3/5King's 2013 ZING!-Peppin' Ain't Easy 2.0 "If The Boat's a Rockin'....."

we're still Alive!.....now let's get back to growing peppers.




So I decided to start Peppin' Ain't Easy 2.0 instead of continuing last year’s Glog. This way everything can stay nice and tidy.

If you want to see my shenanigans from last season, CLICK http://thehotpepper....sy35kings-2012/



I’m excited…the season is upon us! (Well except for those that live on the other side of the hemisphere; you bastards have been growing for months!)(Mezo…lol)

Let’s see, where to start….well, I hope everyone’s year is starting out right. I know everyone’s year can’t be going well, so a prayer will go out to all of you that are having a not so good 2013. Me…I’m alive and still ambitious, so I’ll be alright.

On to the plants; well, I started some plants back in November…here I was being hopeful to the extreme..thinking I would have some nice plants to give away around Christmas or the new year….that was my first mistake circa 2013..

I did something wrong (like usual) listed below will be the list of seeds I started and what my setup consists of....(Like it says above…peppin’ ain’t easy)

Seeds 2013 (started Nov. 17, 2012)

Carolina Reaper
Bubble Gum 7pot
Explosive Ember
FireCracker
Red Missle
Purple Puru
Orange Starbust
Cappezoli
Brazilian Starfish

More coming…


Soil

Pro-Mix Organic with sea based compost

Nutrients

General Organics-Bio Thrive (gave first feeding at around 60 days old)

Grow Box/Light Setup

5- 6500 Kelvin 2750 Lumen 1- 2700 Kelvin 2750 Lumen (CFL’s) (Total: 16,500 Lumens)

5- Square foot growing area

Sides and roof lined with mylar bubble wrap (Like the stuff you line your basements with for insulation)

Plants are 4-10 Inches away from lights (depending on how big they are)

Bottom Watered

Foliar fed with bio thrive (every two to three days)


Side Note: (I did water the plants at about 30 days with the used water from my fish tank. I used this water for about 2 weeks and then went back to regular water for awhile)

Temps- 80-90 Degrees




So there you have it, this is the start to my 2012/13 season. Now to get on to the hiccups along the way…dang I forgot to mention the overwinter…I’ll get to that debacle in a minute.

Problems encountered; The plants started growing fine but as they got older, they just randomly dropping leaves (although it seems that the leaves that drop are the older leaves) Not from the bottom up or the top down, just random. Sometimes they drop when they are green, sometimes they drop after they have yellowed and some…some even just shrivel up and die on the plant..lol. This is a funky situation.

Also a lot of the plants seem to be stuck…like the plants look like they are getting older (stems getting thicker, mature leaves) but they aren’t really growing in size anymore. Now I can say that they A. Should have enough light at 3300 lumens a square foot B. Maybe they are too close or not close enough to the light.


My thoughts about the leaf drop: Possible that they are A. Getting too little of light (which shouldn’t be the case) B. They are getting burnt by hot spots from the bubble mylar or C. I have no idea…



Well, if you have any input or ideas as to why my situation is bucked up, please feel free to inform me.

Now for my overwinter; I brought in one Moruga for the winter. When I brought it in, it was thriving. New growth was popping up left and right. It was growing fast, so I asked Pepperguru what I should do. He told me I could just clip it like a bonsai tree. Well…the plant had shot a lot of branched out of the main trunk, before the split. So I cut most of those branches that had shot out, off and left all of the foliage above the first main split. After I did that, the plant didn’t do so well anymore. There really wasn’t anymore new growth and what was there although did get bigger, started to die and drop leaves. As well, the branches started to die from the top down. So I cut them back….everything started dying back more…so I cut it back more. Then one of my last (new) green branches had a dead leaf on it, so I went to pull it off and with barely any pressure, the whole branch pulled right off the plant! Hahahaha…I laughed so hard and then immediately used some cutting gel and stuck it in some soil. The pics you see below are what’s left…..ah haha, It makes me laugh so hard.

So there you have it. I know this was/is a lot to read but I wanted to be thorough lol. This way everyone’s questions are answered before they are asked and you all get an idea of where I’m at and what it took to get here.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN 2013!! Now for the pics..


SOME LEAVES THAT DROPPED

ORANGE STARBURST

CAROLINA REAPER

EXPLOSIVE EMBER

ORANGE STARBURST

BUBBLEGUM 7

INDOOR GROW

INDOOR GROW

MORUGA OVERWINTER

MORUGA CUTTING

 

[PIC 1]

3/5's in the House !
Turn the room lights down and raise the spot light please..........

Welcome back! The OW's look stout. You're going to get a big jump on the season with those.
Have fun with the seed startup........I pushed my glog past the holidays. It was tough trying to get it going, but now it's becoming a priority.
Can't wait to see another Northern Illinois grower at it in the garden.......once again.

Greg

 

[Dshlogg]

Trials and tribulations. I like your style though. Grow booth looks awesome! Good luck this year.

 

[HopsNBarley]

Very nice 3/5!
Plants are lookin good.
Hell of a head start on me. I'll be lucky to get any in the dirt this year.

 

[Jamison]

There he is! Got a good start my friend! How often have you been feeding them? Been feeding every watering or every other? I'm def gonna have a few extra plants this year man, I'll have to make it down by ya in the spring!

 

[DocNrock]

Alright, man! Those OW's looks great. You have a Carolina Reaper overwinter?

 

[3/5King]

3/5's in the House !
Turn the room lights down and raise the spot light please..........

Welcome back! The OW's look stout. You're going to get a big jump on the season with those.
Have fun with the seed startup........I pushed my glog past the holidays. It was tough trying to get it going, but now it's becoming a priority.
Can't wait to see another Northern Illinois grower at it in the garden.......once again.

Greg

LOL, Not all of those plants are overwinters, only the last two pics. The second to last pic is the Moruga OW (or what's left of it....) and the last pic is the branch that just pulled right off, so I put it in some cutting gel and planted it. The rest of the pics are of plants I started in November. They're in 1/2 Gal. Containers. Thank you though. I am excited to get back in the garden too. I'm thinking of starting (our other grow) towards the end of February this time as we ran out of room last time and all of the plants got super root bound. Hope your season is a huge success! Oh and I know what you mean...it took everything I had to get me to finally start this one!

Trials and tribulations. I like your style though. Grow booth looks awesome! Good luck this year.

Thanks Dshlogg, stop in whenever and you're sure to see something ridiculous going on.

Very nice 3/5!
Plants are lookin good.
Hell of a head start on me. I'll be lucky to get any in the dirt this year.

HnB! Love...love the AVATAR. Good stuff. Man, don't say that. You gotta get one in the ground! Even if you just sprinkle some Early Jap. seeds on the ground and let them do what they do...lol.

There he is! Got a good start my friend! How often have you been feeding them? Been feeding every watering or every other? I'm def gonna have a few extra plants this year man, I'll have to make it down by ya in the spring!

Thanks Jamie-Son! When I first started the seeds, it was just water for about the first month. After that I had a gallon of fish tank water that I watered with. Then I went back to water until about 8 days ago, I got some Bio-Thrive by General Organics and I've feed once with that and made up a foliar spray out of it. Just watered again today with regular water. I fed the first time to see if it would help them out, it didn't seem to do that much, so I didn't want to overload them. I'm thinking of lowering the plants from the light, if that doesn't work, I will raise them up closer...if that doesn't work...I'm lol. Oh well, live and learn. Ill get it right one of these times. Come on down Bro, always welcome.

Alright, man! Those OW's looks great. You have a Carolina Reaper overwinter?

DnR, what's up buddy? The only ones that are from the OW are the last two pics. The first 8 pics are from seeds I started in November. (Including the CR)

 

[scratchzilla]

How do you have a Reaper old enough to OW? I'm confused.

All joking aside, you're looking good my duke. Good luck with your grow.

 

[Mezo]

Im in Dave.

Mezo.

 

[PIC 1]

Ok................I see what you mean with thy overwinter............I must have saw an "s" after the OW..............That dam "Evelyn Wood Speed Reading' class I took 35 yrs ago........lol


I just flashed back to your last years glog. I can't beleive the sheet I wrote and the stuff I missed the few occasions I was out of town. Man you must have burned the camera out. That's what I'm hoping to do this season...Take more photos. I'm looking forwrd to track this glog as it moves.....later

Well it's time to catch a few zzzzz.................

 

[hotty brown]

Hi 3/5,
I've seen those same problems, here is how I rectified them:

Looks like all are nutrient deficient. N deficiency: stunted growth and shorter internodes, with small pale yellow leaves and light green color.
Phosphorus (P) Red or purplish color (anthocyanin pigment) in leaves, especially undersides. Lower stems purplish, stunting and delayed maturity, loss of lower leaves and no flowering.
Potassium (K) Bronzing and dying of leaf margins, spotting, chlorotic and brown spots throughout leaf, wilting, stunted internodes.
Calcium (Ca) Newest leaves hooked, Inhibition of bud growth, Terminal buds die, New leaves are yellow, older leaves dark green, cupping of mature leaves.
Magnesium (Mg): Mottled yellowing between veins of older leaves while veins remain green. yellow areas may turn brown and die. Leaves may turn reddish purple due to low P metabolism.
Sulfur (S): General yellowing of whole plant, young leaves first. Stunted growth. light green color.
Manganese (Mn): Yellow to white colored leaves with green veins. Gray spec symptoms.
Iron (Fe) Yellow and white young leaves and twig dieback.
Boron (B): Young leaves light green and distorted.
Molybdenum (Mo): Narrow leaves with interveinal yellowing on older leaves. Twisted leaves (whiptail).
Zinc (Zn): Distorted or puckered leaf margins. "little leaf syndrom".
Copper (CU): Twisted stems and leaves and severe curling.
Maybe that can help you to get the right nuts going.

 

[WalkGood]

Super looking OWs, cool list and great start, looking good for 2013 ... mucho luck in 13 ^_^

 

[DocNrock]

Ah, OK. They all look big enough to be OW's! Keep it up, man! Will be happy to follow this one along!

 

[Pr0digal_son]

Your g-list may be getting cluttered sometime next week. Have fun doing the "shuffle" like I have been. I may just put on a blindfold and start picking.

 

[wildseed57]

Good start with the OW's even though they are a bit rough looking a few nutrients will help them look better. My OW's are just barely holding on, and it looks like I may miss my starting point, just need to get some cash together. I wish the weather would warm up so at least I could get out in the fresh air, but still to cold to do much.

 

[Stefan_W]

Nice to see you back, I am looking forward to seeing how things move along over the year.

Your overwinters definitely look a lot better than mine did at the start.

 

[3/5King]

Alright, for all of those that did not pay attention.....lol. The top Pictures are of plants that I started from seed on Nov. 17, 2012 The last two pics are of my overwinter and a branch that pulled off, so I figured I would try and clone it.



Now for the real OW's......After the superbowl, my buddy and I went out to the shed as we needed to take some measurements for a watering pan we are having made. I haven't been out there to check on the 11 OW's we have for at least two weeks. Well, SURPRISE SURPRISE....we have aphids.

I reeeeeally thought I was never going to get aphids....I know, I know, who the fluck do I think I am? Right? Thinking I'm above aphids....lol. Well, I didn't take a total inventory of how many of the plants were infested but the two upfront, I noticed first. One of our Ancient Sweets was the mother plant, it was LOADED with eggs. Not too many aphids but the eggs were everywhere. So I just chopped the main top right off, which contained about 90% of the aphids and eggs on that plant. The other plant that was next to it (touching it) was infested too. Not as bad, but second worst to all the rest. So I pulled these two away from the rest of the plants for now.

I need some suggestions as for the best way to get rid of these buggers in the winter. I know in the summer, you can keep spraying them off and squashing them daily, until they are gone but that doesn't work so much indoors. GREG, I know you got me on this. I'm pretty sure (although I don't remember where) I just saw a comment you posted about how to do this. ANYONE is more than welcome to chime in though as this is the first time I've ever had to deal with these bastards.

You know.....we have some yellow jackets, Asian beetles and box elders living among the plants, could they be the cause? I thought they would be good to defend the plants....well guys YOU'RE DOING A LOUSY JOB!

In any case, I plan on taking the advice all of you great folks give and putting it into action tomorrow night...as I know there's no time to waste and I don't want to start new plants around OW's that are even slightly infested.

Here's some pics of the OW's and one of the branch that had all of the eggs/aphids on it. I'll have to do a thorough check tomorrow night to see just how many actually have aphids on them. I pulled the other ones away from the main group for now.

 

[3/5King]

Hotty Brown-Thank you for the list, I'm sure it will come in handy.

Thanks Walkgood!

P-Son- Oh no....what did you do.....haha I look forward to "The Dance"

DnR, your Glog is blowing up! I'll be following yours as long as I can keep up...

Wildseed57- yes, it's cold and money is tight...but the ground hog didnt see its shadow so looks like we're in for an early spring! Haha

Thanks for stopping in Stefan! I'll be sure to keep up to date on your grow as well. Hope nothing but the best for you and yours in 2013.



Going to have to do some Aphid research.....blegh, I really don't feel like dealing with them. Oh well...it's a PITA but such is life and I'm not going to let these plants down. Gotta do whatcha can for the clan. "Nobody puts Baby in a corner!".....

I'll update on the infestation as I try and end their sucubus lives.

 

[Beehunter]

Good luck! yea i kept three for the overwinters. got the aphid bad. the plants lost the battle.... Hope you have better luck!

 

[DocNrock]

I tried this for aphids: http://www.saferbrand.com/store/garden-care/5102

It worked, but it also seemed to be quite toxic to the growing tips of the plants.