• Blog your pepper progress. The first image in your first post will be used to represent your Glog.

Hellfire Farm 2022

peppers.jpg


Time to get ready for 2022!
Hybird Commercial/personal glog I suppose, I'll track everything.

Preparing the starter area today & Sunday. Super-hots get started next week.

shelves.jpg


Plastic is to protect the lights on the shelves below from possible drips while watering. The boxes are warming mats, something new I'm trying this year.

Super-hots get started next week:
  • Carolina Reaper - 490
  • Bhut Jolokia - 490
  • Habanero - 280
  • Yellow Reaper - 100
  • Dragon's Breath - 70
  • Habanada - 105
  • "Where's the Heat" habanero - 100 (first year trial)
I include the habanada with the super-hots because it's growth habit is similar - slow to germinate and slow to grow at first.

Big Jim, Sahuaro Anaheim, Serrano Tampiqueno, Poblano Carranza for myself getting started in about a month.

Big expansion this year from last, now that I have all the details down finally!

I know it's not a lot of variety - maybe you guys can suggest some new stuff for me to try.
 
Last edited:
Click to expand...
Might be a few stragglers but it's looking like everything that's going to has popped up. Did a lot better this year with my germination rates:

VarietyPlantedGerminatedPercent
Dragon's Breath704569%
Yellow Reaper1009090%
Carolina Reaper49041885%
Bhut Jolokia46238383%
Habanero28024487%
Habanada1057168%
Where's the Heat1008484%
 
Wow talk about alot of plants! I thought i was getting big. Im small fry when it comes to you!

Where are you at in North Carolina? I spent a few years near Raleigh and plant out I think was somewhere around April! I don't think they should be too big as you were saying is your concern for this year. They may be just right! Last year starting Jan. 1st I had some plants close to 2 foot tall at plant out in solo cups come late May. Around Mothers day is plant out around these parts.

I'm following! I hope you have great success 🙌
 
ThePepperManiac said:
Wow talk about alot of plants! I thought i was getting big. Im small fry when it comes to you!
Click to expand...
Well, it IS a commercial operation :)
You've got a hell of a variety though.
ThePepperManiac said:
Where are you at in North Carolina? I spent a few years near Raleigh and plant out I think was somewhere around April! I don't think they should be too big as you were saying is your concern for this year. They may be just right! Last year starting Jan. 1st I had some plants close to 2 foot tall at plant out in solo cups come late May. Around Mothers day is plant out around these parts.

I'm following! I hope you have great success 🙌
Click to expand...
I altered multiple variables though - this year I started earlier and added heat mats. I guess we'll see how it works. Main concern is that the outgrow the cells - I don't have room to move up any in size.

Pretty close to Raleigh - near Louisburg in Franklin county, if you know the area.
 
HellfireFarm said:
Main concern is that the outgrow the cells - I don't have room to move up any in size.
Click to expand...
That's gonna be a big problem in my opinion. Definitely keep fertilizer to a minimum if you plan to keep in the cells until plant out. Do you have a site or anything? I don't know if you said but what do you plan to do with all of your harvest?
 
ThePepperManiac said:
That's gonna be a big problem in my opinion. Definitely keep fertilizer to a minimum if you plan to keep in the cells until plant out. Do you have a site or anything? I don't know if you said but what do you plan to do with all of your harvest?
Click to expand...
http://hellfirefarm.com/ - but it's still WIP.

Drying and selling in specialty retail stores in the general Raleigh area, mainly. Exploring powders/spice blends and maybe sauces for future offerings.

I may end up having to trim them for height if they get out of control. I'm more worried about them getting root-bound.
 
HellfireFarm said:
http://hellfirefarm.com/ - but it's still WIP.
Click to expand...
Awesome! Looks to be coming along nicely. The first and biggest step is just getting it online. The rest comes in time. I'm still working on mine and it been almost year!
HellfireFarm said:
I may end up having to trim them for height if they get out of control. I'm more worried about them getting root bound
Click to expand...
This is the method you used last year? If so you didn't run into root bound issues towards the middle or end of indoor growing?

A quick Google search said that around March 22nd is safe to say you won't have anymore frost. I think personally they are gonna be either super root bound because you are a growing bigger and better than last year or just right. Only time will tell but definitely keep fertilizer to a minimum!
 
I'm doing almost everything the same. Same lights, same location. Two differences: different cell packs - the hex jiffy packs claim to help prevent root bound, I guess we'll see. And the big difference: heat mats this year vs. last year.

Definitely made a difference with germination - last year I was closer to 20% with the chinenses. I'm thinking when things aren't quite so cold I'll start cycling the mats so they're not on 24/7, that should slow things down a bit.

Can't adjust fertilizer at this point, I only add water and they're planted in mycorrhizae starter mix.
 
HellfireFarm said:
Even with watering from below, watering is a bit uneven. I suspect the trays are NOT perfectly flat. So I'm getting a small handful of losses from cells getting too dry. Maybe half a dozen total.

Overall looking pretty good:
reapers.jpg
Click to expand...
They are coming along nice! A few losses out of a few hundred is nothing to be upset about. All my seeds touched dirt today, can't wait till they start looking like yours.
 
ThePepperManiac said:
They are coming along nice! A few losses out of a few hundred is nothing to be upset about. All my seeds touched dirt today, can't wait till they start looking like yours.
Click to expand...
My first season I started with 10 each of 15 different varieties. A freak June hailstorm wiped out almost everything.

The next year I focused more in better income crops (super-hots sell for a lot more per pound!). Put out about 50 each of a few varieties. Everything flooded and drowned.

Last year I decided "If I just throw enough out, SOMETHING will survive!" and that worked. So that's my approach now!
 
Decided to cut the heating mats. Area is still staying around 68-70 so it's comfortable, but I think getting rid of the bottom heat will slow the growth a bit.

Intended to start the annuum's last weekend but had a couple small crises that prevented it. Hopefully this coming weekend...
 
I only use the heating mat for germination, after transplant i let them recuperate at room temperature 63-68F Once they start growing again i place them in an even colder environment 59-64F. The growlights may push temps to about 68F during the day, but at night it easily drops to 59 or even a bit colder. This really helps in keeping the growth down a bit. In combination with running a fan now and then it also makes for compact sturdy plants with shorter internodal space. I do think it's also an advantage for them in the hardening off phase later on..
 
Last edited:
HellfireFarm said:
Found some trays yesterday so time to get started. Seeds in an overnight soak, planting today. I do overnight with potassium nitrate - it seems to help.
Click to expand...

Nice glog. Im curious to know how you use the potassium nitrate. What ratio do you use? Thanks in advance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top