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Blorvak's Greenhorn 2014 - End of Season Wrap Up!

First off, Happy Holidays everyone! Now that I have a little time, I thought I'd start a glog.
 
The backstory:  My last season sucked. Straight up. 10 plants. Averaged 1 pod a plant.

Then I found this place.

THEN I had to wait months to put all the tips I found to work. Suffice to say, I'm rearing to get going!

Hope I don't mess it up!

Hey all! This is my rookie blog, and here is my growlist:

C. Chinense
  • Orange Habanero (Trade Wind Seeds)
  • Datil (Trade Wind Seeds)
  • Trinidad Cola Bean (cmpman1974)
  • Trinidad Gold Bean (cmpman1974)
  • Mako akokɔsrade (Pepper Lover)
  • Trinidad Scotch Bonnet, Brown (Pepper Lover)
  • Trinidad Scotch Bonnet, Red (Pepper Lover)
C. Baccatum
  • Aji Habanero (Trade Wind Seeds)
  • Aji Limon (Pepper Lover)
C. Pubescens

  • Yellow Rocoto (cmpman1974)
  • Manzana, yellow (Harvested from store bought pod)

 C. Annuum
  • Goat's Weed (Trade Wind Seeds)
  • Pequin (Pepper Lover)
  • Fish pepper (Trade Wind Seeds)
  • Joe E. Parker Pepper (Trade Wind Seeds)
  • Tunisian Baklouti Pepper (Trade Wind Seeds)
  • Hungarian Hot Cherry (Pepper Lover)
  • Cracked Jalapeno (Pepper Lover)
  • Sucette de Provence (Trade Wind Seeds)
I have only a handful of posts, and already people have been more than generous. THP is a friendly place!
 

 
 
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Thanks scovilleADDICTION!  I'm learning quite a bit in keeping the glog, and it's still winter. I may have some pods, yet!
 
Improvised Annuum staging area... most are up and getting perky! Everybody's 2-3 days old.
 
s2dPJmFl.jpg

 
I did find an aphid on one of the okra seedlings. I suspect it wandered over from the nearby house plants. Already have some pyrethrin on the way. The best offense is a good defense!
 
And a check in from the first wave - here's a Mako akokɔsrade, 38 days old:
 
ASls6H4l.jpg

 
I'm convinced my first round plants should be a bit bigger and a bit more robust. Going to experiment with feeding a weak fish hydrolysate solution to a select group of plants and see if there's a difference.
 
It may be the temps too... it's 55 in the basement when the light isn't on. Hopefully we'll get some warmer temps soon!
 
New toy day!
 
9O7MDnbl.jpg

Led light, shipped all the way from China for $3.50. Smaller than I expected it would be. Cool white (6400k), supposedly 300 lumens.
 
Installed it in my Improvised Annuum Staging Area:
 
omCi1NIl.jpg

 
Not expecting much for $3.50, but thought I'd give it a try! The blue light looks much less bright than the CFL I had in before, but if you look directly into it, it's plenty bright.
 
So what would a newbie grow be without newbie mistakes?
 
A few of the starts didn't get enough water. Hopefully, they'll perk back up:
 
hPIBfUIl.jpg

 
Ah well. Lesson learned.
 
But I did make room for potting Round Two by giving away 15 starts to a deserving home. Space issues solved!
 
And Round One got their first feeding. A nice and smelly serving of 1/4 strength fish hydrolysate. In the spirit of experimentation, I fed half. Not exactly a double blind study, but science-ish :P Comparison pics to come down the road.
 
Pot up day!
 
Here's the new recruits moved in with the old guard:
 
diBO9o4l.jpg

 
Potted up much sooner this time, and the little guys were more difficult to wrangle in the peat pots. But I don't think I damaged them too badly. I wanted to free up the heat mat. My temps have been dipping to 55 with the light off in the grow chamber, and I'm guessing this has contributed to the plants a bit wan, and undersized.
 
And I gotta say that $3.50 LED lamp did a great job in a pinch. I'd recommend it! They're all over eBay, if anyone is interested.
 
Things are looking good I think man  :)  Hope your thirsty little ones have made a full recovery now! You have got me curious I may look into those bulbs, can't go wrong for that kind of price anyway.
 
scovilleADDICTION said:
Things are looking good I think man  :)  Hope your thirsty little ones have made a full recovery now! You have got me curious I may look into those bulbs, can't go wrong for that kind of price anyway.
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Thanks! They did recover, and are now chilling in a solo cup.
 
In related news, I decided to be responsible and only pot up as many cups as I could fit in my grow area. I had one jiffy pot left with three little sprouts in it. I put the sprouts on a pile of scraps to take out to the compost.
 
My wife, who just last week was wondering how we'd accommodate all these plants, walked by and felt sorry for the little guys. So they've gained a stay of execution! More plants for the cause!
 
So, our snowstorm last week has transitioned over to a monsoon. Strong winds and heavy rain. More of the same is in the forecast, but the sun peeked out this afternoon for just long enough to let me play in the garden.
 
Here she is:
5P2Ze3Sl.jpg

Not much to look at right now, but at least most of the leaf mulch is still in place.
 
Going to install 5 more raised beds this year. Dig up more grass. I hate grass.
 
Used the sun to harvest the last remnants of last year... leeks and collards:
 
dipZOUll.jpg

 
Collards are indestructible! Still going strong. I pulled them to make way for the next generation.
 
For now, all I have in the ground are shallots, elephant garlic, and garlic. Can't wait for spring.
 
Who am I kidding. I have a problem.
 
Another day, another germination method:
zOdpZZxl.jpg

 
In my defense, I don't have a true super on the grow list, and I had a friend almost beg me to grow the hottest pepper I could. So, it's justified. And it's all science. Science!
 
Big shout out to Cone9 for the seeds! I know they're the real deal, because I licked my finger after dropping these bad boys on the damp paper towel, and there was a noticeable burn.
 
Spicegeist said:
Looks like a nice little garden spot... how many plants are you going to put there?
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Pepper-wise, I'm thinking 30 or so. So, probably more than that.
 
Need to save some room for tomatoes. Grew 20 last year. And some potatoes, greens, hops, lettuce, beans... never enough room.
 
I did buy a bunch of 7 gal root pouches, so I'm planting half of the peppers in soil, and half in pouches.
 
So, a modest grow. But hopefully enough to make some sauce, and make some powder.
 
New equipment day!:
 
LHmwmmwl.jpg

 
So, I've tried upping watering, tried feeding, and my little guys are still... little guys. I suspect that the 55 degree "nights" are holding back a growth spurt. So now I have two heating mats to cover the bottom of the entire grow chamber. Also pulled out the thick plastic trays which weren't making good contact on the existing heat mat and am using an old rug I don't care about.
 
C'mon plan C!
 
The orange hab (47 days), looks happy at least!
 
OOjrUGcl.jpg

 
And the new guys have their true leaves coming in. Goat's Weed, 12 days old:
 
tSP9pGIl.jpg

 
Weather is finally looking good to put in some raised beds this weekend. C'mon spring!
 
So, I'm worried. At least half of my first round has stalled, looks pale, and just won't grow. I believe they're not waterlogged, and I've fed them 1/5th strength fish juice twice.
 
Take, for example, my poor White Bullet Habanero (About the size of a quarter at 43 days old):
 
cEOm5gYl.jpg

 
Brought this guy and a few more upstairs to see if a warmer environment will help. Will put them out by the window to see if that helps as well. No sun in the forecast, but they'll get some solar radiation.
 
Please let me know if you have suggestions! I'm thinking of starting a round 3 to do my first round seeds all over again as a backup.
 
But it's not all bad. The annuums have their first true leaves!
 
Fish Pepper, 17 days old:
Kp3Ol5wl.jpg

 
Purple Cayenne, 18 days old:
KRiplX3l.jpg
 
Unfortunately I can't help too much on the seedling issues being a novice grower myself. It could possibly be temperature related though as I've read that seedlings much prefer warmer temps and can't handle the cold too well. 
 
MeatHead1313 said:
Unfortunately I can't help too much on the seedling issues being a novice grower myself. It could possibly be temperature related though as I've read that seedlings much prefer warmer temps and can't handle the cold too well. 
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Thanks for the advice! If I'm not mistaken, weren't you having a bit of the same problem over in your glog? Edit: mixin' up glogs! You definitely DON'T share my problem!
 
You know, I think you might be right on the temp. My current theory is that my problem is two-fold... the air temp is a bit too cold when the light is off, so they're not growing as fast. And because it's a bit cold, the soil holds water longer than I think it is, so I'm overwatering and locking out some nutes.
 
Going to cut back on watering until I see the guys droop a bit, and monitor my upstairs plants to see if that clears some issues up.
 
Nick08* said:
Grat looking new beds! And your seeds will LOVE the heatmat!!
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Thanks! Now I just need to clear out the garden, drop 'em in place, and find some dirt!  Maybe get some of that done this weekend, if it's not snowing.
 
I'm planning on planting half of my peppers in beds, and half in root pots. In the name of science. Also will be planting a forest of tomatoes. My dad has a greenhouse, and cranks out tomato starts like a madman.
 
Hey, John, you have been busy, my friend!  The raised beds will be killer
this summer; lucky pepper plants!  Sounds like you are trying all the right
things with your starts.  My only advice would be not to love them to death.  
I have some plants that are going through the 'yellow flu', but almost all of
them seem to pull themselves out of it if I don't get too wonky trying to fix
them.  Don't over fertilize - what kind of soil mix are you using?  Has using
the heat mat helped any?
 
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