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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

longrange_zpse9e33296.jpg

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. 
spotty_zps167a0d8c.jpg

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?
fatalii_zps01fe811d.jpg
                                             
dying_zpsfd144b8b.jpg

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.
 
grantmichaels said:
the nuance is key - you don't have to over-fert to cause that, ANY fert while locked out can cause that in my experience ...
Help a noob out by briefly explaining "locked out." I've seen it mentioned here but I'm not sure what it means. Thanks.
 
the pH of the water(/soil) ...

the membranes, "gating" ... ion exchange or whatever ...

if the rootzone gets too far out of pH, the plants will starts to refuse uptake of certain minerals or whatever ...

i'm going to let someone who is on-point take over, my knowledge is rusty ...

pH testing your water?
 
you absolutely want to manage water pH, nothing happens "right" without it ...

i promise, learned the hard way ...

easy fix ...

pH Up/pH Down (chemical product), or can bring it down w/ lemon juice or vinegar, and up w/ something - maybe epsom salts, but verify that ... i use pH Down, because my water is hard and very base these days ... like 8.0-8.5 depending on environmental temp's ...

pH is key.
 
Thanks. Moved into a new house with well water. Been here a month & water wasn't good until last week when we paid too much for treatment system. I just looked it up. Ph was 5.7 before treatment. Was getting that water for a month. Problem didn't arise until planted in the ground & we got over 4" of rain in a week.
 
did you mix lime and stuff in your soil? 5.7's a bit low, I think, actually ...

soil pH is too complex a topic to dig into, really, though ...

rain water could have pulled it lower, yet ...

anyways, good stuff to look into ...

and most importantly NOT BLS ...

site search for "BLS" from posts from my username will get you pics galore!
 
The dark spots never spread to the whole plant (maybe on 1/3 to 1/2 of the leaves of two plants) or to any other plants & they've been in the ground for almost 2 weeks now. So that's good. If anything, the plants look a little better now. A few nice sunny days in the 70s the past few have really helped out... but it has been really windy. The peppers are fine but 6-8 of the 19 tomatoes are no longer with us. Stinks.
I got my first pod today (other than a jalapeno that fell off & I ate)!!! Large Orange Thai. 2 more of those ready to pick in the next 2 days. A couple of Aji Colorados a day or two from getting picked too. Funny thing is, I haven't eaten a fresh pod since the Fall. I've eaten superhot powder &/or sauce every day, but nothing fresh. A small bite of the Orange Thai got me. I cut the rest up & put on food for a more pleasurable experience. A little worried that I hope to have loads of superhots coming in later but this Orange Thai has me hiccuping.
20150423_143828_zpsnucorjtk.jpg
 
grantmichaels said:
I grow peppers to enjoy the time w/ the plants, and to give away peppers ...

It'll be OK.
I must admit the pretty colors & shapes are a big part of why I got interested... and the obsessive nature of collecting and comparing. Certainly 0% of the reason was to be "exxxxtreme hottest pepper in the world eater." I've been around people a few times lately who talk about the crazy ghost pepper sauce they ate & how it was the hottest thing ever. "Seriously, they said it was the hottest thing ever." I just sort of nod & don't even tell them I've got a flippin' boatload of plants busting off the shelves waiting to be planted.
 
Haha, LOL ...

It's possible I won't even eat them, or really, more than like a dozen pods ...

We eat w/ powder, in a spicy but civilized way ...

Am planning to experiment w/ canning/jarring this go around ...
 
OCD Chilehead said:
Just got caught up on the grow. How are the plants doing? Very nice list. Wishing you the best of luck.

Chuck
Eh, I need to update & put some pics up. Some sunburned plants. I guess it's a good thing that I haven't been able to plant out as many as I wanted to. Doing a better job of hardening off. I have 55 in the ground. 30 are fine. 10 are not too bad. 14 are rough but should be OK. 1 won't pull through but I have multiples of the variety (MoA Red).

Better update soon. Thanks.
 
Nice to see your planting out and starting to get pods, good work.
re:Sunburn. As long as the spots aren't too big and aren't all over the pllant it's not such a big problem.
 
PaulS said:
Nice to see your planting out and starting to get pods, good work.
re:Sunburn. As long as the spots aren't too big and aren't all over the pllant it's not such a big problem.
Thanks. One plant is toast but I had multiples of it. A couple of others were burned pretty bad but are showing new growth. Others had some bad leaves but are OK. The ones in the ground longer were OK. I now have about half of the 325 in the ground & am shading them with tarps for part of the day this week as its in the 80s & 90s with full sun from 8am to 5 pm otherwise. Unseasonably hot. Once they settle in, I don't think real summer will be a problem. But gotta get them acclimated. They've been living outside full time for 5 days before a big planting yesterday but only in partial sun.

Thanks again!
 
coachspencerxc said:
Thanks. One plant is toast but I had multiples of it. A couple of others were burned pretty bad but are showing new growth. Others had some bad leaves but are OK. The ones in the ground longer were OK. I now have about half of the 325 in the ground & am shading them with tarps for part of the day this week as its in the 80s & 90s with full sun from 8am to 5 pm otherwise. Unseasonably hot. Once they settle in, I don't think real summer will be a problem. But gotta get them acclimated. They've been living outside full time for 5 days before a big planting yesterday but only in partial sun.

Thanks again!
one of my choco bonnets turned totally white(toast) from not hardening off! i didn't give up on it and it's starting to sprout new growth. the roots are so far along that i'll still probably get to harvest a few pods from it.
 
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