Compmodder26's 2012 Grow Log - New Video Update

compmodder26 · Feb 8, 2012

SocalChilehead said:
That sucks about the cat munching down, but atleast you can now stop the cat from destroying the rest of the plants good luck through the season.

Thanks man! Yeah I'm hoping the Bhut will recover quickly.

Quick question. On a lot of my seedlings with 2 or more sets of true leaves, I've noticed that the 1st set of leaves are starting to yellow. The new growth is a very healthy green. To me this sounds like a nitrogen deficiency, but me being a noob, I want to get a second opinion. What do you guys think?

stc3248 · Feb 8, 2012

[sub]Here are some pics of ONE of my cat damaged plants...You can see in the first pic a little damage in the lower right portion of the plant...[/sub]

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[sub]I didn't trim this plant at all...all the missing foliage was removed by the cat...[/sub]
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[sub]What worked for the smaller plants was a little cayenne powder in the soil...on the larger plants I tried spraying them with cayenne infused coffee...since cats are supposed to dislike coffee/coffee grounds...worked for a day or so...then she went right back to chowing down. I think your chicken wire is the best solution until thay can go outside. Good news is, The plants are really putting out a ton of new growth so they'll recover, and may be even healthier than before the unintentional pruning....[/sub]

[sub]Other than the cat damage. your plants look really happy and healthy![/sub]

romy6 · Feb 8, 2012

Very young plants do not need much to stay happy. I would lean toward over watering. Not that you are over watering but your soil may be to compact and not drying out fast enough.

compmodder26 · Feb 9, 2012

Ok, I will pay more attention to the soil's wetness. I had been waiting until the top couple of inches of soil felt dry, but perhaps I need to wait longer. It usually took about 4 days for that to happen. Maybe I'll wait 6 days between waterings.

PIC 1 · Feb 9, 2012

If your using the same mix or bags for all your pots then you can get the feel of what a pot weighs when wet and when dry. Sometimes the top can feel moist just from excess humidity alone, I pick mine up to determine.....Also for a visual you can see when the soil starts to cake around the perimeter. I lift up random pots, when they're light , then its time. Your always better keeping the soil slightly dry. The roots will have a chance to expand......besides, who likes drinking all day long...

Greg

compmodder26 · Feb 9, 2012

PIC 1 said:
If your using the same mix or bags for all your pots then you can get the feel of what a pot weighs when wet and when dry. Sometimes the top can feel moist just from excess humidity alone, I pick mine up to determine.....Also for a visual you can see when the soil starts to cake around the perimeter. I lift up random pots, when they're light , then its time. Your always better keeping the soil slightly dry. The roots will have a chance to expand......besides, who likes drinking all day long...

Greg

Yeah I did fail to mention that I also do that. And yes, I notice a drastic difference in weight before I water again.

megahot · Feb 15, 2012

compmodder26 said:
Oh the joys of cat ownership! One of my cats decided to use my bhut jolokia to induce vomiting for a hairball this weekend. She did a pretty big number on it too. I hope it will be okay.

Forgot to mention a concern of mine related to the Bhut Jolokia. I nearly 2 weeks I have not seen any extra growth happening. The plant seems very happy (beyond being chewed to bits). The leaves are standing nice and tall. It has a good color to it. But it's just like it's not trying to grow right now. Last week I gave it a dose of ferts to see if that would boost it. Beyond making the leaves stand even taller, nothing else has changed. Perhaps it's concentrating on root development? Any thoughts?

Ouch! If you look at my glog, I had to take a few plants of mine to the inlaws when there was a power outage almost a month ago. Left my plants on the table and a stupid cat had chewed up the leaves on 3 of my plants! Glad your plants are safe now!

S.S.Tupperware · Feb 16, 2012

Mine are outside so the cats don't bother them... I guess they have enough squirrels to eat...

PaulG · Feb 16, 2012

Man, that's bizarre. What is it with cats and pepper plants?
I'll bet a little TLC will bring them back around in no time.

Death to cats! No wait, I was thinking of aphids! Never mind.

compmodder26 · Feb 17, 2012

I hope it recovers. It isn't doing so well still. I've lost two lower leaves to yellowing/curling/falling off and the rest of the leaves are turning a light green. I'm thinking my soil sucks (well not thinking, I know). Despite all the warnings on this site to have good soil, I let me inner cheapskate get the better of me. When I potted up to the 1 gallon root pouch, I used the cheapest potting soil I could buy at Lowe's. It only cost $2 a bag. I thought I could get away with it, and for a while I was, but the more I water that stuff, the more it compacts. I think the roots are choking or something. I'm going to go out this weekend (hopefully) and get some of this. Hopefully this will get it back on track.

SocalChilehead · Feb 17, 2012

Dang that sucks about the soil. Atleast you discovered the issue I think you can get away with a cheap base like peat moss or coco from lowes but adding the amendments is very important if you go that route. I never used root organics but have heard great reviews from it. How do your other plants look could it be from a lack of Calcium? Hope they recover good luck man through the plant intensive care and possible transplantation.

compmodder26 · Feb 17, 2012

SocalChilehead said:
Dang that sucks about the soil. Atleast you discovered the issue I think you can get away with a cheap base like peat moss or coco from lowes but adding the amendments is very important if you go that route. I never used root organics but have heard great reviews from it. How do your other plants look could it be from a lack of Calcium? Hope they recover good luck man through the plant intensive care and possible transplantation.

The other plants look good. They had some yellowing in the lower leaves as well, but I think I narrowed that down to slight overwatering. They are in MG Seed Starting Mix right now. That's what I started the Bhut Jolokia in as well and it did good. It wasn't until a few weeks after potting up the Bhut that the issues started with it. First it just stopped growing, then the cat attacked it, and now the leaves are yellowing and falling off. I certainly hope I can get it to turn around.

And the cheap stuff from Lowe's wasn't peat. To be honest, it didn't label what the ingredients are. But it looks like a mix of composted manure, mixed with sand and bark. It was very clumpy in the bag, but when I broke up the clumps in the bag, it had a good consistency. However, I should have known that if it started out clumpy, it would probably return to that state after a few waterings.

Pr0digal_son · Feb 17, 2012

Pot that Bhut up into better medium and see what happens. I had a 7 pot that ended up with some crazy disease at a young age. Top half turned completely black. I cut it down to a stub... 3" maybe. That was in early June,and the rest of the summer it had broad mites which I didn't know and mistaked for calcium deficiency.

The plant ended up being about 9" tall by enf of season and had small pods but it was neat to watch it trudge along.

compmodder26 · Feb 17, 2012

Pr0digal_son said:
Pot that Bhut up into better medium and see what happens. I had a 7 pot that ended up with some crazy disease at a young age. Top half turned completely black. I cut it down to a stub... 3" maybe. That was in early June,and the rest of the summer it had broad mites which I didn't know and mistaked for calcium deficiency.

The plant ended up being about 9" tall by enf of season and had small pods but it was neat to watch it trudge along.

Nice! Isn't it amazing how resilient pepper plants are?

stc3248 · Feb 17, 2012

Yeah man...I learned my soil lessons the hard way. I kind of did it on purpose, to see how the soils all compared. Long story short one soil was so terrible that only about half really recovered from it. A couple slowly greened up and started growing again.The others, in spite of a good rinse of the roots and into the good soil, along with going onto the same feeding regimen that the rest of my plant are on are just sitting there stunted. I finally removed all the discolored leaves and put them back inside under the lamps to see if they'll snap out of it. Luckily I grew some extras so I could learn some lessons.. Good luck with yours.

compmodder26 · Feb 17, 2012

Yeah, this bhut has been my experimental plant as well. I started it a month before the rest so I can get a good idea as to what works and what doesn't. Obviously, being a cheapskate doesn't work

. I'm going to try to thoroughly rinse them off as well. Should I cut the roots into a ball as well or just leave them long?

stc3248 · Feb 17, 2012

compmodder26 said:
Yeah, this bhut has been my experimental plant as well. I started it a month before the rest so I can get a good idea as to what works and what doesn't. Obviously, being a cheapskate doesn't work . I'm going to try to thoroughly rinse them off as well. Should I cut the roots into a ball as well or just leave them long?

I would only cut out any roots that aren't nice and white...anything dark yellow to brown needs to go. You might consider a quick dip in some hydrogen peroxide mix before re-potting them.

compmodder26 · Feb 19, 2012

I just realized I hadn't updated this with pictures in a while. I bought new potting soil. They didn't have the Roots Organics that I was wanting originally, so I bought some Happy Frog instead. I transplanted the bhut jolokia into it yesterday. I gave the roots a thorough washing to where hardly any of the old crappy potting soil was left on them. We'll have to see how it fairs over the next couple of days. The good news is that the leaves aren't drooping too bad so far. I also potted up one my 7 pot jonah's into the 1 gallon root pouch.

Bhut Jolokia:

7 Pot Jonah potted up:

The rest of the bunch. Notice some of the yellowing leaves for the butch T's (middle row). New growth is okay, just the first set of true leaves and the cotyledons. I haven't noticed it getting worse the past couple of days, so hopefully I got it figured out and down to overwatering.

megahot · Feb 19, 2012

Looking good my friend! I think your Bhut should pull through! Happy Frog from what I hear is good stuff! I was going to try some this yr but got some Fox Farms instead! You should be pleased with the Happy Frog! Thanks for the pics update btw!

S.S.Tupperware · Feb 19, 2012

Do ya have a small fan blowing? It will help...