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chaosbites- growing peppers in the 3OH3!

I am going to give it a shot and start a glog and post some photos.

I started my 2013 season on 17 Feb 2013. I planted then what I had available and added more peppers as I got the seeds. Next year I am hoping I run a little logical in planting times.


Anaheim (Lake Valley)
Jalapeno (Livingston Seeds)
Habanaro- Red (Lake Valley Organics)
Habanero- Red (Burpee) Habanero mix
Habanero- Yellow (Burpee) Habanero mix
Habanero- Orange (Botanical Interests)
Fatalii (Seed Savers)
NuMex Joe E Parker (Botanical Interests)
Poblano (Lake Valley)
Jamaican Red (Lake Valley) packet says they are a scotch bonnet
California Wonder (Burpee) Carnival mix
Diamond (Burpee) Carnival mix
Golden California Wonder (Burpee) Carnival mix
Orange Sun (Burpee) Carnival mix
Purple Beauty (Burpee) Carnival mix
Serrano (Lake Valley)
Corno di Toro- Red (Renee’s Garden)
Corno di Toro- Yellow (Renee’s Garden)
Douce d’Espange (Ferry-Morse)
Marconi Red (Lake Valley Organics)
Long Thin Cayenne (Ferry-Morse)
Gotrox Mystery Pepper (Gotrox)
Peach Bhut Jolokia (ajijoe)
Wild Brazil (ajijoe)
Surprise Hot Mix (ajijoe)
Bhut Jolokia (chaosbites) {died, failure to thrive, 29 Mar 2013}
Jimmy Nardello's (seed savers)
Fish (seed savers)
Red Rocoto (seed savers)
Chocolate Devil tongue (joemomma)
Bhut Jolokia Indian Carbon (joemomma)
Chocolate Bhut Jolokia (joemomma)
Revels Ghost Bhut Jolokia (joemomma)
Red Habanero, Caribbean not 100% (joemomma)

oh yeah, I have three over winters living in 5 gal. buckets in my garden tub. I was able to snatch a few tasty but small pods this winter from the few plants I had last year.

bhut jolokia
orange habanero
Poblano

DH is going to build some raised beds for me in the coming weeks. Last year's garden was small even after we tried to better the clay soil we have here. Several will have to settle in containers. I am hoping we get a better crop this year. I will have two 3' x 12' beds and a 3' x 24' bed. The 11 year olds will share a 4' x 4' bed and sell their goodies door to door. I will have to find homes for my extra seedlings as I am sure not all can fit.


Rise of the Solo Cup invasion!
Since I don't have the space or fixtures for more lights my babies will have to rely on the strong sun we get here in Colorado. I borrowed one of my 19 yo son's soldering tool to melt the holes in the bottom of the Solo cups. I am using Fox Farm Ocean Forrest for soil. But I did have one bag of epsoma seed mix. The little guys on the skinny tray are now elevated so they can get the sun. If they were near the window the black would heat up and roast them

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DH isn't too happy the living room has been turned into my grow room. Right now it is the only place with the natural light and space I need. Maybe next year I will have a grow room in the basement.

This is the little greenhouse (minus the cover) I got at Harbor Freight. On the top are my annums and tomato plants that were started in the first round. Now that I have pots, warming mat, light, seed, and will save seed I will start my chinese first next year. The second tray down is a multi type pack of basil with a few lemon grass seedlings thrown in. Third down are my two 4' T 12s stolen from the basement. Half the light is hanging off so the rubbermaid is holding things steady on the end. Also on those lights I have some more lemon grass and chives trying to germinate. The bottom shelf has a mix of annums and chinese. The skinny tray is more basil. The trays are raised up on smaller (unused) pizza boxes.
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A closer look at the bottom shelf. Some of the peppers are doubled up. We get a lot of strong wind here so I am hoping maybe they can help make a wind screen for some of the others down wind. I may even try my hand at a bonchi this fall.

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I dated the cups with the sowing date and the pot up dates. FF is Fox Farm. When I started I didn't know what soil I would end up with and I wanted to see what I liked better.
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These guys are some of the chinese sitting on shoe boxes to snuggle up with the lights.

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More of the top shelf. Pepper and tomato.

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Here are the babies of the bunch. I have a couple of hooks and a Marconi up. The Marconi have been slow and full of helmet heads. Hopefully, the few that are tough enough to survive make it to the back yard. There are several jiffy post with seeds from THP members that were kind and shared with me (Gotrox, ajijoe and Joemomma- thank you guys!) I hope to be able to share in the future. If you can read the tags there is also some ornamental grass (blue fescue) that I planted yesterday to go in the front yard landscaping.

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Well, this is where I am with this years grow. Hoping for snow in the high country so we don't have water restrictions this year.

I have enjoyed many of your glogs.
Michelle
 
Click to expand...
Thanks you all for visiting my first time glog. As this is my first year growing from seed I have found it a real learning experience that I have enjoyed.

This past weekend dh went to the hardware store and got me two more T 12s (shop lights) for the little seedlings. One of the lights didn't work at all the other went on for about 10 seconds and then died. So the next day they were returned and new ones bought. They worked fine. I decided to stick with the shop lights at this time since if/when I upgrade my lights these can be used in the basement or the garage. Plus, I already had a bunch of bulbs for them. Now that the lights are hung I did a little rearranging of the kiddos.

The new lights are the ones under the table. The two black flats on top of the table belong on the greenhouse shelf. I was moving some of the lemon grass seedlings into the free spaces in the basil trays. I got bamboo stick for the tomatoes since they were getting big. The green blob in the pot is an OW rosemary. I move the window fan (in the chair) a couple of times a day. It helps things from getting too toasted when the sun shines in. The plants on the floor even get some of the sun.

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My germination station has been working hard. One of the peppers I am most excited about is the red Rocoto. I planted it on the 20th after a hour or two soak in water. I have one hook already. The package came with a note saying the germination rate was 53% so they put in 2x the normal amount of seed. I hope I can get a couple of these guys to stick around.

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Here are the other kids. I have several that seem to pop out of nowhere during the night. It has been like Christmas to see who was the next one sprung. I keep the lid on over night and take it off during the day. Once the seedlings in each pod sprout I will then separate them into the solo cups.

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Two of the marconi have been moved onto bigger and better homes.

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Some red and yellow habs.

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My older peppers on the bottom of the greenhouse shelf. Further to the right is a tray full of some of the younger ones. The past couple of nights with the colder temps at night I decided to put the cover on the greenhouse shelf. There is a heat vent on the floor. It is far from the furnace so it doesn't get too hot. They seemed to like being tucked in at night.

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Thanks for visiting,
Michelle
 
It looks like your off to a excellent start! Happy to see another Coloradoan around here!

On March 21st you said, "[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]Since I don't have the space or fixtures for more lights my babies will have to rely on the strong sun we get here in Colorado."[/background]

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]5 days later, "[/background][background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]This past weekend dh went to the hardware store and got me two more T 12s (shop lights) for the little seedlings."[/background]

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]Haha!!! Welcome to the addiction. [/background]
 
Thanks WalkGood & Trippa. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will need a machete- even a little one for my own jungle. ;)

Here is today's update:

Bad news :tear: The only bhut jolokia seed that was able to sprout died today. I didn't have much hope that any of the six I planted would grow. They came from one of the small pods off my OW plant. The pods would ripen in hours while last summer it was days to ripen after showing first bit of color change. This seedling cotyledons came up and then shriveled away till it died today. I will try again from a summer pod.

I potted up many seedlings from the germination station into bigger homes. The annums went into solo cups and the chinese went into six packs. The seeds that didn't germinate went into a pot called the "seed graveyard." If any sprout they will be my little zombies. I did find a couple that were just starting to grow and they went into the six packs also. I left a few that have already popped in the jiffy pots. The ones I moved had roots coming through the netting. A third red rocoto popped today but it had a helmet that came off easily. The cotyledons were already browning up. So it is wait and see for that guy.

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These are the guys that got moved today. Well, there are a few 6 packs of habs that were done on the 20th. My three fish are in the solo cups.

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More kiddos potted up.

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Welcome to my jungle. These big kids got their first nutes yesterday.
Note to self--> tomatoes grow really fast and can be done a bit later.
I am most likely going to have to pot up the toms before plant out. I have never grown them from seed and they are going wild.

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A funny little story. When I was checking the germination tray the other morning I said "Well, hello there Jimmy!" Kyle, one of my 11 year olds was in hearing distance and replied, "Don't tell me you are naming them now!?!" I then had to explain it was a Jimmy Nardello and first of that bunch to pop.

Have a great holiday weekend!!!
Michelle
 
Looks good. How long is your growing season in Colorado? I'm in Arkansas where we were planting by now last year but it will be in the 30's next week at night so I still have everything in solo cups waiting.
 
Hi Michelle
Everything I see is looking Aok! Bummer about the seedlings that are dying off... I was having similar problems with my initial planting of Annuum seeds, and I think it was a fungus in the seed starting medium. I guess it doesn't pay to economize there... In my second planting I used promix. To hedge my bets, I soaked the seeds in a 10% solution of Hydrogen Peroxide for 10-15 minutes, rinsed in clear water and soaked overnight in diluted seaweed extract (for the Auxins and trace elements) before planting.

Hope you and your family have a happy Easter.
 
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