HeatMiser's 2021 Glog

PaulG · Jun 3, 2021

HeatMiser said:
I know Paul, it sucks, but this just tells me I have to adjust my approach to growing indoors so it doesn't happen again.

Besides, the plant is not gone gone . Some parts of it are still very much alive - I'll hopefully be able to see those cuttings go to fruit later in the year. If not, well, there's always next season!

Is any part of the original plant still in good shape?
Can you cut off all the wilted foliage and branches
and let the rest if it grow? Even cut it back like an
OW? At least you would have some mature plant
for pods until the cuttings get well established.
What size pots will you put the cuttings in?

I share your feelings about the near end of the
pandemic. Hopefully the vaccine will become a
normal part of the annual flu shots. Hope you
have a great grow this Summer, HM!

HeatMiser · Jun 3, 2021

PaulG said:
Is any part of the original plant still in good shape?
Can you cut off all the wilted foliage and branches
and let the rest if it grow? Even cut it back like an
OW? At least you would have some mature plant
for pods until the cuttings get well established.
What size pots will you put the cuttings in?

I share your feelings about the near end of the
pandemic. Hopefully the vaccine will become a
normal part of the annual flu shots. Hope you
have a great grow this Summer, HM!

Oh I was referring to the cuttings I took when I noticed the plant wilting. But still, last weekend I cut the plant way down as you mentioned, as a last-ditch effort to see if there's still some juice left in it. I still think the only way forward will be through the cuttings or just wait until I can start another plant from seed. We'll see...

HeatMiser · Jun 5, 2021

Riddle me this...

I'm trying to tweak my grow to get more production out of my indoor Chinenses. Annuums and Baccatums do well with my setup, but for some reason Chinenses just keep dropping flowers. Here's how they look like at the moment:

Reaper. This one has been growing vigorously and is now 2+ ft tall and wide. However, I could only find about 5 pods in this plant.

Fatalii. This one started a bit slow, but has since picked up steam and has grown into a gorgeous plant, similar in size to the Reaper above. There's a total of zero pods in all of this:

Now, I have more peppers in one of the Chinenses I have growing outdoors than on these two plants combined, and I'm trying to figure out why. The plants outdoors are subject to more wild temperature, humidity and light swings than the ones inside - and both indoors and outdoor plants are getting the same nutrients (and started at the same time).

The only thing I can think of that might make an impact is the photoperiod, which I was keeping at 12/12. I've increased it to 14 on 10 off to see if that makes a difference. Other than that, temps are fairly stable between 60 - 70F. Humidity is between 50 and 60%.

Any other ideas?

CaneDog · Jun 5, 2021

Do you notice the chinense dropping flowers under different lighting setups or just one in particular? I get little chinense drop under T5HO 6500 bulbs, but lots under my HLG100 4K.

HeatMiser · Jun 5, 2021

CaneDog said:
Do you notice the chinense dropping flowers under different lighting setups or just one in particular? I get little chinense drop under T5HO 6500 bulbs, but lots under my HLG100 4K.

Hmm, I actually haven't tried them under my T5s CD, but it's a great suggestion. I think I'm almost done with some of the plants I have under my T5s (at least you just gave me a reason to be done with them

), so I can move the Fatalii under one of my fixtures and see if there's any difference.

From what I've read/seen/followed, the 4K HLG100s I have should be good for this (look at Uncle E's indoor grows) - we use the same nutrients and lights and we both grow in Kratky setups. Yet the production is very different, which is part of the reason why I'm trying to figure out what's missing here. You and I live in the same climate though, and your experience seems to be similar with regards to flower drop under the same lights, so maybe you're onto something here...

Thanks for the tip!

PaulG · Jun 6, 2021

Sometimes those weather swings prod the plant into
producing flowers and fruit. I was surprised by the
amount of pod setting that has been going on in my
grow. Even some little tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers
on the vines!

HeatMiser · Jun 9, 2021

PaulG said:
Sometimes those weather swings prod the plant into
producing flowers and fruit. I was surprised by the
amount of pod setting that has been going on in my
grow. Even some little tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers
on the vines!

Definitely! I'm also impressed by how many pods my outdoor plants have at the moment. The experiment I have going on this time (growing indoors vs outdoors) has given me some things to think about for future grows. I really hope I'll be able to find an approach that works for growing Chinenses indoors, but even if I don't, I know I can still grow them outdoors. Maybe they won't grow as big, but they will certainly produce!

Siv · Jun 10, 2021

If you think outdoors in soil is good, you should try outdoor hydro. If you have a porch, balcony or some kind of covered area, stick a hydro bucket there and watch the plant grow fast. Really the only issue that you have to deal with is rain water diluting your nutes which the covering helps with. I was thinking of experimenting with some kind of plastic bag cover over the base but it hasn't seemed necessary.

HeatMiser · Jun 10, 2021

Siv said:
If you think outdoors in soil is good, you should try outdoor hydro. If you have a porch, balcony or some kind of covered area, stick a hydro bucket there and watch the plant grow fast. Really the only issue that you have to deal with is rain water diluting your nutes which the covering helps with. I was thinking of experimenting with some kind of plastic bag cover over the base but it hasn't seemed necessary.

I used to think that outdoor hydro would be the worst of both worlds - you have the upkeep AND the uncontrollable aspects of growing outdoors (temp swings, rain, pests).Then I saw your grows and how you were able to practically automate the upkeep and deal with the rain aspect, and it's something I'm definitely willing to try (but first I need a new house since I don't have a porch! and it rains a lot over here! :rofl:

).

HeatMiser · Jun 13, 2021

I have a bit of time today, so a more comprehensive update is in order...

Outdoors things are going a bit better than I expected earlier this year. It seems the plants are about to grow quite a bit now that the weather is warming up over here. All of these plants with the exception of the SRP Stripey are producing pods now.

Here's a Death Spiral pod. It might or might not be the correct pheno.

I wrote about this one earlier, but here's a supposedly KSLSB, full of not KSLSB peppers. Maybe it's a generic Habanero:

This is one I'm excited for. A Piri-Piri. It was slow to set pods, but they're finally there:

And another one I'm also really excited to see. A Purple Thunder:

Now, indoors the plants are doing OK. One that is coming along quite nicely is the Chiltepin. There are some flower buds already.

As far as the Chinenses go, the Reaper seems to be responding to the 14-hour photoperiod and is flowering a bit more. Hopefully there will be more pods on the plant in a couple of weeks

However, the Fatalii hasn't responded much to being under the T5s, and instead is focused on growing more lush. There's only one flower in this whole plant, haha:

Downriver · Jun 14, 2021

Plants are looking awesome HM, inside and out!

How's the Antep cuttings doing?

Another ? - As I recall, you're using cns17 nutes. Does that stuff have a shelf life after mixing up a batch? Kinda like you mixed too much and have some leftover. Does it keep?

HeatMiser · Jun 14, 2021

DownRiver said:
Plants are looking awesome HM, inside and out!

How's the Antep cuttings doing?

Another ? - As I recall, you're using cns17 nutes. Does that stuff have a shelf life after mixing up a batch? Kinda like you mixed too much and have some leftover. Does it keep?

Thanks DR!

The Antep cuttings are still alive after 3 weeks, so there must be some roots already. I'm just waiting for some roots to poke out of the rockwool cubes before I select the best-looking one and put it in its hydro container.

As far as CNS-17, I do not know if there's a shelf life after mixing. I would assume it would be the same as the concentrated product since it's a 1-part nutrient (mixing it just dilutes it a bit more). But I'm really not sure there, perhaps somebody with more knowledge can chime in...

HeatMiser · Jun 20, 2021

Happy Father's Day!

There are a few things going on with the grow at the moment. First of all, the Antep Aci Dolma is officially dead - I gave it plenty of chances and it just didn't recover from being drowned. We harvested the immature pods, and while they were a bit bitter, they had some heat to them. We ended up sautéing them and found that this took care of the bitterness and still preserved the flavor and heat. We really enjoyed those pods, so here's what I ended up doing:

A single seed was planted in this rockwool cube. The cuttings I took a few weeks ago are still alive, but since it's been that long, I figured if I had started a seed at that time it would have been close to being transplanted to its 5 gal kratky by now. We still have 6 more months to go in 2021, so I hope I can get some ripe AADs before 2022.

I'm still struggling with the chinenses. I haven't seen new pods on the Reaper yet, and the Fatalii has plenty of buds that haven't opened yet. I decided to take a more "hands-on" approach and tried pollinating the Reaper with a small brush. I held a flashlight close by to see if there was any pollen coming out of the flowers. As I started rubbing the brush against the flowers, I could see a small dusting of pollen - not as much as with the Annuums, but at least I confirmed that the pollen is there. Hopefully something will stick. I'm crossing my fingers.

Speaking of flowers and buds, the Chiltepin seems to be in high gear right now and ready to start flowering:

I'm really excited for this one since last year's plants had to be put down due to broad mites.

It turns out my 3-year-old son loves to look at the plants and point out all the peppers and name the different colors (this was especially fun with the Numex Twilight). He had a great time helping me pick peppers. This is what we ended up harvesting:

Top-Left: Paquime - these are hit and miss - the heat is not even across peppers, but they do have good flavor. These didn't turn out to be the oversized Jalapenos that were announced, but I think that's due to them being grown under artificial light. Overall I don't think I'll be growing them again, and I'll be done with the plant once I harvest the pods that are still remaining there.
Bottom Left: Zapotec Jalapeno: These are some of the runty pods that were on the plant. Don't let the size fool you, these pack a punch and have great flavor, so they are a winner in my book. I think I'm going to stick with this variety of Jalapeno going forward. There are some more decent-sized pods on the plant, which I will harvest later.
Top-Right: Mystery Pepper/Thai Dragon. I've been harvesting 3 - 5 ripe pods every week for a couple of months now. Not bad for being in a 1 gal container.
Bottom-Right: Numex Twilight. I'm saving some seeds from these, and I found that the first round of peppers is the most colorful. I noticed that the pods matured a bit faster after that, so the plant was not as colorful. Anyway, good ornamental and I'm glad I grew it. However, it served its purpose and is no longer part of this grow.
Not Pictured: A single Yum-Yum pod, that my son promptly devoured when he learned it is a sweet pepper. They're a mini-bell type pepper, but nothing special. Their production hasn't been great, so it doesn't have much time left in this grow either.

Here's what those pods turned into:
I'm starting a ferment with the Thai Dragons. I'm going to turn these into a basic Buffalo-Style hot sauce. We'll see how it turns out

The Jalapenos were pickled. Paquimes are in the left jar, Zapotecs in the one on the right:

We now finally have some decent pickled Jalapenos to snack on.

CaneDog · Jun 20, 2021

That buffalo hot sauce idea with the Thai Dragons sounds great. I've been thinking about trying that with some ring of fire cayenne later this season. Glad to hear good stuff about your Zapotec Jalapenos. The next wave pods should be fantastic when they ripen.

HeatMiser · Jun 21, 2021

CaneDog said:
That buffalo hot sauce idea with the Thai Dragons sounds great. I've been thinking about trying that with some ring of fire cayenne later this season. Glad to hear good stuff about your Zapotec Jalapenos. The next wave pods should be fantastic when they ripen.

Thanks CD,

The Zapotecs are awesome Jalapenos, and we really don't mind the runty pods since they're easier to use if you're not going use a whole one. Thanks again for the seeds!

Yeah, the Buffalo-Style sauce is versatile and the Thai Dragons seem to be a good candidate for it. I already have some chicken wings in the freezer to try it out :dance:

I bet yours will taste great too since you'll be using actual Cayennes.

PaulG · Jun 25, 2021

Good to see you pulling pods, already, HM!

Are you ready for the 113˚F predicted for Sunday?
Keep those plants hydrated!

HeatMiser · Jul 4, 2021

Things got a bit busy the past couple of weeks. Seems like I have some time right now for an update, so here it goes...

Let's start with the good news...

Here's the first ripe reaper. Small and off-pheno, but I think that's because it was one of the first pods to set. Now, I must say that I managed to get like 3 or 4 more pods to set, but that's not what I would expect for a plant that size. So I guess probably warmer temps, longer photoperiod, or pollinating with a small paint brush have helped in pod setting. These newer pods are more on-pheno.

Small harvest of Paquime (Top), Yum-Yum (Center) and Thai Dragon (Bottom). The Yum-Yum is slightly sweeter than a store-bought bell pepper. My 3yo son loves them as a snack, but these were the only pods on the plant, so production was definitely not there - as a result, the plant is no longer a part of my grow.

Now, the bad news....

Last week we had a record-shattering heat wave in the PNW. Most houses here don't have AC, so people had to get creative in order to withstand the high temps. We stayed at a friend's house for a couple of days. The outdoor plants didn't seem to mind the hot weather, and in fact, seem to have grown a bit. However, some of the hydro plants indoors did not tolerate the warmer water in their reservoir. Here's how I found things when we got back home:

Variegated Jalapeno - RIP.
The saddest looking of the bunch. I'll just leave the picture here:

Thai Dragon - RIP
This one was all droopy. I already dealt with a droopy plant this season and given how busy things have been lately, I didn't have the time to try and see if this one would perk back up. So it's no longer a part of the grow.

Here's all the peppers that were on the plant. It was a really good producer for being in a 1 gal container. so I saved a lot of seed. I think production will really benefit from being in a 5 gal kratky next time.

Tepin. This one might still be hanging in there, but it was definitely not happy:

Here's what the plant looks like right now:

The sad thing is that it had just started to set pods. So in two consecutive years I've had some sort of disaster just about the plant is about to produce. Hopefully it will bounce back, I really want some of these fiery little peppers.

So I only have 4 plants left in my indoor grow - Zapotec Jalapeno, Reaper, Fatalii, and maybe the Tepin. While this is not ideal, with less plants, there's less upkeep (especially with kratky), so I think that's a welcome change.

CaneDog · Jul 4, 2021

Wow. That's a bummer, HM. Especially losing the Thai. I suppose less upkeep is a small positive and, perhaps, available space for future peppers...

HeatMiser · Jul 7, 2021

CaneDog said:
Wow. That's a bummer, HM. Especially losing the Thai. I suppose less upkeep is a small positive and, perhaps, available space for future peppers...

Thanks CD, it was indeed a bummer to find the plants all wilted like that. However, they had mostly fulfilled their purpose and now I can focus on the ones that survived the whole ordeal.

With the Thai, I was able to save a lot of seed, so I'll definitely be growing it again in the future.

Uncle Eckley · Jul 7, 2021

HeatMiser said:
Sad day today...

As I walked in to the grow room I saw the Antep Aci Dolma looking like this:

The leaves are all droopy. Bottom leaves are the most affected, with newer leaves up top looking a bit better, but still soft to the touch.

I just replaced the nutrients on Saturday with 2 gallons of fresh solution. I suspect an oxygen issue (overwatering) since this happened so suddenly, but I've always put the exact same amount of liquid to all my plants in the 5 gal containers. To try to mitigate this, I've added a big-ass air stone to see if it pops back to life. However, does anybody have any ideas if there might be something else at play here? Hopefully it's not too late to get this guy back in working order.

Thanks!

Yep, this is exactly what happened to my garbage can Haskorea (and others before it) and why I don't grow hydro outdoors anymore. I've never had it happen indoors. No idea what causes it - I didn't do anything different to affected plants than I did to others right next door to them that did fine all season.

FWIW, I just had a cannabis plant recently do something that reminded me very much of this. I'd accidentally let it go just a bit too long without a water change and it had actually drunk all the fluid; I found it just starting to wilt, with only the lower tier of leaves really droopy. I immediately added a gallon of clean water, then replaced that with the appropriate nute solution. It had not recovered by morning, which I thought was very strange. I'd meant to let it go another week or so, but just harvested it early when I found it still wilty.

Oh, and I think some varieties (or maybe just some plants) just don't perform well under the HLG. I've grown plants that produced loads of pods right away like that 7PY winter plant, and others I never got a single ripe pod from like Siv's plant, which was a total beast otherwise.