BeagleStorm vs 2011 - My Chile Grow Log

NorTexChiliJs · Feb 25, 2011

Ya, you'll have more than 20-30 plants this fall for sure.... and then you will feel the curse of the harvest-beast.. Picking pile-o-peppers after pile-o-peppers!!! :onfire:

Sorry to hear you are having a tough time this year...I am too.

If you look at some of the "big guys" here on the forum, you may see that it isn't just us...

Keep notes...that is the best way to re-live the season!!

Good Luck and Happy Growing!!

chileaddict · Feb 25, 2011

Keep plodding along and you will do great. I am also having some of the same problems and have lots to learn. I am confused how the same tray of seedlings can have such a mix of great growing starts and duds side by side, even though they are experiencing the same growing conditions. They all looked the same as babies and 2 weeks later, some wither away and some take off. I am also learning to plant at least 50% more than I really intend on growing and only the strong will survive. I was wondering how your grow was coming along Beag. Thanks for updating.

patrick · Feb 25, 2011

Hey Michael,

Man don't get depressed over a few losses, we all have them trust me. The survivors look good and will no doubt produce plenty of heat for you. Now that you have a break from work how about you try a little harder to keep this thread updated? Pictures too. :lol:

cmpman1974 · Feb 25, 2011

Be thankful you're not playing with the last seed of a rare variety from a person you know you'll never run across again.

I've played those odds many of times. Stressful! I've got a high success rate though fortunately.

Chris

midwestchilehead · Feb 26, 2011

Cut 4 sections of 2" pvc pipe about 2 feet long. Slide them onto your table legs. Presto, instant higher table.

Beaglestorm said:
Next year I need a higher table to work on; my back was killing me after the third tray.

buddy · Feb 26, 2011

Beagle - your plants seem to be coming along. I'm sure that you'll have more than enough this year. Your seedlings look much better than mine. I'm not even going to waste the time of posting mine - tried transplanting some yesterday so maybe they will kick in. Good luck with your grow.

Beaglestorm · Feb 27, 2011

NorTexChiliJs said:
Ya, you'll have more than 20-30 plants this fall for sure.... and then you will feel the curse of the harvest-beast.. Picking pile-o-peppers after pile-o-peppers!!!

Sorry to hear you are having a tough time this year...I am too. If you look at some of the "big guys" here on the forum, you may see that it isn't just us...

Keep notes...that is the best way to re-live the season!!

Good Luck and Happy Growing!!

Thanks NorTex, taking notes like crazy... I hope growing in the ground is easier than in containers. Last years 50 containers were not kind to me. LOL One thing I have learned from re-reading my notes... The seedlings I rescued with stuck caps are doing great. Probably about 85% success rate. They look as good as the normal ones. Next year I won’t hesitate to do some surgery if necessary.

chileaddict said:
Keep plodding along and you will do great. I am also having some of the same problems and have lots to learn. I am confused how the same tray of seedlings can have such a mix of great growing starts and duds side by side, even though they are experiencing the same growing conditions. They all looked the same as babies and 2 weeks later, some wither away and some take off. I am also learning to plant at least 50% more than I really intend on growing and only the strong will survive. I was wondering how your grow was coming along Beag. Thanks for updating.

Yea in my case the center was drying out much faster than the edges so they did better. Going to start potting up in a few hours once the kids take a nap. I planted 50% more than I needed but I figured it would be for lack of germination... not me murdering the seedlings. Hahahah Good Luck this season CA.

patrick said:
Hey Michael,

Man don't get depressed over a few losses, we all have them trust me. The survivors look good and will no doubt produce plenty of heat for you. Now that you have a break from work how about you try a little harder to keep this thread updated? Pictures too.

Yea... all kidding aside I really have no excuse ... I set up my phone to upload directly to photobucket so posting pictures now is really easy. Photos are not a good but there should definitely be more updates. Oh, although I did just slice open my middle finger with a sharp knife. Should make my transplanting later today interesting getting fish and seaweed in my open wound. LOL

cmpman1974 said:
Be thankful you're not playing with the last seed of a rare variety from a person you know you'll never run across again. I've played those odds many of times. Stressful! I've got a high success rate though fortunately.
Chris

That is definetely stress I do not need at this point. Note to self... let Chris resurect chile species on the brink of extinction then remember to beg him for seed the following year. LOL

midwestchilehead said:
Cut 4 sections of 2" pvc pipe about 2 feet long. Slide them onto your table legs. Presto, instant higher table.

Thanks MWC, I hope by next year that I have a tall workbench in the garage to use instead of a makeshift table in the kitchen. LOL

buddy said:
Beagle - your plants seem to be coming along. I'm sure that you'll have more than enough this year. Your seedlings look much better than mine. I'm not even going to waste the time of posting mine - tried transplanting some yesterday so maybe they will kick in. Good luck with your grow.

Thanks Buddy. It's taken 3 hours to finish this post. kids just fell asleep... I'm going transplanting. I hope it gets things jump started for ya.

Beaglestorm · Feb 28, 2011

Transplanted 76 plants last night.... Finished the tray of 7’s and my Habanero / Scotch Bonnets. All I have left for tonight is a tray of 46 Scorpions. I was saving them for last so I could learn the best method for unplugging the trays and doing the actual transplants. Could not bring myself to cull some of the extra Habs, Bonnets and CGN 21500’s so I am going to have more plants than my light box can hold. I’m going to have about 10 extra pots with no place to put them. I think I will take them to my office and put them in a sunny southern facing window with a desk light on them at night. Just to see what happens.

I am still having a hard time getting the plugs out of the plug trays. The Hoffman’s seed started is so light and fluffy that it just falls apart of you use a pencil to push it up from the bottom. I had to resort to using scissors and cutting the bottoms of every plug so my finger could fit and push up the plug. Even doing that, sometimes the plug falls apart. Cutting out the individual plug and turning it upside down works well but is too time consuming to do as the plastic is pretty tough to cut.

Watering is starting to be a pain… bottom watering the plug trays was easy. Bottom watering these 28 capacity trays with 3x3x5.5 pots is going to be a chore! They are so heavy to move. I need to find a tray the fits them tight as I have no room for anything bigger like I used for my plug trays. Also have been using bottled water up to this point but that is getting to be taxing as well. Going to start using tap water that has sat out over night to get the chlorine evaporated for every other watering.

With about 5 weeks before I need to plant outside, I think I still have plenty of time to get them big enough to go into the garden.

Here are some photos:

Test fitting the 128 3x3x5.5 pots in my 24”x48” shelving.

76 transplants done. 7’s in the front tray, Habs / Bonnets’s in the back and right trays, Scorpions far right.

muskymojo · Feb 28, 2011

I think you'll see rapid growth from the potting up and the ferts. You should have good sized plants by the time they go into the garden.

NorTexChiliJs · Feb 28, 2011

Looking TIGHT Beaglestorm. That is about a perfect fit on those shelves!! :cool:

I'm glad you are having luck with the "seedling surgery"! Thanks again for the great demo.

I have SIMILAR seed trays. Yours may be more "beefy". That could be great to help last from season to season!!! But may make the procedure for removal different..

If you notice the walls of the cells in your trays are rigid... mine are totally smooth from top to bottom, but maybe my procedure can help....not sure since the walls are rigid. I have to place all the fingers from one hand on the cell where it meets the top flat surface..then I give a slight squeeze and rotate my fingers around the cell from top to bottom..this is where smooth cells may be easier..I am able to watch from the top of the tray as I rotate my fingers and I can see the soil loosen from the walls of the cell...it makes a slight gap between the soil and the cell wall. Turn the cell upside down into the other hand with your fingers around the stem. It "should" fall right out!!

Good luck with the transplants!! Too many plants for the grow area is the goal, RIGHT!!! Job well done!! :dance:

I know I've said it before, but NICE list!!!! I hope to have more variety next year...

Happy Growing!!

Beaglestorm · Mar 1, 2011

Ahhhhhhh.... All 136 transplants are done. Now I can relax for a few weeks and watch some plants grow. You can see the 8 extra plants I had no room for on the left. I still have not decided what to do with them... looking at my office, I really have no place for them.

Transplanting the Scorpions was much easier than the others... They grew the best out of all my plug trays and were actually closer to the correct size to be transplanting in to the 3x3 pots. The root system held the plug together much better than the other trays and were much easier to remove and work with.

Here is a detail of the AISPES Pimenta Tiger's. They look a bit leggy, they were up first and have been the fastest and best growers out of all the plants. I should have planted them deeper when I transplanted them but for some reason I forgot to do it at the time. (2:30 AM LOL)

The other plants that are growing very fast and strong are AjiJoes's Scorpalokia's, Habalokia's, and Scorpanero's.

Oh and one last important question... If I put those 8 extra plants in a sunny window (Low E Glass, late afternoon direct sunlight till sunset... maybe 2-3 hours of direct light through the glass) do I need to harden the seedlings first? Does the glass filter out enough of the suns rays to avoid having to do the slow break-in?

chileaddict · Mar 1, 2011

Beag., I think you should put your extra plants on a window sill and keep them as reserves to fill in if any of your others fail. It is practically spring where you live now and the extras should get plenty of sun by a window. I'm even thinking they might do better this next month than the ones under the lights because of all that Southwest USA sunshine. Maybe worth a try?

Beaglestorm · Mar 1, 2011

chileaddict said:
Beag., I think you should put your extra plants on a window sill and keep them as reserves to fill in if any of your others fail. It is practically spring where you live now and the extras should get plenty of sun by a window. I'm even thinking they might do better this next month than the ones under the lights because of all that Southwest USA sunshine. Maybe worth a try?

I edited my last post ... so you may not have seen my question... do you think I need to harden the plants before I put them in the window or will the Low-E Glass filter out enough of the rays that I can just put them in the window cold turkey? Oh and the only thing holding me back from getting excited about spring is that I am at 4400 feet in elevation. It is going to be 80 degrees during the day this week but it is also still going to cool off into the mid 30's at night.

chileaddict · Mar 1, 2011

I have put mine out by the window on sunny days quite often and have never had a bad reaction. Mine get the sun but not the heat. The house only heats up to 70 at most when the sun is out and the shades are all up (during the winter that is).

Silver_Surfer · Mar 1, 2011

Plants look great under those lights. They should start growing quickly now.

I don't think the youngsters will require any hardening by a window that only receives a few hours of late afternoon sun and no wind.

That's quite a temp swing. Good luck!

franzb69 · Mar 2, 2011

awesome pix beaglestorm! =D great results....been having troubles with germination myself.

Beaglestorm · Mar 4, 2011

muskymojo said:
I think you'll see rapid growth from the potting up and the ferts. You should have good sized plants by the time they go into the garden.

Thanks MuskyMojo I hope so. All I want is for them to be bigger than the ones I got from CCN last year. If not... what am I wasting my time for.. LOL

NorTexChiliJs said:
Looking TIGHT Beaglestorm. That is about a perfect fit on those shelves!!

I'm glad you are having luck with the "seedling surgery"! Thanks again for the great demo.

I have SIMILAR seed trays. Yours may be more "beefy". That could be great to help last from season to season!!! But may make the procedure for removal different..

If you notice the walls of the cells in your trays are rigid... mine are totally smooth from top to bottom, but maybe my procedure can help....not sure since the walls are rigid. I have to place all the fingers from one hand on the cell where it meets the top flat surface..then I give a slight squeeze and rotate my fingers around the cell from top to bottom..this is where smooth cells may be easier..I am able to watch from the top of the tray as I rotate my fingers and I can see the soil loosen from the walls of the cell...it makes a slight gap between the soil and the cell wall. Turn the cell upside down into the other hand with your fingers around the stem. It "should" fall right out!!

Good luck with the transplants!! Too many plants for the grow area is the goal, RIGHT!!! Job well done!!

I know I've said it before, but NICE list!!!! I hope to have more variety next year...

Happy Growing!!

HI NorTex... My last try of plugs was a lot easier wit the good root system holding everything together. I think a pencil would have worked but I cut the bottoms anyway. Next year I am waiting longer before transplanting.. I just got a little impatient as a first time grower. Funny about the variety.. next year I hope to have LESS varieties. Not sure it will happen but I would like to have 10-15 chile varieties I really like and just grow 4 or 5 of each. However the little voice in my head probably will keep my growing tons of varieties for a few more years until I feel like I have tried a good majority of the hot chiles out there.

Silver_Surfer said:
Plants look great under those lights. They should start growing quickly now.

I don't think the youngsters will require any hardening by a window that only receives a few hours of late afternoon sun and no wind.

That's quite a temp swing. Good luck!

Thanks SS - Now I have my 4 year old moving the 9 plants for me everyday while I'm at work. They stay next to the T5 lights during the day then in the afternoon he moves them onto the window sill for me. He loves to help. LOL

franzb69 said:
awesome pix beaglestorm! =D great results....been having troubles with germination myself.

Thanks Franz... Good to hear from you. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the supertyphoons stay away from you this year!

Beaglestorm · Mar 4, 2011

How important is reflected light when your using 8 T5 bulbs (40,000 Lumens) over 8 Square Feet. The Mylar surrounding my shelving is retaining too much heat from the lights. I came in day before yesterday and it was 90 degrees at plant level. I removed the Mylar from all the sides except the back and it improved but is still around 85. If I really need to keep the Mylar for the reflected light, my options are to raise the lights, or keep a box fan on 24/7 pointed at the plants. Right now the lights are at about 9 inches above the plants. They seem ok with the heat so far, but it is only going to get hotter as the weeks go on. I would rather just leave the Mylar off if I am getting enough light from the bulbs by themselves.

Grow Shelving With Mylar Taken Off

Silver_Surfer · Mar 4, 2011

I'm sure your plants are getting plenty of light w/o the mylar, but running the fan surely doesn't hurt them either.

Beaglestorm · Mar 4, 2011

Silver_Surfer said:
I'm sure your plants are getting plenty of light w/o the mylar, but running the fan surely doesn't hurt them either.

Thanks, OK Mylar off. I still use the fan for a few hours every day when I get home. I just would rather not leave it on 24/7 as I did that with some seedlings by accident and they dried up crispy. LOL