Coach's 2015 Overwhelming Grow

Final Grow List- Updated 3/25/15- 152 Varieties, Around 280 plants:
7 Pot Brain Strain, Red
7 Pot Brain Strain, Yellow
7 Pot Bubblegum, Red
7 Pot Burgundy
7 Pot Caramel
7 Pot Chaguanas
7 Pot Jonah x PDN, F3
7 Pot Jonah, Red
7 Pot Primo, Orange
7 Pot Primo, Red
7 Pot Primo, Yellow
7 Pot White
7 Pot Yellow
7 Pot Yellow x Bhut Jolokia India Carbon
Aji Amarillo
Aji Bolivian Long
Aji Brazilian Starfish
Aji Colorado
Ají Dulce, Orange
Ají Fantasy
Aji Jobito
Aji Lemon Drop
Aji Melocoton
Ají Omnicolor
Aji Panca
Aji Pineapple
Aji Queen Laurie
Aleppo
Ancient Sweet
Bad Brains
Bahamian Goat
Banana, Sweet Monster Heirloom
Bell, Lilac
Bell, Yellow
Bhut Jolokia, India Carbon
Bhut Jolokia, Peach
Bhut Jolokia, Purple
Bhut Jolokia, Red
Bhut Jolokia, White
Bhut Jolokia, Yellow
Bhut Orange Copenhagen
Bih Jolokia, Caramel
Bishop's Crown
Black Stinger
Bonda ma Jacques

Bonda ma Jacques x Yellow 7 Pot
Carolina Reaper
Cayenne, Purple
Cayenne, Ring of Fire
CGN 21500
CGN 21566
Chiltepe, Guatemalan Long
Chiltepe, Guatemalan Cone
Chiltepin x Reaper
Cinnamon Bell
Condor's Beak
Congo, Chocolate
Congo, Peach
Cumari do Para
Datil
Devil's Tongue, White
Dulcetta, Orange
Ethiopian Berbere
Fatalii x TSMB, Yellow
Fatalii, Black
Fatalii, Chocolate
Fatalii, Peach
Fatalii, Peach cross
Fatalii, Red
Fatalii, White
Fatalii, Yellow
Fish
Goat's Weed
Golden Treasure
Goronong
Grif 9304- Colombian Lightning
Habanero, Bolivian Bumpy Yellow
Habanero, Carolina Yellow
Habanero, Chocolate
Habanero, Dominican Huge Orange
Habanero, Galapagos- Isabel
Habanero, Large Red Belize Market
Habanero, Mustard Lightning
Habanero, Orange
Habanero, Paper Lantern
Habanero, Peach
Habanero, Red Savina
Habanero, St. Bart's
Hair
Hungarian Yellow Wax (mild)
Jalapeno, Biker Billy
Jalapeno, Early
Jalapeno, Long
Jalapeno, Purple
Jalapeno, Yellow x 7 Pot Bubblegum
Jamaican Mushroom, Yellow
Japones
Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion
Jay's Red Ghost Scorpion
Jwala
Manzano, Caballo Amarillo 
Naga Morich
Naga, Black
Nagabrain, Chocolate
Peach Wasp
Pepperoncini, Greek
Pepperoncini, Italian
Peruvian Serlano
PI 199506- Aji Guyana
PI 281424- PR Mushroom
Pimenta Leopard
Prik Chi Faa
Purple Flash
Rainforest
Red Hot Cherry
Red Savina x Fatalii Red
Red Savina x Fatalii Yellow
Red Savina x Fatalii, Chocolate
Rocoto, Orange
Rocoto, Red
Rooster Spur
SB7J (mushroom pheno)
Scotch Bonnet x Naga Morich
Scotch Bonnet, Burkina Yellow
Scotch Bonnet, Cappuccino
Scotch Bonnet, Chocolate
Scotch Bonnet, MoA red
Scotch Bonnet, MoA yellow
Serrano
Shishito
Shumenski Rotund
Star of Turkey
Stuffed Red Giant
Sukari
Sulu Adana
Superhot Cross, Yellow
Tabasco
Tepin x Lemon Drop
Thai, Large Orange
Trinidad Beans
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, Brown
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, Red
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, Yellow
Trinidad Scorpion Butch T
Trinidad Scorpion CARDI, Red
Trinidad Scorpion CARDI, Yellow
Trinidad Scorpion Sweet
Trinidad Scorpion, Chocolate
Unidentified Brain Strain Cross, Red
Wiri Wiri
Xalapa
Yalova Charleston

I've got a 3 shelf, 70"x48"x24" unit as my main indoor system. Being in North Carolina, I can put plants into the ground in mid-April. I've got other shelves to use when needed.
 
INTRO
I coach high school Cross Country & Track.
I teach AP Psychology. People say psychology majors are the people who need help the most. I was a History major, but people who spend a lot of time thinking about psychology may self-diagnose at times. Maybe. No one's ever told me I'm OCD. I'm super messy, but I do have a major "all or nothing" theme in my life. I run 100 mile races. I haven't washed my car or had it washed since 1991. I only wear 3 colors of shirts- black, navy & green (& only green because it's a school color). Maybe I have a problem. Why would peppers be any different?
 
I've always had gardens of some size- even if just 6-8 tomato plants & a couple of squash. In 2014, I expanded my garden exponentially. Still have a lot of fall/winter crops. I've never grown peppers or tomatoes from seed & only grew jalapenos, habaneros, bells, cayenne & tabasco. In mid-October, I only had 5 varieties of pepper seeds. Two months, later, I have 220, thanks to stumbling across this site & benefiting from the generosity of the folks on this site. Expanded my seed stockpile through giveaways, trades, harvesting from pods, and buying just a few. Incredibly generosity here. I've paid forward some of that, though my stock is limited to 5-10 seeds for most varieties minus what I have or will grow this season.
 
I've had a ton of questions & I've made a lot of mistakes so far. Hopefully this will evolve into more of voice of experience in a few months, but now, I suppose the glog is more a consolidation of advice seeking.
 
HISTORY TO DATE
The plan is to plant a total of six 1020 flats with 48 cells in each & to spread it out roughtly a month apart- two Nov. 1, two Dec. 1 & two Jan. 1.
 
I started germinating some seeds in bags October 26 but followed up 10 days later with seeds in soil. I didn't notice a difference in germination rates or speed between the two methods so I won't use bags in the future. I was a little impatient with germination, but after planting 2 seeds in each of 96 cells, I ended up with 88 seeds that popped. Not quite 50%, but it's a learning process. Almost all of the last set of seeds I planted sprouted. Problems were:
* Planted too deep
* Compacted soil too much
* Not ideal mix of soil. Used a mix of 3 store bought mixes with added Vermiculite. The one I used most heavily had too much mulchy compost. Have since improved with finer soil & Perlite.
* Temperature wasn't that consistent early on. 
 
I have all of that worked out for later germination.
 
I will complete the last of the 2nd wave of planting this week. 
 
OTHER PROBLEMS
BUGS
About 3 weeks ago, I came home to little tiny orange bugs on the underside of the cotyledons & tiny gray flying bugs- fewer of the gray ones. I sprayed insecticidal soap and the orange guys didn't last long. The tiny gray ones are still around but not in great numbers. I see one flying around a few times a day. 
 
YELLOWING
I've had about 6-8 seedlings die after yellowing. I'm positive I overwatered a little early. Last week, nearly ALL of my seedlings were looking a little yellow. I have watered very sparingly in the past 3-4 weeks. Every couple of days, some shrivel up & I give them a tiny bit of water. A few hours later, they bounce back. Besides that, I haven't really watered in the past 2 weeks. I changed my lighting around 3 days ago & have seen some changes... Was using one set of two 4" T8 lights with two 23w/1600 lumen CFLs on a clip & one 65w/950 lumen light for some heat. T8s were probably too far from the plants- maybe 16". 3 days ago, I added a second T8 fixture & ditched the other lights. I dropped the T8s to about 6" from the plants. The leaves seemed to have darken up a bit in the 3 days since. Today, I added some reflective insulation. I've had the lights on 18 hours/day. Temps have been a steady 82 degrees when they're on & 70 when they're off.
 
 
LIGHT BURN?
One of the reasons I got rid of the CFLs is because I couldn't put them anywhere except very close to the plants & noticed some darkened leaves in places where I left a CFL for several hours. Since then & since putting the four T8s on them 3 days ago, I've seen some dark spots form on the leaves that I don't remember being there before. 

Sorry you'll have to tilt your head. Several leaves are spotty like this after moving T8s down to about 5-6" from seedlings. A few were very dark after being very close to CFLs.
NO REAL LEAVES YET??
I only have ONE seedling with anything but cotyledons. That one has had it for 2 weeks but hasn't really grown since. There are a few other seedlings that are developing other leaves but they haven't fully developed yet. Should this be a concern since some of these seedlings sprouted a month ago?

                                             

My only true leaves. Notice leaves aren't very dark. Yellow Fatalii.      Yellow daying seedlings. About 6-8 have died.
 
I know this is a wordy post but just trying to establish some background.
Seeds started between October 26-November 7 that sprouted & are still alive:
7 Pot Primo, Red
7 Pot White
Aji Pineapple
Bahamian Goat
Bhut Jolokia, Peach
CGN 21500
Cinnamon Bell
Datil
Fatalii, Black
Fatalii, Chocolate
Fatalii, White
Fatalii, Yellow
Habanero, Galapagos- Isabel
Habanero, White Bullet
Peach Wasp
Rainforest
Rocoto, Red
Scotch Bonnet, MoA red
Scotch Bonnet, MoA yellow
Thai, Large Orange
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, Brown
Trinidad Scorpion Sweet
 
Seeds started between December 2-8. A few more planned this week & then a 3rd wave around January 1.
7 Pot Bubblegum, Red
7 Pot Chaguanas
7 Pot Jonah x PN, F3
7 Pot Jonah, Red
Aji Amarillo
Aji Bolivian Long
Aji Brazilian Starfish
Aji Colorado
Aji Lemon Drop
Aji Melocoton
Bad Brains
Bhut Jolokia, Red
Carolina Reaper
Dystopia (7 Pot Bubblegum variant)
Fatalii, Peach
Goronong
Habanero, Black
Habanero, Bolivian Bumpy Yellow
Habanero, Chocolate
Habanero, Mustard Lightning
Habanero, Paper Lantern
Habanero, Pastel Orange
Habanero, Peach
Jalapeno, Biker Billy
Jalapeno, Early
Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion
Manzano, Yellow
Pimenta Leopard
Red Savina x Fatalii Red
Red Savina x Fatalii Yellow
Scotch Bonnet x 7 Pot Jonah yellow
Scotch Bonnet, Chocolate
Star of Turkey
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, Red
Trinidad Scorpion Butch T
Trinidad Scorpion CARDI, Red
Trinidad Scorpion CARDI, Yellow
Yellow Jal x 7 Pot Bubblegum
 
Still working on the list for the last 35 or so varieties. Most annuums will go in the last round of planting.

 

[Pulpiteer]

If you find a good solution for japanese beetles that is organic, let me know

 

[coachspencerxc]

If you find a good solution for japanese beetles that is organic, let me know

I haven't found much. They came out in full force this week. I read Neem oil is somewhat effective. Planning on trying today. So far, they're only eating bean leaves.

 

[coachspencerxc]

 

[tctenten]

Purple Jalapeño?

 

[Pulpiteer]

I haven't found much. They came out in full force this week. I read Neem oil is somewhat effective. Planning on trying today. So far, they're only eating bean leaves.

 
Yeah they should leave your peppers and tomatoes alone - they don't tend to hammer the nightshade family, but beans, raspberries, grapes, stuff like that they go nuts. 

 

[coachspencerxc]

Purple Jalapeño?

I wish I knew. I have another purple jalapeno plant that just has its first blossoms & they're like this but I only planted one PJ. About 15% of my plants had the names washed away on the tag. Black Coban is unaccounted for but I don't think the green on the pod is right & the leaves aren't dark. Guess I'll wait it out.

 

[coachspencerxc]

Goronong:

Yellow Brain Strain:

 

[chocolatescotchbonnet]

Yellow Brian looks like yellow moruga!
Brain....

 

[coachspencerxc]

Yellow Brian looks like yellow moruga!
Brain....

Who is "Yellow Brian?"  
I'm not expert but looks like pretty textbook Brain Strain from google searches. I have several things growing that have me scratching my head about the pheno I'm seeing, but this isn't one of them. ...and I don't mean to be a jerk about it, but I'm pretty confident this is a true to type Brain Strain. ...on the other hand, today's harvest proved not to be as true...
 
Aji Pineapple that looks & tastes like Aji Pineapple and two- ahem- WHITE Devil Tongues. I took the seeds out of a WDT pod someone sent me last fall & this is what came out. BUT, I'm hoping it's kind of an anomaly. There were 3 very small pods like this that are red and then some 3-4x this size that haven't ripened. Maybe those others turn out white? There were zero seeds in these red ones. I'd like a plant with all little red pods like these. Really nice bite sized fireball. Heat level was DT/Fatalii level- hotter than I remember the White DT being. I ate all three of these in quick succession and it was kind of my limit of a very pleasant hot hot burn. First ripe chinense of the year. Looking forward to many many more to come.

 

[jcw10tc]

Nice pods Coach.  Looking forward to Aji Pineapple this year.  Mine are quite a ways off.  I had both yellow brains and yellow morugas last year.  They looked just alike to me.  Only difference was average size of the yellow moruga pods seemed to be bigger and the heat of the morugas was a little less than the brains.  That all could just be conicedence though.  Both are awesome and both have earned a permanent home in all of my future pepper gardens. 

 

[coachspencerxc]

Nice pods Coach.  Looking forward to Aji Pineapple this year.  Mine are quite a ways off.  I had both yellow brains and yellow morugas last year.  They looked just alike to me.  Only difference was average size of the yellow moruga pods seemed to be bigger and the heat of the morugas was a little less than the brains.  That all could just be conicedence though.  Both are awesome and both have earned a permanent home in all of my future pepper gardens. 

Very similar for sure. I'm growing every yellow I could get my hands on. Maybe a bit redundant to grow Yellow BS, Yellow 7, Yellow Moruga, Yellow Primo, Bad Brains & a few yellow crosses but I wanted to see what I liked best (taste, productivity, etc) & narrow it down next year.

 

[jcw10tc]

I really found the yellows to be my favorite last year.  Hot but not stupid like some of the red and chocolate supers.  Have quite a few this year also.  Looking forward to the yellow scorpions, daisy cutter and yellow douglah and primo.  I think you will like them and have a hard time narrowing it down. I cut out the 7 pot yellow regular this year just because the brains looked better but they were so similar in taste can't go wrong with either.

 

[OCD Chilehead]

Very nice looking pods Coach. Hope the others turn out the way you want. I'm sure the others will put out some seeds later in the year. Good luck and thanks for sharing.

 

[coachspencerxc]

I really have about 5-6 hours of garden work to do each day to do things right. Running 50-80 miles/week. Weather is not cooperating. I ran & got in about 2 hours of garden work each of the past 2 days (96 & 99 degrees), but I guess I'm just going to have to get out there & do it tomorrow & the rest of this week.  ...not to mention North Carolina is humid too. Very. Ugh. That's my first & last weather complaint of the year. I promise.

 

[jcw10tc]

Toasty. At least maybe you don't need to wade through water like I practically do just to get to the garden.

 

[Trident chilli]

Phenomenal temperatures ..... Humid never heard of that in the UK

 

[Pulpiteer]

That looks like the yellow brain strains I've grown.  Beautiful looking peppers.
 
And the Aji Pineapple looks great - that's another great pepper.

 

[coachspencerxc]

Bad Brains from Wes Lane & Scotch Bonnet x Naga Morich from HotToddy:

Red Brain Strain & Yellow Fatalii:

Caramel 7 Pot & Bhut Orange Copenhagen:

Hair & Mustard Lightning Habanero (Jim Weaver, by way of Aji Joe):

CARDI Red & Yellow:

7JPN & Carolina Reaper. This 7JPN plant has very dark foliage with small dark pods. I have 2 other 7JPN plants from the same source that have all green foliage with small green pods.

Aji Omnicolor & CGN 21500:

 

[jcw10tc]

Nice pods.  My 7JPN is dark, no pods yet though.  

 

[OCD Chilehead]

Very nice pods my friend. Beautiful! I like those Scotch Bonnet x Naga Morich. Gotta love the Fatalii, Brain, ----- heck they all looks very nice. Job well done.

Thanks for sharing.