Grow Light - Regular Fluorescent ok?

[stc3248]

How warm is too warm? I came in this morning to my 2 lemon drop babies laying over and a little dried out. The rest of the peppers look good. I had the Lemon Drops in a little section of egg crate because that was all I had at the time and they were smaller than the NuMex Big Jims and African Tunisian's (all from romy6, Thank You!). I'm thinking they got a little too warm and dried out a little. They also are too far above the soil since the egg crate was shallower I couldn't plant them as deep. I sprayed them fairly good to try and give them a drink and I'm hoping they stand back up soon. I have some of the larger yogurt cups now to put them in and plant them deeper. I've been watching them about 45 min. to see if they perk up hopefully . Should I go ahead and try to pot them up or wait? I don't want to hurt them since they seem more fragile at the moment. I'm thinking I should go ahead and get them in the bigger cups. Edit: After uploading this pic the one on the left is starting to stand on it's own again!

NuMex Big Jim

I brought an indoor/outdoor temp from home and it is reading around 87.8 up by the light. I think the first night they were up there I didn't have the foil on the back of the poster. Now that I do have the foil up I think it made the temp raise up a bit. I have been keeping the store temp warmer at 73-ish to try and help them out so I think all I need to do is adjust the store temp down some more. What is the ideal temp for the babies? One good thing is I decided to give the 6500k a try again and it went off after being in there for a couple minutes, just like last time. I then twisted it around in the ballast some more and it seems I might have found the lucky spot, it's been on for 50 min now.... Julie

Maybe a little lower than the 87 degrees you got...but that's not terrible. A little concerned about the legginess of the first two that were laying over. Did that happen before you put them up there? If its happening under your light, they're not getting enough light . Give them a little drink and they should perk up pretty quick, but watch to make sure they don' t keep shooting up...

 

[tjbarney]

Maybe a little lower than the 87 degrees you got...but that's not terrible. A little concerned about the legginess of the first two that were laying over. Did that happen before you put them up there? If its happening under your light, they're not getting enough light . Give them a little drink and they should perk up pretty quick, but watch to make sure they don' t keep shooting up...

The legginess of them was like that from the plastic cup in germination. I just didn't get to plant them as deep as the rest since I didn't have enough yogurt cups to go around. I will get them planted up this morning in the 5 oz cups. Good to know on the temp. I'll adjust the store's temp down a degree and see what that does.

 

[ridavid]

I hope the bulbs do good because my light uses 5 of those bulbs.!

 

[PaulG]

understand totally tj...but, a simple setup is what we all start with and make improvements to our process each year...or at least I try to...

I was not trying to demean you in any way by the way...me, being an anal retentive mechanical engineer, well, hope you understand...

as time goes by, and as your experience grows, you will eventually let the plants tell you what they want or what is wrong with them...

Speaking as a newcomer, I am very appreciative of your commentary
and sharing, as is tj. Sometimes we just want to hear "do this..." ; )

Nothing wrong with ar engineers! My first degree was in engineering,
and I'm sure I qualify as ar, even though I never practiced the craft.
Some parts of the training just stick with you!

 

[Siliman]

TJ, yep, that's what they call 'leggy.' Replant those deeper up fairly close to their neck. Personally, I'd shoot for the low side of 80F for now even if it means losing the foil while they are so tiny. There's a lot of different strategies and ways to grow, and a lot of attention required day to day, especially as you dial everything in a new experimental area.

Yes, gardening....so fun, so relaxing...the stress just melts away as you enjoy watching your plants grow.....

 

[shigshwa]

The setup looks a bit dim.. The lighting really needs to be strong if you wish to grow these indoors, but it's fine if you are gonna transplant eventually. My plants would not produce pollen under 4 CFLs. It took another 2 for them to really start producing. My flowers went from dropping a few flecks to spraying clouds all over the leaves!

 

[stc3248]

Speaking as a newcomer, I am very appreciative of your commentary
and sharing, as is tj. Sometimes we just want to hear "do this..." ; )

Nothing wrong with ar engineers! My first degree was in engineering,
and I'm sure I qualify as ar, even though I never practiced the craft.
Some parts of the training just stick with you!

I've searched tons of threads on here for info...and I enjoyed every minute of it, but a forum is all about interaction and the exchange of thoughts and ideas. As for the light...I think it'll get you to plant out, but if it doesn't...lesson learned. Sometimes we can do more with less and sometimes less with less...if they don't do well I'll send you more seeds!

 

[tjbarney]

Thanks for the input everyone . Everything seems to be looking good this morning. The temp seems to be ranging from 84-86. The Lemon Pepper's are doing much better since I transplanted them yesterday. I even had one more of my Choc Hab's pop. So far this is my germ stats:

NuMex Big Jim: 4/4
African Tunisian: 1/2
Lemon Drop: 2/2
Choc Hab: 2/2
Anaheim: 0/4
Datil: 0/2
Scotch Bonnet: 0/6

As I'm sure you are all dying to see what it looks like where I have the peps stashed .......It is in a recessed display area behind the poster. In the pics of the light up there my phone camera doesn't like the bright light and under exposes it, it's a lot brighter than it looks.

The Lemon Drops

The NuMex Big Jims, notice the curly one on the bottom left. He had a little helmet head issue and it seems he is going to remain a little curly Q.

 

[AlabamaJack]

tjb...I see you are in Ok...how far from Fort Worth are you?

either way, PM me and I will send you some sure fire germinating Scotch Bonnets...they look like this:

and came off this plant...

 

[Siliman]

...The setup looks a bit dim.. The lighting really needs to be strong if you wish to grow these indoors, but it's fine if you are gonna transplant eventually....

You're right--but the game plan is to squeeze every lumen possible by lining up the plants in a single row directly under the bulb, as close as possible, and enhance with foil semi-enclsure. If she gets viable seedlings with a few leaves, they can go to a south facing window, and begin getting real Oklahoma sun from time to time as early as mid-March. It's game on!

... As for the light...I think it'll get you to plant out, but if it doesn't...lesson learned. Sometimes we can do more with less and sometimes less with less...if they don't do well I'll send you more seeds!...

+1. Its an excellent experiment

@TJ: Plants? What plants? Also curly cues do happen--as long as you don't start seeing crispy tips from too much heat. Overall things lookin good...

 

[stc3248]

tjb...I see you are in Ok...how far from Fort Worth are you? either way, PM me and I will send you some sure fire germinating Scotch Bonnets...they look like this:

and came off this plant...

I would definitely take AJ up on that offer! I sent you the only SB seed I had left...I got 2 for 2 of them to pop, but I'd hate to have all my eggs in one basket.

 

[tjbarney]

I would definitely take AJ up on that offer! I sent you the only SB seed I had left...I got 2 for 2 of them to pop, but I'd hate to have all my eggs in one basket.

Thanks stc and AJ, I really appreciate your help! You guys rock!!!

 

[tjbarney]

All of the peppers seem to be doing really well. I have 9 going now and I have them in a single line directly underneath the light about an 1" away. Those 9 now fill up the length of the bulb.

I forgot to post about the tests I have been doing on the bottom tray watering over night since I am going out of town tonight (Friday) and won't be able to check on them until Sunday night, so 2 days. Wednesday night I filled the bottom trays with 4 oz of water, 3 trays total with 3 plants in each. When I got in to work on Thursday morning all the water was gone. I wasn't for sure if the plants took it all in or how much of it evaporated since the soil was moist to begin with. So last night (Thursday) I rigged up another sheet of the plastic to go over each tray with holes for the plant cups to fit in to reduce the possible evaporation. This morning when I came in to work almost all of the 4 oz of water was gone again except a tiny amount of water in each tray. The peppers are very moist and you can tell by the weight of the cups as well. So I conclude the plants are taking in most of that water but my fear is they will get too much water. I would think that by bottom watering they would only take in what they need, but maybe I'm wrong? I want to be sure and give them enough water to make it the two days while I'm gone, but I also don't want them to get over watered. I haven't sprayed them at all or given them any other watering since they are very moist from the bottom water testing.

Here is Curly, he and the rest of the Big Jims are getting their first leaves!!!!

I'm thinking before I leave tonight I will move the peppers down a little bit since they are getting bigger. I will have to move them to the lower shelf and then sit them on something to build it back up so they are about 2 1/2 - 3" away.

 

[Siliman]

Curly looking good! Moe and Larry gonna give him a couple of nyuk-nyuk-nyuks.

Sounds like you have the seed starting medium nice and hydrated now. The plants aren't using much water, but the soil mix is soaking it. You shouldn't have a problem over a couple of days. I don't leave any standing water in the tray after bottom watering. If going away for a few days, you could leave some in there, but you don't want to overdo it. Sounds like your test run shows it will stay moist no problem.

Moist is better than too dry especially while seedlings are tiny. Everyone's watering needs vary with soil mix, cup size, tray size, temp.

Good luck...and hope you take up AJ on the Scotch Bonnet seedlings--NICE!

 

[tjbarney]

Whew! The pepper babies made it great while I was gone! They are all looking very good and the mix was still a tad moist and I bottom watered this morning and they sucked it up quickly. That is very good for me to know that they still weren't dried out and making it good because I found out I will be having to go out of town again this weekend and they will be alone from Friday night until Tuesday morning.

Curly is looking good!

Curly's brother, Moe, has a handle bar mustache thing going on ever since germinating.

 

[romy6]

Your babies are looking good Julie. Hope they continue in the upward position

Jamie

 

[tjbarney]

Sorry it's been a little while since the last update. I had to go away this past weekend again so the babies were alone for 3 days. They got a little dry and some of them are looking kinda poor with leaf curl issues and some of the cotyledons turning yellow and falling off. What do you guys think?

I now have 14 plants going, 12 peppers and 2 tomatoes. I'm running out of room, lol! I plan on moving the tomatoes to my house soon since I know they can handle it being cooler than the peppers.

Peppers going right now:

NuMex Big Jim: 4/4
African Tunisian: 1/2
Lemon Drop: 2/2
Choc Hab: 2/2
Datil: 1/2
Mucho Nacho: 1/2 (thanks stc!)
Cobra: 1/1


African Tunisian, hardest hit:

Curly (Big Jim) with leaf curl and cotyledons are pretty yellow:

Ol' Handlebar (Big Jim) not so much 'handlebar stache' anymore but looking better than the others:

 

[stc3248]

What kind of soil/nutes are they getting. Looks like they either dried out a little too much, or they have nute burn??? I'm leaning toward nute burn. I have had several curl up like that from drying out, but they usually bounce back within a few hours from that. The lights burning them is another possibility, but knowing that you are using a T12 they would have to be almost touching to burn IMO. Hope they pull out of it! Shane

Question...do the symptoms increase steadily from one end of your light to the other? If its the lights their should be one end of your bulb that is hotter than the other, so symptoms worse on one end would be an indicator.

 

[tjbarney]

I actually haven't given them any nutes at all so that can't be it. The light isn't any warmer than it has been since the begining and they are about 1 1/2- 2" away from it so I can only think it's due to them going an extra day than ever before without water. But, they haven't really changed much since Tuesday though. When I take the plants down they are never put back up in the exact same location so I can't answer your question for sure but I really don't think that's the case either.

 

[Siliman]

My first reaction was also nute burn, but it must be the dry spell. Someone here said you can get leaf curl if you have an exteme dry and then wet watering pattern. (Which you did!) I also had some curling going on, so I smoothed out my watering cycle and it seemed to work. One variety--my Datils-- like to curl more than anything else. Maybe the African Tunisian is also a prima donna!

I think its a little early for the yellow cotys. Like STC said, water on--I think they'll grow through it. After they recover, you might wanna think about adding some really weak nutes, but not right now.

One other possible factor: I recently test planted a whole bunch of cup- germinated seeds--and waited until they had green showing. Sometimes it was a pain getting the roots properly into the soil. A few of them grew distorted, curly and twisty like yours, but now seem to be growing through it. In the future, I plan to go back to planting as soon as I see the root emerge from the the seed (Just IMO).

Anyway, glad to see they are still kickin....