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Jeff H's 2014 glog- Season ending harvest pics.

Okay, time to kick this growing year off. First a pic from last year of the hydroponic scorpion right before I added it to the compost pile. The plant was so productive with 4 gallon freezer bags stuffed plus more already dried that not only did I decide to not overwinter it, but TSBTs won't be on the grow list next year. This was truly a beast and by far my most productive plant. IIRC, it was over 5' tall and just about as wide when hte branches were heavy with pods.
 
It was started about this time last year, so it is about time to start some of those pesky slower growing plants if I want them this big next year.
 
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All good things come to an end. The plants will be chopped up and mixed with the leaves for compost.
 
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Okay, with that out of the way, let's get started on next year.
 
First, a shot of some of the over winter plants in the upstairs window sill. I just plan on keeping them alive here with no real growth expected until I put them outside next year. The two small plants are scorpion clones from the monster. I still don't think they will make the grow next year, but I just couldn't kill it without taking a couple clones. Other overwinters in this pic include a ghost pepper, hot paper lantern hab, tabasco pepper, my largest and most productive giant jalapeno and a couple of others.
 
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Now down into the grow room for an overall shot of what I am doing this year. The flood table is new, but everything else is the same from last year. Same 600W MH light and same mylar on the walls.
 
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Now at this point, let me take a minute to explain that there is no organic soil in anything I brought inside, nor anything that I plan to plant this year. Everything will be hydroponic in one way or another. Even the plants upstairs. My soil for all plants not in the flood table is 50/50 perlite and peat moss. I water them with hydro nutes every few days, but probably can get away with once a week or so. Soil drains really well but the peat moss holds a decent amount of moisture. I'm hoping that we have no issues with root rot this year. I'm also betting that fungus gnats won't like this fast drying soil either. Well that and the mosquito dunks that will be in the hydro water if those bastards do show up again this year.
 
A close up of the "soil". Look at all that great perlite.

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Now, looking at the plants in the flood table, the perlite/pete moss is about 80/20 and I flood hte table once a day. As it is, there is probably too much pete in the soil because the grow bags stay soaked all the time and I'm going to have mold issues. I need to rethink this, but this is what I have for now.
 
Here they are the day it was installed on Oct 21st.
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Here they are a week later (last night). You can't really see it, but there are a couple of tiny growth nodes on the ghost pepper (big pot on the left) and the paper lantern in the black pot. No sign of growth on the monzano yet, but if you look close at the pot, you can see what looks like mold starting. I tossed a cup of H2O2 into the rez last night to kill it if it was mold. We'll see. Maybe plastic air pruning pots would be better suited, or giant net cups.
 
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That is all for now. Join me back on the next update. I'm working hot and heavy on some clones and other projects that aren't quite ready to be photographed yet. Soon though.
 
Just recently had the pleasure of finally trying that Jigsaw from Judy. Fantastic pepper. Next years grow for sure. Nice salsa recipe Jeff. Almost the exact recipe as mine minus a couple ingredients. Nice pod pull.
 
A couple of pics from todays pull.
 
Overall shot of the whole pull. Starting from the top left. Red ghost, white ghost, Jigsaw, paper lanterns, tomatoes and cucumber (duh), naga Morich chocolate, Mirasol, something that should have been Anaheim but is clearly not, orange Thai, purple, tam, and giant jals, and a couple of sweet peppers.
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This is a lot of Jigsaws for one pull off of one plant.
 
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Naga Morich Chocolate still going strong.
 
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Look at the corking.....These are supposed to be Tam jalapenos, but after cooking with them tonight and listening to my wife and daughter complain about the heat, I don't think they are too Tam after all. I couldn't really taste the heat, but hey, that's why they make hot pepper powder.
 
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Roma to tomatoes are done. I cut out 6-7 plants today to make room for the 2nd crop if there is still time. Indeterminates are still pumping them out.
 
Annuums are still doing okay, not great but okay. Wish those darn pasillas would ripen. Got a bunch but they stay green just to irritate me.
 
Until next time. Bottoms up. :cheers:
 
Wow, it has been a while since I updated this glog. Not much has changed in the last two weeks, I've harvested a bunch more of the same types. Nothing really picture worthy. I'll get some new pics soon, but still pretty busy with projects around the house and the kids going back to school.
 
 
sp33d said:
Yeah he should yank that mofo back out and teach us a thing or two... ;)
haha. Maybe, but not very likely unless a certain something gets legalized in Ohio. Indoor hydro doesn't seem worth the effort for peppers. Outdoors though, you never know, I might put my dutch bucket system back together for a few plants.
 
OCD Chilehead said:
Looking good Jeff. How's the taste of them Orange Thai's? Love those Jigsaws.
 
I haven't tried them yet OCD. Soon though.
 
Devv said:
Good stuff Jeff!
 
Glad to see the nice and large pull!
 
I have the second round of tom's planted, just 6 to keep us in fresh fruit. Hope yours do well!
 
2nd round of tomatoes are almost 2' tall and starting to flower. Don't know if they will make it before the frost or not, but either way, it was just an experiment to see if I could. If it is close, I can put some plastic over the frame I already have built to buy me another couple of weeks.
 
Jeff H said:
 
 

haha. Maybe, but not very likely unless a certain something gets legalized in Ohio. Indoor hydro doesn't seem worth the effort.
Why you say that? I have seen some hydro pepper grows that soil couldn't even touch in regards to production and size...
 
sp33d said:
Why you say that? I have seen some hydro pepper grows that soil couldn't even touch in regards to production and size...
 
I'm going lower cost this year I think. Running the 600 watt bulb from Mid Oct-Late Apr isn't free and I have plenty of peppers in the freezer, so no need to spend the money or effort for an indoor grow. Whether it be soil or hydro.
 
Like I said, I might do my outdoor hydro next year. I'm particularly disappointed with how a few of the peppers did this year in the soil, so maybe.
 
Jeff H said:
I'm going lower cost this year I think. Running the 600 watt bulb from Mid Oct-Late Apr isn't free and I have plenty of peppers in the freezer, so no need to spend the money or effort for an indoor grow. Whether it be soil or hydro.
 
Like I said, I might do my outdoor hydro next year. I'm particularly disappointed with how a few of the peppers did this year in the soil, so maybe.
Oh ok, you said effort in he original post so you meant more so economically which I understand completely...;)
Cause I know when it comes to growth and production it's very hard for soil to rival hydro, at least from what I have seen ..soon to be experience ....I'm hoping my 600w will be enough for my 6 plants in my 39 sqft grow tent ..might be on the edge of pushing it ...we shall see..
 
sp33d said:
Oh ok, you said effort in he original post so you meant more so economically which I understand completely... ;)
Cause I know when it comes to growth and production it's very hard for soil to rival hydro, at least from what I have seen ..soon to be experience ....I'm hoping my 600w will be enough for my 6 plants in my 39 sqft grow tent ..might be on the edge of pushing it ...we shall see..
 
I'll definitely keep tabs on your grow. Should be interesting to see all those peters under the light.
 
 
 
 
A few pics from yesterday- things are really moving along.
 
Lowly ghost pepper is just loaded with pods. This one is in a 10 gallon root pouch.
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This is just one branch of the Jigsaw. Wow.
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Another shot of the same plant.
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Harvest time on some of the supers: actually only 4 types: off to the left are reapers, then
 
 
Red ghost, NM Chocolate and on the right, the Jigsaw (all from one plant)
 
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One last pic. This is a medley of jals, thick cayenne, paper lanterns, Big Jim, one lowly monzano and maybe some I forgot. I'll slice all these up this weekend and pickle them for some jars of what my son and I call "sandwich peppers" <-- we put that shit on everything.
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With 30% or so of the peppers being paper lanterns, this medley can get a little spicy, but nothing too hot.
 
Glad to see the nice harvests Jeff!
 
And I here ya on cutting costs, it seems a lot of THP members experience higher electric bills when using lights. For me, I didn't notice an increase. But that maybe because we have a new HVAC system that is way more efficient then what we had last winter (2012).
 
Keep it going!
 
Devv said:
Glad to see the nice harvests Jeff!
 
And I here ya on cutting costs, it seems a lot of THP members experience higher electric bills when using lights. For me, I didn't notice an increase. But that maybe because we have a new HVAC system that is way more efficient then what we had last winter (2012).
 
Keep it going!
 
I also didn't really notice an increase on the light bill. We had a really hard winter, so it was elevated a little. But I don't think the 20-something CFL's I used *really* increased our baseline that much. At least, not much more than 5 kids and a wife who don't know what it means to "SHUT OFF THE DAMN LIGHTS WHEN YOU LEAVE THE ROOM". (Or "finish all of your food", or "why would you throw that away?"...) 
 
Part of that stems from me being raised by my Grandpa, who came from a different time and day when you wasted NOTHING. I think it pisses me off because it pissed him off. ;)
 
Great pulls Jeff. That Jigsaw seems to be a prolific plant. Nice pics. I'm still debating some Bonchi's and house plants, or a little grow room in the unheated garage for OW's. I hate to see all the plants die after all the work that's been done.

Thanks for sharing

Chuck
 
My germination stand uses 12 40W fluorescent tubes at full capacity (6 each on two levels).  Running them 10 hours/day, 30 days/month:
 
12 * 40W *10hrs/day * 30days/month * 1kWh/1000Wh * $.0787/kWh = $11.33/month
 
Throw in a couple of 100W heating mats running 24/7 adds another $11.33/month.
 
And that doesn't include lighting for the grow-out station.  I don't have kids running around and my furnace is gas (the blower is the biggest winter bump in electricity use, though), so my electric bill is usually pretty low.  It's not going to put me in the poor house, but it's definitely noticeable.  Adding enough capacity to grow plants to production over-winter would, for now, be prohibitive.  I am going to start experimenting with white LEDs this winter and move to red/blue LEDs when I can find some that match pepper chlorophyll absorption.
 
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