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:

 

[dragon49]

The Moruga Scorpion is doing well. The last leaf is now big enough to see without straining or enlarging the pics. Later today, I am going to water with stronger fertilizers:

 

[patrick]

Be careful with the fertilizers. When they're this young I use 1/4 of the recommended amount of fertilizer for using every time you water. Only use it once every 10 days or so.

Its looking fine. Reading your glog shows you don't have a lot of patience. That's OK, I get like that too. However, you can't rush the growth by fertilizing more often or by using a higher amount. You can end up killing the plant with too much fertilizer. Everything in moderation works the best. Peppers don't need a lot.

Good luck!

 

[dragon49]

Patrick,

Thanks for the advice. I do plan on using only 1/4 concentration. If you go 4 posts back, you can see what I plan on using. I water every 3 days. I need to decide whether to fertilize every second or third watering. I agree that I don't have a lot of patience! I need to accept the fact that this Moruga Scorpion grows much slower than the non-superhots that I have grown 5 seasons before this. I need to go back and look at my glog from last year, but strongly suspect that last years 29 day old seedlings were twice as big as this one is.

 

[dragon49]

I'm not a great photographer, but I figured out the lighting to better show off the pretty leaves:

 

[patrick]

Glad to read you're being cautious dragon. Superhots can definitely try your patience. Growing them can get kind of addictive too. Keep up the good work man.

 

[Portuge]

That's no joke right there, patience normally goes right out the door with C. Chinense plants... These plants just seem to be taking their sweet lil time when it comes down to growing... But come the summer they explode in growth... Given the seedlings germ date, its doing pretty well for being indoors....

 

[dragon49]

Portuge,

Thanks for the kind words regarding how well they look.

As this plant will be 100% indoors, I don't expect any extra explosive growth in the summer. The only thing that will change is the pot size. Sometime before April, I will transplant it to a large (Size yet to be dertemined) Bucket. I have no idea whether that will speed up growth, but it will allow the plant to maximize at a bigger size.

 

[dragon49]

Trinidad Moruga Scorpion-32 Days old:

Good news. The plant is reacting well to the new fertilizer regimen. I'm still taking it easy for a while. Tonight, I'm giving it plain water. I'm going to be fertilizing every other watering which is every 6 days:

 

[dragon49]

Here is a nice pic that shows the next seat of leaves forming:

 

[dragon49]

The Trinidad Moruga scorpion is looking great! The rate of growth has sped up considerably!

 

[dragon49]

Trinidad Moruga Scorpion:

Looking good:

 

[Dshlogg]

Looks nice and healthy. Your growth rate is starting to pick up now that your plant has a strong root system. When a small plant is in a big pot they tend to focus on root growth first and then explode with surface growth. Looks like you're reaching that stage now. Enjoy! This is the best part of the grow IMO.

 

[dragon49]

Thanks,

The pot isn't that big, but it is big enought to support this for a while. I'm probably not going to transplant it into its final large bucket until April.

 

[dragon49]

The Trinidad Moruga Scorpion is doing well. It is 41 days old and now has 4 sets of true leaves. Some of the leaves have a bit of sunburn, but posters here seem to think that the purple leaves are not bad for the plant.

 

[3/5King]

Looking good D-ragon! A little sunburn won't hurt; the plant will adjust. Once you see the growth start to slow down, it usually means (when it happens) that the plant would like a bigger home. Be patient with it (you've heard a thousand times but it can never be over stated)

Good luck dude!

 

[dragon49]

Thanks 3/5.

It is my plan to transplant this into a large bucket, no later than April 1st. I've never kept plants in these size pots for much longer than 2 months.

 

[dragon49]

Growing and growing!

 

[dragon49]

Looking better every day:

 

[dragon49]

New Home:

I just transplanted the Moruga Scorpion into a 5 gallon Home Depot Bucket with 4 holes drilled in the bottom.

I wasn't too impressed with the root ball, but it has been good enough to grow it this far. When I tapped the bottom of the small clay pot to get the plant out, 1 of the first set of true leaves fell off. I don't know why. Hopefully it will soon get over transplant shock. When I see the leaves bending towards the light, I will know that the transplant took. Funny how it looks so much smaller when in a larger container.

This potting soil has a very generic ingredients label: This product is regionally formulated from organic materials (derived from aged forest products) sphangum peat moss and perlite.

 

[dragon49]

The transplant took right away, as the leaves stretched towards the light pretty quickly. It did suffer a little shock though, as the rate of growth slowed down, but it appears to have picked up: