HM's Second Attempt for 2020

OK,
 
Last grow was decimated by broad mites. It's been 3 weeks since I got rid of all the plants, so that should have been long enough to kill any remaining stragglers that might have fallen off the plants in the grow room. Now, since I'm WAY behind in 2020, I'm starting plants that are good producers - nothing fancy, nor too ambitious - I just want a decent harvest to get some redemption.
 
Here's the list:
 
Lemon Drop (superhotchiles.com) - always been interested in this one, never had a chance to grow it.
Jalafuego (tomatogrowers.com) - our favorite Jalapeno. We only tried a sample of pickled jalapenos earlier this year, we want more.
Pepperoncini (tomatogrowers.com) - Another one for pickling
Chichimeca Jalapeno (tomatogrowers.com) - I've had these seeds for a while and never grew them. Wanted to compare these to the Jalafuego.
 
My wife also wanted some tomatoes, so I'm going to be growing a determinate variety in a 5 gal kratky, along with some basil. We'll see how that goes.
 
All seeds were pre-soaked for 24 hours in a 0.15% H2O2 solution.

 
 
They are now in rockwool cubes on the heating mat.

 
Now the waiting game begins...
 

 

[HeatMiser]

Things are progressing, albeit a bit slow...
 
The peppers are now developing their first set of true leaves, so now they get 1/2 strength nutrients. This should help speed things up a little bit.

 
Roots are starting to poke out of the bottom of the cubes. Maybe in 2 - 3 weeks these guys will be ready for their 5 gal kratky buckets.

 

 

[HeatMiser]

Things are speeding up a little, finally...
 
The plants are now working on their 2nd or 3rd set of leaves. They still have to develop roots throughout the cube, but overall things seem to be going well despite the very slow germination. For some reason the Lemon Drop (front row, left) developed some pretty serious leaf curl, which is resolving itself.

 
Sample of roots - this is on the lemon drop. I could put them in their kratky containers, but I still want the roots to poke through the sides.

 

[PaulG]

Alright, HM, now just to let the Rockwool do its job!

 

[HeatMiser]

The rockwool started developing mold and algae, and the Lemon Drop's leaves turned yellow, so I decided to put the plants in their 5 gal kratky containers. It probably wasn't all that early since the plants were starting to shoot roots out of the sides of the rockwool. I just didn't want to wait any longer and risk some sort of damage. 
 
In this pic we can see the mold and algae buildup, as well as a few roots starting to shoot out of the sides of the rockwool.

 
Bottom shot

 
Lemon drop and Jalafuego. Notice the yellowing leaves on the lemon drop on the left. New leaves are not experiencing this problem anymore

 
Jalafuego and Pepperoncini

 

[PaulG]

Looks like those are ready for take-off, HM.
 
Good luck with them, buddy.
 
I will be glad when all this smoke clears.
How is it in your neighborhood?

 

[HeatMiser]

Looks like those are ready for take-off, HM.
 
Good luck with them, buddy.
 
I will be glad when all this smoke clears.
How is it in your neighborhood?

 
Thanks Paul, yes - this is the stage where they step on the gas and we can see fast growth week over week. 
 
The smoke here is not as bad as CA or OR, but we're still getting a fair amount from the fires down south. It's supposed to get better tomorrow around here. Also, some rains are expected to come in next week which should help with air quality. 

 

[HeatMiser]

The plants have grown quite a bit from the last post, and they already have some buds forming.
 
The question right now is - to top or not to top? I topped a few of them in my last grow and I liked how sturdy the trunk turned out - at least for the annuums. This is my first time growing a baccatum, and their growth habit is a little different. Otherwise, things are chugging along right now...
 
Jalafuego and Pepperoncini

 
Lemon Drop and Jalafuego

 

[PaulG]

Yeah, buddy, watch out for those baccatums! 
They like to get that rangy growth habit going!
Even topped, they like to stretch. Plants look
good. Hope it’s a successful ’second season’
for you.
 
Nice to have a bit of rain in our neck o’ the woods,
even though I miss the sun for the moment!

 

[HeatMiser]

Yeah, buddy, watch out for those baccatums! 
They like to get that rangy growth habit going!
Even topped, they like to stretch. Plants look
good. Hope it’s a successful ’second season’
for you.
 
Nice to have a bit of rain in our neck o’ the woods,
even though I miss the sun for the moment!

 
Thanks Paul! Ha, yes that tall growth habit is evident now. I'll definitely top it then, just waiting for it to start showing signs of forking. But so far I'm liking the progress the plants are making. Much better than spraying everything with Neem twice a week and checking for mites on a daily basis. I do not miss that at all.
 
Fall seems to be here already, and it brought back the grey dome. I welcome it as well for the time being, since the wildfires made it necessary. I just hope this doesn't become the new normal in the years to come and we find a way to prevent these fires.

 

[HeatMiser]

Now things are hitting their stride.
 
I topped all 3 annuums and decided to wait on the Lemon Drop since it hasn't shown signs of forking. The plants now look huge compared to just last week, and are developing healthy side shoots.
 
Lemon Drop and Jalafuego. 

 
The Jalafuego has been working on developing leaf size:

 
And the air pruning worked. Instead of having one long tap root with just a few side shoots, we have tons of side shoots with even length. This should help the plants fill their respective buckets:

 
Jalafuego and Pepperoncini. 

 
Close-up of the Pepperoncini. We have buds already!

 

[ahayastani]

I hope your success continues

 

[PaulG]

Fall seems to be here already, and it brought back the grey dome. I welcome it as well for the time being, since the wildfires made it necessary. I just hope this doesn't become the new normal in the years to come and we find a way to prevent these fires.

Looks like we get a tiny reprieve for a week
or ten days, HM. I am counting on this little
stretch of sun to bring home the bacon. Tons of
pods so close to being pickable.
 
Amen to that, brother!

 

[CaneDog]

Hey HM.  Great to see how your new grow is taking off.  It must be a joy to not have to deal with the mite hassles!  Hope you'll be able to get out an enjoy this week's weather - if it holds, that is.  Nice thing to catch a warm sunny week this late in the season.

 

[HeatMiser]

I hope your success continues

 
Thanks A. This grow is only 2 months old and still has a ways to go, but I have a good feeling about it. Hopefully the plants will be able to have a productive life.
 

Looks like we get a tiny reprieve for a week
or ten days, HM. I am counting on this little
stretch of sun to bring home the bacon. Tons of
pods so close to being pickable.
 
Amen to that, brother!

 
Thanks Paul, I've been looking at your glog and you are on the verge of a great haul to end the season. Glad the weather is helping you get there!
 

Hey HM.  Great to see how your new grow is taking off.  It must be a joy to not have to deal with the mite hassles!  Hope you'll be able to get out an enjoy this week's weather - if it holds, that is.  Nice thing to catch a warm sunny week this late in the season.

 
Thanks CD. Yes, the plants at this point are showing signs of being established and are growing fast - this is definitely a lot more enjoyable when you're not dealing with microscopic pests! 

 

[Siv]

Looking good HM! On my baccatums, the bloody things didn't start forking until they were at least a foot tall.

 

[HeatMiser]

Looking good HM! On my baccatums, the bloody things didn't start forking until they were at least a foot tall.

 
Thanks Siv! Yes, just this week the plant started forking, so I gave it a haircut. It's interesting how they grow a lot taller than the rest of them. Next time, I will grow them in pairs so that they can share the same light fixture.

 

[HeatMiser]

The plants have hit their stride now and are growing pretty fast.
 
I had to move the pepperoncini next to the lemon drop in order to make the best use of the lights. These two plants are the tallest ones in the grow, so having the light a bit higher won't affect them if they are close in height. I also just topped the Lemon Drop as it was showing signs of forking. The Pepperoncini now has plenty of buds and is growing into a niche bush. It is definitely the fastest growing plant out of the 4.
 
Lemon Drop and Pepperoncini

 
Two Jalafuegos:

 

[HeatMiser]

Last Sunday I changed the nutrient solution for all plants. These containers are initially set up with 3.5 gallons of solution each, and they still had about 3 gallons left, so I replaced them with the same amount. The plants are thriving and we now have flowers. 
 
On a side-note. The tomato experiment didn't pan out as I expected - a bunch of branches were dying off and there was a lot of flower drop. So there is now some room for more peppers   . I planted some more seeds which I'll share as soon as they sprout. 
 
Here are the plants....
 
Lemon Drop and Pepperoncini:
The Lemon Drop is just starting to develop some flower buds. The pepperoncini is firing on all cylinders and is the first one to flower

 
Close up on the flower of the pepperoncini. It just opened up this morning

 
Whole plant - there are too many flower buds to count. This is exciting:

 
Jalafuegos:
While not as fast-growing as the pepperoncini, they have a lot of flower buds already. 

 

[CaneDog]

Looks like they're really hitting their stride now, HM.  Nice healthy looking flower opening on the 'cini - and plenty more following.  Looks like that one's going to be a producer!
 
NIce of the tomatoes to make way for more peppers - to put a positive spin on it.  Looking forward to learning which varieties get the call up.

 

[HeatMiser]

Looks like they're really hitting their stride now, HM.  Nice healthy looking flower opening on the 'cini - and plenty more following.  Looks like that one's going to be a producer!
 
NIce of the tomatoes to make way for more peppers - to put a positive spin on it.  Looking forward to learning which varieties get the call up.

 
Thanks CD! Yes, I'm quite happy to see the week-to-week progress on these plants, especially now that they are starting to set flowers. The pepperoncini sure looks like it will be loaded with pods in a few weeks. I just shook the flower that just opened up and it did have quite a bit of pollen. All good signs so far, I just need to see this through.
 
And yes, we got rid of the tomato, and since it was my wife's tomato, she wanted at least one ornamental pepper. So I started some Numex Twilight seeds, which didn't get a chance to set pods earlier this year. The other pepper I started is the one I labeled "Mystery Pepper" that I started growing, but also got attacked by mites earlier this year. Looking forward to see what kind of pepper that is...