going to remove it. But this photo also revealed a surprise of another hook appearing. I'm going to put my hopes on that one...
As a bonus a couple of shots of my daughter's fungus gnat eating plant
I don't know what species it is but it's doing a great job!
Setup overview...
Next photo's have been white balance corrected to eliminate the pink hue.
Caramella market
and Humble Servants Homestead scotch bonnets...White and Cappuccino scotch bonnets...
Stuffing scotch bonnet and JA Red Habanero. The photo revealed a fourth stuffing SB seedling popping, which I didn't notice before.
The rear JA Red might have some health problems, it looks like it is yellowing...
Scotch Brains and Bahamian scotch bonnets. These seedlings are tiny...
SB7J and Chocolate scotch bonnets. The petioles of the rear SB7J don't look too healthy but it seems to be ok otherwise.
The Chocolate SB in the front has been sitting like that for about a week I think and I noticed that it's turning brown now so I'm going to remove it. But this photo also revealed a surprise of another hook appearing. I'm going to put my hopes on that one...
As a bonus a couple of shots of my daughter's fungus gnat eating plant
I don't know what species it is but it's doing a great job!
I personally swear by the Dutch Hydroponic company “BioBizz” for my soil. BB “light” to start the seedlings then BB “All Mix”. It is more expensive than other commercial soils but if you want strong plants I really recommend them