First ever grow attempt - tips would be appreciated.

Hi guys,

This is my first ever attempt at growing chili "or anything" from seed so figured i would make a Grow Log so people can give me any tips if they notice things about the plants i wont know about. my seeds have been sowed about 3 weeks ago for the capsicum & spring onion you will see in the background, just over 2 weeks for the morugas and various times over the last week for the other varieties "the newer ones have dates on the labels". i apologize about the quality of the pictures i could not find my camera so had to use my phone. hopefully moving forward will be able to find my camera and give nicer update pictures. any feedback would be much appreciated

Hard to see but one of the black pearls has sprouted "each jiffy has 2 seeds - except bhut jolokia"

Some of the seedlings in my light box, all except capsicum spring onion and moruga only placed in this morning.

The rest of my seedlings in the light box.

there is a few more waiting to seed but no point showing you jiffy pellets with nothing sticking out.




the only questions i have at this stage is about the seedlings in my light box which appear to be growing seed up as seen in the 2 moruga cups. is this normal and will fix itself?

Thanks for reading will try for weekly updates or if anything exciting happens before hand i guess.

would also like to add my grow box is usually much brighter but i had to pull the light out to take the picture.

 

[nee]

Hi Kenny!

OK, there's numerous answers as to what it could be, but here's my experience!

I'm not sure if you've had a look at my grow-log, but i had masses of problems during the beginning of my grow.

Basically the plants would be doing fine for a week or 2, then around the 3rd or 4th week they would start yellowing and looking really bad.
I posted on here asking for help and got allsorts of advice...maybe try adding calcium?....possibly too many ferts?...am i overwatering?...how close are my lights etc??

After trying soooo many things i managed to suss it out...

The pattern of my plants going bad, with it always being in the 3rd or 4th week, made me adamant that the problem was during the time that the roots of my plants were growing out of the Jiffy pellet, and relying solely on the potting mix.
After ditching my potting mix and going for something a lot better, i was stoked to find out that the potting mix had been letting me down all along. As a novice i had no idea how important good potting mix was...
This may not be the case with yours, but i thought that it might save you a lot of time and effort if it's a possibility that your mix is 'el-cheapo' as my original mix was!

 

[kgage88]

Cheers Mate, that sounds about right as it is definitely just a cheap potting mix. So do you have any suggestions for the ones ive already got in the mix "which isnt actually that many it was just until i got a better bag" are they basically ruined or will just come back good or do i need to add something?

 

[Mezo]

Just buy a decent quality bag "fresh" so a bunnings would be good place as they turn over pallets of them, then re-pot your plants.
They should come back fine, dont go adding anything (fertz & stuff) fresh potting mix will have it all in there (read the bag).

Mezo.

 

[kgage88]

Sounds good, quite strapped for cash at the moment but will try to get a bag sometime soon...

 

[nee]

Cheers Mate, that sounds about right as it is definitely just a cheap potting mix. So do you have any suggestions for the ones ive already got in the mix "which isnt actually that many it was just until i got a better bag"

Ahhh, that's possibly your problem then!

I went out and bought a bag of [background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]Osmocote Premium from Bunnings and haven't looked back! [/background]

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]Really hoping this sorts your woes, as there's nothing worse than it all going wrong before your eyes and with no clue what to throw at it![/background]

are they basically ruined or will just come back good or do i need to add something?

Here's what i had....pretty much ALL of my plants were looking like this one. Lost a load of leaves, and yellow / burnt as anything....i was gutted!

Here's 2 of the same plant side by side, the left one having had the newer "premium" potting mix a few days before this pic was taken..

And here is the same plant about 6 weeks later....with it's first pod

 

[kgage88]

Thanks for the advice guys, will probably try to get down to bunnings this weekend and pick up a bag, would you happen to remember how much the potting mix set you back?

 

[nee]

It wasn't an earth-shattering amount.... I think i paid around $8-ish for one of those small-ish bags? Which is probably more than enough for potting up to the next stage.
Recently i needed more, but the garden centre i stopped at didn't have the Osmocote....after a quick chat with the guy regarding what i was growing he recommended another brand, again a 'premium' type of potting mix, and that was about $13 for one of those HUGE bags, which will keep me going for a while..
I potted quite a few of them up and they seem to be thriving in it!
The brand name escapes me at the moment, but i will have a look tomorrow and let you know.
Or alternatively, just hit your local garden centre and have a chat with someone there and explain what you're growing...i'm sure they'll be able to recommend something, and hopefully at a decent price to boot

 

[Mezo]

When i was a rich man (titter) i used Organix premium mix, i had good results with that in Perth.

Mezo.

 

[Lavatung]

Hi Kgage. I picked up this light from a hydro shop.

It only cost $80. I has the right growing spectrum so there is no need to keep it close to the plants. It is also low heat. I too am a chilli virgin. I'm having issues with my leaves ATM.

Gday from Perth!
Luke

 

[nee]

Wow, $80 is pretty reasonable! Ref the leaves...have you sprayed them with anything recently? Only reason i ask is that some of mine have gone a bit like this after i sprayed diluted white vinegar on them to try and keep the fungus gnats away (i readi it somewhere)

(still loads of gnats, and spots on my leaves...grrr!!)

 

[kgage88]

Ok so i know its been a huge delay in posts but been incredibly busy with the upcoming wedding, changing jobs & finding out the mrs is pregnant... so now that i have bored you with my excuses updates to chilis... 4 or 5 of my plants are going great and seem to be thriving BUT the rest have struggled alot "unsure if due to colder weather or over watering" lost alot of leaved and have been incredibly stunted still only standing an inch or so high... on a lighter note today i noticed new leaves on my black pearl for the first time in what feels like a few weeks... still havent put the walls or backing on my grow box but i have installed a second twin uv light... and a couple of different colored tubes... just given them a water so will wait for them to perk up a bit and try to take some pictures, even if my current crop dont go to fruiting i feel its been an incredible learning experience and i have plenty of time to plant more... in regards to my plants that havent grown from seed, habernero is all but dead, no idea why my others outside are thriving. picked up a jalapeno "mucho nacho" from bunnings and its going great with about 10 or so pods and a whole bunch of flowers. my random chili plant i was given as a seedling is also going great with about 12 or so pods really bushy and a ridiculous amount of flowers, also have some tomatoes "cherry" growing that as i was lazy and didnt get a stake had about a foot snap off the top "aswell as the attached tomatoes but since bought a tamer and is now covered in flowers and soon tomatoes again.

 

[nee]

Hi Kenny!
Firstly, massive congrats on the pregnancy!! And all the best for the upcoming wedding

As for the plants.....did you end up trying different potting mix? It helped my plants out massively....

As for dropping leaves....mine do it all the time, but i've learnt not to worry about it now....it seems to be something they just do now and then...lol

Good to see you back on here, and best of luck with everything

 

[kgage88]

nah didnt try new potting mix, with everything happening seemed less important. but they are alive and starting to come back so the current potting mix couldnt be all bad next time will definitely try something of a higher quality though.

 

[kgage88]

o.k. so i said i would post some pics and i now have a new camera. some of them look a little sad but i took these pics before watering. photos are of all of them then just individual shots of my healthier plants.

first is a group shot of them all

best moruga "only good moruga"

rocoto - yellow

capsicum "unknown variety from mixed packet of 7 types"

peter pepper

black pearl

bhut jolokia

 

[nee]

I'm going to sound like your mother here....but i'd seriously get them out of that potting mix if possible!
The yellowing...the leaf dropping....the brown marks....those signs are all reminiscent of past nightmares of mine....save yourself the grief!!

Some of your plants do look healthy though, but i remember some of mine went through stints of looking really good, before their inevitable downward spiral...

Hopefully i'm wrong, but if i can save you wasting as much time as i did, then it's a good thing yeah!?

 

[kgage88]

lol ive got a friend from work who lives on a farm giving me "if he remembers" a whole heap of pots that i can pot my plants up into so when i do that i will make sure i use a better quality soil. got myself some more cups today so might try sprouting some more and see how they go without going into the cheap soil.

 

[kgage88]

You will be happy to know I got myself some new soil so I guess time will tell if it makes a difference...

 

[nee]

You will be happy to know I got myself some new soil so I guess time will tell if it makes a difference...

I saw the difference within about 2 days!!! Keep us posted Kenny

 

[kgage88]

o.k. so after i got my new soil i have potted up "from jiffy pelets to cups" 3 plants and they all seem to be thriving in the new soil. i have also taken a few of my older plants from their old soil given them a dust off "not literally" and put them in the new soil. its been a few days and i havent noticed any significant difference but ill keep my eye on them.

not sure if i have said much about them but i was given a couple plants from a lady i worked with having no idea what variety they have been dubbed the giulia chilis "giulia being the ladies name" after what feels like an age finally getting some pods from one of the plants ripening and the other with flowers and still young pods all over it.

 

[nee]

i have also taken a few of my older plants from their old soil given them a dust off "not literally" and put them in the new soil. its been a few days and i havent noticed any significant difference but ill keep my eye on them.

Hi Kenny......glad things are going good with the new mix!!!

I'm sure you'll be noticing the difference soon.......we'll await the next post!

All the best

Neil