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Drew's Grow Log

I mentioned in my Introduction thread that I'm growing a bunch from seed for the first time. The only success I've had from seed before were some Hungarian wax plants last year. But I also didn't really know what I was doing until now either. I'll post a few pictures in here once I get them into Photobucket, and will also be posting everything here in my blog, also called Texoma Heat.

I get a seed starting tray with 50 peat pots and a bag of Jiffy seed starting mix, all set on top of a 24"x12" heating pad. I put all the seeds in moist paper towels yesterday and let them soak overnight in Ziploc bags on the heating pad with a sweatshirt over it. One of my cats found it to be a nice place to sleep as well.

Here's what all has been planted:

10 jalapeno
5 bhut jolokia
3 cayenne
3 Hungarian wax
2 sweet banana
2 Zimbabwe bird
2 Thai extra hot
2 Peruvian white habanero
2 spicy mustard habanero
2 Tasmanian habanero
2 Caribbean red habanero
1 long slim red
1 Santa Fe grande
1 Hungarian black
1 fatalii
1 chocolate habanero

I started between 2 and 4 seeds per pot to try to conserve space and make sure something ends up growing in each. I'm setting my heating pad on the second of the three heat levels. It has an automatic 60 minute shut off on it though, which could pose a problem. Anyone with any advice here? Should I put it on the highest heat setting? The lowest? I might take it with me to my office for the week so I can turn it back on every hour.

I'm still waiting on a shipment of aji pineapple, chiltepin, and yellow rocoto seeds. I also have a packet of a random variety of seeds from Rainbow Chili Seeds that I'll be soaking and planting after these are ready to move to pots.

I have a very small grow light that it mounted on the wall with a 65R30/PL bulb in it. It's about all I have the space and money for right now. I'm hoping to change things and get a better setup next season.

Anyways, here's where it all begins for me, and here's to hoping for a successful growing season for everyone here. I'll have a few photos posted in the next few days. Maybe not here, but definitely on my blog, linked in the opening paragraph.
 
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yeah air flow is important...

i would leave the dome on as much as possible at this stage and remove the dome twice a day for 10-15 minutes..

worked for me...

nice list...

the idea of holes on top of the dome is a good one as well...

good luck dude.
 
Captain's Log, Stardate: Two weeks since first planting.

We have a crapload of sprouts.

Cayennes: 11/12 seeds in 3 cells
Santa Fe Grande: 2/4 in 1 cell
Long Slim Red: 4/4 in one cell
Jalapeno: 1/40 in 10 cells. I decided to just go out and get a pack of seeds today and redid them, as I think I just had some crappy seeds when I tried to save them from some supermarket peppers. I now have 19 seeds in 10 cells, keeping the one that has already sprouted.
Sweet banana: 8/8 in 2 cells
Hungarian Wax: 5/8 in 2 cells
Hungarian black: 2/4 in 1 cell
Zimbabwe bird: 8/8 in 2 cells
Thai extra hot: 7/8 in 2 cells
Fatalii: 0/4 in 1 cell. Any idea why I have nothing here?
White habanero: 1/6 in 2 cells
Chocolate habaneros: 4/4 in 1 cell
Tasmanian habanero: 3/6 in 2 cells
Bhut jolokia: 6/10 in 5 cells

I also planted 3 cells of rocotos (9 seeds), 3 cells of tepins (12 seeds), and 4 cells of aji pineapples (12 seeds), along with the jalapenos. I also put in 30 "mystery mix" seeds in 30 cells. I got the mix when I bought from Rainbow Chili Seeds and figure I'll see what comes up on them.

While cleaning up my back yard, I found a couple of peppers on plants from last year, dried out by the sun and cold. I opened them up and saved the seeds, just to see if anything grows. So I have 12 orange habanero seeds in 3 cells, and 16 of either Fresno or serrano in 4 cells. Here's to hoping they pan out, especially since I can't find a Fresno plants anywhere this year: got it at Walmart last year, but haven't found it at Walmart, Lowe's, Home Depot, or the local nursery.

One of my nursery-bought plants has a flower on it. I forget whether it's the Navajo or Apache, but either way, it has a blossom. I plan to pinch it as it's way too small to support any potential peppers.
 
Don't fret too much about your fatalis. They've been slow as hell for me too. Slow to come up, and REALLY slow compared to the others in growth too.

Sounds like you've got quite the stash there man. Hope you've got lots of pots/garden space for all those plants!
 
FiveStar said:
Don't fret too much about your fatalis. They've been slow as hell for me too. Slow to come up, and REALLY slow compared to the others in growth too.

Sounds like you've got quite the stash there man. Hope you've got lots of pots/garden space for all those plants!
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I'm planning on picking up a bunch of 6" terra cotta pots at Walmart and just putting one of each variety in a pot, and the rest at various places in the yard. I might give/sell a few to some friends too.

Like someone here once said, plant first, worry about space later.
 
TexomaHeat said:
Like someone here once said, plant first, worry about space later.
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That would be me. Unless someone else beat me to it. :shocked:

Make sure whatever pots you get have drain holes.
 
The terra cotta ones have a single hole in the middle. However, I'm thinking I may be able to find the big 4 gallon plastic pots/buckets for about the same price. And I'll make sure they're good on holes as well.
 
go to whataburger and ask them if they will sell you a couple of 5 gallon buckets...you should be able to get them for a buck each or maybe even free if you work it right...
 
AlabamaJack said:
go to whataburger and ask them if they will sell you a couple of 5 gallon buckets...you should be able to get them for a buck each or maybe even free if you work it right...
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That might work pretty well, actually. The hockey team I work for has Whataburger as one of its sponsors, and we have three of them here in WF, so I might be able to work something out with at least one of them.

Also, thanks FiveStar for reassuring me about the Fataliis. I checked this afternoon and one has begun to sprout, so I have at least one of every kind I planted sprouting (except for stuff that I planted this past weekend, of course).
 
Another question for anyone who can help me.

How do I know when to transplant everything from my grow tray to larger pots? Is it just any time after sprouting, or is there something specific I should be looking for? Should I be putting my tray outside at all? I can provide photos if necessary. I'm going out of town until Monday with my wife taking care of the plants, but I can get photos after that.

Again, thanks in advance for any answers. I'm a total rook when it comes to raising plants from seeds.
 
This is in reference to the use of peat pots. I have never grown anything from seed let alone peppers so I'm just trying to get as much info as possible. I have read several articles and one in particular made a LOT of reference to NEVER use Peat, anything with Peat, and especially a Peat pot. However in your post you said you planted the seeds in Peat pots and jiffy seed mix.

Not sure if what I was reading was opinion or if there is some truth to not using peat pots. Can anyone provide some well needed explanation. I know not everything on the internet is true, but this guy stressed it so much I made a mental note not to buy Peat pots.

Here is the article I'm referring to from a website that sells pepper seeds.

http://www.ecoseeds.com/Pepper.growing.tips.html
 
Don't trust eco-seeds/Cross Country nurseries. Their non-peat advice and their Dremman's scale has confused many pepper growers for many years.
Generally peat(including jiffys) is a poor growing medium but with proper ammendements it becomes the base for most professional growing mixes and will work great. Peat generally needs a wetting agent so it doesn't cake up as much when it dries out, and it needs pH buffers since peat is acidic, plus some perlite and vermiculite for better drainage and oxygen holding properties
 
I got back home at about 1 am last night/this morning. Unfortunately, we lost both games in Topeka, so we have to win at home on Friday.

Anyways, enough hockey talk. My wife did an awesome job of taking care of everything, and I even noticed that several of the sprouts are starting to show signs of new leaves! I'll be looking into getting some pots and dirt and such together very soon.
 
Mother. F***er.

Nice calm day outside yesterday evening and this morning. So I figure I'll put the seed trays outside on the front porch. Get them a little sun and warmth outside. Put them out for 3 hours last night, brought them in overnight. Set them out again at 8:30 this morning. Forecast wasn't calling for wind, just partly sunny, high in the 80's.

9:30, she reads online that there's a high wind advisory. Doesn't tell me.

11:30, the wife and I are on our way home for lunch. We're commenting on the wind and how much it suddenly picked up. I tell her that as soon as we get home, I need to bring all the peppers in.

11:35, mother in law calls. A tray flipped over from the f***ing wind. She saved a bunch, but I still lost a lot from it. Gone: 1 cayenne (out of 3, fortunately), 2 jalapeno (out of ten), both white habaneros, 1 mustard habanero (out of 2), 1 bhut jolokia (out of 5), all 3 rocotos, 1 aji pineapple (out of 4), and 1 unknown.

Why do I even bother?
 
TexomaHeat said:
Mother. Fucker.

Nice calm day outside yesterday evening and this morning. So I figure I'll put the seed trays outside on the front porch. Get them a little sun and warmth outside. Put them out for 3 hours last night, brought them in overnight. Set them out again at 8:30 this morning. Forecast wasn't calling for wind, just partly sunny, high in the 80's.

9:30, she reads online that there's a high wind advisory. Doesn't tell me.

11:30, the wife and I are on our way home for lunch. We're commenting on the wind and how much it suddenly picked up. I tell her that as soon as we get home, I need to bring all the peppers in.

11:35, mother in law calls. A tray flipped over from the fucking wind. She saved a bunch, but I still lost a lot from it. Gone: 1 cayenne (out of 3, fortunately), 2 jalapeno (out of ten), both white habaneros, 1 mustard habanero (out of 2), 1 bhut jolokia (out of 5), all 3 rocotos, 1 aji pineapple (out of 4), and 1 unknown.

Why do I even bother?
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If it makes you feel any better, this is the 2nd year out of 3 that i've lost my entire seedling crop to what i believe is Tobacco Mosaic Virus. So i went scorched earth approach, nuked the site from orbit and all that and said fuck it and built a hydro system.

But yeah, stuff like that can be VERY discouraging. Then i was a wee bit(maybe a lot bit) inebriated and got to thinking about how back in the day crop losses were more than just an inconvenience and would actually cause death and starvation (ie: potato famine) and that put it in perspective a bit.


Best of luck with the rest though.
 
Drew...I don't use peat pots in my starter trays, but when I see roots coming out of the bottom, it is time to transplant to larger containers...

if you are having any problems with the varieties I am growing, make a trip to Fort Worth and you won't be dis-satisfied...or I suppose I could meet you in Muenster for a beer or three
 
Sorry about your plants...I think most of us have been there in one way or another...you save what you can, replace or replant what you can, even if you have to buy them, and go on from there. It's a setback but you can go on to become as addicted as the rest of us! Lesson learned, all growing is an experiment to see what does or doesn't work...that's why we love it so much..growing a pepper that's known to be difficult to raise is an amazing happening. Mistakes are a part of it, mishaps too, don't let it get you down.
 
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