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A little advice needed, please.

staffing

staffing

Hi, all.

I've grown small plots of habs of various varieties through the years at home. As I am in med school now, that will not be possible (until late May, when I'm done for the year).

As such, I have secured some Naga seeds (Thanks, Pepp3rFreak!!). My plan is to grow several plants in my dorm room. I have a decent grow light, and this week (or next) I plan to start a few seeds of each varietal.

These are newbie questions, so bear with me. First of all, is there anything I can do to the seeds prior to planting (darkness, refrigeration, etc) recommended that will boost the number that sprout?

Second, is there a recommended # of hours per day of frow lights that is a good starting point for the plants? Better yet, is there a timeline/hours of light per day that is recommended?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Josh
 
Warm temps will help to germinate more seeds quickly. Heat from underneath is best but not necessary. Constant moisture and a lack of peat based growing medium have worked well for me.

They do not need light until they have sprouted, but then, just about the more the better. I have heard of growers going as low as 4 hours of darkness with 20 hours on for good growth. That makes it hard to sleep though.
 
cheezydemon said:
Warm temps will help to germinate more seeds quickly. Heat from underneath is best but not necessary. Constant moisture and a lack of peat based growing medium have worked well for me.

They do not need light until they have sprouted, but then, just about the more the better. I have heard of growers going as low as 4 hours of darkness with 20 hours on for good growth. That makes it hard to sleep though.
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My concern with giving them too much light is that they will grow too tall too quickly. I'd rather have bushy plants, since they will be in a dorm room.

Once the end of May comes around, I'll plant them in the ground at home.
 
16 hours of light or more is best and there isn't much you can do for your seeds except if you want to soak them which I never do. Everyone has there own theories but just keep things simple and you'll do OK. Just make sure not to overfertilize, #1 problem. BTW peat works great(with amendements) but isn't renewable.
Good luck.
 
staffing said:
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My concern with giving them too much light is that they will grow too tall too quickly. I'd rather have bushy plants, since they will be in a dorm room.
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More light won't make them any taller than nature intended for them too be. Not enough light can make them spindly and leggy, though. Give them a firm shaking a couple of times a day to increase whatever plant hormone it is that makes stems thick.
 
Hi good luck with your growing. Over the years I have used a simple heater to keep a small room at 30c for germination and then light on a 18 on and 6 off rotation, this is optimum. What is important is that plants need their rest as much as their light. Keep slight ventilation and when they get a little bigger (seedling size) you can grab a humidifier from the chemist to help with moisture often small heaters will dry the air too much. All of this sounds like a hastle, but it really isnt. I have had great success with this cheap set up. Also once the seedlings are nearly at flowering stage put them on a 12/12 rotation with the correct flowering bulb. Have fun!

Scorpion "hot in hot out"
 
What will assist with your tall plant issue is for you to get some reflective panels or on the cheap, alfoil. Place that on all sides of your plant. This will obviously direct light in all directions instead of just from the top. This will solve your tall plant issue. Also if they are to tall and they are strong little plants snip the centre out a little.:hell:

Scorpion:onfire:
 
I don't believe 24 hours of light will have any negative effect on chiles except hydro costs. Twelve hours of darkness is for Pot not for chiles, they are day-neutral and this won't help as far as I know.
 
Thanks for the help, all. As I am in a dorm (and utilities are included) I have no problem running the lights for 18 hours.
 
future indoor light

Check out this 14watt led light array growing a Tiny Tim tomato in a bubbler system:
http://www.greenpinelane.com/homegrownlights_test.aspx

By purchasing a few extra blue led lights you will shorten the internode length on your pepper plant and increase leaf production.

It is new and works. As time goes on they will add a few more led wavelengths as their particular effects and how they work together is realized through mostly dorm and indoor growers reporting their results online :)

If you are using fluorescents use one Actinic type as it peaks in the blue wavelengths.
There are two chlorophyll peaks in this area, some cartenoid production and the light frequency is that of early season which signals the plants about stem, leaf and seasonal issues.
 
No I have been independently researching LED lights.
Checking the you tube videoos on 'led grow' and google searching.
LED wholesalers dot com has some panels and 2 or 3 are selling them on ebay.
They seem to work well as is but for eating or getting the heat from the pepper increasing the spectrum in various areas seems intuitive.

The Ebay pages on 'led grow' show the curves of plant response.
I have a bunch of LED research posted here on the spectrums:
http://216.120.226.209/~abcscra/index.php?smit=250&mid=1507#1507
too please post any comments here as that site is just a temporary note pad.

The spectrum research is because we dont care how fast it grows if it is making a fake pepper that is not hot. So to keep that side happy people are working feverishly.

What I'd like to see is us trading and talking about these peppers and breeding them very specifically. Even by cutting a little piece off and sending it in the mail you can save someone 2-3 months of waiting and they may be a super pepper guy with many ideas and passions up their sleeve.

The LEDs and Flourescents attached in the lid of a box will keep our peppers growing through the winter.
 
Nute:

Do you know if the light spectrum a pepper plant sees has anything to do with the different type capsaicinoids the plant produces? For instance would a light high in the blue spectrum cause the plant to produce more nordihydrocapsaicin (just an example)?
 
It is proven to make a difference in what the plant produces but I do not know.
The neat thing is it is easily testable with a two cuttings and two different LED setups and some salsa.
 
staffing said:
and utilities are included
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I have no good advice, but since the utilities are included & it seems like 24/7 light dont hurt chiles & if the light dont bother you. then I say leave the lights on 24/7 & grow some really nice plants, hey you're not paying the electric bill :lol:
 
I am sorry but I just do not follow the 24/7 thing with the lights. Are these just seedlings that you are going to put out in the spring? Last year I planted my seeds somewhere around the end of Feb. They grew almost to tall for my set up by the time I put them out in the garden with lights on 12/12. How tall do you want your plants before you set them out? Has anyone done any experimenting with the duration of lights on and off in relation to the size of the plants?

Dale
 
thepodpiper said:
I am sorry but I just do not follow the 24/7 thing with the lights. Are these just seedlings that you are going to put out in the spring? Last year I planted my seeds somewhere around the end of Feb. They grew almost to tall for my set up by the time I put them out in the garden with lights on 12/12. How tall do you want your plants before you set them out? Has anyone done any experimenting with the duration of lights on and off in relation to the size of the plants?
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I'm with you, Dale. I don't do 24/7 lights on my plants, and I haven't started any peppers but the Nagas. There is a pretty large what I call "hot rod" component in this community. You know BiggerBetterFasterHotterVroomVroomVroom!! They're pimping out their grow rooms like some guys pimp out their rides.

I'll start the bulk of my peppers at the end of January or first part of February so that I can start moving them outside to harden off in mid-March. Easter is our traditional plant out date, and the soil doesn't really warm up until mid to late March, so not much is gained by trying to get them out earlier except a lot of work repotting seedlings as they out grow their pots.
 
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