hotjohn's rookie indoor grow!

Really new grower here, but diving right in.   Got myself a 2 foot / 4 tube T5 balast with Agrobrite 6400k's in it (they came with).
 
Got a tiny 8" clip on fan, a cheap humidity/temp monitor, and and some grow light ratchets to hold the thing up.
 
Waiting on a 2x4x5 grow tent... so until that gets here, I figured I'd start a couple seeds.  Put 2 carolina reaper seeds into some peat pellets, in a plastic domed starter... on a small heat mat.    
Got the light on a timer.
 

 
I read that peppers and peat don't necessarily get along, but I wanted to experiment and see for myself.   If I can get these sprouted, I'll transfer them into a couple 2 gallon dirt pots.
 
Ultimately I'd like to get a recirculating hydroponic kit, but still doing my research and saving up for that.
 
This is really my second grow.  I have a couple plants going in an Aerogarden at my office, about 80 days in and starting to fruit.   Looking forward to seeing how things go!
 
New member on the forums here... I believe this is the right spot to post what I have?

 

[FiresOfNil]

Welcome hotjohn, looking forward to seeing you grow. :Welcome:

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[hotjohn]

2x4x5 Quictent came in today, so I moved the agrobrite, heat mat, and the carolina reaper seeds in there.   No activity yet, but it's only day four on these seeds.  I sprouted two in the aerogarden I have at the office, and they took at least 5-10 days.
 

 
Not the point of this glog, but I thought I'd share my current aerogarden grow.   This was a mixture of random seeds purchased from Amazon sellers.  Since joining here, I have learned that it's probably not the best way to get what you pay for.   For example, the big guy in the back right was sold to me as a chocolate hab!  Definitely a thai chili.   Front right is a carolina reaper, front left, a peter pepper, back left, a tepin, and back middle, a bhut jolokia.
 
The leaves on the two plants on the left are getting a bit of upward curl, and I'm worried they are getting choked out by the thai.   Just going to let them go and see what happens though... just a bit of fun at the office.   The home grow is gonna be a bit more serious!
 

 

[mpicante]

Very nice indeed.

 

[hotjohn]

Been a few weeks since I first made the post...  here's a few updates!
 
I got some tepin pepper seeds, and started one going in my aerogarden about 110 days ago.  It took forever to germinate, and then was super small and scraggly for months.    I've just recently moved my aerogarden home from the office, and started paying a lot more attention to the water temperature, and PH... it's always spiking up to around 8, so almost daily I'm adding PH Down to it!  After that, the tepin responded really well, shot up and has now started fruiting!     Still not the healthiest looking plant, but I'm not out to win any best in show awards here!  It's the fruit I want.
 

 
Put together a 4x5gallon bucket DWC system based on some parts cobbled together from amazon.  Put the system into my grow tent, and just recently transplanted a couple baby reapers in there!  The seeds germinated quite easily in peat pucks on top of my fridge, then I transferred them into solo cups with some seedling soil mix (really loose airy stuff).  And then just yesterday, I took two of the more mature looking ones, and transplanted them directly into the clay pebbles.  
 

 
I've got a couple more getting a bit stronger in the solo cups before I transplant.    
 
First time grow here, so I wasn't exactly sure if transplanting directly into the clay pebbles was going to work... but seems ok so far!

 

[hotjohn]

Been a few weeks.   In that time, I've started to throw iced bottles of water into my resevoir tank... I switch them out three times a day.
 
Ambient temperature in my place has been hovering around 80F, with 50-70% humidity.  Pretty nuts for inside... so definitely struggling to keep the water cool.
 
I have my air pump sitting on top of the box it came in, on the lid of the resevoir.  The other day while swapping out the frozen bottle, accidentally knocked it over, crushing one of my poor plants!   The guy has bounced back, thank goodness.
So far only one of the four plants has a taproot down into the water.  So the other three, I'm pouring water over the top three times a day when I change out the frozen bottle.  Worried things will get too dry..    There is water being pumped into the top from the resevoir, but I do have a kink in my tubing I need to fix up... so the pressure isn't great going to all pots.  Anyway, here is how the four are looking at about three weeks in I think?
 

 

[hotjohn]

The one plant that was first to get a tap root down into the nutrients is doing the best...  second one just got there and has immediately started catching up!   The back two are still runty... and are requiring manual watering a couple times a day.  Hopefully they grow down soon.   
 
I think the lesson I've learned here.... transplant when you've got enough root to reach into the resevoir.  Having started all these before they had long roots probably didn't help anything.
 

 

[hotjohn]

So another update here.   All four plants now have their taproots down into the water, so I've been able to stop the regular top watering I was doing.     
Still have a slight kink in one of the hoses coming out of my resevoir, and I feel like that might be whats causing the back plants to lag behind the front two a bit...   the strong flow from the resevoir hits the front ones first, before going to the back.  Or it could be something unrelated.   Unsure!
 
I'm running on a 16/8 light/dark cycle with the 2'x4 agrobrite t5's... had it hovering as low as I could for the first bit... but have pulled it up a bit for the last two days.  Sits about 12" from the plant tops now.
 
Temp/humidity in my tent has been pretty high.  Serious heat wave here in Toronto, coupled with a poorly vented basement... been hovering between 70-80F, and 63-75% humidity.  Based on what I've read, that humidity might be a problem come flowering stage.  I have plans to exhaust this thing out a window properly should it become an issue.   
 
I've been using frozen bottles of water in the resevoir to try and keep the water temp down.  I cycle them 2 or 3 times a day, and have occasionally been adding a giant frozen bowls worth of water at night.   Still, the water temp tends to hover around 70-80F, which like the humidity, seems a little on the high side.
 
I'm really hoping for a break in the weather here, to get my apartment really cooled down.  Freakishly warm lately!
 
The hydro starter kit I got came with a couple trial bottles of Sensi grow.  That's all I've added for the first little while.... that and PH Down, to maintain a PH between 5.5-6.5.   Thats gone, so I just added 90ml each of FloraGro, and FloraMicro.  It says to add 100ml/100 liters for general growing... so based on my 25 gallon system, actual water levels, pretty sure I got the math right.   I read all the time that peppers are quite sensitive to feeding, and overdoing it is a common error.  We'll see how I fare.
 
My leaves are looking really bubbly.   Doesn't seem unhealthy, no bugs, or discoloration... just very bulgy and puffed up.   Easy to see in the pics.    I'm figuring it's the high heat/humidity doing it... but if anyone knows otherwise, happy to listen to some advice!
 
Anyway, here's some photos.  Happy with the experiment so far!    
 

 
 
 
 
As for my aerogarden... the tepin pepper plant has taken right over.  It's just that one plant, and the thai chili left.   The thai chili has about run it's course... I'm really not happy with it.  It was sold to me as a chocolate hab, then it turned out to be more like a thai chili.  On top of that, I'm getting virtually NO heat whatsoever in the peppers, and the skins are really tough.  Not pleasant.    The tepin plant must have 50 little peppers on it...     and it's still flowering!   Tried one of them out the other day... amazingly spicy, but so small and seedy.   Was ok to add some heat, but again, not super impressed.
 
The roots in it don't look all that healthy.  At this point the two plants (I pulled the other 3) have been in there about 150 days.  So I'm thinking shortly I'll reset and try something else out.   Maybe a super hot strain that gets a nod for being really easy for beginners to handle lol.  Apparently reapers aren't considered a great choice for a novice like me!   We'll see!

 

[hotjohn]

Should I be thumbnailing these images?  At this point it's a pretty big load haha.
 
Anyway, a quick update pic.   Based on the growth, I get the sense my distribution from the reservoir tank isn't exactly even.    
 

 
Have done one round of the FloraGrow system... (Micro + Grow)... used just under the recommended amounts.... and plants had no adverse reaction.  Was worried about overdoing it!  It's been over a month now with this setup, so I'm going to flush and scrub down the pots this weekend, before filling back up and adding some fresh nutrients in!   Hopefully I don't flood the place while I'm doing it!

 

[Malarky]

Maybe the little'un in the corner isn't getting as direct of light as the others?

 

[Devv]

Well heck, I don't see any issues here
 
Plants are coming along very nicely! Keep up the good work; I think you're doing a heck of a job so far!