Aussie280's first season grow log

Hi guys,

I thought I'd share with you a diary of my first years attempt of growing from seed.

I am a complete novice and started 3 weeks ago with sowing some seeds directly into top soil and others in jiffy pellets. This included

Serrano
Bhut Jolokia
Chocolate Habanero
Tabasco
Numex Twilight
Cilegia Picante
Fatalli
Hot Lemon Chilli
Aji Amarillo
Bishops Crown
Birds eye baby

Along came a lovely Melbourne storm which pick up my temp greenhouse and moved it a meter or so. The result was my seed trays went flying.

I sifted through the remains and replanted what seeds I found. JR also came to the rescue and sent a few more seeds to me. What a great guy !!


Anyway the Melbourne weather although spring has been unpredictable with cold and windy weather so I quickly made up a hot box with t8 grow lights and a small heat pad which is normally used to keep lizard's warm to see if that would work.

I keep the light on from 6am to 9pm and the heat pad on all the time. This is covered up by an old towel to keep the heat in the box. This seems to work really well.

Pics below shows my first attempt of a heat / light box.

Light box by aussie280, on Flickr

This shows the seeds that are germinating so far.

Mixture of chili seeds germinating by aussie280, on Flickr

Due to the replanting of the seeds there are many that are no longer labeled. Does anyone know what this chilli seedling is? The leaves seem to cross over..its very different from the others. germinating.

What type of chilli is this seedling? by aussie280, on Flickr

So this is it at the moment. My seedlings are about 3 days old. I have another tray of seeds that I'm waiting to see if they germinate too..fingers x.

Things I've learned so far.
* Secure your greenhouse properly
* Use jiffy pellets to start seeds...its real easy.
* In Melbourne climate you really need a heat mat and grow light for seeds to germinate quickly.

P.S. if someone can tell me how to show the images in the post rather then the link I would be grateful.

Regards

Kev

 

[MiLK_MaN]

Where in Melbourne are you dude?

 

[aussie280]

Where in Melbourne are you dude?

I'm in Croydon and you?

 

[gasificada]

Looking good, Kev, except... get them babies closer to the light! They're really stretching for it!

Aim to keep the stems as short and stocky as possible or your plants are going to end up too tall and leggy which will cause them to be less resilient to weather beatings and they won't be able to support a large number of pods.

As light is not actually required for germination, it's a better idea to keep your grow light separate from your germination box thus allowing you to be able to get your seedlings much closer to it. As soon as you see a hook (i.e. the seedling breaking the surface) it pretty much means your box has done it's job and you're good to get it out and under the light. Around 2cm under is usually a good distance - close enough so the seedling doesn't stretch too hard but not so close that it will get burnt by the light (just keep a good eye on everything - you'll always get suicidal seedlings that will want to grow straight into the light). I would also probably cycle the light on for a longer period too - say, 20hrs on, 4hrs off - as the "light off" period encourages stretching too.

As for identification of a chilli variety, unfortunately there is no way to tell until the plant starts producing. The species of the plant should become recognizable once the true leaves start growing, but yeah, there's no way to tell the variety without pods, sorry.

EDIT:

When it comes time to pot up, bury the tall kids up to around a centimeter under the cotyledons (baby leaves) and you should be right. The buried part of the stem will start growing roots and you'll cut some of the height of the stem. First things first though, I'd definitely be getting them closer to the light ASAP!

Example of a good stem:

 

[aussie280]

Thanks for the growing tips...although I have just read your post.

I will plant them lower in the dirt when I re pot over the weekend. I've make a few mistakes and two seedlings have died but overall the thrill of watching the chilli babies grow is worth it.

I'm also trying the paper towel in plastic bags trick a go to germinate my seeds. I am finding this a faster process then the jiffy pots I must say. This is after the pre-soak in the Chamomile tea as many do. Nearly all seeds have sprouted a root after 4 days. Next season I will use this method only.

Pics of the re pot will follow on the weekend.

 

[megamoo]

Good luck with the grow Kev

Don't let it get you down when a few die too. It always happens and sometimes for no apparent reason. Survival of the fittest.


There should be an image code on flikr for each picture (I use photobucket so I don't know exactly) it is just the link to the picture, inside two tags.

[ I M G ] your link [ / I M G ] it will look like that but no spaces

I just tried your link but It won't work for some reason but thats how photobucket works.. thought I had it all sussed then

one of mine
There should be instructions on flikr on how to do it.

Keep the photos coming

 

[aussie280]

Cheers for the photo fix...I've posted url's and hey presto photos are now included in post.

Photos of re pots tomorrow.

 

[Sownseeds]

Hi mate , out of all the seeds i just germinated the ones that the two leaves crossed over like that was the tabasco, were did you get yout seeds from?
I got my seeds from thsc.

 

[aussie280]

Hi guys

A collection of photos below taken this morning of my progress so far.

In addition to my home grown seedlings I also picked up some red cayenne and orange habanero seedlings from bunnings 2 weeks ago. After re-potting them they still look lush and healthy. I'm being careful not to over water. 80ml of half strength liquid fertilizer once a week. Pots I'm using are similar to the Slurpee containers but shorter.


2011-10-15 14.10.59 by aussie280, Red Cayenne peppers


2011-10-15 14.10.38 by aussie280, Orange Habanero peppers


2011-10-15 14.10.06 by aussie280, various unknown variety


2011-10-15 14.11.07 by aussie280, Red Cayenne (bigger plant) and unknown variety


2011-10-15 14.11.22 by aussie280, mixture of seedlings in jiffy pellets. These have gone stringy so will re-pot lower in the dirt next weekend.


2011-10-15 14.12.22 by aussie280,

Look closely..2 chilli seedlings growing directly in vegi patch from last season's adult plants..now re-potted in greenhouse.

 

[gasificada]

Coming along nicely, mate!

Volunteers are always awesome.

Oh and I think you'll find your "various unknown variety" isn't a chilli at all.

Did you sow anything else besides chillies?

 

[gasificada]

2011-10-15 14.11.22 by aussie280, mixture of seedlings in jiffy pellets. These have gone stringy so will re-pot lower in the dirt next weekend.

I dunno, maybe it's the angle or something but they don't look as bad as your first lot.

You've actually done A LOT better than I did on my first season....

(I think that might be why I'm so finicky about the whole height thing!)



Sometimes a little bit of height is unavoidable too. You will always get the odd seedling that just wants to grow regardless of how close they are to the light. Crazy little suicidal buggers!