Blisters LED Coco grow has reached it's inevitable end...

I've been away from the forum for some quite some time. Over the last 2.5 years I've been blessed with a son, have had to move to 2 different cities and transfer jobs twice. I really didn't have time or room to grow anything let alone focus on peppers. Now that I'm settled in and have a few extra $ on hand, I've been able to invest in a 180w UV Blackstar LED and have started growing in Coco.

Why coco? I've grown in soil before and had decent results. The problem was that my growing season is around 90 days. We don't get the heat or sun needed to grow super hots to their full potential. On top of this soil needs fairly large pots for the plants to really produce a large plant, but again we don't get the heat needed to let the pot dry out and stress the plant. I'd have great tasting peppers, but no heat.

I've done a bunch of reading (mostly the 420 sites) and it would appear that coco offers the ability to grow large plants in rather small pots. It offers a great root zone alternative that will allow you to develop massive roots. Once the root ball is fully developed, they fill the pot to the point that you can water every day (during growth), and every other day during fruiting. The ability to control the water/wilt schedule should allow the plant to stress out enough so that it produces nice hot peppers. We'll see how this works though.

Fertilizers I'm currently using are:

Botannicare 
- CNS-17 Grow (stand alone)
- CNS-17 Bloom (stand alone)

General hydroponics (using a modified version of H3AD's mixture)

- Flora Micro
- Flora Bloom


Advanced Nutrients 
- Monkey Juice A
- Monkey Juice B

Suppliments

- Botannicare Cal-Mag+
- Botannicare Huvega (nothing more than expensive dissolved epsom salt)

Problems experienced so far:

I had a bunch of issues getting the seeds started. They'd start, die. Next set wouldn't start. Set after that started and provided me with enough seedlings to get going. 

Next problem. I started with Botannicare's CNS-17 grow. Everything started fine, seedlings were doing ok, but it wasn't too long in before I realized that I had a huge problem with my tap water. It's extremely hard. After a few weeks the leaves were going yellow and dropping. Especially when I added a small amount of Cal-Mag+. The problem drove me a little nuts and is why I have a 3 different ferts! I didn't know the water was the problem and tried a different brand. Oh well. I bought a TDS Meter and found that my tap water is a little over 500ppm. After I found this out, I switched to bottled water and noticed an immediate improvement.

 I'm only growing two types of peppers so far:
- Yellow Scotch Bonnet (bought from Stokes)
- Bhut Jolokia (two strains. One from a friend and one that was bought off e-bay by my in-laws).

EDIT:

Newly added pepper! Jamison was kind enough to provide me with MoA Bonnets! They arrived today (Dec 31, 2013).

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Crazy interesting project blister. Doesn't seem like the root wrapping is hurting the plants at all.

 

[Blister]

I took a few pictures of the Bhuts I have growing. It's not looking more and more like they're crossed. It could either be habs or maybe even Bonnets. I know the guy I got the pods from was growing bonnets in the same greenhouse so it's possible. 

Not all the peppers look like these, but I'm getting more that like these.

Crazy interesting project blister. Doesn't seem like the root wrapping is hurting the plants at all.

Thanks maximum! I'm pretty surprised and excited about the results so far. If only the bhuts actually turned out to be bhuts. Oh well. I'll have to wait and see how they taste.

Neil

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Are you getting those crossed pods from all of the bhuts?

 

[Blister]

Are you getting those crossed pods from all of the bhuts?

Yep I'm getting the cross on all the bhut plants. It doesn't look like any are growing true. Oh well that's just how my Bhut growing attemps have panned out so far.

Neil

 

[Blister]

First J-MoA in coco! It sprouted a few weeks ago in wet paper towels and I had left it until it she'd it's seed case before I put it in coco.

I just watered it with a light Flora nutrient solution that's around 250ppm and a pH around 6. It's under full light now.

 

[Blister]

Since these aren't the peppers that I wanted to grow, I've started to cull them as I run out of room. I have a J-MoA (Jamison-MoA) on the go. I have also noticed that I have a handfull of Manzano and Trinidad Scorpions seeds that have germinated so I may need a bunch more room.

I culled plant #2 and #4. I pulled the plants to recover as much coco as possible. I noticed that the roots have been expanding into the new coir quite nicely. The roots had the fine white hairs on it. I also noticed that you can also see a distinct layer of coir where all the previous rootballs had been.










Another shot of the rootball inside of a rootball. You can just make out the 2" pot that the plant was previously in, then the 4" pot that it was in. I'm curious about how the plants will respond to the fabric pots.



I cut a few of the pods open from the plants that I culled. Definite hab smell and flavor. They have a decent amount of heat for winter pods. They seemed to be around a Serrano level. I just wish they were actually Bhut's. Oh well.

I didn't expect much from the Manzano and T-Scorpion seeds when I put them into paper towel. I had the seeds for 3-4 years and I have no idea how old they were by the time I got them from kind members on this forum. Not only were the seeds old, many were actually cracked and broken. I fired them into the paper towel and baggy anyways to see what would happen. To my surprise the cracked and broken seeds sprouted considerably faster than the non-broken seeds. Go figure. Anywho I'll transplant them into coco as soon as they shed their case.

Neil

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Interesting dissection Blister. Tons of roots, and healthy roots. You see any brown roots at all?
 
Shame about the pods. Hopefully your kept plants produce what you want.
 
Maybe the cracked seeds have an easier time shedding their coat?

 

[JJJessee]

We're the manzanos the cracked sprouters? It's sometime suggested to scarify seed to increase germ rate. Manzano would be a good candidate. But I would have thought continued long-term viability to suffer dramatically from cracking. 
Interesting.
 
I cant wait to look in my coir-grown Birgit's when up-potting. At a month, they are showing roots at the bottom hole of the 5" deep pots.

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Do you know how they got cracked? Did they just come that way?

 

[Blister]

Interesting dissection Blister. Tons of roots, and healthy roots. You see any brown roots at all?
 
Shame about the pods. Hopefully your kept plants produce what you want.
 
Maybe the cracked seeds have an easier time shedding their coat?

 

Unfortunately none of the plants I currently have are growing true. I'm keeping them around to continue the experiment until I can get some plants that grow true.

I haven't really noticed any brown roots up to this point. I am also using a product called Cannazym. It's designed to dissolve dead organic matter and turn it into something the plants can use. It may be what's contributing to the fine hairs on the new roots that I saw on the plants I culled.

We're the manzanos the cracked sprouters? It's sometime suggested to scarify seed to increase germ rate. Manzano would be a good candidate. But I would have thought continued long-term viability to suffer dramatically from cracking. 
Interesting.
 
I cant wait to look in my coir-grown Birgit's when up-potting. At a month, they are showing roots at the bottom hole of the 5" deep pots.

Both the Manzano's and T-Scorps were cracked. I have no idea how long they had been like this or how they even got that way. I have them all in a box that's still a box. You'd think that if they took a beating the box would have too, but it's still in great shape. The cracked seeds make me want to try it again. How many cracked seeds sprout and how fast compared to standard seeds?


Neil

Do you know how they got cracked? Did they just come that way?

I received the seeds in bubble envelopes and to my recollection they were in good shape. I have no idea how they got cracked. They were stored in a box, in individual packs. The box is still in great shape and you'd think that it'd be damaged some if it's contents were damaged while in it. I may try cracking the seed case in future germination experiments.

Neil

 

[JJJessee]

 
.....
I haven't really noticed any brown roots up to this point. I am also using a product called Cannazym. It's designed to dissolve dead organic matter and turn it into something the plants can use. It may be what's contributing to the fine hairs on the new roots that I saw on the plants I culled.

......

 
I purchased Cannazym when I got the nutes, but haven't used it. I guess I should start working that. Any specific advice?

 

[Blister]

I purchased Cannazym when I got the nutes, but haven't used it. I guess I should start working that. Any specific advice?

I'm not sure I can give much advice at this point. I've been using Cannazym on a regular basis since I bought it a few months ago. I've scaled it back to suit my mixture needs. I'm no math wiz, but from what I could figure it falls around 10ml's per 4L (3.78G). I'll have to check my notes, but I believe it adds about 50ppm.

Someone jump in if my numbers or logic is wrong. 4L is 40% of 10L. If the mixture is 25ml's per 10L, I'd need to scale the nutes back to 40% of 25ml's (25 x .40 = 10ml). Canna recommends that you water Cannazym in with every watering to help break down any dead/dying organic material so that's what I've been doing. It also seems to be what the cash crop folks do so I figured it can't hurt especially since they're in it for the money. I'm just doing it for a hobby.

Welcome back to the forum - I've only been here since jan 2012 so it's nice to meet ya!
Nice grow going there, Neil, plants nice, green and healthy!
 
Liked the comments and info about coco - I'm thinking of experimenting with it a little,
maybe as an additive to my own soil mix rather than peat moss.
I have found that my rootbound plants seem to grow faster once they stop making so
many roots, and that transplanting slows it down a bit while it makes new roots to fill
up the pot, and then starts growing faster again when the roots hit the margins of the pot.
Perhaps not the case growing in coco?  Those roots are awesome

Now that I've potted up a few times I've noticed a few things. Rootbound plants tend to slow down in terms of overall size growth, but they really put out flowers. Once I potted up, I had flower drop, reduced flower production, but more overall growth. The pods that did form are still growing in size, but I've had far fewer pods set since potting up. I assume that flower production and pod set will increase once the plants fill the pots again.

One thing I have noticed with coco for sure is that you can have a MUCH larger plant in the same sized pot when you compare it to soil.

Neil

 

[Blister]

Sweet deal! Guess what showed up today...



Time for a RE-Bhut! Thanks JJJ. These are going into paper towels right after this post.


Neil

 

[Sm1nts2escape]

Plants look amazing man. Good Job!

 

[Blister]

Plants look amazing man. Good Job!

Thanks man! Unfortunately they're not what I had expected so they are on the chopping block. I have a bunch of Trinidad scorpions on the way and now I'm going to attempt a RE-Bhut with the seeds that JJJ has so generously shared with me. I'm hoping for a quick germ time and then into coco.

Neil

 

[Sm1nts2escape]

Pm sent.

 

[Roguejim]

I got home today and was going to water my plants. As usual I checked the bottom of the pots to see how the roots were doing. I picked one at random and figured I'd pop it out to get a better look since the roots were just starting to poke out the bottom. I was VERY surprised at what I found.
 
Jolokia Dec. 4. 2013
 

 
Scotch Bonnet
 

 
 
I've been pleasantly surprised by coco. I did have a few problems at first, but once I dialled it in a bit the plants really turned around. I was hoping to hold off on potting up my plants, but that may not be an option for the Jolokia's at this point. The roots were literally poking out the top of the coco. I've never had this with soil before.

 
Hi.  I'm trying to figure the growth rate you're getting with your LED set-up, but I can't tell how old this plant is in the pictures above.  Any ideas?  Thanks. 

 

[PIC 1]

Those are some incredible rootz....

 

[Blister]

Hi.  I'm trying to figure the growth rate you're getting with your LED set-up, but I can't tell how old this plant is in the pictures above.  Any ideas?  Thanks.

I'm guessing that I started my plants mid-november early october. I'm looking for the original pictures because they'd be date stamped, but I'm not having much luck. Tracking back through my e-mail's I looked into buying an LED in October and sent the payment on 10/21/13. The plants had been growing for a bit, but since we were in late fall/early winter here the plants weren't doing much of anything. It was also the time where I hadn't yet realized that my water was causing a major issue with my plants and had stunted their growth.

My LED light was finally shipped 11/12/13. I received it a few days later. The plants really took off after I set up the light and figured out the water problem.

If the timeline is correct then the Not-Bhuts you asked about would be approximately 2 to 2.5 months old by the time the picture was taken on December 4th. I have another batch of Scorpions and a single J-MoA on the grow right now. I'm going to be focussing on these and culling the Not-Bhuts Shortly.

  

Those are some incredible rootz....

Thanks PIC 1. I'm always amazed when I look at the pictures of the results. I'm hoping I can repeat the success with the scorpions, MoA's and my attempted RE-Bhut.

Scorpions that I put into coco the other day.



Neil

 

[Blister]

Since it's getting a bit late for me to be starting extra super hots, I'm upping my light schedule to 20/4. I may up it to 24 hours should I get the Bhut's to sprout. It's looking like the cracked seeds are once again well ahead of the others. Time will tell on them I guess.

Neil