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indoor Growing Indoors?

S

Sidd

Sadly, the outdoor season in Colorado is coming to an end. My question is, does anyone grow peppers indoors? If so, how? Is a south facing window enough light for cayenne and ghost peppers? It is a large window faces due south. What if I added some florescent shop lights above the peppers? Any ideas and suggestions would be much appreciated, Thanks,
Sidd
 
I grow my peppers indoors. I use CFL lamps exclusively, and thus far, they've worked well for me. I admit I am pretty limited by the smallish apartment I have, but that hasn't limited me as I also use indoor growhouses, which are multi-tiered, so I could theoretically grow a lot of plants. I've purposely limited myself to 16 plants, so as to not get overwhelmed, since to compensate for growing them in pots, I do have to water and fertilize them about twice as often as I would if they were outside in the soil.

Oh yes, investing in a fan is a good idea to simulate wind, since it strengthens the stalks of the plants, and also aids a bit in pollenation when the time comes.

Oh yes, and :welcome: from sunny South Florida! :woohoo:
 
Welcome, Sidd!

I'm in northern Ohio, and it seems excessively early for you to be thinking your outdoor growing season is nearing it's end. We have cool days - up to 98 last week, down to 70 yesterday - but we still have the entire months of August and September to come! While you may be at a higher elevation, it doesn't seem likely that your temps are such that the peppers will start struggling any day soon. In general, peppers don't like their "feet" (roots) to get below 50F. Because of where I live now (formerly TX and CA), I grow all my peppers in pots so that I can haul them inside as weather demands. I don't expect to even think about doing that before September - though surprises do happen!

I overwinter at least some of my plants - whatever will fit - and put as many as possible in south-facing windows. As long as the majority of the day has sun coming in, this is sufficient for them to bud, bloom, and produce pods. It may still be a bit too early for you to get sufficient sun in that window yet, however. If you do find a need to bring them indoors before late September (ideally even October), as long as it's only for a day or two you shouldn't need to supplement the light. However, if it's longer-term, you may want to use artificial lighting for a while until you get more hours of sunlight directly in that window.

Something to consider before bringing them indoors permanently for the winter: repotting them with fresh soil. Aphids and some other bugs like to hide out (go dormant) or lay their eggs in the dirt once it starts getting cool, then upon warming up after bringing them indoors, you might find a nasty little problem occurring. Repotting won't totally eliminate the chances of this happening, but will reduce them.
 
As a fellow Co resident i have to grow indoors. i was lucky enough to move into a house with a pre exsiting grow room. I use metal hyliade and Hps lights. I also grow outside but my palnts are not doing so hot. My kitchen has a south face corner windows in whcih i get plenty of sun to finish off some plants i have outside. Next year i will have some plants i have growing now outside so i should get some big #'s next summer from plants that are over a year old. I had to drop some $ to get to where i am now. I'm in the middle of flowering right now and i have plants that are growing, in two seperate rooms of course.
 
For the record, your wife is awesome!
 
Ever thought of hydroponics indoors? I have all my peppers indoors in a grow tent. (currently no hydroponics) I did have hydro jalapenos and they were AMAZING! A deep water culture system is easy and cheap to build/ maintain. I use a 400 watt mh/hps light along with blue/red led's and a t5 lamp. good luck!
 
Orangello said:
Ever thought of hydroponics indoors? I have all my peppers indoors in a grow tent. (currently no hydroponics) I did have hydro jalapenos and they were AMAZING! A deep water culture system is easy and cheap to build/ maintain. I use a 400 watt mh/hps light along with blue/red led's and a t5 lamp. good luck!
Click to expand...

Do you perhaps have a reciepe for the setup? :-)
 
Trying indoors for the first time with an aerogarden extra setup.
Though I can only get 7 fair sized plants out of it, I can get 66 seedlings started.
A "set it and (mostly) forget it" small hydro system for $200 or so.

I will expand with a custom hydo setup if (when) needed, and most will prolly go in the ground when spring arrives with a few extra months grown indoors to give them a chance to mature in a short growing season area.
 
I mainly just took bits and pieces of articles online and made my own system. It only cost about $25-30 to build (minus the nutrients). I used genHydro FloraNova series nutrients for my first DWC because it's pH balanced and you don't really have to worry about it. You should check out these hydro systems: http://www.instructa...IY-Hydroponics/
oh yeah, for peppers you will need a good light. I grew strawberries in this system with a cheap compact flourecent lightbulb though. If you have any questions about it, just let me know. Good luck!
 
Orangello said:
Ever thought of hydroponics indoors? I have all my peppers indoors in a grow tent. (currently no hydroponics) I did have hydro jalapenos and they were AMAZING! A deep water culture system is easy and cheap to build/ maintain. I use a 400 watt mh/hps light along with blue/red led's and a t5 lamp. good luck!
Click to expand...

Funny you should ask. I've got a Scoth Bonnet sprouting in rockwool as we speak, this time next week it should be in my homemade dwc bucket. If you look in the ghetto gear thread, you can see my current setup. It's an old fridge, gutted and retrofitted with lights, an exhaust fan and thermostat.
 
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