bpiela glog 2018 - Giving it another go...

Ok.  Just started cleaning up my grow area.  Will be starting seeds tomorrow.
 
Last year was brutal so I am trying  some new things this year.
 
1. No overwinters.  I am hoping that in the past, the plants I brought in to overwinter were the source of the many aphids I have battled.  I guess the aphids could also be coming in from the soil I purchase, which is either Fox Farms Happy Frog or Miracle-Gro Potting mix.  I haven't nuked the soil in the past because we use our microwave for food.  If I can get a used microwave, then I might try to nuke the soil first...
2. Airflow.  I am going to increase airflow by a bunch.  Looking to get a couple more cheap standing fans and have them on blasting the plants for the period of time that the lights are on, which is 18 hours.
3. I am starting my plants a little later this year.  Well maybe not all of them. :  Well last year, I started the chinenses in mid December.  This year will be more like mid January although I will start a few tomorrow since I want to start the Growdown Yellow Brain Strains ASAP.  Baccatums I started end of January last year and Annuums I started mid February of last year.  I am going to move both of them to mid March.
4. Quantity.  I don't know what to do here.  I just like to start a ton of stuff because there are just too many pepper varieties still to try.  If I am able to somehow keep the bugs away and am successful indoors, then I would like to sell extra plants locally for a minimal price.  I have about 120 varieties that I will attempt to grow this year. 
 
I still have the Park's Bio Domes for seed starting.  I have been fairly successful there so no need to change.
 
So, for the first dome, I will be planting the following starting tomorrow.  Pics to follow once hooks arise.
 
Right Hand Side of Dome
Bonda Ma Jacques
Bonda Mahala
Jonah Yellow Brain
Buckeye Bhutlah
CAP 691
Carbonero Sherwoods
Swiss Chocolate
Purple Carolina Reaper
Super Datil
Yellow Brain Strain (Growdown)
 
Left Hand Side of Dome
Fatalii
Gourmet Jigsaw Fatalii
Orange Scorpion Fatalii
Genghis Khan Brain
Habanero Adalberto
Habanero Mustard
Habanero Roatan
Habanero White Bullet
Yellow Hand Grenade
Yellow 7Pot Cross F3
 
That is all for now.

 

[Devv]

All I can say is woot!

 

[chocolatescotchbonnet]

Nice growing!

 

[bpiela]

Lookin great Ben , plants showing great burst of growth , glad your free of pests , some great choices in the line up .....Watching the Adalberto keenly ( seen pods elsewhere there stunning ) good work so far.

 
Thanks Sim!  The pics of the Adalberto on the Hippy Seed Company web site makes them look real cool and the buds are clustering.  I am growing a couple of the Yellow Hainian Lanterns from your seeds as well as a MA Wartryx off pheno.   Definitely looking forward to getting pods off of them.  Hope all is well with you!
 

 

[bpiela]

All I can say is woot!

 
Thanks!  Fingers crossed!
 

 

[bpiela]

Nice growing!

 

Thanks!  Much appreciated!

 

[stickman]

You're off to a flying start Ben, good luck with the rest of your season... hopefully those Pepper Maggot bastiges moved on.
Cheers!

Sent from my SM-S327VL using Tapatalk

 

[bpiela]

Been awhile since I posted so here is some quick shots.
 
The main group of plants.  Still growing.  I started giving the plants some nutes and they started shooting up, almost too much, so I am not going to be giving too much more nutes before plant out.  The biggest plants I really do not want them to grow too much taller.  I had actually moved some plants around and combined the tallest in one tray.  I found 3 plants that were not getting enough light and moved them to a tray with shorter plants.
 

 
Here is the rack where I mostly have my annuums and my tomatoes.  There is one tray there with some chinense.
 

 
From the rack where I have my larger plants, I did get one Aji Oro to germinate and here is a cool pic of it starting to flower amongst the other plants in its tray.
 

 
Lastly, here is my first tri-cotelydon.  I got some seeds from Rainbow Chile Seeds late in the game but I really wanted to start one of their Boze Moj F4.  Here it is.
 

 
I hope that I will get a pod off of that one by the end of the season.  In any case, I will probably over winter it, once I figure out how to over winter things without bringing in the bugs.  On the bugs topic, I have not seen a single pest this season.  There, I said it.  I am probably jinxed now, but it has been a wonderful thing not having to deal with pests through April 1st.  Hopefully, I can keep that up until plant out.  I guess the combination of not doing overwinters and nuking my soil before use has worked.  Also, this has been the first season where I had my fans going since day one.  I still need a couple more fans to have everything covered.  Anyways, Happy Easter to all!

 

[Devv]

Plants look good and glad to read about no bugs!
 
This year was a first for me without Aphids in the grow room, and I never bring OW's into that room. They just show up
 
Regarding OW's: I believe it was Greg (Pic1) who posted about cutting them back (roots and tops), washing the roots off completely, dipping them and a soapy water mix (top and bottom), rinsing well, and re-potting with new potting soil. I kept them in dark for a month or so and then set them on the garage floor under a South window. Not a bug one on them. I never kept them with the babies. 4 out of 5 are doing well, and the 1 is trying...LOL.

 

[bpiela]

Plants have outgrown the lights.  Here is a tray of BBM's, BMM's, BYM's, etc.  They are large.
 

 
I need to get a secondary lighting system for when the plants outgrow my shelves.  I could adjust the shelves but then I would have to get rid of a shelf.  And it wouldn't be easy.
 
Close enough to plant out to say that Wow!  I didn't get a single freakin' bug this year indoors!  That is a first!  No way I can be jinxed. 

 

[Bhuter]

Oh my word! Everything looks fantastically! I remember the Aphid infestation last year. Ugh. But hooray! Bug free and your plants look crazy good. Amazing growing!!!

 

[bpiela]

So, I got this nice Shishito plant going...

 
I thought this was kinda cool, but still hard to see in the picture.  All of the little side branches are also pushing out buds.  So much potential on this plant!

 

[D3monic]

plants are looking fantastic! so healthy looking. When do you plan on planting out?

 

[bpiela]

Thanks!  I hope to plant out soon, but the weather today is on the cold side.  I will start hardening off this week and shoot for May 11th/12th for plant out...

 

[Devv]

Nice plants Ben!
 
That Shishito is screaming for dirt day....
 
I can't wait to see how they do this season

 

[Genetikx]

Awesome plants Ben...you made it this year!

 

[bpiela]

Here is an interesting one.  A Purple Thai plant with a double pod.
 

 

[bpiela]

Planted out some annuums today.  The annuums seem to harden off better than the other types of peppers.  And they start podding up so fast.  Here are a few pics of some annuums that I planted today.
I will start with the Giant Ristra (Reimers):

 
Here is a Matay (pepperlover) that has two giant pods on it.

 
Next up is a Giant Aconcagua (Buckeye Peppers):

 
Here is a Relleno (Reimers):

 
And I will finish up with a Bell of Lebanon (pepperlovers).

 

[Sawyer]

Plants are looking great. How has the last couple of weeks treated them?

I have some Shishito this year. They're still pretty small, but I hope they do as well as yours.

 

[bpiela]

Updating with some annuum pics.
 
Starting with a top down pic on the Purple Thai.  Can still see the double pod.

 
Some Super Chile action:

 
This Relleno is over 6 inches already.  Some purple Jalapenos in the back.

 
A very long Helix Nebula space chile.

 
Lemme's Italian with a few toes that need some clipping thrown in.

 
Now, a chinense.  Apocalypse Scorpion.

 
So this pic needs an explanation.  It is a closeup of an Aji Penec.  This is from the collected seeds that the Aji White Lightening Bolt seeds were discovered, so I am hoping that maybe this is one of those crossed seeds.  Seems like I am getting flowers shooting out up the stem a bit past the node. 

 
Here is a cutting from an Acrata, frutescens. It broke off when I planted it two weeks ago, so I put it in an empty bottle.  Roots are springing out!

 
Lastly, a late tray of plants.  This tray has 3 of the Sawyer's Ghost Pepper plants, and then some superhots I got from a Jim Duffy special, Hurt Berry, Pepper XXX, Chocolate Moruga Brains, Yellow Fever.  Not sure if I will move these outside this year or not.  But they are all doing great!

 

[Devv]

Looking good Ben!