Bigpapapepper's first time grow

Hey everyone i figured i would put up my glog today. this is my first time so please let me know if you see something i am doing that is totally wrong. Also i may put a question or two next to pictures where i am in need of some advice.

Thanks everyone and i apologize for any stupidity below!


These are my peppers that i bought as plants. 6 from refiningfirechilis.com [Yellow Jamaican Mushroom, Scotch Bonnet, Chocolate Jolokia, Yellow Jolokia, Butch T Scorpion, Moruga Scorpion], 5 from Smoking J's Fiery Foods purchased at the Herb Festival in Asheville [Moruga Scorpion, Fatali, 7pot Jonah, 2 7pot yellow], and 1 bhut jolokia from an ebay seller [I purchased this before joining the site and will not do so again, sorry for funding pepper terrorism]

This is my little garden out back. I have several tomatoes in here as well as 2 Jalapeno, 1 serano, 1 Giant Marconi, 1 Giant Jalapeno, 1 Red Bell, 1 Blue African Basil, and 2 yellow squash. You can also see some pots where i have some more tomatoe, a Hungarian Wax pepper, a zuchini squash, and 2 Raspberry bushes. I know everything is super squished but basically its all i can do and im not as excited about everything here as I am about the potted exotics above!!

Little friend i found the other day

Here are Yellow Bell Peppers and Purple Jalapenos i started from seed. These are the first seeds i have ever started and used Jiffy Seed Greenhouse.

Q. how long do i wait before i pot these guys? How often do they need water and nutrients? Any other advice?

These are some Orange Habs i started from seed.

Q. When do i give up on the little seedlings that i separated and stuck in the little white cup?

These are some Red Hot Cherry and some Red Habanero that are still in the peat pellets.

Q. When should i move these guys into cups? Do they just need to be watered when i can tell the pellet is getting light?

Thanks for any comments or advice! I love this site

 

[PepperLover]

nice

 

[Chewi]

Nice man! I have/had relatives in Ashville, NC. Some time in the future if you don't mind, please take a picture of the Blue African Basil. Sounds interesting!

 

[PapaBill]

Looking good!

As far as the peat pellets go, if they are looking a bit dry/light, you could probably just put a small amount of water into the container they are sitting in and let them suck up what they need. The peat seems really absorbant, so shouldn't take long at all. Then just dump out any excess water. Err on the less-is-more side (learned my lesson...LOL).

Others may have better ideas though, so take my suggestion with a grain of salt. I have mine sitting on capillary cloth to spread the water out (same with the peat pots), and they seem to like it. Makes it easier than watering them individually too...

 

[BigPapaPepper]

Thanks!

Here is the Blue African Basil. The guy said its not as much for cooking as it is for looks but I think it tastes great. Apparently it will grow pretty big. I got it at the same herb fair that I visited Smoking J's Fiery Foods farm.

Here it is before planting and pruning. It still has the flower on top.

Now here it is in the bed after pruning. The flower should grow back very large.

 

[BigPapaPepper]

PapaBill thanks so much for the watering tip! it is real easy to water them by just letting them soak it up. I have been watering individually like a dummy. They really like it too as they have already shot up a great deal!

I am trying to prepare myself for the torture after i grow all the super hots. I just got these in the mail yesterday from The Hot Sauce Stop and cant wait to try them out!

 

[roper2008]

Since you have many plants in that raised bed, I would suggest you trim your tomato plants to one
main stem. Pinch off all suckers. Not on cherry tomatoes though. Your peppers should do very
well in those pots. Goodluck

 

[BigPapaPepper]

Thanks for the tip roper! I will go ahead and trim the tomatoes. The two cherry tomato plants are going like crazy compared to the others!

I just tried the CaJohns Trinidad hot sauce and it is by far the spiciest thing I have ever had. I'm gonna wait to cool down and then try the moruga madness!

 

[MGOLD86]

Looking good, you are gonna have a nice spread in a few months. I would recommend that you go with root development for a indication for pot up. When the roots start to circle the inside of the pot/cup/whatever, it is time to get them into something bigger. If you aren't into pulling the plants out of the cups to check root development, I would go with two things: true leaves and watering times. When they start to put off a few sets of true leaves, AND they are sucking up the water much quicker than they have been that is also a good indication. A tip for the pellets, take off the netting before potting up because it can hinder the roots in the long run. Just take a knife or scissors and cut it off.

As far as keepin them happy, they look a bit leggy, what kind of lighting do you use (sun/window or cfl/flouro)? It isn't the end of the world, just bury them a bit deeper when you pot up. BUT if you can fix it, that would be cool as well.

Congrats on the hot sauce buy! If you are hurtin now, JUST WAIT FOR A FRESH POD!!!! LOL. I never thought anything could ever get that hot, but you will be part of the club soon enough!

Good Luck!
Matt

 

[BigPapaPepper]

Thanks for the advice! This is my first grow so I am just using window sunlight for the seedlings. Sorry I'm too new to know the terms, does leggy mean that the stem is long and I should add more dirt?

I can't wait to try a pod! I just had the moruga madness and it was out of control. The burning grew very intense. I am glad I finally got a little taste of things to come!

 

[BigPapaPepper]

All the plants are shooting up like crazy now! The largest one on the left is a yellow 7pot and it is going to be a beast.

Some little bastards are eating my Fatali Any advice on how to keep my guys from being lunch for something besides me?

 

[romy6]

That looks like slug damage. Get some sluggo, or diatomaceous earth. A pan of beer works well too. Act now or they will eat the entire plant.

 

[MGOLD86]

Lol. Enjoy the sauce becaue when the pods start comin you are gonna be begging for the sauce!

Leggy just means that they are tall and spindly. It is an indication that they are not getting enough light. Like I said, it is not the end of the world but it can cause problems of you dont reinforce the stem. I would bury them a little deeper when you pot up and try to get them a bit more light. Also a light fan will help with stem stength.

You should be good to bring them outside whenever they toughen up a bit and have a few sets of true leaves. Just make sure to slowly introduce them to the sun or they will be toast.

 

[BigPapaPepper]

Here is another quick update. These guys are getting much bigger. I am going to need to fix up the other raised bed soon for some of the Purple jalapeno, Yellow Bell, and various Habanero seedlings. I am also battling a ground hog. I saw him once and missed... determined to not miss again but i have not seen him since although he has messed around in one of the pots.

I also ate my first superhot. It was a yellow 7 pot that i found out afterwards was actually a Brain Strain. Lots and Lots of fun haha

Video Here

Here are the super hots

Here my biggest. The yellow 7 pot.

One of my Morugas doing very well

The seedlings thriving!

 

[BigPapaPepper]

Here is a quick update. Things are moving very quickly now as the plants are getting huge almost overnight! Many now are starting to put out flowers as well. I potted my first few plants that i grew straight from seed! This is really starting to get to the fun part and i cant believe how fast the superhots are growing as i expected it to take forever. I am glad that i had this forum to show me the ropes.

Here are the superhots. My 7 pot Jonah is the largest. The morugas are growing extremely fast too. It is very hard to believe at one point 6 of them were all shipped to me in the same little box from California.

Here is a Bhut Jolokia and its gettings its first pod.

Here are some of the purple jalapenos

Here are some orange habaneros

Here is my yellow brain strain eating video now that i finally figured out how to mount it in here haha. there is pain in those eyes

 

[BigPapaPepper]

Everything has come a ways. Here is a quick video of how things are going Lots of flowers now and hopefully will have some peppers next time and a second box setup for most of the seedlings. I have now also tried eating the Butch T and Moruga. They are intense to say the least haha

 

[Sanarda]

Good luck with the grow and GGGOOOOOOO HEAT!!!! I am assuming you didn't eat a pepper last night? Your videos are great and hella funny

 

[Sanarda]

ALL the pain of the pepper was worth it .. congrats on the Heat win ....

 

[BigPapaPepper]

yes the heat pulled it out! absolutely worth it lol. Now i may have to eat a pepper to celebrate!

 

[Pepper-Guru]

Great looking green color on these plants dude! Bushy too! Way to go! airpruning FTW!