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Fcaruana Glog 2018

Hey everyone!
 
I have been reading and getting inspired by the glogs here for about a year and a half now and I love it, so I promised myself I would do a glog this year too. This is my 4th season growing peppers, and with the new raised beds that I built last year I have lots of room for extra peppers (8 beds that are 4 feet x 10 feet). Not all of them will go to peppers, but if I get my way I will be able to use quite a few of them. Anyways, better late than never, so here we go!
 
Quick story: I got into peppers 3 years ago when I picked up a single habanero plant on a whim - I was at a nursery/farm getting a gift for mother's day and saw a hab seedling for for $3 and said, "hey, habaneros are hot I think.. let me throw this in the ground and see what happens." Plant was amazing - completely won me over with it's beautiful colors and resilience (something ate all the leaves off and the plant completely grew back in a week and thrived)... and I made some tasty hot sauces with it. I was hooked. The next season I grew 33 plants, and last year I grew 74 plants.. I haven't counted yet how many I have this year but I'm sure its more than last year haha.
 
Grow list for this year:
Fatalii
Coyote Zan White
Red Savina
Carribean Red Hab
Bahamian Goat
BTR (Butch T Reaper)
Bhut jolokia
Peach Bhut
Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion
Carolina Reaper
Bico Roxa
Habanero Limon
Genghis Khan's Brain
7-Pot Bubblegum Red
Yellow 7-Pot Brainstrain (growdown)
Long White Scorpion
Aribibi Gusano
Rocoto Red
Aji Mango
Peruvian White Hab
Yellow Dorset Naga
Reapers
 
Currently trying to germinate (as of 2 days ago):
Poblano
Biker Billy Jalapeno
Agriset Jalapeno
Zapotec Jalapeno
Padron
Shishito
Thunder Mountain Longhorn
Numex Big Jim
Hangjiao #3 Solar Flare
Serrano
Island Hellfire Cayenne
Byadgi
Habanada
Big Black Mama
SB7J
Fish Pepper
Purple UFO
Firecracker (my favorite)
Aurora
Bolivian Rainbow
Chile De Arbol
Goats Weed
Rooster Spur
"Fang" pepper by Brendan Picante
 
Unfortunately this is going to be my last "big year" of growing tons of peppers at my house since I will be going to medical school at the end of the summer. My goal was to grow as many different varieties as I could before I'm off, but I'm still going to grow some plants under grow lights (hopefully some fun crosses!) while at school. Can never go without the spice haha
 
Hope you guys enjoy!
 
Here a (somewhat) brief bring-you-up-to-speed Glog:
 
Germinated the superhots first starting 1/10:
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Transplanted them from the rapid rooters to a seed tray 1/22:
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Repotted some of those to 3" pots and put them under my NEW LED LIGHT :onfire:  around 2/6
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I got the MaxBloom X4 COB LED light off Amazon and have had amazing results so far. Plants grow better/faster under here than my T5s. It apparently has UV and IR light in it as well. Overall would definitely recommend.
 
I started the habanero-level hots around 1/25. This was taken on 2/6:
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The Bico Roxa is one in particular I'm super excited about. Dark purple stems and purple leaves. The chiles are black and turn red. Hoping to make some fun crosses with this one!
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Shot about 1 week later 2/12:
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Moved around and potted up:
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PROGRESS
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These are the transplanted superhots that I got from the original rapid rooter tray, doing quite well under the T5s.
 
And here's something fun that happened.. I had left some untransplanted superhots under the LED in the seed tray (didn't have the heart to snip them) and they went out of control... Here they are in the tray on 2/15:
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I was wondering how they had grown so quickly, to the point where they were beating out the peppers that had been transplanted into their own pots with way more soil. Then I checked and saw what had happened:
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They created this CRAZY root system underneath along the capillary bed that went laterally all the way down into the nutrient solution. I was pretty impressed. And aside from some slight nutrient problems I could see from the leaves, they looked very good:
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So I decided I couldn't kill them despite already having at least 3-4 plants of each already set aside in solo cups (I was too impressed from this incident); I ripped them up out of there and put them in the cups. I also got a calamondin orange tree for Valentines Day, so that is living under the light next to my survivors:
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Meanwhile, everything else has been growing well, this was taken about 1 week ago. I'm in the process of transplanting everything to 4.5" square pots that I got by accident from Greenhouse Megastore (I was meant to get a bunch of 2" pots, but they sent me those instead, which was a nice mistake!) Here they are on 2/16:
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And now we're all caught up - today it was in the mid-70s (somehow here in NY in February.. extremely unusual), so naturally I took them on a trip out to the greenhouse where I set out a bunch of peppers to germinate for my nursery sales (when Spring actually starts) 2/21:
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Will keep this updated now that I'm up and running on THP and over half of the peppers for this season are on their way to the big outdoors. Hope you guys enjoyed, and thanks for following along! More to come!
 
Chilidude said:
Is that huge greenhouse yours?
 
No.. but my goal is to eventually get one like that! Lol
 
It's one of the greenhouses by a local farm I go to near my house. I arranged a deal with them - I asked if they would let me use a small area of a single table in one of their greenhouses to germinate a ton of plants for my little nursery operation, and in exchange they get to split the profits with me. I'll sell some plants at their farm, some at local markets, and maybe online as well.
 
I don't have a greenhouse so I'm really looking forward to this! Going out with a bang this year haha
 
Anyways, that's why I'm trying to germinate so many reapers.. I figured out of all the varieties I have, most people will want to buy habaneros, scotch bonnets, and reapers if they see them. If only I had more Ghost seeds...
 
Walchit said:
Nice! That is one hell of a green house, I'm also interested in that wicking seed tray you have!
 
 
Chilidude said:
 
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00REVD294/
 
You could fashion your own using square pots like those and a rised tray+ Self Watering Capillary Mat in the bottom of the rised tray perhaps.
 
 
https://www.amazon.com/Self-Watering-Capillary-Mat-Yards/dp/B01I2EUXZM
 
 
 
Walchit said:
That doesn't look the same lol
 
 
Chilidude said:
 
This one looks pretty similar:
 
 
Not quite, but he is using Self Watering Capillary Mat under the trays to water the plants in many of his pictures.
 
 
 
Walchit said:
I tried to read the writing on his trays, but when I typed it into Google it wasn't cooperating lol
 
 
Chilidude said:
 
 
Chilidude said:
 
It's actually one of those seed starting trays from Gardener's Supply. The first one Chilidude linked is one I actually do have, but I used the styrofoam versions this year. They've served me well for the past 3 seasons - just fill the nutrient solution/watering reservoir underneath and you can forget about it for several days... Just don't wait too long or your plants will convert themselves into a Kratky hydroponic setup lol
 
I'll go take a quick photo of the tray in its box, I have a few leftover.
 
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fcaruana said:
It's actually one of those seed starting trays from Gardener's Supply. The first one Chilidude linked is one I actually do have, but I used the styrofoam versions this year. They've served me well for the past 3 seasons - just fill the nutrient solution/watering reservoir underneath and you can forget about it for several days... Just don't wait too long or your plants will convert themselves into a Kratky hydroponic setup lol
 
 
 
That doest seem to be too bad if it turns in to a Kratky hydroponic system in the end, just make it a much bigger system for the adult plants. :rofl:
 
 
Chilidude said:
 
This one looks pretty similar:
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Not quite, but he is using Self Watering Capillary Mat under the trays to water the plants in many of his pictures.
 
 
Actually this is just those 4-4.5" square pots sent to me by accident from Greenhouse Megastore. They came with the matching "Holder Trays," which they're sitting in (each one holds 15 pots). It's basically just a flimsy plastic tray with square impressions to hold each individual square pot in place. Luckily, the plants are sitting on top of a black shelf that is about 1/2" deep, so I'm able to bottom-water by dumping a bunch of water into the shelf underneath and letting it soak up into the pots.
 
Chilidude said:
 
That doest seem to be too bad if it turns in to a Kratky hydroponic system in the end, just make it a much bigger system for the adult plants. :rofl:
 
 
No, it turned out to be good for the plants... Except for the part where I had to aggressively rip the roots up from the capillary mat.  ;)
Hopefully my mix of worm castings and mycorrhizae in the transplant pot will reduce shock - so far so good!
 
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So here is the self-watering tray I was using. They're reusable, just purchase the extra capillary mat that Chilidude linked and you can use these for years.

I just checked Gardener's Supply website and it looks like they only have the plastic versions available.. not sure why. Maybe you can find the styrofoam ones on eBay or amazon. The plastic trays work the same/just as well though.. just a little more pricey.

It does make seedling care much less of a hassle.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Hey everyone,
 
So something miraculous and unexpected happened this morning that filled me with excitement and I wanted to share it with you all.
 
This previous summer I had made 6 cross breeds of peppers that I was really looking forward to attempting to grow out.. however, when I made my seedling mixes this year I made three trays, 2 with coco /soil/perlite, and one with just coco/soil. The two starter trays with perlite did wonderfully and I got 75-85% germination rates... The coco/soil tray, however, stayed extremely soggy and wound up rotting all of the seeds I planted in them... And as a testament to my luck, the exact tray with this unintended attribute was the one in which my precious cross-seeds were planted. "Ah," I reflected whilst gazing at my biological catastrophe, "it's a good thing I planted every single seed in that tray with none leftover!"
 
(Some kind of lesson to be learned here.. not sure what).
 
Anyways, when I finally discovered that they were rotting about 1-1.5 weeks after planting them at the end of January, I immediately dug them all up and put the best-looking (least-rotten) ones into my rapid rooter plugs, just as one last futile attempt to save them. One half of that rapid rooter tray was dedicated to the rotten cross seeds, the other half was for germinating new superhots I got from both the Chile Pepper Institute and whitehotpeppers that I had recently acquired. Week by week, I continuously misted all the plugs, watching as my superhots from whitehot and CPI germinated nicely, transplanting them out. It was a beautiful juxtaposition - things going well with the normal seeds on the right, while mold started to take over and decimate the remaining population of my cherished seed crosses on the left. I staved off the spore-armed invaders with peroxide, "but to what end" I thought to myself.
 
Then, this morning, as I did my routine pepper-check, what did I see staring back at me, but a HOOK. Not on the right side of the tray, but on the LEFT. It was my Moruga/Chichen Itza Habanero cross, beautifully hooking over its rooter plug, reminding me of nature's tenacity.
 
That's it. Out of this whole disaster emerged a single hook for a single seed from one of my crosses. She is sitting in her new home (a modest red solo cup) with some castings and mycorrhizae now, about to take on the journey to inferno.
 
Here is a pic:
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TL;DR - Seeds from my crosses all went into a soggy germination mix and rotted. I attempted to salvage by putting in plugs but they then developed mold. Fast forward 3 weeks of half-hazard spraying with peroxide and I come to see a single beautiful hook staring back at me. I'm happy.
 
Lessons:
1. Don't plant all your seeds in one medium.
2. Sometimes rotten seeds miraculously still germinate.
 
Chilidude said:
I must thank you for your awesome advise and also your pictures for giving me new ideas for improved coco coir growing. :thumbsup:
 
Sure thing, glad I could advise! I love coir as I see such quick growth rates and can transplant straight into soil with no problems.
 
Devv said:
Looks like you have everything under control ;)
 
Good luck this season!
Thanks Devv! It's gonna be a good one, it's already been warming up sooner than usual in NY so I'm optimistic.

When do you think you'll be ready to plant outside?

I'm trying to get my plants producing by late May/early June that way I can enjoy my pods throughout July before I have to leave in mid August for school (August-October is our typical harvest season)... we'll see how it goes!


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