DocNrock's 2013 Glog - 7/11/13

My 2013 grow officially began 10/14/2012, when seeds hit soil. After seeing Fernando (SocalChilehead) growing in his greenhouse "sanctuary" and KiNGDeNNiZ continuing to start new growth in his AeroGarden, as well as the community HP22B grow thread already being 8 pages, I broke down and started my 2013 grow. I was going to limit it to 50 varieties, but that ended up being 64, 77 including the plants I want to save from 2012. If some varieties don't pop or I end up losing some along the way, I might still be down to 50 (or less!) in no time. The grow list with pop dates is at the bottom of this post.

Since I had plenty of seeds I wanted to try an experiment. Which is better for germination, soil or Rapid Rooters? I have two mini-greenhouses with 36 soil cups each, and one mini-greenhouse with a 72 cell insert loaded with Rapid Rooters. All seeds were soaked overnight in water that had been boiled and cooled and contained a dilution of brewed chamomile tea and H2O2. The Rapid Rooters and soil were both moistened with the same mix. The soil is Sungro Sunshine mix #1 amended lightly with Ancient Forest and worm castings. Wondering if the organisms in the amendments might help break down the seed coat. Each cell contains about five seeds. This will force me to cull the weaklings, as opposed to trying to save them, hahaha! At most I will end up with two seedlings for each variety. If both survive, I can try to gift one of the two. I am thinking that some varieties may germinate better in soil, some better in the Rapid Rooters, and for some it may not make a difference. I read somewhere that kelp solutions are rich in growth hormones. Has anyone added a light kelp solution dilution to their germination setup? I was thinking of adding a couple of drops to each Rapid Rooter cell. Fert-wise, the kelp solutions are very, very weak. I doubt it would do any harm. Has anyone ever tried the kelp? I have not, but might try it later on anything that seems stubborn to sprout.

I am hoping these guys are all budded up come springtime, and ready for an early harvest. Since my indoor space is limited, I am giving serious consideration to building a small greenhouse in the backyard and putting in a couple of space heaters for the night time. I decided against a raised bed, and will probably go with 5 gallon Root Pouches for the larger plants. Some of the annuums and plants I'm as yet unsure of I will grow in 2 gallon pots. If I end up liking them, I can always up-pot them.

Getting organized:

Man, I hope I didn't mix any of these up! 64 cups to keep straight is a far cry from 3. It will be 6 months until I know for sure!:

Rapid Rooters:

Soil:

Let the waiting game begin!:

Also, in case anyone is interested, the white plastic labelling tags are available at Discount Hydroponics, $2.95/100! Cheaper than popsickle sticks!

Regarding the plants I already have, I am going to try to start cuttings off most of them in the event the plants don't make it over the winter. I won't need to start those from seed, although there are four varieties (Douglah, Fatalii, Barrackpore and Yellow Bhut) I am starting from seed, as well.

Question: When we start a new grow season, is it typical to just add to one's glog thread, or is it appropriate to start a new thread for the new grow year?

Anyway, happy growing to you all and thanks for looking. I'm hoping all the lessons I learned this year will help me to make this grow much more successful!

GROW LIST: I will try to edit in pop dates for both soil and Rapid Rooters. The Rapid Rooters might get earlier pop dates since I can see the rootlets before hooks form.

Sown seeds (65):

Trinidad Scorpion (AJIJOE) 10/20/12 (RR)
HP22B (Pepper Joe) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/27/12 (soil)
Primo (Primo) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Billy Boy Jonah (Silver_Surfer via Coheed) 10/22/12 (RR)
7 Pot Congo Gigantic (Pepperlover) 10/23/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
7 Pot Barrackpore (Biscgolf) 10/27/12 (RR)
Dorset Naga (Pepperlover - pods) 10/24/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Naga Morich (Biscgolf - pods) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/24/12 (soil)
Bhut Jolokia (JoynersHotPeppers)
Red Rocoto (SocalChilihead) 10/22/12 (RR)
Malawi Peppadew (Refiningfirechiles) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/24/12 (soil)
Trinidad PI281317 (Pepperlover) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/24/12 (soil)
Anaheim (Pepperlover - gift)
7 Pot Chiguanas (Silver Surfer via Coheed) 10/23/12 (RR)
Red Devil's Tongue (Pepperlover - gift) 10/28/12 (RR)
Butch T (Pepperlover - pods) 10/24/12 (RR)
7 Pot Jonah (Pepperlover - pods) 10/27/12 (RR)
7 Pot Burgundy (Silver_Surfer via Coheed) 10/23/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Infinity 10/20/12 (soil), 10/22/12 (RR)
Yellow Moruga (Pepperlover) 10/23/12 (soil), 10/23/12 (RR)
Yellow Brain (Biscgolf) 10/24/12 (RR)
Yellow Bhut Jolokia (Biscgolf) 10/26/12 (soil)
Fatalii (AJIJOE) 10/22/12 (RR),10/28/12 (soil)
7 Pot Yellow (Biscgolf) 10/24/12 (RR)
Peach Bhut (AJIJOE) 10/28/12 (RR)
Beni Highland (AJIJOE) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/22/12 (soil)
Trinidad Morova (Pepperlover) 10/23/12 (soil), 10/28/12 (RR)
7 Pot Orange (Silver_Surfer via Coheed) 10/23/12 (soil), 10/28/12 (RR)
Golden Cayenne (SocalChilehead) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/20/12 (soil)
Yellow Scotch Bonnet (AJIJOE) 10/22/12 (soil), 10/22/12 (RR)
7 Pot Brown (Biscgolf) 10/24/12 (soil)
Douglah (Biscgolf) 10/27/12 (soil)
Black Habanero (Refiningfirechiles) 10/20/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Chocolate Scorpion (KiNGDeNNiZ) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/23/12 (soil)
Douglah x Chocolate Scorpion F4 (Silver_Surfer via Coheed) 10/23/12 (RR), 10/24/12 (soil)
Black Naga (Refiningfirechiles) 10/20/12 (soil)
Pasilla Bajio (Refiningfirechiles) 10/22/12 (soil), 10/27/12 (RR)
Long Chocolate Habanero (AJIJOE) 10/24/12 (RR), 10/24/12 (soil)
Chocolate Habanero (AJIJOE) 10/23/12 (soil), 10/24/12 (RR)
Black Stinger (Refiningfirechiles) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/23/12 (soil)
7 Pot White (Pepperlover) 10/24/12 (RR), 10/27/12 (soil)
Giant White Habanero (AJIJOE) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/23/12 (soil)
White Bullet Habanero (AJIJOE) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
White Devil's Tongue (Silver_Surfer via Coheed) 10/28/12 (RR)
Serrano (Pepper Joe - free) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/19/12 (soil) ***FIRST SOIL***
Jalapeno (Pepper Joe - free) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/20/12 (soil)
Red Bell (store bought pepper) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Andy F1 Gochu (Stickman via SocalChilehead) 10/17/12 (RR) ***TIED, FIRST OVERALL*** 10/23/12 (soil)
Korean Winner Hybrid (Stickman via SocalChilehead) 10/17/12 (RR) ***TIED, FIRST OVERALL***
Pimenta de Neyde (SocalChilehead) 10/28/12 (RR)
Trinidad Scorpion Green (SocalChilehead) 10/19/12 (RR)
Most Prolific C.chacoense (Pepperlover - gift) 10/23/12 (RR)
Royal Black (AJIJOE) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Assam (SocalChilehead) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/22/12 (soil)
Trinidad Scorpion "FG" (AJIJOE) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/24/12 (soil)
Australian Lantern Habanero (AJIJOE) 10/26/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Aji Yellow (AJIJOE) 10/23/12 (RR)
Jamaican Hot Chocolate (KiNGDeNNiZ) 10/22/12 (RR)
Aji Omnicolor (OROZCONLECHE) 10/19/12 (RR)
Not-Trinidad Scorpion (long yellow pod from Arboretum, KiNGDeNNiZ) 10/22/12 (RR)
Mystery Chocolate Mix (Silver_Surfer) 10/23/12 (RR)
Red Congo (AJIJOE) 10/23/12 (RR)
Peach Habanero (AJIJOE) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/22/12 (soil)
Yellow Hablokia (AJIJOE) 10/20/12 (RR), 10/22/12 (soil)
Sown 10/20/12
Yellow Bell (store-bought pepper) 10/23/12 (RR)
Sown 10/28/12
Chocolate Bell (Refiningfirechiles)
Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion (Refiningfirechiles)
Malaysian Goronong (Refiningfirechiles)
Douglah (Refiningfirechiles)
Peter (Refiningfirechiles)
Yellow Bhut (Refiningfirechiles)
Chocolate Bhut (Refiningfirechiles)
Aji Pineapple (Refiningfirechiles)
Aji Dulce 1 (Tradewinds)
Datil (Tradewinds)
Goat's Horn (Tradewinds)
NuMex Big Jim (Tradewinds)
Paprika (Tradewinds)
Brain Strain 7 (PepperRidge)


What I hope to save from my current grow, either whole plants or clones (13):

Carribean Red (local nursery)
Aji Panca (Refiningfirechiles)
Peter Pepper (Refiningfirechiles)
Jamaican Yellow Mushroom (Refiningfirechiles)
Moruga (Refiningfirechiles)
Malaysian Goronong (Refiningfirechiles)
Thai Dragon (North Park Produce)
Chenzo (North Park Produce)
Red Brain Strain (Baker's Peppers - pods)
Chinese 5-color (Orozconleche)
Aji Dulce (Orozconleche)
Datil (Orozconleche)
Bonnie "World's Hottest Hab" (Fatalii?) (Home Depot)

I'm going to do my best to keep one of each alive, but with 77 total, I might be lucky if a few croak!

 

[DocNrock]

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

Thanks, Stickman! Yeah, the Peter is gonna go later on today. You're right, it's just not worth it.

Just walked through the back yard and snapped a few more pics.

Noticed this little surprise. This pod has been green for over a month and a half!

My Aji Panca was incredibly sensitive to overfertilization. The plant did fine, but every bud it formed died and turned black when 1/8" or less in size. I repotted it a few weeks ago, washing as much soil as I could out of the root ball and using fresh soil. It never showed any signs of transplant shock and it's starting to form buds! I'm really intrigued by the descriptions of this pepper and really want some to try.

I love this Malaysian Goronong. It's as funky as the name Goronong is. The pods are all twisty, the buds are all twisty, and this particular specimen likes to sprawl instead of grow vertically.

Anaheim from seed setting it's first pod. My camera wouldn't focus well, but you can see it's there.

Bonnie "World's Hottest Hab" that wasn't doing well. It was potted in Kellogg Patio Plus. Some people like that soil. The plants I had it in did not do well. I repotted it yesterday in a 3.7 gallon pot with Sungro and my amendment mix. It's still alive, so we'll see if it starts to thrive. The plants I've put in the Sungro look better than any of my others.

Speaking of overfertilizing, my Yellow Bhut, Douglah, and Moruga all looked pretty bad. They're bouncing back now after flushing the soil with Fox Farms Sledgehammer. It took about a month, though. The Yellow Bhut looks the best of the three. Bushy and loading up with buds.

I haven't posted any pics of these two in quite some time. My Wife had bought these for me at an Iranian grocery store in San Diego. This Thai Dragon has five unripe pods on it, but they don't show well in the photo, nor do the 20+ flowers on it.

Finally, the Chenzo, also from the same store. This has been a pretty productive, compact plant. I hadn't heard too much about it, but a Google search revealed that it was bred by someone in the UK to be a compact patio plant. Seems to fit the bill. It might be a good candidate for the Topsy Turvy. It has over 20 pods on it. They start green and turn black/purple then finally ripen red. They're fairly hot, about like a Thai, somewhat bitter, but not in a bad way if that makes any sense. They're pretty good for cooking into dishes for some bite.

I have a couple of pics of my Wife's plants, a Hab and a Jalapeno, if I can get a bump.

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.

Exactly. Quite easy to use. I boiled some water, brewed a bag of chamomile tea in it, and dropped in some H2O2. I used that to soak the Rapid Rooters and then just dropped about five seeds into the pre-made holes in the top. No covering. It's cool because I can see when the seeds are starting to pop well before hooks start to form. They're a lot easier than setting up multiple little soil pots and no mess whatsoever. But as you might have noticed, while many of the seeds are popping well in these, I've had a couple of varieties that popped first in soil that show no activity in the Rapid Rooters yet. The soil pots and the Rapid Rooters each have about five or six seeds per cell, in case some seeds are not viable.

Hope that helps and thanks for looking! Good luck with your grow.

 

[k. skwerl]

Hope that helps and thanks for looking! Good luck with your grow.

Thanks, helps out alot.
Sometimes seeing the way something is done,even in a pic, helps alot before trying it.
(Was told by someone else to break or cut off a small piece of the Rooter and place in hole after putting in seeds. Guess not have to.)

 

[DocNrock]

Thanks, helps out alot.
Sometimes seeing the way something is done,even in a pic, helps alot before trying it.
(Was told by someone else to break or cut off a small piece of the Rooter and place in hole after putting in seeds. Guess not have to.)

This is my first time trying them. I suppose you could do that, but it doesn't seem like it's necessary.

And thanks for the bump, Skwerl!

Here are some pics of my Wife's plants, a Hab and a Jalapeno. These have been in the raised bed since July. The Jalapenos produced a bit through the summer, but the pods had practically no heat. The current ones also are pretty heatless. She's a bit disappointed in them, but it is a productive plant!

She also planted in the same raised bed a Habanero plant she bought. It dropped all flowers over the summer. At least I knew my plants were in good company! She tended to her own so I know it wasn't from my overfertilizing. With the cooler weather, it has finally started setting pods.

Funny, the first pod it set almost looked like a Trinidad variety, but after the others set, they have the typical Hab morphology.

Anyway, that's it for this weekend, I think. Have a great week everyone and best wishes for your respective grows!

 

[PaulG]

Looks good, Doc! Did you get Shane's opinion on the possible virus?
Glad to hear you decided to be proactive. Maybe you could isolate
the plant somewhere else to see what happens.

 

[DocNrock]

Looks good, Doc! Did you get Shane's opinion on the possible virus?
Glad to hear you decided to be proactive. Maybe you could isolate
the plant somewhere else to see what happens.

Thanks, Paul. Yeah, I posted a thread and PM'd him about the thread. His response indicated that it could be a virus or some kind of deficiency. This plant and others have spent the last month recovering from overfertilizing. The overfert changes have resolved but the mottling has persisted and is not seen on any of my other plants. My fert has all the micros, so I'm pretty sure it's not a deficiency. Ergo...out it goes.

Well, I have my first "fatality!" Ha! Just looked over my cells and the Red Rocoto in the Rapid Rooter has gone moldy. I had notice a bit of mold last night and spritzed it with H2O2/chamomile tea mix, but it has spread over more of the cell. Cut the cell out and plan to toss it unless anyone has any other ideas. I still have the soil cell with the Red Rocoto. Will be interesting if it goes moldy, too.

 

[PaulG]

Just scrape the mold off and then spritz with anti fungal.
Sometimes just scraping the mold off is enough in my setup,
but I don't use rapid rooters, so I may be all wet!

 

[DocNrock]

Just scrape the mold off and then spritz with anti fungal.
Sometimes just scraping the mold off is enough in my setup,
but I don't use rapid rooters, so I may be all wet!

I'll give that a try, Paul. Looks like one of the seeds has a rootlet, too. I have the cell in the back yard right now. Will need to pick up some dedicated anti-fungal and give that a shot. Thanks for the tip!

Also forgot to mention that my Wife cut up a beautiful Yellow Bell yesterday morning to chop up in our hash browns. Couldn't resist. Yellow Bell seeds sown 10/20/12. I've officially lost it.

 

[PaulG]

That's a good way to 'lose it'

I use Safer fungicide. Don't know if others are more effective.
It's just readily available here and OMRI listed.

 

[stickman]

My Wife cut up a beautiful Yellow Bell yesterday morning to chop up in our hash browns. Couldn't resist. Yellow Bell seeds sown 10/20/12. I've officially lost it.

Keep looking... I'm sure you'll find it again...

After making a batch of Ajvar and tasting the results, I'm definitely going to grow some sweet/hot varieties to make more next year. The store-bought stuff can't hold a candle to home-made!

 

[DocNrock]

That's a good way to 'lose it'

I use Safer fungicide. Don't know if others are more effective.
It's just readily available here and OMRI listed.

I saw it at Discount Hydro last time I was out there. I poured straight 3% H2O2 on the cell and it looks like that did the trick. Question is, did it kill the seeds, or the rootlet that was exposed? Like everything else, I guess time will tell. Thanks for the tip!

Keep looking... I'm sure you'll find it again...

After making a batch of Ajvar and tasting the results, I'm definitely going to grow some sweet/hot varieties to make more next year. The store-bought stuff can't hold a candle to home-made!

I'm pretty sure it's gone for good, Rick! Then again, it has been for some time.

Had to Google Ajvar. That looks awesome! Love eggplant. Definitely going to have to make some of that!

 

[stickman]

Had to Google Ajvar. That looks awesome! Love eggplant. Definitely going to have to make some of that!

It's great stuff! I used smoked eggplant in mine to use up the last of them before frost killed the plants, and posted pics on my harvest cooking thread. I understand in Macedonia they only use peppers, garlic, olive oil and maybe salt and pepper to taste.

 

[SocalChilehead]

Look at all those pods that is awesome in no time you should be harvesting by the buckets. Sorry to hear about the virus impacting the peter pepper atleast you dumped before it can spread. Dang no heat on your wife jalapenos that sucks. Lol the additional bell is not crazy I do the same thing just recently ordered a new variety from refining chiles and about to make another order with junglerain which won't be for this season but next season. Good luck with the new season as it progresses looks like everything is doing well and that is always great to see.

 

[Portuge]

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?



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.

Today we got our first sign of rain and its just a drizzle... Went out side and its only sprinkling... other than that the avg low would be around 45-50 degrees... Back in 99 the valley got some snow just enough to cover the grounds and the sun came out and it was gone

 

[DocNrock]

Today we got our first sign of rain and its just a drizzle... Went out side and its only sprinkling... other than that the avg low would be around 45-50 degrees... Back in 99 the valley got some snow just enough to cover the grounds and the sun came out and it was gone

If you don't get any frosts anymore, might be able to start soon...

Gonna soon need another tray for my seedlings.

Soil: Golden Cayenne, Serrano, Infinity, Jalapeno, Black Naga, Assma, Beni Highland, Yellow Scotch, Yellow Hablokia, Peach Hab.

Rooters: Peppadew, Assam, Peach Hab, Serrano, Andy F1 Gochu, Trinidad Scorpion Green, PIsomething, Black Habanero, Yellow Hablokia, Jalapeno, Chocolate Scorpion, Korean Winner Hybrid, Trinidad Scorpion, Naga Morich, Jamaican Hot Chocolate.

Only cells that have at least one seedling that is not hull-bound.

 

[DocNrock]

Mid week update, two days later:

Many of these cells are going to be ready to cull the smallest seedlings this weekend. I'm glad I did it this way so I am not tempted to try to save all of them all.

So far, the number of cells with popped seeds ready to leave the dome is pretty similar, 27 for the Rooters and 30 for soil. I'm noticing more helmet-headed sprouts with the Rapid Rooters than with soil, but I kind of expected that. It is actually fewer than I expected, so that is good. Updating my grow list with popped seed dates daily.

 

[DocNrock]

As of today, only 9 varieties haven't popped yet in one medium or the other.

 

[FireInTheHole]

You're gonna have quite the garden. Can't wait for the mid summer pics, you're gonna have a forest.

 

[DocNrock]

You're gonna have quite the garden. Can't wait for the mid summer pics, you're gonna have a forest.

Thanks, man. That's the plan! It remains to be seen if all varieties make it.

As of this morning, only 6 varieties haven't popped in one or the other media: Bhut, Anaheim, Red Devil's Tongue, Peach Bhut, Pimenta de Neyde, White Devil's Tongue. 58 out of 64 so far. Here are the ones that were ready to leave the mini-greenhouse and under the lights:

And just to make sure my current varieties make it to next year, I'm going to start them from seed, as well. When shopping for seed for these, I got a little crazy and found a few other varieties I wanted to grow:

I also just finished ordering Brain strain seeds from Cappy, as well as Purple Bell, Aji Panca, and Peach Bhut from Refiningfirechiles.

I'm thinking today is the day to go pick up the 6x8 greenhouse kit from Harbor Freight. If I do, pics will obviously follow.

Hope everyone is about to have a great weekend!

 

[Stefan_W]

Nice additions. I was considering doing the NuMex Big Jim too, but I ran out of space on my grow list.

 

[DocNrock]

Nice additions. I was considering doing the NuMex Big Jim too, but I ran out of space on my grow list.

Thanks Stefan. I don't think I'm gonna have room for everything I've got planned. If everything grows and nothing dies, I might be hosed!

Picked up the greenhouse this morning.