DocNrock's 2013 Glog - 7/11/13

gasificada · Oct 17, 2012

Going all out there, Doc! :onfire:

Good luck and I'm looking forward to seeing things progress!

DocNrock · Oct 18, 2012

gasificada said:
Going all out there, Doc!

Good luck and I'm looking forward to seeing things progress!

Thanks Gassy! I'm kind of counting on most of these taking a month (or more) to germinate. Although my experience has been three days to four weeks. If nothing by four weeks, I've usually tossed the cup of soil into the raised bed. Only to see a few random seedlings come up three to four weeks later.

That said, I just looked over my trays. It looks like the two Korean Gochu varieties from Stickman via SocalChilehead are popping roots in the Rapid Rooters! Two days! No cots yet.

stickman · Oct 18, 2012

Good on ya Doc! The adventure begins...

DocNrock · Oct 19, 2012

I made a couple of changes here to help me keep useful notes regarding my grow. I copied my grow list to the first post and will edit it when each variety pops with the date observed.

As mentioned above, both Gochu pepper varieties that I have, Andy F1 Hybrid and Korean Winner Hybrid, were the first to pop, in the Rapid Rooters, three days after sowing. Today, five days later, the Serranos were the first to pop in soil, and 13 other varieties showed at least rootlets in the Rapid Rooters, including the notorious HP22B.

This is the first time I've tried the Rapid Rooters. I'm pretty impressed. The name fits.

stickman · Oct 20, 2012

DocNrock said:
I made a couple of changes here to help me keep useful notes regarding my grow. I copied my grow list to the first post and will edit it when each variety pops with the date observed.

As mentioned above, both Gochu pepper varieties that I have, Andy F1 Hybrid and Korean Winner Hybrid, were the first to pop, in the Rapid Rooters, three days after sowing. Today, five days later, the Serranos were the first to pop in soil, and 13 other varieties showed at least rootlets in the Rapid Rooters, including the notorious HP22B.

This is the first time I've tried the Rapid Rooters. I'm pretty impressed. The name fits.

Good on ya Doc... are there any pics?

gasificada · Oct 20, 2012

stickman said:
Good on ya Doc... are there any pics?

Yeah, c'mon, Doc, get it together, mate.... you should know by now how we love our pics!

DocNrock · Oct 20, 2012

stickman said:
Good on ya Doc... are there any pics?

gasificada said:
Yeah, c'mon, Doc, get it together, mate.... you should know by now how we love our pics!

Happy to oblige! Gassy, you crack me up!

Seedlings are so cool. Love it when they start to pop. A couple of observations. It seems the Rapid Rooters really work. It's cool to be able to see the rootlet coming out of the husk so that you know the seeds are starting to germinate. Interestingly, this morning the Infinity seeds popped a hook in soil, but not even a visible rootlet in the Rapid Rooter yet. And while the Gochus were the first to pop overall (Rapid Rooters), nothing yet from their soil-sown bretheren. It will be interesting to see if there are some that never sprout in soil, never sprout in Rapid Rooters, and for those that sprout in both, which ones make the more robust seedlings. I had asked in my first post about kelp concentrate, but I should mention that I did not use it. I may try it later if there are any that seem to refuse to pop, to see if it helps. But so far, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

First to sprout, the Andy F1 Gochu and the Korean Winner Hybrid:

Some people are having a lot of problems getting the HP22B to pop. I have one small rootlet. I'm hoping you can see it in the pic.

I expected the annuums to pop first and the chinenses to take their own sweet time. So far, there are more annuums than chinense, but I'm surprised at how many chinenses have popped this early. Here are a few annuums, chinense, and a baccatum, in no particular order, in Rapid Rooters.

Trinidad Scorpion Green:

Trinidad PI 281317:

Malawi Peppadew (C. baccatum):

Peach Hab and Yellow Hablokia:

Golden Cayenne:

Assam and Trinidad Scorpion "FG":

And in soil.

Serrano:

Golden Cayenne and Infinity:

Well, that's ten pics. I got all the soil hooks and many of the Rapid Rooter cells that are showing activity. I wasn't counting on things to be this prolific this early. I may need to plan on a greenhouse within the next month to month and a half. Today I have to empty out one of the closets of items to go to storage and pull my fluorescent fixtures out of storage to start putting the seedlings under some light and get them out of the mini-greenhouse before they get leggy or seccumb to damping off.

Have a great weekend and thanks for looking! I'm really excited to apply everything I learned from this year's way late start grow to something that might make pods by late winter / early spring. My current plants think this fall weather is spring. They're budding up like crazy! Another reason to get going on a greenhouse within the next month.

Brent

PaulG · Oct 20, 2012

Looks like you are off to the races, now, buddy!

Your established plants probably really appreciate a
little bit of cooler weather.

DocNrock · Oct 20, 2012

PaulG said:
Looks like you are off to the races, now, buddy!

Your established plants probably really appreciate a
little bit of cooler weather.

Haha! Off to the races, and how!

You know it regarding the cooler weather. It's been in the 70's to low 80's during the day and high 50's/low 60's at night for the past three to four weeks and is predicted to stay like this for the next ten days, at least. During the summer they were trying to grow when it was 100+ every day and high 80's/low 90's at night. Any flower that formed promptly dropped, and I helped that by learning about overfertilizing. D'oh! In retrospect, I think the ones that died simply had their roots cooked in the black pots (in full sun all day) and what I thought was some sort of infection was probably the manifestation overfertilizing. There are three confirmed pests that I had: whiteflies, broad mites, and leafminers. I now have ways of dealing with all three...I hope.

Since my current plants will be part of my 2013 grow, I'll continue my previous glog here.

There is one plant that I think may have a bona-fide mottle virus, my Peter Pepper. If this plant's morphology doesn't normalize, I'll toss it and start another from fresh seed.

Peter Pepper plant:

This is what most of the leaves look like. Anyone think this might be a mottle virus?

Here are a few others that I haven't posted about in a while.

Barrackpore grown from seed, sown around early August, I think. The plant is only about 7" tall from the soil line and has forked and forming buds:

Buds!

Anaheim I grew from seed I got from a store-bought pepper. This thing has really taken off. It has grown about two inches in the last week and is budded up. I had two flowers, dropped one, and looks like the other one set into a pod.

And finally, a Chinese 5-color that has four pods, two flowers, and many buds:

PaulG · Oct 20, 2012

DocNrock said:
There is one plant that I think may have a bona-fide mottle virus, my Peter Pepper. If this plant's morphology doesn't normalize, I'll toss it and start another from fresh seed.

Oh man, I hate to hear that. Immediate pull on that plant, as per
Shane's experience. Don't even wait if you strongly suspect the
virus. Is it in a container or in the ground?

DocNrock · Oct 20, 2012

PaulG said:
Oh man, I hate to hear that. Immediate pull on that plant, as per
Shane's experience. Don't even wait if you strongly suspect the
virus. Is it in a container or in the ground?

It's in a container. I posted pics above after you responded. Take a look and tell me what you think.

PaulG · Oct 20, 2012

DocNrock said:
It's in a container. I posted pics above after you responded. Take a look and tell me what you think.

I think Shane need to take a look at that. Also, does the Barrackapore
have a similar issue, or is that just normal leaf yellowing? If you have a
fall back, I wouldn't take any chances if Shane thinks it might be the
mottle virus.

DocNrock · Oct 20, 2012

PaulG said:
I think Shane need to take a look at that. Also, does the Barrackapore
have a similar issue, or is that just normal leaf yellowing? If you have a
fall back, I wouldn't take any chances if Shane thinks it might be the
mottle virus.

OK, I'll send him a PM. In person, the Barrackpore looks fine. Thanks for lookin'!

gasificada · Oct 20, 2012

DocNrock said:
Happy to oblige! Gassy, you crack me up!

We Aussies love to rib!

Look at all them sprouts! :dance:

Off to the races indeed... looks like you are in for a big one!

DocNrock said:

Yikes! I'd certainly be a bit worried if I saw that too. :\

If it is virus, I wonder if those damn whitefly brought it in. I hate those things with a passion. >.<

DocNrock · Oct 21, 2012

gasificada said:
If it is virus, I wonder if those damn whitefly brought it in. I hate those things with a passion. >.<

You and me both. I picked up some of that yellow tape to give a try. We'll see.

Got a few things done today. I decided to try my hand at cloning. Did this with the varieties that I have currently growing, in case they don't make it over the winter. A little CloneX and some Rapid Rooters:

Got some stuff moved to storage and set up my ghetto grow room for round two. Two plastic crates, two car window reflectors from the 99 cent store, and a 48" four-bulb T8 fixture with 5000K bulbs:

Went by the 99 cent store and found one of these:

It would need two plants to keep it balanced. Thinking of a couple of ornamentals. Time will tell. Anyone with any ideas?

Portuge · Oct 21, 2012

Looking good Doc. been giving everything a second thought since i seen you are getting a head start for next year... My original plan was to germinate my seeds Jan 1, but i might give it a go here soon....

3/5King · Oct 21, 2012

Man you are in for a wild ride buddy. Don't wait too long to get that green house going, from my experience, those plants will get big on ya quick. I ran out of room and couldn't pot up anymore which led to them all becoming root bound before I could get them in the ground and I will tell you, you don't want that. It is a pain in the ass and slows growth. If it does happen, I recommend cutting a 1/2 inch layer off the bottom and letting the roots grow out or else they won't grow well at all if you leave them root bound. Just a little FYI so you dot have to deal with what I did. Great start DNR, I'll be watchin'

DocNrock · Oct 21, 2012

Portuge said:
Looking good Doc. been giving everything a second thought since i seen you are getting a head start for next year... My original plan was to germinate my seeds Jan 1, but i might give it a go here soon....

Thanks for stopping in. Time will tell if this was a good idea, or if I should have held onto my impulses a while longer. Whatever you decide, good luck! What are the winters like in the central valley?

3/5King said:
Man you are in for a wild ride buddy. Don't wait too long to get that green house going, from my experience, those plants will get big on ya quick. I ran out of room and couldn't pot up anymore which led to them all becoming root bound before I could get them in the ground and I will tell you, you don't want that. It is a pain in the ass and slows growth. If it does happen, I recommend cutting a 1/2 inch layer off the bottom and letting the roots grow out or else they won't grow well at all if you leave them root bound. Just a little FYI so you dot have to deal with what I did. Great start DNR, I'll be watchin'

I'm counting on the wild ride, man! Keeps me alive, hahaha. I'm thinking that a month should be plenty of time to shop, buy, and put up a greenhouse. Been actively search for the right one. There are so many that are too big, too small, overpriced, too flimsy, etc. Fernando (SocalChilehead) turned me on to one that I might go for. Quality looks reasonable and the price is right. Thanks for the tip and for stopping in!

Here is something that none of my other plants have done, specifically not my Red Brain nor my other ?Moruga. This is the other ?Moruga. Look at how far away from the main stalk the bud stems are growing out. Almost makes me think the plant is gearing up to make room for rather large pods...wishful thinking, I know! But since it is a unique finding for me, and I don't know if it has any significance, at all, I'm keeping this one around. This is also the ?Moruga plant I chose to clone.

stickman · Oct 21, 2012

Nice looking ghetto grow you got there Doc! I'd yank anything I thought was a virus first thing... especially if I had a grow as big as yours going. One or two plants won't make much of a difference unless they infect everything else. Cheers

k. skwerl · Oct 21, 2012

Nice set up you have. Was thinkinking of using the Rapid Rooters next year as well.

Have a question, if you not mind about them..

Do you just place the seed/seeds in the center hole and not cover with anything when using the Rapid Rooters???

Kind of looks like that in pics.