BigCedars SuperHot Grow 2012

Helldozer · Jan 12, 2012

Siliman said:
Hey, cool. Growlog inside of growlog. Top that MGold!

And how does Helldozer have 0 posts showing and he's posted twice already?

Anyway, welcome Helldozer! You've come to the right place. I think....

Yeah, sorry about that. I wasn't trying to hijack the blog. It was just in response to BigCedar. In retrospect, I shouldn't have posted here.

Thanks

Siliman · Jan 12, 2012

Hey, no worries mate! (As the ozzies say.) You came in at just the right time to help BigCedar boost his blog 'page score.' MGold is gunning for him in a kind and funny way.... :cool:

Seriously, welcome to the fray and happy pepper growing. I'm still not seeing any post counts under your name, though. Are you sure you exist?

BigCedar · Jan 13, 2012

Week 4 Update!

The first leaves have doubled in size, and a good 60% of the starts have the second set just starting to come in.

TS Moruga Satan's Strain

7 Infinity

TS X Morango

I fertlilized for the first time today, Nothin super fancy, 1/4 strength fish fert.. btw I call BS on the deodorized wintergreen oil. My house smelled like.. Nevermind.. :halo:

I made a couple labels...

With the comments I had about my yard n such instead of taking my normal winter pics I decided to make a winter tour video. I'll make another this spring, this summer, and this fall to show the extreme differences in the seasons. Hell knowing me I'll probably make one once a month lol. Hope you guys enjoy.

Disclaimer: This video will show where my pepper plants will be later this year (If I'm successful), a tour of the yard and the other things I have growing aside from peppers. There is no super hot pods, pepper plants (well kinda) or anything totally awesome. But! Later this spring and summer I promise it will be pretty cool to see the difference

Thanks for watching everyone.
Hope yall have a great night.
Brandon.

muskymojo · Jan 13, 2012

Looking good so far, and nice yard! You have some neat stuff growing there! :cool:

It will be cool to see that space change in the next several months.

MGOLD86 · Jan 13, 2012

Great Vid man. Cant wait to see more.

Helldozer · Jan 16, 2012

Siliman said:
Hey, no worries mate! (As the ozzies say.) You came in at just the right time to help BigCedar boost his blog 'page score.' MGold is gunning for him in a kind and funny way....

Seriously, welcome to the fray and happy pepper growing. I'm still not seeing any post counts under your name, though. Are you sure you exist?

Haha. Thanks. Yeah, I think I exist. At least for now.

chileaddict · Jan 16, 2012

Excellent video Brandon. You should show pics of everything covered with 2-3 inches of snow now. No worries though, it is not getting that cold and the early sprouts out in the yard might survive this week of winter white goodness. Sorry if you covered this already, but, how many of the pepper plants are you planning to put in pots? Last season, my ripening success for the superhots was way way better for the chiles in pots than those in the garden because of the greenhouse in the Fall. Looks like you have more sun in the yard than I do, and hopefully we will have a more normal Spring and Summer this year. Nice job.

BigCedar · Jan 22, 2012

Hey Everyone. Little update for you, I apologize for the lack of plant pictures on this one. Been dealing with the snow and ice storm here at home and at work.. Just to give you all an idea, none of the ice storm was forcasted, nobody was prepared really, 500,000 people here in the PNW were knocked out of power, 200,000 still are. When you don't have a generator and all of your family members and friends are in the same boat, you don't have any choice but to just stick it out at home. I'll be honest, its been rough, we were out of power for three days. I've literally been up for 2 of them with no sleep at all tending to our fire making sure the family n pets stay warm.. Making meals on the grill n such but due to it being in the high 20s outside I tried to limit that. I went to work today for the first time in 3 days and I was literally burping up duraflame and burning wood smell. Sure has made me appreciate the power bill a whole lot more lol.. I can't believe my plants are still alive.. I thought for sure the worst. At one point the inside temps got down to 38 degrees, which is fine for mature plants but I had no idea what my starts were gonna do.. Anyway, I took a little video right when shit started going crazy. the video was from 4 days ago now. Perfect example of why I took the first video.. things change so much here.. You can't even recognize the backyard from the last video really.. You heard me bragging about the warm winter we're having, ha, winter knocked on the front door, I answered and got a big middle finger. Every road you drive down has trees and big branches all over in our area, apparently we got hit harder and went without power longer than most.. I hope everyone else in WA is doing okay.

The Yard Thursday Morning.

After realizing power was no where in sight I started some candles in the grow closet. I honestly think it made the difference in their survival. So, another tip for anyone new to this that loses power.. a close quarters room and candles candles and more candles.

Today around noon once the power popped on. You can see how many candles I had goin.. Pretty nuts. I thought for sure they'd all be dead. Alot to go through at such a young age, they got a bit leggy throughout the 3day ordeal but I think they'll be fine.

My other dog and I by the fire keepin it goin during the early hours of the morning.

The entrance to the backyard.. Looks a bit different.

The 5 alder tops that took out my neighbors trucks.. I'm not kiddin.. the entire forest behind my house looks like a bunch of oversized broken toothpicks. Thousand pound pines are on top of power lines. again, crazy!

Side of the yard.

More aftermath pics from today.

I haven't got around to taking pictures of my plants yet but I will.. I'm just glad our power turned on today. I'm not kidding you would have thought my wife and I won the lottery when it all turned on. I know one things for sure.. I will never complain about our power bill ever again.

Hope all is well with you all, I have alot of catching up to do here on THP.

Trippa · Jan 22, 2012

Nice update bro . Loving the vids as well. Yeah winter sure came back hard at you there. At least you hadn;t got so carried away that you had put anything out yet

PIC 1 · Jan 22, 2012

Ouch,

Brandon, sorry to see the outcome of the icestorm. That,s a bitch man, your lucky that wasn't your truck or part of the house that was hit.
We occasionally get one of those storms ripping through here. It's pretty surreal looking with the aftermath. Even the most expierenced drivers can't tackle the icy roads.
I'm glad your power is up and running and your family is safe!

Greg

salsalady · Jan 22, 2012

Holy Mole, Brandon! That some crazy stuff.

Glad you had enough supplies to make it through OK, keep the family safe and warm and keep them babies alive.

wayright · Jan 22, 2012

Cool update!! :cool:

On a positive note! alot more sunshine for your peppers!!

Kevin

Siliman · Jan 22, 2012

Looks like Ma Nature did some serious pruning in the neighborhood. Glad not to see a big trunk square on your house!

Great thinking on the candles in the grow house! I'll bet you were thinking: save family, save pets, save peppers...

A few years ago, we had a 3-day power-out in the winter here. I had a fireplace with a screen exactly like yours. It was nice with radiant heat within a few feet, but mostly it just sucked in cold air from around the house. Not comfortable, but it was something! (The fireplace has since been 'replaced' with a pellet stove insert--highly recommended, especially with a battery back-up if needed.)

Like you I cheered when the power came on again. It made me realize just how much we take it for granted, and a lot of other features of our society.

meatfreak · Jan 22, 2012

Glad to hear you and your family are okay!

romy6 · Jan 22, 2012

Wow Brandon makes us appreciate what we have. Glad you and yours are okay!

BigCedar · Jan 23, 2012

muskymojo said:
Looking good so far, and nice yard! You have some neat stuff growing there! It will be cool to see that space change in the next several months.

Thanks musky! Yeah I tend to grow a few more things than peppers.. just wait for this summer, I like to keep myself busy when it's nice outside

MGOLD86 said:
Great Vid man. Cant wait to see more.

Thanks Matt, coming from you that's a compliment lol.

chileaddict said:
Excellent video Brandon. You should show pics of everything covered with 2-3 inches of snow now. No worries though, it is not getting that cold and the early sprouts out in the yard might survive this week of winter white goodness. Sorry if you covered this already, but, how many of the pepper plants are you planning to put in pots? Last season, my ripening success for the superhots was way way better for the chiles in pots than those in the garden because of the greenhouse in the Fall. Looks like you have more sun in the yard than I do, and hopefully we will have a more normal Spring and Summer this year. Nice job.

Thanks Richard! I guess I showed pics of that lol. I do have pics of us "having fun in the snow" before the ol storm n such. As for the pot situation? I'll be putting every single plant in pots.. I've tried ground and in pots but for some reason or another here in this area containers grow 5times better than in grounds do. I'm sure if I lived in the valley it'd be different since they have such great soil. And just like you stated, I want to either put them in the GH this fall or bring them inside because no matter how good the spring n summer are there's always left over green pods here. I hope all is going well with you man, did you start yet? If you end up battling aphids or gnats again please please try the bonide spray I was talking about, it'll save you lots of time n effort. Good luck to ya, and keep me posted!

Trippa said:
Nice update bro . Loving the vids as well. Yeah winter sure came back hard at you there. At least you hadn;t got so carried away that you had put anything out yet

Thanks trip! videos are new for me, actually the first video was the first I've ever done lol. So it's good to hear that they are enjoyable. I was not expecting winter to show up like it did.. Oh man.. I cant even imagine if I had plants sittin where those trees landed. I'd be so pissed. Hell I'd be out there moving them as trees were goin down lol.

PIC 1 said:
Ouch,
Brandon, sorry to see the outcome of the icestorm. That,s a bitch man, your lucky that wasn't your truck or part of the house that was hit.
We occasionally get one of those storms ripping through here. It's pretty surreal looking with the aftermath. Even the most expierenced drivers can't tackle the icy roads.
I'm glad your power is up and running and your family is safe!
Greg

Thanks for the reply dude.. Yea the outcome did suck but it was alot better than it could have been. Other than being without power we got lucky like you said. When I am on the roads I'm more worried about the others around me than myself, pretty funny it rains like 300 days out of the year here and yet when it snows or rains it's like watching a bunch of 10year olds on the roadways lol.. This year made me realize that I need a 4wheel drive car.. Our fam is happier than ever now lol. thanks man

salsalady said:
Holy Mole, Brandon! That some crazy stuff.

Glad you had enough supplies to make it through OK, keep the family safe and warm and keep them babies alive.

Thanks Ann

It took some serious work but we got it done. I don't wanna do that again anytime soon trust me lol. I hope you had fun with your sons birthday today!

wayright said:
Cool update!!

On a positive note! alot more sunshine for your peppers!!

Kevin

lmao.. That was the one positive thing I will admit to be thinking about as those trees were falling. I'm looking forward to some more AM sun this year! lol.

Siliman said:
Looks like Ma Nature did some serious pruning in the neighborhood. Glad not to see a big trunk square on your house!
Great thinking on the candles in the grow house! I'll bet you were thinking: save family, save pets, save peppers...
A few years ago, we had a 3-day power-out in the winter here. I had a fireplace with a screen exactly like yours. It was nice with radiant heat within a few feet, but mostly it just sucked in cold air from around the house. Not comfortable, but it was something! (The fireplace has since been 'replaced' with a pellet stove insert--highly recommended, especially with a battery back-up if needed.)
Like you I cheered when the power came on again. It made me realize just how much we take it for granted, and a lot of other features of our society.

Yes she did man. Thanks for the reply, I didn't know if a storm post would interest anyone so it's good to see the replies. Yes save fam,pets, peppers were on my mind the whole time. It was too late in the game to start over so I was hoping like no other that they would survive or I would have just bagged the whole superhot op I'm shootin for.. I agree with you man, you can feel it sittin right next to it but other than that it did shit for heating up our house.. I will be looking into that pellet stove. We need another option if this ever happens again. I hope it doesn't. I agree, my wife and I were like "yep this is a ton of fun n all talking n hangin out in front of the fire ... but it would be nice to have internet access and watch an episode or two of our favorite TV shows" lol.

meatfreak said:
Glad to hear you and your family are okay!

Thank you

You and me both man.

romy6 said:
Wow Brandon makes us appreciate what we have. Glad you and yours are okay!

Totally agree romy. You don't realize it until you don't have it. Thanks for the reply

Enough with the icestorm.
Time for some plant updates.

The overwinters survived the storm n cold.. I have two fatalii plants that I took a chance at keeping rather large for overwinters, I put them in a 1 1/2 gallon pot I'm guessing.. might be 2 gal. anyway, they're a good almost 3 ft tall and new growth is poppin like crazy now that the days are getting longer. I mentioned this before but again... no arti lighting at all.. they're in a south facing window and that is it.

Here's my black hab. I noticed this while I was washing my hands yesterday. 2 pods forming? really? I haven't done anything to pollinate them. not only that but literally.. there's 9 flowers on that noid. It did that last year but I started it so late that most of the blooms just fell off. I have a feeling that this plant is going to do some serious producing this year.

This seed popped a couple weeks ago. Trinidad Viper.. came from Chris(cmp) Another start of the same seed though looks like..

This. I have 3 up and only one is showing purple.. Knowing CMP's backyard last year I'm kinda leanin towards some crazy cross lol. Should be interesting. The plant to the right is my Hab cross.. They're all super leggy/tall.. I don't know whats goin on there.

TSXmorango after the storm

I haven't had a sprout in 2 weeks and after the power out for 3 days.. 3 of em?! pretty weird. I had a TS moruga yellow pop, a SB7J pop, and a TS moruga red.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the growth rate.. I know it could be 10times faster like some growers but I'm seein rain for 2 weeks straight.. which leads me to believe it might be another rainy spring.. Pepper starts don't like that at all. Not only that but I don't have room to pot up more than 3inch pots lol.. At the rate they're growing I'm hoping they'll be perfect around the end of march or around the first week of april come plant out.

Hope all is well with everyone.

Brandon

PIC 1 · Jan 23, 2012

Looking good man,.......some of those seeds were just a little "bashful" trying to get it on under the lights...

chileaddict · Jan 23, 2012

Hey Brandon. Glad you survived! We got a foot of snow here and were among the few lucky ones who only lost power yesterday and got it back at midnight. I also burned lots of wood the last 5 days to keep the gas bill down. Our big pain was losing cable and internet for 5 days! Just got internet back this hour. Man, that really sucked losing the net for so long. I did plant 72 cells with 2 seeds each about 10 days ago and about half are popping their heads up. Many have already moved up to the 2 1/2" pots. I will plant another 72 cell tray in about a week. This year I soaked the seeds for about 12 hours and used Black Gold seed starter mix with great results. Keep it safe and watch out for falling branches. :halo:

BigCedar · Feb 3, 2012

Hey everyone! Hope you all are doing well
I need to set aside a couple hours today and catch up on everybodys glog n such, been busy!

Figured I'm a bit overdue for an update so here we go

Last week:

My plants pretty much looked the same as my last update 7 days ago.. Here's why,

I made my first mistake this season.. feel free to laugh, I know I did.
So back when I bought my first 3 hydro farm fixtures they didn't come with the bulbs. So I went to lowes, I bought the first HOT5's I saw (I'm new to lighting) They work.. But I was wondering why the growth rate was a tad slow.. I had a feeling that I needed to double check the lights, went to to the local hydro shop to buy my last fixture I needed, fired her up and sure enough.. the bulbs I had bought originally were red compared to the cool blues on the new fixture.. I had been using warm/flowering bulbs all along. :doh:

Big ol' amature mistake on my part.

Lesson: Don't be a dumbass like me and buy the first bulb you see that's compatible with your fixture.

So in conclusion, I went shoppin and found that michlendons sells the bulbs I need for 8.99 compared to the 16.99 hydro shop. I was pretty happy about that one. So, 100 dollars later in new bulbs... I was set. Since then.. My plants exploded, I mean you could literally see the difference the first day, I went from not needing to pot-up for 2-3 weeks to frantically waiting for my days off this week so I could pot everything up.

"shutup and post some pictures" I can hear it now lol.

So in order to pot up 208 plants I needed to seriously remodel the grow closet.

You can't really tell what it looked like before from this shot but it will give you an idea.. only 2 T5HO fixtures, my old tiny lowes green house as shelving, and I had room to walk to the right of the flats.. Before shot:

2 more fixtures later, new shelving, and absolutely no more room to walk... After shot.

Primo, Infinity, Red douglah, SB7Jonah, Black Naga Red Cross,

1 of the 4 flats, They were a bit ready for new homes

Knowing it was going to take me almost all damn day I tried to cut the time up a bit by organizing the labels wednesday night..

Trinidad Viper, Bih jolokia, Dorset naga, TS Hab Cross, 7 Chaguanas, Mystery Red Superhot with tail

And underneath..

So 208 pepper pot-up party it was yesterday.. Not much of a party trust me, Don't get me wrong, the first flat was fun and it was pretty cool giving them labels rather than just looking at a bunch of plants in a flat but after the first 100 your wishing you knew a faster way to do this lol.

It was way past beer thirty when this project was over.

More superhot forest pictures

Thanks for watchin
Brandon

PIC 1 · Feb 3, 2012

Hey Brandon,.........welcome back!

You set-up looks very professional and organized........no dirt on your floor!

Nice job with the transplants, you hooked them at the perfect time. It's definitely a process, especially with 208 at once. Good for you.
I've got it down to 32 transplants a night.........I'm running out of organ donors......ha
Seriously, thats where I'm at 32 pot-ups a night into 5 1/4" containers. I've been going through bags of soil like crazy.......it's a fun process.

Well I gota skidattle out of here.........time to pick up some more bags

Greg