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First Pepper Growing Attempt 2014

Hello
 
Decided to publicly post my attempts at growing peppers this year. Would appreciate any advice given.
 
So I am currently growing 
 
2 Aji Limons (one planted on the 27th February, the other on 4th March)
1 Numex Twilight (planted on 4th March)
1 7-Pot ( planted 4th March I think)
1 Bulgarian Carrot (planted 4th March)
1 Pumpkin Pepper (planted 27th February)
1 Habanero (planted 27th February)
1 Jamaican Hot Chocolate (planted 27th February)
1 Bhut Jolokia (planted 27th February)
1 Bird's Eye Pepper (planted 27th February)
1 Chimayo (which germinated but later found to have died due to damping off)
 
Habanero and Pumpkin Pepper were the first to hook which was on the 4th March. Aji Limon on 5th March. JHC and Bird's Eye on the 7th March. Bhut on the 8th March. Bulgarian carrot on the 9th March. Numex on 10th March. 7-pot on 14th March. 
 
Seeds were planted in potting mix.
"Seed & Potting Mix 
Seed & Potting Mix is a soil-less mixture used for raising seeds and striking cuttings. It is free from weed seeds and diseases and contains all the ingredients for fast and uniform germination and assures strong root development. It also contains vermiculite and peat moss to prevent drying out. Suitable for germinating all types of seed."
 
"Horti Soil
Is a natural product of humus which is made on the maturation by intense bacteria action of a mixture of Organic matter, peat moss, medium loam, and supplemented with Inorganic Superphosphate, Muriate of Potash, Limestone, essential trace elements and fungicide. It will improve soil structure, has higher water holding capacityand will supply adequate nutrients, auxins for promoting plant growth resulting in healthy and disease-free plants."
 
And repotted into my own mixture of 2 parts said potting mix, 3parts garden soil (horti soil mentioned above), 1/4 part zeolite and 1/3 part water. (once again, i do not have any experience at all and just winging it. >.< )
 
They were all put under 1 8W 6700k CFL light in a low tech self made grow box measuring 32cm x 22cm x 22cm (i know;its tiny) the moment they hook.
 

 

 
Then quickly repotted to individual cups once they sprouted. All survived the transplants.
 

BHUT (picture taken on the 25th March)
Messed up cots is again due to helmet head removal. I was worried as it looked to be stunted in growth and almost shrivelling. So i removed the helmet head and repotted to new soil. It was previously in a rectangular container with Pumpkin Pepper. Anyways, its doing well now. 
 

Aji Limon (picture taken on the 25th March)
 

7-Pot (picture taken on the 25th March)
This is put under clip-on reading lights which are LED and run on batteries. Did this because I had no more space in my growbox and also for experimental purposes.
 

JHC (picture taken on the 25th March)
Messed up cots are due to attempts at removing helmet head.
 

Pumpkin Pepper (picture taken on the 25th March)
 

Numex Twilight (picture taken on the 25th March)
 

Bulgarian Carrot (picture taken on the 25th March)
 

Habanero (picture taken on the 25th March)
 
I didnt include a picture of Bird's Eye because i ripped off both cots and new true leaf from trying to remove helmet head. So their existence is still currently in question. Seedlings were all placed 4 inches below the light. Some are showing purpling of stems but no purpling on leaves. I have read that they grow out of this. So we shall see.
 
Watering schedule: I am currently bottom watering them and the most recent watering was 2 days ago. I let them dry out (pumpkin pepper even went as far as to fold its leaves over each other) before watering. Also dig under the top layer to check for moisture.
 
As you can see, some are coming to a month from day of germination and while they are doing well i suppose ( apart from Aji with its curled down leaves), I am a little worried as to why they are taking so slow when other people's bhuts look so much bigger than mine at 21days.
 
So.. Are my worries justified? I do know that some of the hotter peppers take longer to grow. Do I need to be fertilising them already? As I have not done so because i figured the soil has enough nutrients already. I only have chicken dung, Seaweed Extract NPK 4-3-2+TE and NPK 21-21-21 foliar fertiliser at the moment. Keep in mind that we don't have access to any Home Depot and things are somewhat limited here. Also my cups are see-through. Do they need to be covered at the sides? Does that affect plant growth as I have read that roots wont grow so well if they are exposed to light or something along that line.
 
I hope I have covered every detail that you might need for your analysis. Thank you guys for your future input!
 
Click to expand...
Finally!! The seedling i've been waiting for!! *drum roll*



My black krim!! I planted 5 seeds maybe. Only one germinated. Sigh. Shall baby this one to the extreme.

And... After more than a month..



My lime seed finally germinated!! A miracle because i cannot remember how many times i wanted to throw the whole thing away but something always made me stop and keep it. For the heck of it, i kept watering it. I CANNOT BELIEVE IT! I was literally shouting "MY LIME SEED GERMINATED!!" Very excited about this.
 
miguelovic said:
Nice, that's a wild looking seedling.
 
Only like 5 more years until you make your own mojitos :D
Click to expand...
Haha! I know right? Sigh. Didnt expect it to even germinate after all that time.
 
So i got home today to find my tiny balcony mildly infested by insects. I dont know what they are but i found them all over the ledge where i placed my plants and also on the soil. None of the plants are adversely affected as yet (in fact that true leaf on the bugger of a pumpkin pepper is actually starting to open) but i squashed all that i saw.
They were black(?) with wings and ranged in size. They might have been different types but who knows. Did not even think to take a picture because.. Irradicating was top priority for me.
Have been dreading infestations but it seems my battle has begun.
 
So far the only plants showing any progress in my growbox is my black prince and bird's eye( which is growing rather weirdly. But growing nonetheless).

The half coty leaf on my JHC just shrivelled up so i gave them all a drink. Dont know if the leaf is salvageable but i did see signs of more growth. But again.. Could be my imagination. I do hope its nothing to do with any fungus or pests. I did check the underside of the leaves and found nothing. Sigh
 
I have come to a conclusion that the kids in the grow box is not receiving enough light. Considering buying that LED light.

Anyways its been raining almost everyday so i havent been watering the kids at the balcony sill.

On the other hand i worry that they are getting too much water. Bulgarian carrot seems to be doing alot better since the downpour today. Leaves are now outstretched.

Pumpkin pepper lost one of its cotys which was turning yellow. But its looking strong. The first aji is still not doing anything. Peculiar thing. But the second one is growing steadily.

Steady progress on the black princes and lone black krim. Black krim is growing surprisingly fast. Already has his second true leaf eventhough he was planted a week after the black princes. Excited about that.

Still worried a out the weird bugs roaming around. Have been crushing them out whenever i see one. They're on the soil as well. But again no adverse effects on the plants.
 
With out pics I just assume you killed all your plants and are telling a nice story :D
 
Try to identify the bugs and crawlers, they aren't always pests and you may be squishing something beneficial
 
Bug Link-o-rama
 
miguelovic said:
With out pics I just assume you killed all your plants and are telling a nice story :D
 
Try to identify the bugs and crawlers, they aren't always pests and you may be squishing something beneficial
 
Bug Link-o-rama
Click to expand...
Havent been posting pictures because they all still look the same. =\

Thanks for the link though.
 
Alright.. Update on pictures i guess. Be warned that their progress is slow.

7-Pot


Lime


Aji Limon no. 2. One of the cotys has something wrong with it. I took a chance a cut it off after taking these pictures.



Black Krim


Numex Twilight which was not doing too well in the growbox so i decided to put it outside.



Bulgarian Carrot doing so much better outside. I think it grew.


Pumpkin pepper. Lost both cotys and grew another leaf which is growing bigger by the day. Restoring my faith in these peppers.


One of my black princes.


The other one is in the growbox with only one true leaf. Considerably slower growth in the grow box. So i only posted pictures of those at the balcony sill. Sigh.
 
Double sigh. I would've pulled out all my hair by now  :confused:
 
That's a real noodle scratcher. The lime is clearly loving life. The others are like ginger stepchildren. I keep thinking it is something in the soil mix, but it appears fine, a little dense looking and light on aeration, but those are observations from a picture. What is the "1/3 water" you added? Water to moisten or a type of water crystal? And the colour change of the white rocks is from feed?
 
The leaf whitening happened as you transitioned outside?
 
Props for the hanging pot out the window system (assuming that is what you're up to with the string). I probably can't point you in the right direction, but here's a bump and maybe the answers will help someone more experienced figure it out :)
 
Do you have drain holes in the bottom of those cups?
 
Stop watering them for a bit. Don't let the soil get saturated. You need to aim for moist.. Damp.. like a tightly wrung out wash rag.. not sopping wet.  Don't let it dry completely out but for sure don't keep it soaked. (Two sure ways of killing peppers... too wet, or completely bone dry.)
 
If it's too wet, there's no oxygen to be found by the roots.. if there's no oxygen, they can't pick up ANY nutrients.
 
Peppers need surprisingly little moisture and they prosper when the soil is just a little damp.. 
 
miguelovic said:
Double sigh. I would've pulled out all my hair by now  :confused:
 
That's a real noodle scratcher. The lime is clearly loving life. The others are like ginger stepchildren. I keep thinking it is something in the soil mix, but it appears fine, a little dense looking and light on aeration, but those are observations from a picture. What is the "1/3 water" you added? Water to moisten or a type of water crystal? And the colour change of the white rocks is from feed?
 
The leaf whitening happened as you transitioned outside?
 
Props for the hanging pot out the window system (assuming that is what you're up to with the string). I probably can't point you in the right direction, but here's a bump and maybe the answers will help someone more experienced figure it out :)
Click to expand...
The water is just tap water i kept it a bottle with the top off to let the chlorine evaporate.

The rocks are zeolites and they are coloured. I thought i'd add in some colour to my mix.

The yellowing thing started in the grow box. Sigh

Thanks for the bump though!
TrentL said:
Do you have drain holes in the bottom of those cups?
 
Stop watering them for a bit. Don't let the soil get saturated. You need to aim for moist.. Damp.. like a tightly wrung out wash rag.. not sopping wet.  Don't let it dry completely out but for sure don't keep it soaked. (Two sure ways of killing peppers... too wet, or completely bone dry.)
 
If it's too wet, there's no oxygen to be found by the roots.. if there's no oxygen, they can't pick up ANY nutrients.
 
Peppers need surprisingly little moisture and they prosper when the soil is just a little damp.. 
Click to expand...
Yup i melted 5 small holes at the bottom of all the cup. And i havent watered these at all. But its been raining almost every day here.
 
Yellowing means they aren't getting nutrients... Personally I'd get different potting soil and carefully transplant them. Maybe the soil / water is the wrong PH, maybe it's too coarse of material for the roots to find a good nutrient exchange, maybe there's no oxygen available for some reason.. or one nutrient is overloading the ability to pick up others (too much of something can block other stuff it needs)...
 
Either way I'd seriously consider swapping the soil out for a different kind - don't know what you have available in Singapore but any generic potting soil should work OK.
 
Once you swap soil it can take 2-3 weeks to see any improvement, so be patient. remember to keep the soil moist, like a wet t-shirt that's been wrung out. Not soaked!
 
TrentL said:
Yellowing means they aren't getting nutrients... Personally I'd get different potting soil and carefully transplant them. Maybe the soil / water is the wrong PH, maybe it's too coarse of material for the roots to find a good nutrient exchange, maybe there's no oxygen available for some reason.. or one nutrient is overloading the ability to pick up others (too much of something can block other stuff it needs)...
 
Either way I'd seriously consider swapping the soil out for a different kind - don't know what you have available in Singapore but any generic potting soil should work OK.
 
Once you swap soil it can take 2-3 weeks to see any improvement, so be patient. remember to keep the soil moist, like a wet t-shirt that's been wrung out. Not soaked!
Click to expand...
Thing is they do better once i put them on the balcony sill. I'm honestly just boggled. I have been looking into getting other types of potting media and managed to find some organic soil but i havent gotten around to getting them yet as i'm not sure what my step is gonna be?
 
Hard to tell.. if you do get new potting soil take a pic of the roots when you transplant them; how healthy those are will help figure the problem out. You'll also get a chance to see how wet the soil is on the middle/bottom levels. If it's 100% soaked, that's a problem.
 
Could you very gently tip the plant out into your hand and check the soil. See if it is soaking wet or not, then report back.
 
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