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BeagleStorm vs 2011 - My Chile Grow Log

Ok first up is some photos of my over wintered plants. Scorpion, Naga Morich, Chocolate Bhut, and 2 x Harold St. Barts. More of an experiment... I have never tried to over winter plants before. Did not super prune the plants or the root balls. I just left them in their pots out in the semi-cold during early November and most of the leaves started falling off. Then I did a minimal prune to remove any remaining leaves and to clean them up a bit. Gave them a cup of water each and threw them in my parent’s garage. I gave them a second cup of water last weekend. They seem to be doing great. One plant had what seemed to be a few Aphids so I sprayed it with Organocide but they have been bug free for the last month. I want to keep them in pots, so I think I will need to transplant them into fresh soil and maybe bigger pots this spring. Just not sure how I am going to do it or what process I am going to use. I do know that I am going to keep them at my parents so they do not pass any nasty critters to my seedlings before spring comes. Any recommendations?

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Drip irrigation is in. I just need to finish adding the emitters and throw a coat of paint on the outside of the beds. I plan on putting pea gravel outside the beds on the ground to hold the dirt down. They have grey, tan and red. I wonder if the red gravel would help reflect red light like that red mulching fabric they sell to enhance fruiting. Most likely, I am thinking of painting the beds blue and using grey or tan gravel.

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Wow your plants look really healthy and absolutely beautiful Beaglestorm :-)

And those beds are looking good as well.....
 
Looks like some quality construction and low-maintenance watering. And blue beds with grey or tan gravel sounds cool. I'm jealous. Congrats!
 
Very cool. I can't wait to see the finished product. When is plant out for you?
I still can't get over the fact that you are using I-beams for your raised beds. That is great.
 
Those are really healthy plants and those raised bed are just too cool. Cannot wait to see them planted with plants and producing a bunch of peppers later this year. Here's to wishing you many a bountiful harvests Michael. :beer:
 
JSNI said:
Wow your plants look really healthy and absolutely beautiful Beaglestorm :-)

And those beds are looking good as well.....
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Thanks JSNI, glad to have finally found a hobby the whole family can participate in. The beds will let even the kids have some fun.

midwestchilehead said:
Looks like some quality construction and low-maintenance watering. And blue beds with grey or tan gravel sounds cool. I'm jealous. Congrats!
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Thanks MWCH, I hope to have them finishd by Friday. I still need to test my tap water. I am worried it is going to be way off on PH. My babies have been getting RO water up to this point.

Alphaeon said:
Suuuweeeet setup :dance:
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Thanks Alpha, I'm watching you grow thread with excitement. I did it the same as you (even the box fan), except I did not start giving them ferts till 7 weeks. Watching yours to see what would have happened to mine if I had started earlier. . Although if you look at my next post it is probably better that I waited to give ferts. LOL Oh by the way, I am jealous of your St. Barts... My 2 over wintered ones died in a hard freeze.

Josh said:
Very cool. I can't wait to see the finished product. When is plant out for you?
I still can't get over the fact that you are using I-beams for your raised beds. That is great.
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I want it to be next weekend, as you will see I am out of room. If I can get the hoops on I will risk it even with the high 40's we are having at night. My only concern withthe I-Beams is if we have a 110 degree day this summer .. will the steel heat up to 150 and cook the roots? I will have to leave the water on those days (or repaint them silver) if that happens.

Pepper Ridge Farm said:
Those are really healthy plants and those raised bed are just too cool. Cannot wait to see them planted with plants and producing a bunch of peppers later this year. Here's to wishing you many a bountiful harvests Michael. :beer:
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Thanks PRF! When I saw the raw steel I thought it could look cool... or end up looking really tacky... Luckily I am happy the way it turned out. Excited to see it finished and painted. I am keeping my fingers crossed for a reasonable summer. Last year was 100+ almost every day in June.
 
Here is what happens when you start your seeds early indoors for the first time and don't research enough before you start. You think 216 seedlings, half will probably never germinate and another half will probably die before they get to be transplanted and the 54 remaining will stay nice a small and manageable till I am ready to plant out. Then Murphy steps in and sends the genesis wave through your home and you end up with this:

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I don't want to even suggest that I am complaining. (My wife is doing that! LOL) This is a good problem to have. I just wished I had planned it out better and it would have been a lot more enjoyable at this point.

Oh by the way to put it in perspective... that thick piece of blue foam on the left side of the first picture is the amount space I have been using up to this point and what my T5 light can cover. It is also the amount of space I thought I could use till plant out.
 
Here are a few detail pictures of some of my favorites:

White Habalokia (Top and Side View) - These grow very symmetric and are some of the strongest & fastest growing varieties I have.
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Brown 7 (Top and Side View) - These are much shorter but more bushy with much larger leaves.
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Chocolate Habalokia - Check out this mutant Tri-branched plant. Is this a trait that could be carried into the next generation if I save the seed from this one?
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Savannah 7 - Ed's mutant plants are living up to their name... look at the node spacing on 2 of the 5 plants.
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Thanks MegaMoo, I was fortunate to find THP and all of the incredible members here that have helped me to develop some successful growing methods. (at least up to this point... last year most of my plants stopped looking nice about 1 month after they got outside.)

Here are a few more pictures:

AISPES Pimenta Tiger - These are growing kind of leggy even though they are in the same conditions as all my other plants.
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AISPES TS Scorpion - Chocolate v.2 - Leaves on this variety are huge.
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great looking plants. how long until you can put them outside. i'm concerned that mine are also going to get too big before i can move them outside.
 
Looking good Mike. I am still surprised every season at how fast the room in my grow box is filled. I still have to hold out until mid May.

I think I recall you saying you were going to paint your raised beds blue. If so, what kind of blue? Royal, sky, etc.? Just thinking in terms of your hot weather. Do you think maybe a light tan would be better in your hot climate?
 
Beautiful work Michael, plants look fantastic. I've got a couple my plants that are stubby with real tight nodes too.

I feel Josh's pain, I'm running out of room too, but fortunately I'll be potting them up outside next weekend.
 
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