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).

 

[motocross308]

Thanks Sarge,

I do drain to waste and feed with every watering. Coco has nothing in it for nutrients so you need to feed every time. I think my nutes were a bit too strong (about 900 ppm) and was causing the crumpled leaves. I've cut them back (around 500-600ppm) and have seen the new growth produce flatter leaves. I'm still trying to get them dialled in.

I'd love to go a drip system to simplify things when I'm out of town. It also seems to help grow bigger plants because you're able to deliver fresh nutrient and oxygen on a more consistent basis. The downside is that I have nowhere to store a reservoir at this point in time. As it is I have all my plants in the spare bathroom. Only 5.5 months to go until I can move them outside.

2 things .. 1st  your drainage issue can be taked care of by putting coco chips in the bottom of your pots for a few inches.. then the finer coco on top. 2nd .. you ever think of a small flood table ? i run coco in a 2 x 4 table and i have had great results.

 

[Blister]

Well after being out of town for a few days, I figured that it was about time I update my glog. The more I use coco the more I like it. I had some plants that were full of roots. I got some coco and potted them up to 4" pots. It's been about two weeks and roots are already poking out the bottom. Not only that, but I have roots poking out the damn top! Not to be outdone, I've been very impressed with the Blackstar 180W LED. I'm running 18/6 and have had to raise it a few times now because the plants are growing so fast. 
 
Bhut Jolokia's have been numbered on the pots to keep track of the individual plants. I haven't been sticking to any strict nutrient schedule because I've been travelling so often lately and have had to rely on my significant other to water the plants. Sometimes she runs out of one solution and has to use another one instead. It doesn't seem to have much effect on the plant at this point.
 
The leaves have started to flatten out. Not only have I reduced the nutrient strength, but I've also increased the waterings to twice a day. Anywho, on to the pics!
 
Bhut Jolokias
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Roots from the Jolokias
 

 

 


 
 
 
The Scotch Bonnets

 

 

 

 


 

I was thinking of culling the tallest Bonnet because it's fairly leggy and doesn't really fit under the light. The only thing that's stopping me from doing it is the fact that it's producing the biggest pods. I'm hoping that the pods actually take the true Bonnet shape, but so far it's not looking like it.

From the few pods that I've had so far, they have a nice sweet green pepper taste, but not much for heat. Maybe that'll change when I can get them out into the summer sun and stress them a bit.

2 things .. 1st  your drainage issue can be taked care of by putting coco chips in the bottom of your pots for a few inches.. then the finer coco on top. 2nd .. you ever think of a small flood table ? i run coco in a 2 x 4 table and i have had great results.

Thanks for the suggestion motocross308. I'll be looking for a few bricks of the other coco I had been using. It's a little coarser and should do the trick when I get to larger pots in the summer. I'll save this other stuff for tomatoes. I would like to have a flood table, but I still have the same problem of no space. I really have no where to put a flood table, or a reservoir. I'll just have to keep hand watering them for the time being.

 

[PaulG]

Transplants are looking very healthy, Blister!

 

[Blister]

Thanks Paul! I've been VERY impressed by the coco and LED light combo so far. Just a quick update on the canopy.

I'm running out of room. Again. Two bonnets and five jolokia's take up over 1/3 of the tub now. The Jolokia's are really taking to the new pots. I'm going to have to leave them in the smaller pots for a few months because I simply don't have the lights or the room to deal with bigger plants until spring arrives.

 

[Chilidude]

Nice setup and the white paint will reflect the light everywhere.

 

[Sarge]

Awesome stuff again. Another thing I want to ask about your watering routine. Do you mix nutes as you need them or are they premixed. Is the stuff that comes running through wasted nutrients? Any reasom you don't do a flood table?

 

[WalkGood]

They look great, sucks to run out of space ... we don't have much indoors but tons outside. Can you cut back on the ammount of light to slow down the growth till you can get dem outside?
 
Hope you hab a great holiday \o/

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Great lookin plants blister!

 

[Blister]

Nice setup and the white paint will reflect the light everywhere.

Thanks Chilidude! They're actually in the bathtub of the spare bathroom . The enamel tub really reflects the lite, so does the white plastic tub surround. I bought a white curtain so I could reflect even more light back, but I may buy a thicker one to really help contain the light.

Awesome stuff again. Another thing I want to ask about your watering routine. Do you mix nutes as you need them or are they premixed. Is the stuff that comes running through wasted nutrients? Any reasom you don't do a flood table?

I usually mix up my nutes in 1.5l bottles because that's what I had originally been using before I switched to buying the big 18.9L water jugs and refilling them. Depending on the plants being watered, this will last me a few days to a few weeks. For example, I give the Bhuts and the tallest Bonnet General Hydroponics so I go through nutes pretty quick. The other plants get their own so a 1.5L bottle lasts about a week and a half.

I'd like to mix up more than 1.5L at a time with the CNS17 because I have to shake the hell out of it to get it to completely dissolve. If you don't you end up with small little particulate floating around. It'd be way easier to dissolve the nutes in a small bottle then add them to a 4L bottle for use over time. I just don't have a larger container at the moment.

When I water, I water so that a small amount of nutrients run out the bottom. From what I've read on the 420 sites, this is the preferred method to avoid salt build up in the medium. I dunno how true it is, but it's the way I learned so I do it.

I don't have a flood table because I don't have the room. I'd love one though. It'd really ease up on the watering while I'm away! Now that I'm home on holidays, I'm going to up my watering schedule to 3 times a day and see how that works. Previously I had been waiting until the pots were half the weight of a freshly watered pot and watering once every couple of days.

They look great, sucks to run out of space ... we don't have much indoors but tons outside. Can you cut back on the ammount of light to slow down the growth till you can get dem outside?
 
Hope you hab a great holiday \o/

 

I was thinking about cutting back on the amount of light. If I don't I'm going to have trees by the time I actually get to put these out in the spring. I've still got three months to go before I can even think about putting them outside.

You hab a great holiday too!

 

Great lookin plants blister!

Thanks maximum!

 

[Blister]

PODgress! The additional waterings seem to really be helping. I've noticed that a couple of the pods are getting bigger than they were on my previous watering schedule of 1 to 2 times a day. The pods would probably also be much larger if I had them in pots bigger than 4". The end goal is to have them into 1.5 to 2 Gallon pots by the time I put them out for the summer.
 
The next step is to water in some Black-strap Molasses so the plants can get the extra energy they need to produce fruit. Also note that the leaves have really flattened out since I cut the nutrients back to around 500ppm rather than their previous 700ppm.  
 

 

[Blister]

The Bhut's were potted up on December 5th 2013. This is how they look 21 days later on December 26th 2013. The plants really seem to respond to the LED lights, coco and the Flora Micro + Bloom series.



I think I'm going to pick up some Cannazym to help control the roots. Its supposed to dissolve the old dead roots and help provide a micro culture that is beneficial to the plant. I have no idea how well it works, but the 420 folks sure seem to like it.

I've also just watered in some Blackstrap Molasses. It's supposed to help provide extra sugars and carbs need during fruiting. We'll have to wait and see how it works.

 

[PaulG]

The molasses is a good idea.  I always throw a decent
amount of dry molasses into the pots and containers
every time I transplant or pot up, along with some mycos.  
The plants seem to like it.
 
That root ball is awesome!

 

[Blister]

I figured that it was about time that I took a few pictures of my setup. As I mentioned before, my peppers are currently growing in the bathtub of our spare bathroom. When I ordered my LED light, I had no idea of how or where I was going to set it up. After I recieved it, I had to do a bit of thinking about what I was going to do with it. Then it hit me. The light isn't that big and it isn't that heavy, so I put it in the bathtub and hung it from the curtain rod.

This is a shot of when the plants are all sealed in. I have reflective hot water tank bubble wrap just behind the curtain to help contain the light.



Curtain drawn back. Reflective bubble wrap.



The light and plants (they've nearly taken over my whole tub!)



Suspension "system". I bought 5' of plain white metal chain and a pack of 12 curtain rod hangers. All in I think it was about $15.



The chain is connected to the curtain rod and the safety handle of the tub surround. I have a few links attached to the chain so I can adjust the height of the light as needed. It also provides a point where I can center the light over the plants. Just a note here, I had only planned on getting my plants off to a good start for the plant out, and am finding that I may run out of room before too long. The plants are doing great. 



The plants under the light in the tub. The tub and tub surround provide an excellent reflective background for all my plants as well as a convinient place to water them.

The molasses is a good idea.  I always throw a decent
amount of dry molasses into the pots and containers
every time I transplant or pot up, along with some mycos.  
The plants seem to like it.
 
That root ball is awesome!

Thanks Paul. I'm really amazed at how well these plants are doing in coco. It's crazy! How much molasses are you putting into the plants when you pot up?

 

[PaulG]

" How much molasses are you putting into the plants when you pot up? "
 
When I transplant into the 18 oz cups I put about a tablespoon.  
When I pot up to the big pots, a half-cup or so sprinkled around the
bottom and sides of the hole.  I understand you can also top dress
the container and work it into the top few inches of the soil if the plant is
already potted up.
 
Your plants evidently like the tub a lot!

 

[Blister]

New pepper type being added to the grow. Jamison was kind enough to provide me with a few MoA Bonnets that arrived today. I wasted no time, dusted off the germ mat, put a few in wet paper towel then into a zip-lock bag. Here's hoping that they germinate!

 

[Blister]

I checked the MoA seeds on the heat mat today and I have one that's popped in less than 5 days. I hope I can get these to full production. I'm really looking forward to them. If I can get a few more to pop I'm going to turf the other "scotch bonnets" that really aren't.

 

[Jamison]

What an awesome grow Neil! Glad the seeds came and one popped!

 

[Blister]

Thanks again for the seeds Jamison. Also thanks for the kind words on my grow. This is actually the time I should have started my season, but I got a bit over eager after getting my light. Once I cull the other so called bonnets, I'll have extra room and I should be right on track for plant out with the ones you sent. Our plant out season starts around early to mid-May.

It was probably a good thing that I started way too early. I needed to figure out what to do with coco and had a few hurdles to overcome as I learned. Now with some of the basics under my belt I should have an excellent jump on the season. I'm planning on potting up a few of the Jolokia's up in March. Anything sooner and I'll run out of space. That gives me a solid two months before I can put them out under the sun. It should be enough time for the root ball to fully establish in the pots before they go into their final 1 to 1.5 gallon pot.

Neil

 

[Blister]

My hydro guy was finally open again after a well deserved holiday break and I happened to be in town so I picked up a few things. I looked into Cannazym some time ago and have been wanting to get a bottle of it, but it never happened until now.

Cannazym is supposed to help dissolve the dead roots and turn it into organic material that can be used to feed the plant. From what I've read it also helps develop beneficial micro-organizms. I'm not smart enough to refute or confirm these claims, but the 420 coco crowd really seem to like this stuff so I'll give it a shot.

http://www.cannagardening.com/cannazym

I also picked up a bottle of Canna PK 13/14. Some of the 420 crowd add this to their crops as they are growing, while others don't. According to Canna the product is designed for 'fast growing plants' during the flower stage. This clearly doesn't fit the Jolokia, but I figured that I'd give it a shot anyways given that it was only $10 why not try it?

I added Cannazym to the fresh batch of nutes I mixed up tonight, but haven't added the PK13/14. I'm going to look into the mixture rates for coco first so I don't royally screw it all up. I'm hoping to get some pics of the plants this week and get them up by the weekend. Everything is trucking along. The Jolokia's are getting taller, and the "bonnets" are crazy bushy. You can't see through the canopy and you can't see through the leaves when looking at it from the side. I still only have one sprout from the MoA bonnet seeds that Jamison sent me, but I only need one to make it through the season.

Neil

 

[ohmatic]

WOW ! i just saw your pictures of the roots in the pods and must say that i am seriously impressed, i have never ever seen or encountered such an ammount of roots in my pots every, very impressive !