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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...
End result...
 
Vx3aSwa.jpg

 
rubber-duck.png

 
 
Some progress pics
 
This DWC TS under T5s is officially back in business after putting on a lot of new green growth over this week. 
ytgrZLN.jpg

 
The Jalafuego right next to this plant is finally showing some new growth tips after removing all those odd-looking peppers last week (Not necessarily visible in the pic). Thanks for the $.02 CD!. It currently is drinking 1 gal of nutrients every 2 weeks, so I'll be increasing the frequency of those nute changes.
6rp2JJy.jpg

 
Big TS has been under the HLG100 for a little over a week and seems to be so-so about that change. The light was originally about 18" - 19" above the canopy and is currently sitting between 17" - 18". Vertical growth seems to have slowed down, along with flowering.
GIZKg1o.jpg

 
I believe what I'm seeing at the top of the canopy is directly related to the light change and not something else, but I'm adding these pictures in case somebody has other ideas/suggestions...
 
Some of the smaller new-ish leaves are getting crinkly, and some of the new growth is falling off, as evidenced here
IuldPCV.jpg

 
The back of some leaves shows brownish spots
zoRuUb8.jpg

 
However, growth directly underneath that highest layer of leaves seems to be normal. 
OxIiQuJ.jpg

Notice the dried-up flower buds at the center node. I'm noticing this more throughout the plant. Is this to be expected before more flowers set? The first "round" of flowers produced only 1 pod. I've only grown chinenses to a similar size once in soil before and aphids decimated the plant before I could get past the first wave of flowers.
 
PaulG said:
glad to see your plants getting some
new growth on, HM.
 
Can't help you with your TS problem.
Hope you can get a handle on it.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Paul!
 
No worries about the TS, it must be the lighting since that's the only thing that has changed in its environment this past week. Nutrient level, Ph is OK. We'll see what happens in the next week or so.
Thanks for stopping by!
 
Here's where things are at the moment
 
Big TS is not happy. Losing a bunch of leaves on a daily basis after being under the HLG100 for two weeks now. The light has been moved up to 28" from the canopy since last week. However, I'm not sure this is a light issue anymore...
UMmxNo0.jpg

 
n52aO6j.jpg

 
9xENxmM.jpg

 
DWC and Kratky TSs have new growth, but some of it is coming in weird, and in some parts this new growth is brown/has already died...
NwcHa7F.jpg

K5lctgk.jpg
 
 
Both Jalafuegos have new growth as well, still too early to say if it will be ok
GOuq5MK.jpg

 
I've moved the 1 gallon plants outside, just as a last-ditch effort to see if natural sun will do anything for them, as I do not have any more light fixtures for them indoors.
 
At this point, all of my plants have suffered some setback. The Jalafuegos didn't lose leaves, but got stunted and new growth just started. 
 
So this is definitely a systemic issue with the grow and one commonality across the plants is the nutrient being used. I've been following the label in MasterBlend (2.4grams MB, 1.2 grams Magnesium Sulfate, 2.4 grams Calcium Nitrate)/gallon, which is in the ballpark of what others are using. Some other members have mentioned running even hotter mixes of this same nutrient and also having success. 
 
Uncle_Eccoli said:
Gitcha some CNS17 Grow.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Unc! I've seen CSN17 been mentioned a couple times around here and I'm considering getting it... 
 
Have you used it? What has been your experience?
 
From their site https://www.botanicare.com/products/cns17/ it says to dilute to 1:200 strength, and for DWC to dilute it even more (50%), so each gallon of these nutes should yield 400 gallons of water. Not bad, similar yield to MasterBlend, without measuring each component individually (so that's a plus).
 
Sorry you are seeing the leaf drop issues .
If it is any consolation, some of my plants
have done the same thing. Some will pull
out of it, others not. Lots of curling around
the longitudinal axis, then they start dropping.
I think in my case that the plants were in small
pots for too long. Aphids were such a problem
in my indoor season that I didn't really take
proper care of the plants due to the time spent
on the a-holes. And I have too many plants  :rofl:
 
Hope you can get your plants back to good
health soon, HM.
 
HeatMiser said:
 
Thanks Unc! I've seen CSN17 been mentioned a couple times around here and I'm considering getting it... 
 
Have you used it? What has been your experience?
 
From their site https://www.botanicare.com/products/cns17/ it says to dilute to 1:200 strength, and for DWC to dilute it even more (50%), so each gallon of these nutes should yield 400 gallons of water. Not bad, similar yield to MasterBlend, without measuring each component individually (so that's a plus).
Click to expand...
 
Scratch those questions Unc, I went back to your glog and saw you are using CNS17 Grow in your Kratkys now. What difference have you noticed between this and MasterBlend (or what was the reason for the switch)? I didn't see you having issues with MasterBlend...
 
PaulG said:
Sorry you are seeing the leaf drop issues .
If it is any consolation, some of my plants
have done the same thing. Some will pull
out of it, others not. Lots of curling around
the longitudinal axis, then they start dropping.
I think in my case that the plants were in small
pots for too long. Aphids were such a problem
in my indoor season that I didn't really take
proper care of the plants due to the time spent
on the a-holes. And I have too many plants  :rofl:
 
Hope you can get your plants back to good
health soon, HM.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the encouragement Paul, really appreciate it...
 
It is a little frustrating to see the entire grow go downhill after a few successful ones with dutch buckets, but sometimes that's what happens when trying new stuff. I've thought about ditching everything and starting a new one, but I run the risk of running into the same problem again without knowing how to fix it. 
 
At least this last problem with the big TS tells me the recent changes I made (more frequent nutrient changes) are not quite fixing the issue, but merely postponing it. I believe the way the new growth is coming out from the other plants could also support this. At this juncture, I think I have to change something else (different nutrients) and give it some time to see if the problem is fixed.
 
However, I saw your battle with the aphids and how you came out ahead.... it's great to see that these issues can be sorted out, so I'll stick the course with this grow and use what I learned in the next one.
 
Thanks again Paul!
 
HeatMiser said:
However, I saw your battle with the aphids and how you came out ahead.... it's great to see that these issues can be sorted out, so I'll stick the course with this grow and use what I learned in the next one.
 
Thanks again Paul!
Click to expand...
The aphids are mostly gone, but the
set-back to the plants is noticeable. 
 
They just don't look as good as they have
in past seasons. I'm hoping that a few weeks
in the outdoors in their final resting places will
bring the flush of good health back to them.
 
You are right about the frustrations of things
going sideways. Hope you can sort this all out.
 
HM, sorry to hear about your plant troubles.  
I used to use Dyna-Gro with no issues but ran out and have since switched to Masterblend.  I haven't had those kind of issues so I'll be following to see how the CNS does. 
I didnt go back and look through your glog so I apologize for asking but are you checking your EC and PH?  
 
Tybo said:
HM, sorry to hear about your plant troubles.  
I used to use Dyna-Gro with no issues but ran out and have since switched to Masterblend.  I haven't had those kind of issues so I'll be following to see how the CNS does. 
I didnt go back and look through your glog so I apologize for asking but are you checking your EC and PH?  
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Tybo, it must have been something I did (or didn't do) to trigger this across all plants. It's the most feasible explanation after seeing the success other people have had using MasterBlend. So I've been scratching my head trying to figure out what that was. 
 
That being said, I check Ph regularly and always kept it between 5.5 and 6.5 - I haven't had to do much here, it has stayed within this range pretty consistently. I do not have an EC/PPM meter so I don't have that data point. However, once these issues started (around mid-April) I started replacing the nutrients entirely every 2 weeks, doing it more frequently (every week) for the couple of plants that were drinking the most.
 
Do you check EC/PPM? If so, what meter do you use? I was looking at the BlueLab Truncheon, but for the 15 minutes I looked at it, I couldn't find if it needs to be calibrated/replaced every so often, as with Ph meters. If that's the case, it's hard to justify the cost (unless it would keep me from going through this whole ordeal again :))...
 
Yeah I check mine.  I went with the Truncheon.  It was like ~$50 more than their pen at the time and had a 5yr warranty vs a 1yr warranty for the pen.  It had really good reviews so that helped sway my decision.  It doesn't need calibrating.  I agree that the cost is up there but I didnt have to worry about it failing within 5 years anyway.
I believe I saw Peter Stanley using one in his videos and that led me to check them out.  
Anyway, its simple to use, rugged, and has a 5 year warranty.
 
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