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HeatMiser's Keeping it Simple With Old Seeds 2020 Grow

Well here it is - after a two year hiatus, I decided to get myself a new grow light (HLG 100), grow peppers again and join this community.

I decided to it simple this year and grow fewer varieties from seeds I already have. These were packaged in 2014 or earlier so it will serve as a viability test as well.

After talking with my wife, we decided on the following 4 varieties

1 Super Hot:
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion. Seeds from the Chile Pepper Institute packaged in 2013.

1 Ornamental:
Numex Twilight. Seeds from the Chile Pepper Institute packaged in 2012.

2 Varieties for Cooking:
Jalafuego. Seeds from tomatogrowers.com. Packaged before 2014
Chiltepin. Seeds I collected after a trip to Texas in 2014.

I have the following goals for this season
  1. Get a decent batch of "hot" Jalapenos. You have to be lucky to find a hot Jalapeno at the store. We plan to pickle them to be used in NACHOS
  2. Incorporate Chiltepin peppers in our cooking (salsas, tacos, etc)
  3. Make some powder with the Trinidad Scorpion Peppers. I've made Ghost Pepper Powder before and it's amazing in stuff like Pho.
  4. Experiment with DWC and Kratky for peppers. My experience is with Dutch Buckets.
  5. Experiment with outdoor hydroponics. Success here means I'll be able to plant more peppers in future years
  6. Try crossing peppers. Always been curious, never really tried it. This year, it's happening.
  7. Growing a Trinidad Scorpion in my office at work. Dare my boss to try one…

The plan is as follows:
  • 1 Trinidad Scorpion and 1 Jalafuego in 5 gal DWC indoors.
  • Grow 1 Chiltepin and 1 Numex Twilight indoors in smaller Kratky containers.
  • Grow 1 Trinidad Scorpion in a 5 gal DWC at work

As the weather improves, I'll set up 1 Trinidad Scorpion and 1 Jalafuego in 5 gal Kratky bucket outdoors. I'll also clone as many plants as I can get away with and put them in soil containers outside.

That's it for plans…

Here's the actual progress so far

12/20/2019 -
• Started soaking Chiltepin seeds in a weak solution of chamomille tea
• Planted Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, Jalafuego and Numex Twilight seeds in rockwool cubes. 2 seeds of each per cube. Placed on a heat mat inside an airtight container with some water on the bottom for moisture

12/21/2019
• Planted Chiltepin seeds
• 3 rockwool cubes with seeds soaked in weak chamomille tea solution for about 25 hours
• 3 rockwool cubes with seeds soaked in 9 parts water, 1 part bleach solution for 5 minutes

12/23/2019
• Noticed a hook in one of the Jalafuego cubes

12/26/2019
• Hooks on all 3 Jalafuego cubes
• One Twilight cube has a hook

12/27/2019
• Hooks on all 3 Twilight cubes. One of them is a bit leggy
• Noticed one Chiltepin seed starting to sprout, from the cube that was soaked in bleach
• Transferred Jalafuego and Twilights to the light and gave them some food, General Hydroponics mild vegetative solution

12/28/2019
• One Jalafuego cube has 2 seedlings, new hook came out.

12/29/2019
• One Chiltepin hook coming out of the cube. Moved the cube to the light
• All 6 Jalafuego seeds have sprouted. 3 seedlings are now upright and 3 hooks are coming out. Germination rate is 6/6

12/30/2019
• Hook from Trinidad Moruga Scorpion came out. Moved to light

1/1/2020
• Hook from Chiltepin seed in bleach solution. Moved to light
• Hook from Chiltepin seed in chamomile tea came out. Moved to light

1/2/2020
• Last Twilight sprouted. Germination rate is 6/6
• Two more Trinidad Moruga Hooks

1/3/2020
• Moved two Trinidad Moruga cubes to light

1/5/2020
• Another Trinidad Moruga sprouted. Germination rate is 4/6

1/7/2020
• Roots from Jalafuego, Twilight and Chiltepin started poking through the bottom of the rockwool cubes. Moved the best plants to their own individual kratky container. Using Mild Vegetative solution from Flora 3 Part solution
• One T5 bulb died. Changed the light to the HLG 100.

1/9/2020
• New Trinidad Moruga Sprouted. Germination Rate: 5/6
• Added an air stone to the Jalafuego Kratky container turning it into a DWC.

1/10/2020
  • Moved another Jalafuego to its own Kratky container

Thanks for reading all of this... I'll be posting some pictures soon!
 
Click to expand...
I decided to bring back home the TS I had at work. I figured the plant is doing so well it's a shame I can't see it more often. At least I know I can successfully grow peppers in my office once the stay-at-home orders are lifted. 
 
Now for the pictures
 
TS from work - a complete beast:
IMG_3824.JPG

 
Leaves are gigantic - my hand for comparison
IMG_3830.JPG

 
And for those of you who like to look under the hood:
IMG_3825.JPG

 
Jalafuego and TS under the HLG100. New growth on the TS looks happier now that I raised the light a little and changed the photoperiod to 12/12. The Jalafuego hasn't put on much new growth
IMG_3827.JPG

 
The Jalafuego and TS under the T5s are much happier. There are a few pods on the Jalafuego. The bud I used to cross with the Numex Twilight hasn't fallen off, so that's good so far.
IMG_3828.JPG

 
Numex Twilight and two Chiltepins. They're doing good too.
IMG_3831.JPG

 
The Numex Twilight is covered in buds at this point. The bud I used to cross it with the Jalafuego hasn't fallen off either. 
IMG_3832.JPG

 
And I'm just starting to see some small buds on the Chiltepins:
IMG_3834.JPG
 
HeatMiser said:
 
Thanks Devv!
 
I guess hydro can be as simple or complex as you decide to make it. I don't mess around with nutrient concentrations and basically just follow the label. So that leaves me with only the Ph and lights to fiddle around with, which for me is simpler than growing in soil. However, some people make their own nutrients by mixing in the chemicals individually. While I haven't seen their results, I guess at some point the law of diminishing returns kicks in and the extra work is not worth it. 
 
You should give it a try - lettuce is a great way to start and super rewarding come harvest time.
 
Yeah, those T5s haven't been kind to me (or I to them), just last week I found around 15 burned-out bulbs tucked in a corner in a closet... that's why I've been so interested in LEDs
 
 
Yup! that's what I'm using now, but I got their 5lb pack because it was $30-ish compared to the 2.5lb for $24. I think that will last me several seasons, and I'm quite happy with those nutrients.
Click to expand...
I will give it a try, and lettuce would be perfect as we're hurting for fresh produce. Although we do have some outside in a raised bed. Lettuce can be hard here because we never get a cold enough winter to kill the bugs that trash the plants. So this should work for us.
 
I did buy a LED this winter a Bestva 2000 and setup a room out in the shop that's 40x48"s. The plants loved it and so did I; I've been using the gorilla shelves and things get tight. So more LEDs as we move forward.
 
BTW: nice plants! ;)
 
Uncle_Eccoli said:
Gorgeous roots, HM!
Click to expand...
 
 
CaneDog said:
+1 - and good luck with the Jalafuego/Twilight in both directions!
Click to expand...
 
Thanks guys! The crosses are still attached to their corresponding plants, still crossing my fingers! 
 
However, the Twilight and Chiltepin have been dropping some leaves recently. More so on the Chiltepin. I've asked about this on the Growing Peppers forum. Hopefully they spring back up!!
 
Man, no wonder that TS is such a monster.
That root mass is incredible!
 
Interesting contrast between the T5 and
HLG100 lamps.
 
Hope those crosses take for you. Will be an
interesting experiment down the road!
 
PaulG said:
Man, no wonder that TS is such a monster.
That root mass is incredible!
 
Interesting contrast between the T5 and
HLG100 lamps.
 
Hope those crosses take for you. Will be an
interesting experiment down the road!
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Paul, it's interesting that TS grew such a massive root system considering it was the last one to push its roots out of the rockwool cube when it was a seedling. 
 
One of the crosses fell today. There will be more opportunities to make more crosses soon.
 
There were a few setbacks this week.
 
One of my chiltepins and the Numex Twilight started dropping leaves. The affected chiltepin only lost leaves on half of the branches, and the other half of the plant doesn't seem to be affected. The Numex started losing new leaves. After consulting in the Growing Hot Peppers forum, it seems like the issue might be related to overwatering the plant. I was afraid this was the case because the second chiltepin growing right next to the other two plants is as happy as ever. Up until this point, I was only eyeballing the nutrients I put into those containers trying not to drown the air roots. In order to avoid repeating this problem, I'll be measuring the amount of nutrients going into these containers.
 
Here are some pictures
 
Numex Twilight and two chiltepins. One chiltepin is still quite happy. The NuMex Twilight has lost some leaves, but was not affected as much. The cross with the Jalafuego is still attached.
IMG_3853.JPG

 
Jalafuego and TS under HLG100. 
IMG_3856.JPG

 
TS under Sansi 36W. This is dropping flowers at the moment, which is common with these plants.
IMG_3857.JPG

 
Jalafuego and TS under the T5 lights. These plants are doing great. The Jalafuego dropped the cross with the Numex Twilight. There will be more opportunities to cross these two.
IMG_3854.JPG

 
And a couple of pods on this Jalafuego
IMG_3858.JPG

 
 
Wow, it looks like those jalafuegos are setting
pods before the flowers even open!
 
I might need some help as some plants are not happy at this point...
 
I've made some changes in order to help fix the issues I've been having for the past week or so. I moved the 1 gal kratkys under the HLG100 to create more distance between the plants and the light. The Jalafuego and TS that were under the HLG100 were moved to T5s since their leaves experienced sunburn. These two are not growing much at the moment. Hopefully they will recover under the T5s.
 
The 1 gal kratkys are having their own sets of issues. The most puzzling one is the Numex Twilight, which seems to be stunted - no new growth whatsoever and I think most flowers are going to be dropped. They get 48oz of nutrients when they need a refill, about once a week. Ph is about 5.8-6 and is being checked every other day - no big variation here.
 
Here are some pics:
These are the 1 gal kratkys. Notice the Twilight seems to be about to drop all the flowers. The Chiltepin to the right has almost dropped all leaves at this point. The chiltepin in the back is doing better overall, but there is some leaf drop happening as well in a couple of branches.

 
 
Most flowers look like this. There's been no new leaf growth whatsoever

 
Full plant

 
The Chiltepin that almost dropped all of its leaves is giving signs of hope, as there are new leaf buds all over the otherwise bare branches. Hopefully it's already turned the corner and it will spring back to its former glory

 
Jalafuego and TS. The TS was under the HLG100, some of its leaves were burned to a crisp. It is in the process of dropping some of the more damaged leaves - new growth seems to be coming in, but slowly. The Jalafuego is doing great and is working on its first set of pods

 
Jalafuego and TS under T5. The Jalafuego was under the HLG100. This one didn't experience leaf burn, but its leaves are leathery and the growth tips are burned - as a result, no new growth in a week. The TS is happy

 
And best for last, the TS under the Sansi 36W. 

 

 
 
Have you tried completely replacing the solution of those Kratkys having trouble?  That often works for me when I can't work out what's wrong. Dump the bucket, give it a good rinse, refill, and wait. 
 
Uncle_Eccoli said:
Have you tried completely replacing the solution of those Kratkys having trouble?  That often works for me when I can't work out what's wrong. Dump the bucket, give it a good rinse, refill, and wait. 
Click to expand...
 
Hey Unc!
 
Thanks, and yes, I forgot to include that - I always dump the old nutrient solution and fill it up with new nutes. The only thing I haven't tried at this point with that Twilight is H2O2 - it might be time to give that a go, but wanted to see if there's any other options to try out first.
 
Wish I had more experience with Kratky to offer some ideas.  I like the idea of getting them some outside time.  Those of my plants that I've been giving days out seem to be enjoying the natural sun - though though mid-days have been a bit intense for some of them.  I might consider some pruning back on the Chiltepin that dropped almost all of its leaves.  It seems to be growing from a lot of points and many of them are far from center.
 
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