Eximius Indoor (Aquaponics & Oddballs) Glog 2017

 
Hey all! I'm new to the forum, but not to growing peppers. I figured I'd start a Glog to share what I'm doing with my indoor pepper grow.
 
This year, I wanted to start with a really wide pool of genetics to seed my next couple projects. However, my space is extremely limited, so I plan to do as I have in the past few seasons and graft multiple varieties of peppers on to the same mother plant in order to maximize the number of varieties that I can grow in my (tiny) apartment. Indoor growing in the NE US is not the easiest, especially in the winter when the air is constantly dry to the point of causing problems. 
 
I currently have 2 rounds of seedlings going for this cycle. The first was planted in December and the first few plants are just about to flower. 
The first round of plantings was:
CGN22084 (Capsicum Chacoense)
Fish Pepper (Capsicum Annuum)
Trepadiera Werner (Capsicum Baccatum)
Firewall F3 (Capsicum Frutescens x Annuum)- T
 
Quinshito
CAP498
Eririke
 
Manchas Pretas  (Capsicum praetermissum)
Cumari Alongado (Capsicum praetermissum)
Royal Black (Capsicum Annuum
The most recent round is when things start to get really interesting, though.
 
I recently was gifted a few seeds from a few countries in S.E. Asia. Not quite sure what the varieties are, but they are from
 
The Phillipines (Capsicum ???)
Vietnam (Capsicum ???)
Cambodia (Capsicum ???)

I also planted the following, which I requested direct from CGN. For most of these, there was not much in the way of pictures, so growing them should be a bit of an adventure.
 
CGN23257: Capsicum chinense  (RU 72-362)
CGN23769: Capsicum chinense  (RU 72-101)
CGN16907: Capsicum chinense  (Zou-Pi)
CGN22835: Capsicum chinense  (RU 72-182)
CGN16994: Capsicum chinense  (RU 72-194) 
CGN21502: Capsicum eximium
 
I requested a few others (Tovarii, Cardenasii, etc) but the request was not unsuccessful. My most wanted is Capsicum Flexuosum. I actually purchased seeds from Fatalii this year, but none of them are germinating and I am beginning to lose hope.  I don't really have 30 Euros plus shipping to US to spare, so it looks like the dream of using it as breeding stock will have to be put on ice. In the event that you are reading this and happen to have Flexuosum seeds, please let me know? I'm happy to send back F1 seeds when my grow starts bearing fruit, trade (though I don't think I have anything terribly interesting to most) or compensate you how you feel is fitting)  
 
 
I also started the a few other assorted seeds of more common varieties.
SRFB#2
SRFB#4
Buena Mulata
Yatsufusa
Neyede x Bubblegum f4
Scotch Bonnet

Out of these, the crown jewel is undoubtedly a fresh start I have labelled "4-mer Yatsufusa", which is sprouted with 4 seed leaves. It has since put out 2 sets of 2 leaves each. Could this be a natural tetraploid pepper? It's barely a few weeks old, but I am excited to find out and use this plant as breeding stock going forward. 
 
The point this indoor grow is to get a really wide genetic pool with the intention of casting a wide net as I begin to cross them with the more common species. I am planning on breeding for looks as much as flavor, with an emphasis on interesting colors, flowers, and fruit types. As my extra plants continue to grow, I will repeatedly cut them back to use for grafting and use the mother plants for Bonchi.  
 
I also have 1 overwintered Aji White Fantasy, which is just about to flower as well. 
This leads me to my first planned cross for the season-
 
Fish Pepper x Aji White Fantasy
 
As for the aquaponics- I currently have 2 apartment scale systems (20gal and 55gal) growing salad greens and herbs for cooking. I have tested and they will both grow peppers quite well for the long term (1 year+). I have about 4 or 5 slots free in the systems currently, and I am looking for suggestions as to what to peppers are worth it to use them for. In the unlikely event I am able to get the Flexuosum seeds to germinate (or get more seeds), at least 1 of those slots will be taken by that. Currently taking suggestions for what to put in! 
 
I water with H2O from my fish tanks and aquaponics systems and supplement as needed. 
 
More pictures to come soon.
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Cabinet #1

 
 
 

 

[moruga welder]

!  Nice little grow ,   

 

[Trident chilli]

Looking good Matthew all he very best for this season

 

[Eximius]

Thanks for the warm welcome! I'm inspired from browsing through everyone's crosses and glogs... looking forward to getting my own up to the same level

 

[RaelThomas]

Very interesting list! Look forward to seeing how they turn out.

 

[Eximius]

Hello Everyone! 

I'm sure you've all (not) been waiting on the edge of your seats for an update on the oddballs and aquaponics systems. There's a lot going on at the moment, so I took some photos to share with you guys.
 
I'll start with an old picture: a red hab growing in my 55 gallon aquaponics system last year under LEDs. It's hard to get a sense of scale, but in this shot, the pepper is about 3 feet wide and about a foot and a half tall. Unfortunately, this system was crammed in a tiny hallway when this picture was taken, so there's no combo shot of the aquarium and growbed.

 
It's currently growing me salad greens, but I think I am going to cut them soon to make room for some transplants.

 
The 4mer Yatsufusa continues to do its own decidedly weird thing- 4 nodes of growth are coming from the bottom, and it remains short and stout. Everything I've read says plants like this grow more slowly than their brethren, but this one is outpacing everything else I planted at the same time.

 
 
Fish pepper is finally showing variegation (and flowers!)  It's just getting ready to open, as are the indestructible Aji White Fantasy that survived down to 19F and the Firewall.

 
Lagging a bit behind is the Royal Black, but god damn the foliage is amazing. Incredibly dark purple to the point of being black, and lime green where new growth is happening.

 
Finally, I did a big harvest of the basil that had overtaken my 20 gallon aquaponics system to make pesto (and to make room for peppers, of course). 

Now I just need to figure out what plants are worth putting in those empty slots! If you've got any thoughts, please share. I'm hoping to have a bunch of really bizarre F1's by the end of this season, so if there are any genetics here that interest you, speak up!