Calamari Kid's LED Krakty Grow

2016 started really cold, but I still planted a few seeds in the hope that this would be The Big Season.
 
It is now the middle of April, night temperatures are in the high 40s F or about 10 C, which is very borderline for the chillies. I have thrown caution to the wind and am bit by bit putting my very small seedlings outside, come what may. This is because (drum roll) I will be purchasing a LED light, and say buhbye to soil.
 
My indoor hydro grow list currently consist of:
 
1 Tri-cot Reaper
1 Yellow habanero
4 Datils
6 Takanotsumes / Hawk's Claw
 
Some C7, Quintisho, Fatalii and mixed habaneros are being germinated. For the moment, theReaper and Datils etc. are just tiny seedlings with seed leaves. Once there is more to see, I will post pictures.
 
Cheers.

 

[TXCG]

Kratky is an interesting method but I was under the impression it works best for short term non-fruiting crops. Does it work well for plants like peppers that take several months to mature? Also what kind of LED light you getting?
 
Good luck with your season! 

 

[Calamari Kid]

Kratky is an interesting method but I was under the impression it works best for short term non-fruiting crops. Does it work well for plants like peppers that take several months to mature? Also what kind of LED light you getting?
 
Good luck with your season! 

 
Thank you! Not exactly sure if Kratky Method would work for me in this case either.
 
BUT - I do keep my houseplants that are grown in flowerpots to live inside a "planter" (essentially a slightly larger, better looking flowerpot that doubles up as a "very deep drip tray") for asethetic reasons, water bottom-side-up, and for a long time, they have been doing quite well. From what I have gathered, the non-circulating method is in essence similar to what I do, but it also allows the roots to grow OUTSIDE of the pot without getting hung up about it. So it won't be "that" different from what I have been doing.
 
I have placed the deposit on a "Budmaster" lamp, usually meant for OTHER "aromatic *medicinal* plants". I have gone for the 4-cluster XG model, which illuminates more of the blue spectrum though at a lesser intensity than the even higher priced lamps. Since I plan to keep my chillies about 1 foot or so tall whilst indoors, for a 2ft x 2ft space, the lamp will be adequate.
 
The outlay for the lamp is high, but I know that I know too little to jack about with AC electricity with cheap lighting, and I am not at the moment interested in DIY-ing because of the time that would be involved, and future costs brought about as well as time involved and any down time for remedial work as I tinker with a DIY lamp.
 
The lamp should have been delivered yesterday but wasn't, so hopefully I should have it today and we can have some unboxing photos soon.
 
Other details regarding the Kratky Project:
Base nutrients: Vitalink Max
Also using Voodoo Juice to boost root growth
 
The seedlings are tiny right now, and are only living under a 9W LED Philips desk lamp.

 

[Calamari Kid]

Here we go, the first few pictrures:

 

[TXCG]

That looks like an awesome light, looking forward to seeing it put to good use. And I agree, messing about with AC voltage if you don't have the knowledge to do it safely is generally a bad idea. DIY might save a few bucks but unless you are confident you can do it properly then buying a proper CE or UL rated light saves peace of mind.

 

[TXSandman]

That looks like an awesome light, looking forward to seeing it put to good use. And I agree, messing about with AC voltage if you don't have the knowledge to do it safely is generally a bad idea. DIY might save a few bucks but unless you are confident you can do it properly then buying a proper CE or UL rated light saves peace of mind.

 
I second the no DIY electrical work unless you really know what you're doing. Especially for something that is going to be powered for extended periods of time. That light does look pretty sweet!
 
I'm interested to see how this method works out for you, good luck!

 

[Calamari Kid]

One week on, just a quick update on the grow:
 
The growlamp turns out to be more impressive than expected. I use LED bulbs at home, just your standard, E14 and E27 screw fitting bulbs from Ikea and Ebay. They are adequate for what they do, though not what I would exactly call stunning. This growlamp however is an entirely different beast all together. I had never thought of eye protection and although I have not looked straight into the lamp, my word, is that thing *BRIGHT*.
 
It beams that "blurple" rays on my seedlings almost 24 hours a day, except when I check on the plants. They seem to like the blurple light though, and are growing very fast. Besides the base nutrients from Vitalink, I have added some potions from Advanced Nutrients, namely: Voodoo Juice, B52, Rhino Skin, Tarantula, and Sensisym. As much as I am skeptical on pricey nutrients - and which is why I bought decanted samples off Ebay - the combined effects of the LED and pricey potions are having a very positive impact on the rate of growth. The grow area's temperature ranges from 18-23 degrees C, i.e. in the 60s F.
 
The Reaper, Dorset Nagas have gone a bit purple which I think is "sunburn" from the lamp. These 3 are a bit slower in terms of leaf growth,  but the Reaper is growing strong roots. The Nagas are in soil so for now any effects on the root growth can not be seen.
 
The Datils are doing well and so are the Hawks Claws, these seedlings still have their seed leaves but are on their 2nd set of true leaves, with very short internodal distance. Root growth is very vigorous.
 
One Qunitisho seedling died but the other is doing okay, and have no sunburn as it is not sitting directly in the beam.
 
The Fataliis have really taken their time germinating, so they are now bundled with the rest of the Habaneros, Congos etc. and they will go into the grow area on a "first come first served" basis.
 
The C7 have been VERY SLOW with their germination as well, but are finally coming through.
 
The Fatalii Gourmet Jigsaw that I had overwintered is not doing so well, with slow growth and brown roots.Theoretically the Sensisym and other potions would help but their delivery was severely delayed and may prove to be too late for the Gourmet Jigsaw.
 
The Peach Ghost and Peach Socrpion are very slowly recovering from winter. Would be nice to see these two come through. These 2 are being grown in soil so effects from the potons may come a little slower.
 
AOB and soil grow:
The rest of the very stunted habanero seedlings that I germinated in January are now squatting with some basils and chives in the balcony outside. These are seedlings that have TINY seed leaves and the smallest of true leaves. Needless to say they have hardly grown at all given the temperatures, at about 5-15 degrees C, i.e. 40-59F, but I am surprised that they are actually not dead! I hope to get some acclimatised genetics from them. We shall see.
 
There is a store-bought cayenne too. Once I can get French Marigolds from the garden centre they will get re-potted together.

 

[Calamari Kid]

The Datils are big enough for repotting, so I have potted them up individually. All but one have recovered from the tranplant shock, which is good. On the other hand... am I the only one  thinking that they are a bit "annumy"?
 
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[Calamari Kid]

Update:
The weather is wrecking havoc here, with below average day time temperatures and below freezing point at night. With the grow space at the upper 60s F (19-20 deg C), the plants are taking their time. I do have a heated propagator but success rate with that thing is worse than sketchy.
 
The plants are none the less coming along, with various moved out to living on their own:
 
All but one Hawks' calw have now been potted up into soil, the remaining one is in the kratky cup still. Once they are bigger, and hopefully the cayenne too, they will go into the breeding program.
 
C7, Qunitisho are slowly coming along.
Datils are now in their individual pots as seen in the photos - they seem to be rather thirsty plants!
Nagas, Reaper, and a habanero are still *painfully* slow, hopefully will go into their growth spurt in a few more weeks.
The remaining habaneros that are germinating are popping their heads up.
 
One 26 April I put 2 Red nagalaghs, 1 Caramel Bhut, and 1 Fatalii Jigsaw seeds into germination. So it is still early days yet, but I hope they will do well and cross breed with the other plants.
 
I am really glad that the C7 has some 7-pot heritage despite it's blistery, ribbed cone shape; and the Nagalagh I'd guess has some Ghost and Douglah in it.I really hope that these 2 will cross between themselves and the Caramel Bhut.
 
Out of the habaneros, which are mostly congos, are supposedly to be very prolific. So I am also hoping that they will cross well with the Datils which have shown a very vigorous growth rate.
 
Then out of it all, I hope to get a fast growing chilli plant that gives me blistery ghosty pods that are pretty dang hot, with a good number of pods per node so that plant can be relatively compact and still have a good yield.
 
Short growing seasons suck.

 

[Calamari Kid]

May Day has been and gone and hopefully the "FOURTH" has been with everyone.
 
One thing for sure is that it has been with my Caramel Bhut and the Jigsaw, which have both popped. The Caramel Bhut popped and is in its own cup, and the Jigsaw popped today. Fingers crossed the Nagalah will join the party soon.
 
Other than that, every one is ticking along. I have moved the Hawks' Claws out because I will be needing space in the grow area. Bad/sad news is that the Cayenne has been eaten. Nothing is left of the plant. I'll play by ear and see how it goes. The Datil seems annumy enough so when the time comes lets do some crossing!
 
A few days ago (30 April 2016) I found some scorpion crosses amongst some habaneros at a local grocery store.
 

 
I have collected the seeds and grouped them by shape. The seeds from the likes of 9, 10, 12 are now being germinated and we shall wait and see what comes of them...

 

[Ohjay]

Did you taste these crosses? If so, what were they like?
Is 11 unripe or just a color mutation?

 

[Calamari Kid]

Did you taste these crosses? If so, what were they like?
Is 11 unripe or just a color mutation?

 
Unfortunately no. They smelled sweeter and fruitier than habaneros. I tried to dry them, and they went mouldy in the process.
 
No idea about 11. It could be unripe but seeds looked fully developed.

 

[Calamari Kid]

The seeds from the likes of 9, 10, 12 are now being germinated and we shall wait and see what comes of them...

 
Quite amazingly, in a mere 9 days 3 of these store-bought seeds have popped! BOOYAH!
 
Great news is that the Nagalaghs have popped too. So very soon they will get potted up
 
Other than that, everyone is ticking along as before, the Reaper is still growing very slowly, so are the 2 straggler C7s.
 
One thing that has really surprised me is just how thirsty these plants are. As much as they are being grown Krakty-style, I am still watering them daily, and the light is operating at half strength.
 

 

[TXCG]

The Datils are big enough for repotting, so I have potted them up individually. All but one have recovered from the tranplant shock, which is good. On the other hand... am I the only one  thinking that they are a bit "annumy"?
 

 
This is my first year growing Datils (I've grown Sweet Datils before just not regular ones) but they definitely do not have the large heart-shaped leaves typical of chinense. They do look a lot more "annuumy"
This is one of my Datils. To the right is a Sweet Datil also with the long skinny annuumy leaves and to the left is a Devil's Tongue with the typical chinense style leaf
 

 
 
By the way how are you liking that LED light? Any pics of it in action? 

 

[D3monic]

I really like 11, could just be the coloration. 

 

[Calamari Kid]

 
By the way how are you liking that LED light? Any pics of it in action? 

Wow, your Datils are groing strong and bushy! Wish mine were like that.
 
That light is BLINDINGLY strong. Some of my plants are a bit sunburnt, other than that they are coming along, a bit slow for my liking but I am suspecting if that has to do with the nutes. Chillies from last year grew faster under a 30w spiral CFL light...
 
Here's an older pic of the light ins action:
 

 

I really like 11, could just be the coloration. 

 
Thanks. Yeah, that's my favourite too. I have labelled it the "Almost Reaper". 3 of those seeds are being germinated now, I hope they grow true.

 

[Calamari Kid]

Observed something quite peculiar today:
 
The cup of random mix Chinense chillies have got a bit crowded in their solo/disposable cup, so I decided to "re-pot" them so they get a bit more room.
 
What I have noticed is that the bigger the plant, the larger the root mass (well duh) - *BUT* - the length of individual root strand does not have much bearing on the plant's size.
 
This is PURELY anecdotal and TOTALLY UNSCIENTIFIC...
 
Anyway.
 
So out of about 10 random Chinesis plants, the biggest plants have the biggest clump of meshy tangled up roots, the medium plants have varied root lentgths and varied branching in the roots, the smallest plants, well, have the least roots and may get thrown out.
 
As my Reaper is *PAINFULLY* slow growing, I was intrigued to see just what is its root like. Lo and behold the size of the root clump is about 30-ish% of the itty-bitty Reaper, and the roots have minimal branching. They are like long strands of straight hair. So, kind of explains why it is small, but still.
 
This is purely an observational thing, no definitive measurements taken, no side by side comparisons, no dates, no names, no-nothing. Heck, I don't even know what types those chillies are, not until they fruit anyway.
 
But certainly interesting tho.

 

[Calamari Kid]

WE HAVE FLOWERBUDS!
 
Yup. They formed on the Datils a few days ago, but today it is very clear that they are what they are. I guess from seed-leaf stage to buds in just under 6-week isn't too shabby?
 
The Reaper, C7, have finally picked up some speed and is getting bigger. The rest of the Chinenses are ticking along, but I am very happy with the Datils. Now we just need the Hawls' Claws to co-operate a bit!
 
The nutes have been changed up a bit given the initial slow start. The nutrients are meant for growth so there isn't really any good explanation for the slow plant growth. Like I have said, I had better grow rate under a 30w CFL bulb in soil last year, using Chilli Focus!
 
I am now phasing out the hydro base nutrients with a soluble summer citrus feed that is higher in nitrogen, at 1/4 strength at every watering. The increased leaf growth is a clear sign that the plants are happy with the change. The plan now is that once they are big enough I'll phase the citrus feed back to the hydro feed to keep their sizes in check.
 
The mystery outdoor grow is taking a beating from the weather, everything is staying very stunted given the 50-60F temperatures and a lack of sun. One or two seeds have continued to pop through, but I have yet to see the true leaves.