Growing peppers in the north! Hydro all day everyday.

Hi all pepper enthusiasts. 
 
I live in Scandinavian, or more precisely in Denmark, where unfortunately the weather can be pretty brutal. Ironic we currently have the hottest sommer I can remember. However, I can't rely on the weather all year round, especially because I don't have a garden. 
 
So I decided to upgrade my old windowsill garden, to a better hydro setup. This way I can grow year round . 
My setup consist of: 
Grow tent: Homebox Vista medium.
Light: Quantum board 260W LED. 
Drip irrigation system with drain to waste. 
Air intake: Black Orchide Ø 150mm
Air circulation: Secret Garden Monkey Fan 30W
Water pump: Micro-Jet MC 450 Oxy Pump
Medium: Rockwool 
The brain of the system is my Sonoff 4channel Pro with this I control everything by my phone, both light timers, water and circulation timers. 
 
Plants as of 12th July: 
Lemon Drop
Tabasco 
Thunder mountain Longhorn
7pot Primo (seeds from Troy).
Peachgum V3
Numex Vaquero (Jalapeno). 
 
Then I have a tomato plant and just started some strawberry seeds. 
In the next days im going to start a different tomato plant (Yellow pear) and plant seeds for Bahamian Goat(to replace the Longhorn)!
 
Now, to the exiting part, pictures! 
 
First picture is my whole setup. Grow tent, plants and water bucket. 

 
Next we have a closer look to the plants. 

 
Here we have the left part of the tent, with the lemon drop, tomato plant and Vaquero, you can also see the circulation fan.

 
Right side of the tent. With Thunder Mountain longhorn, Tabasco, Peachgum, Primo 

 
Closeup of the Lemon drop, I just harvested her today. Love this pepper. 

 
Here is the Scoville King in the tent, the Primo 

 
My Jalapeño (Numex Vaquero) I hope he produces more later, this is his first set of fruits. 

 
Thunder Mountain Longhorn. Easily the best producer in the tent (contested by the lemon drop) but most fruits ripen up to be soft with black seeds :/ To be replaced by the Bahamian Goat in the future. 

 
And my tabasco 

 
This is my "tools"

 
Some fitting decoration of the grow room 

 
And lastly the system all works because of this little box. 

 
 
My plan for this Glog is to hopefully grow peppers all year and I have some crossing ideas (Hello mr. Bahamian Goat) im planning to do here as well. Maybe some can assist with future hydro problems as well, as this is my very first time trying to grow this way . 
Here is the first few peppers from today going in the dryer! Along with some Gengish Kahns brain from the freezer. 

 

[Chewi]

To be replaced by the Bahamian Goat in the future. 
 

 

Everything looks so cool, but this caught my eye. Great choice of replacement!

 

[chelicerae]

That looks more automated and tidy than my first grow, which was also indoor in a tent. Did you prune alot or is growth sufficiently regulated by the amount amount of rockwool?
 
I don't understand the automation entirely- what events do you trigger remotely or is everything per schedule and you monitor remotely?
 

 

[IdahoPepper]

Very impressive! I love your system. 

 

[CaneDog]

Looks great!  Fresh peppers year-round.

 

[karoo]

Really impressive, enjoy those peppers.

Sent from my FIG-LX1 using Tapatalk

 

[Chilidude]

I see that chilli focus stuff, what do you think about the stuff in hydroponics or better yet coco coir?

 

[Mildfruit]

 
Everything looks so cool, but this caught my eye. Great choice of replacement!

 
Thanks! yea, I never tried the Bahamian Goat before, but the internet is full of praise so it seemed right! I also like the shape and color
 

That looks more automated and tidy than my first grow, which was also indoor in a tent. Did you prune alot or is growth sufficiently regulated by the amount amount of rockwool?
 
I don't understand the automation entirely- what events do you trigger remotely or is everything per schedule and you monitor remotely?
 

 
I do prune every time I clean the tent, which is about once a month, not like a lot of pruning, only a few plants . 
So I have been thinking about making the air-circulation triggered by temperature, but im currently running them all day which keeps the temperature between 27-30 degrees celcius so no point in changing that, at least with these fans The light and pump run by timer, which is not ideal, as different plants drink different amounts, so im trying out a few methods to regulate water . 
 

Looks great!  Fresh peppers year-round.

 
 

Very impressive! I love your system. 

 
 

Really impressive, enjoy those peppers.

Sent from my FIG-LX1 using Tapatalk

 
Thank you all for the kind words!
 

I see that chilli focus stuff, what do you think about the stuff in hydroponics or better yet coco coir?

 
 
So I have actually never used chili focus in a hydro setup, that stuff is mainly for my windowsill plants witch I grow in soil + perlite . I use the flora series combined with a cal mag solution. Someday I hope to install a reverse osmosis unit  
 
So yesterday I showed you my harvest, and after running the dryer for the night I made my very first chili powder! 

To the left is my lemon drop made into some fine yellow powder! 
And to the right is the remains of my Gengish Kahns brain, oh dear did that one hurt to grind, I coughed like I was dying. At least the result is pretty! 

 

[karoo]

That Lemon drop powder will be some of the best things you can do with peppers. Enjoy!

Sent from my FIG-LX1 using Tapatalk

 

[Mildfruit]

Today I received a package! 
 

A much needed upgrade for my waterpump!
A digital scale, for measuring my new fertiliser I ordered yesterday (Masterblend). 
Lastly some net pots for a little kratky experiment  
 
My old waterpump had trouble to distribute the water for all plants. After installing my new pump I tried it out, and oh boy, they get all the water they need in less than 15 seconds . Now I have one month to experiment with the new pump to automate my setup for when im going to a congress in Argentina for 14 days.. 
 
Next, I wanted to try a cheap kratky setup with some lettuce and basil 

This is as student friendly as it gets I didn't have a black box, so this is a transparent box with taped garbage bags around to reduce sunlight into the reservoir. Looking forward to see how effective this grow method is for greens, and also I loose up some space in my grow tent! 
 
My 3 new plants! 

The first is my Bahamian Goat sprout, next a strawberry plant, and lastly my new tomato plant (yellow pear). 
 
Yesterday I also had the pleasure of making my very first Jalapeño poppers! From my Numex vaquero. 

 

 

[Chilidude]

What Masterblend stuff did you get and where?

 

[Mildfruit]

What Masterblend stuff did you get and where?

 
I got it here: 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-5-lbs-Masterblend-4-18-38-Hydroponic-Fertilizer-Kit-Buy-3-Get-4th-Free-/182484693938
Its going to be shipped from the states, I couldn't find the stuff here in Europe. The bad thing is with shipping, im not saving any money going from flora series to masterblend. However I hope it will be easier to make up a new fertiliser batch than it is currently . 

 

[Mildfruit]

So, I got back from a surgical conference in Argentina, this was plantwise a bit of an experiment. Because that meant 14 days away from the peppers.
Luckily my watering system took great care of my babies, and when I came back to Denmark everything was still alive (well my strawberry plant died but whatever.). 
 
I have changed my nutrients to masterblend, (that took nearly 2 months before it cleared customs) and so far the plants are thriving. It have also made my life easier as I dont have to measure as precisely as before. I brought a weight and made some "pre-packs" that I have to dissolve in my feeding tank, it dosen't get much easier than this
 
Pre-packs:

 
And if you scroll up a few posts you can see my tomato and bahamian goat sprouts. They grew up fast! 

 You can even see some yellow pear fruits starting to develop. 
 
And my bahamian goat just got its last replant and is starting to look like a mature plant  

 
The primo have also grown very big since last update, still no fruit, but lots of flowers. Im guessing a fruit will set soon.

 
So.. I gave my tabasco an agressive trimming As you can see I nearly killed it, but if you closely you can spot some new leaf grow! This will be an on going project and my plan is to turn it into a bonsai tree  

 
Here is a picture of my Numex vaquero after some verbal treats based on the few fruits. It seems to have picked up the slack since. 

 
And here is my first ferment! This will hopefully make a great lemon drop hot sauce! End-result + recipe will be available when its done  

 
Lastly an update on my kratky experiment. It went very very well. I harvested my salat the night before this picture, but you can still see the basil. Great way to use the last sun here in Denmark  

 
 
And here is a sneak peak onto the next generation. 
4 out of 5 peppers have sprouted, the one im still waiting on (18days now) is the rocoto ultra pube. Im not sure if the seeds works, it was some I got in a seed swap a year ago on reddit. So if anyone have a small rocoto variety, please let me know, I have lots of seeds in my binder, that you may want to swap for  

 
The others are: 
Spicy orange (NuMex) originally planted because I was disappointed in the harvest of my Numex vaquero. This have however changed since, so im not sure this will survive. 
Murupi Amarela, a white chinense from Brazil.
Jamy, to replace my lemon drop (maybe). 
Thai orange hot. This will be for the kitchen when I make asian dishes. 
  
 
 
 

 

[Mildfruit]

So just a quick update in the tent: 
 
My Bahamian goat have started its first pods! Very exited to try these! I think they may be ripe around christmas time, which would be a victory for me personally, as I started this glog to prove you can grow year long, even if you happen to live in a cold place as I do . 

 
 
My next plants have also come a long way since last update!! I have just purchased seeds for fatalii and a chocolate bhut jalokia. So I guess I will have to change out some of my exiting plants in a few months.  

 
 
My ferment was bad unfortunately! I think for the next ferment I will have something to ensure the peppers dont go above the water level. Oh well 

 

[Mildfruit]

RIP 
 
My first year doing hydro has come to an end. It started so well, but have unfortunately ended due to a bacterial infection which have infected all plants. 
I have to kill them all, disinfect and start all over. 
 
I'm participating in a european seed swap from /r/hotpeppers (a seed swap for USA is also available) here in November. After that I see which seeds I get, and then decide which seeds to start up in December. Oh well, maybe next year my newly purchased hotsauce bottles will get to be filled. 
Thanks for following, see you in some months 

 

[chelicerae]

Aaww, it looks like the perfect execution :/ What sort of bacteria got to them?
 
I sure hope I can avoid aphids this winter..

 

[nmlarson]

RIP 
 
My first year doing hydro has come to an end. It started so well, but have unfortunately ended due to a bacterial infection which have infected all plants. 
I have to kill them all, disinfect and start all over. 
 
I'm participating in a european seed swap from /r/hotpeppers (a seed swap for USA is also available) here in November. After that I see which seeds I get, and then decide which seeds to start up in December. Oh well, maybe next year my newly purchased hotsauce bottles will get to be filled. 
Thanks for following, see you in some months 

 
That's too bad.  I was rooting for you!

 

[lespaulde]

Yeah sorry to hear about your troubles, how frustrating! Wishing you all the best for your next attempt, I'm sure it's gonna work out perfectly!

Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk

 

[CaneDog]

Really sorry to see this happen, MildFruit.  But glad to see you were able to get poppers and to hear that the seed train is headed your way.  Hope your next grow is awesome!
 
How is the Lemon Drop ferment doing?

 

[Mildfruit]

Aaww, it looks like the perfect execution :/ What sort of bacteria got to them?
 
I sure hope I can avoid aphids this winter..

Thanks. Im not sure on the specific bacteria. But the leaves had soft water spots on the underside, slowly getting on the top side aswell. After that yellow spots came with stunted growth :/ I have my fingers crossed for you, and can recommend some neem oil  
 
 

 
That's too bad.  I was rooting for you!

 
Aw thanks man! Hopefully the next growth will go better!  

Yeah sorry to hear about your troubles, how frustrating! Wishing you all the best for your next attempt, I'm sure it's gonna work out perfectly!

Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk

Thanks for the kind words! At least it have been a great learning experience :=)!
 

Really sorry to see this happen, MildFruit.  But glad to see you were able to get poppers and to hear that the seed train is headed your way.  Hope your next grow is awesome!
 
How is the Lemon Drop ferment doing?

 
 
Thanks man, this means a lot!
Unfortunately some peppers was above the water level, so when I opened the lid the smell was very bad. Next time I'll make sure to have them all under water !