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Dragon49's 2013 Grow Log

2013 Chile Pepper Grow Log:

My normal season begins in the middle of March, as I sprout 2 months before planting out in the garden. I’m dying to grow a superhot, but I have had 0% success in growing Capsicum chinense outside. A number of other factors prevent me from growing superhots in the garden.

I’ve decided on a small indoor only grow. A co-worker beekeeper jokingly offered to bring some bees into my apartment to pollinate, but I declined. If this works, I’ll have to expand my gardening skill set and figure out how to hand pollinate. I’ll also have to upgrade my lighting, as I’ve been told that my 54 watt T-3 florescent, while good enough to start seedlings, is not strong enough to get the plants to produce fruit.

Here we go. I’ve decided to sprout a Red Moruga Scorpion:

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I edited my last hardening off post to mention that they got ten minutes of outside sun and air. Today, the plants got twenty minutes of outside sun and 65 f air. It was windier today, so the stalks got hardened off as well. So far, nothing needs staking. I hardened off everything, even the Cereza that doesn't have true leaves yet. The one plant that I dropped has recovered well.
 
Ten minutes isn't that long maybe try to leave em out there till they start to wilt then you will have an idea of how long you can leave em out... its worth a try right
 
Maybe I baby them too much. I did double the time today, and it was windier. Last year I started out slowly, but built up the time to a few hours. The plants were fine when the got to the garden.
 
The Trinidad Moruga Scorpion should flower like crazy, when I allow it to. I must have pulled off nearly fifty buds this past week. I'm just waiting for it to grow. The book on this thing is that I gets up to three feet tall, and it is still less than a foot high.
 
Portuge said:
Be patient, the scorpion I grew in 2012 grew aloe But the end of the season it was at its full potential...
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What does grew aloe mean?

It's Chocolate Bhut time!

One of John Ford's seeds just sprouted. My transplant already took as the sprout is starting to stand up and find the light!





 
They were mostly fine. I was going to keep them out longer, but I was beginning to see some signs of stress. One of the plants had a leaf with dehydration symptoms. I watered everything as soon as they got inside and maybe I should have given that leaf a chance to recover, but I pulled it off. One of the shorter plants needed to be staked because the stem bent too much. This is the same one that I dropped and re-rooted the other day, so it was already a little beat up. I simply stuck a pen behind the side that it was falling on to prop it up. One of the taller plants had a stem that was bent a little too far to one side from the wind. I didn't stake it. I'm fixing it with a trick that I figured out: My single bulb T-5 Florescent has a gradual tilt - one side is higher than the other. I probably did something wrong when I set up the frame. I use this as a feature. When I have a plant with a stem bending to one side, I put the plant under the light, so the side that is bent is under the part of the light that is higher. Phototropism kicks in, and the plant seeks out the stronger light where the bulb is lower. As it bends to seek out that light, the stem straightens out!
 
The Trinidad Moruga Scorpion is 13 inches tall.  I just moved the plant 1 1/4 inches farther away from the light.
 
 
 





 
 
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion looking good:
 

 
 
Boxed up, ready to join the family garden:
 

 
 
I think one of my Aji Cereza's crossed last year, as these leaves are Capsicum chinense looking. I am hoping for a cross. This one stays inside and will go into a 5 gallon bucket next week.

If it is a cross, then it is either:

1 - Aji Cereza X Superchile F3 - With F1 Characteristics. Capsicum annuum X Capsicum annuum
... 2 Aji Cereza X Superchile F3 - Large Pods and hotter than normal Superchile's. Capsicum annuum Capsicum annuum
3 - Aji Cereza X Aji Russian Yellow (Maybe a lemon drop with a cool marketing name) Capsicum annuum X Capsicum baccatum
4 - Aji Cereza X Aji Cristal Capsicum annuum X Capsicum baccatum
5 - Aji Cereza X Bode Amarela Capsicum annuum X Capsicum chinense (This Bode is reported to be a Capsicum chinense - not 100% sure, I think it may be a Capsicum baccatum)

We will find out when it pods.
 
 
 
More Lumens!  I no longer need my single bulb T-5 florescent for the 2 rows of plants, as they are on the way to the family garden.  I moved the frame to face the side of the Trinidad Moruga scorpion, the Chocolate Bhut, and the either Aji Cereza or cross.  It’s not the most efficient setup, as the frame can’t fit exactly where I want it, but it does add 5,000 lumens to the mix.  I now have 25,000 in total.  Most importantly, it covers the neglected side and lower leaves.
 
 
I made a managerial decision:  I stopped watering the pots with unsprouted seeds and am about to throw out the soil.  It would be a fun experiment to keep watering them and see if more sprout, but it is too late to start things for the season, and I have no more room for my indoor grow.  I am OK, as I have enough plants for the season, but am surprised at how bad my germination rates were this year.  Take a look at the numbers:
 
My traditional seeds in potting soil method:
 
17 sprouts
14 unsprouted seeds
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54.8% Success  - YUK!
 
 
The Wet Paper Towel method:
 
1 Sprout
9 unsprouted Seeds
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10% Success - WOW
 
The expanding seed pellet method.
 
1 sprout
13 unsprouted seeds
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7% Success - Wose
 
 
Overall Germination percentage
 
19 Sprouts
36 unsprouted seeds
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34.5% - Awful
 
Another managerial decision.  No more pulling buds off the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion.  It is still only 13 inches tall, but it is indoors in a bucket and I am not sure if it will be able to get to 2 to 3 feet, as it grows outside.  I have a dilemma:  I would like to change the light cycle from 17 hours a day to 12 hours, to induce more buds, but 2 much younger plants share the same light, and I want them to have the longer cycle.
 
Time to get a fan.
 
Nice rootball on the Cereza or (Hopefully) Cereza Cross:
 

 
 
After I put it into a 5 gallon bucket:
 

 
 
Group shot.  The Chocolate Bhut is on the far left:
 

 
 
The Trinidad Moruga Scorpion is looking great!
 

 
 
 
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