kgetpeppers 2014 GL: 10/15. Late harvests

Last season was full of disappointment but a strong learning experience. Ebay had gotten me enticed by WORLDS HOTTEST PEPPER SEEEDS. Those bell peppers I received were not hot at all . I did however grow some very delicious cayenne pepper plants that turned out well as well as some tomatoes. On to new beginnings I invested in a 4 bulb t5 HO system and did lots of research and buying and trading seeds here on THP. The rest is history. The knowledge this community has given me is a great and I can only learn more with experience. 
 
I started this season with 40 varieties in mind: My final grow list includes: Thanks to all who sold and or traded with me
 
Reaper-smokemaster
Reaper-Ochocinco
Lightning mix-aji joe
Sepia-D BULL
prik yee- D BULL
Hot lemon drop
Peach ghost 
Red savina
Pineapple aji-ajijoe
Green Scorpion-Ochocinco-turned out to not be green
Red bhutlah-SLP
Brown bhutlah-SLP
MOA-Kingdenniz
BBG7-    "
Brown Moruga-sicman
Primo- Pepperlover
Joes long ceyenne-My own 2013 seed
Yellow bullet hab- a thp member
red teardrop hab- thp member- ajijoe
Charapita-SLP
Pequin
Chiltipen-SLP
Chocolate fatali
peach Ghost 
ancient sweet pepper
biker billy jalepeno
Japones
pepper joes peter pepper
Cumari do para
 Datil
Padron
Sb7j
Devils tongue white
Giant jalepeno
Another random sweet pepper
 
 
I was planning on Growing a few more but germination did not occur
bahamian goat-
brazilian starfish-really bummed on this one
pepper joes carolina reaper- not so bummed on this one
 
 
 
Germination started a little late about mid march I started all the seeds after a soak in some tea and warm water in some seed starting medium in small paper cells that come rows of 5. These were the worst starting pots I have ever used. They did not allow for almost any root development and water absorption and basically put me a month behind schedule. I planted a second wave of the ones I really wanted like BBG7, Brown M etc in solo cups and they exploded with growth faster that the ones a month old. I quickly repotted them into 3.5 inch pots and after initial shock they began to grow.
 
I grew in my garage which wasn't kept too warm it was around 67 degrees and fluctuated because we had a really bad winter and spring here in illinois. Lights were on a timer 18-6 after 24 hours for first few weeks. A fan blew for 2 hours twice a day on a timer. 
 
Pictures will be up asap!
 
Thanks for joining me!
 
 
 

 

[Spicegeist]

Nice!  That pepperlover primo caught my eye right away... she posted some great pics of those last year...

 

[kgetpeppers]

Yeah I am hoping they will all come out great. I did sun burn a couple plants so I was a little worried but with my schedule It was the only time I had to plant was yesterday in ground. only had about 2 days hardening

I will start the pictures now to show what I have done so far. I neglected to take many photos of the starting of seeds I dont know why really so bare with me
The first picture is the dam stupid cells that caused me great anger and frustration. They allowed no plant growth and never will use again

Next is the growing area that they were started in, The remaining plants are later starts and basically backup plants in case I mess up.!
This was just after a new pot up. 

Here are some more that are now outside as my backup plants

Here is my new grow area after construction
They are two raised beds 8 feet by 4 feet and one foot tall. Took only about 30 minutes to assemble and was kind of fun. 

That was 2 yards of a garden mix and topsoil. Wow that was some hard labor moving from the front of house to the back.!!
Mixed in bags of perlite and verm. as well as some sand. Pro mix in the back for some of my smart pots I made.

These two were lots of work but now we can use up that part of the yard. Before behind the beds were two giant trees blocking every ray of sunlight into them
This is about two days before plant out.
The following day it freaking snowed.!!!
 
 
Some of the best friends! Neem oil and epsom!

Bump anyone!?

 

[Jeff H]

Bump.
 
Looking good.

 

[kgetpeppers]

Here some other stuff I used throughout the grow! thanks for the bump! 

sorry for the crappy picture of that fert
Here is some pictures prior to planting out! 
First a picture of the bunch

The tomatoes on the side are my fathers as well as the topsy turvey he wanted to try! Gallons have the jobes mixed in that ill water with upon transplanting.
Wierd bhutlah SLP color. I know this is correct as all my seeds were planted one at a time so no confusion on the ones i labeled. I have some mystery plants but this was not one

 
Wasnt light burn either thats the color its been whole time, deep purple black.
 
 
PLANT OUT!!!!!!

The raised beds getting ready and couple bags in back with maters!

Tomatoes first!

BMMMPPPP

 

[Runescape]

Bump, awesome pics, dude.

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

Digging the square foot garden vibe...I heard they work. 

 

[kgetpeppers]

Digging the square foot garden vibe...I heard they work. 

You were the inspiration !!!
 

Bump, awesome pics, dude.

 
Thanks, more is coming!
Continuation of the tomatoes!! I want to do a little experiment so i planted 4 roma tomatoes and 2 will have wood chips and two will have reflective plastic! who will win!!!!

 

Cherry mater in the back of one pepper bed. !

 
Now for some peppers We will start with the grow bags and my first mistake!!!!!
 
MOA

T
Hot lemon drop^^^^

Hot lemon drop again (bucket) and red teardrop hab on left

My first mistake. I didnt harden off this Brown moruga well enough, Its now in shade hoping to recover!!!!!
ITS A LEARNING CURVE !

Reaper-smokemaster

Reaper-Ochocinco!

BBg7 with some slight sun burn crap
Just to throw it out there, the experience I had starting seeds with those paper cups was truly bad. I am saying this again so i will remember for next grow  
I am also saying this so i dont get any ridicule for my small little plants right now go easy on me !!!. complete bed shot to come with bump. I have my smaller ones covered with cut open cups to guard against the wind because its very windy here today and yesterday. This also will shade them a little to prevent what sunburn I can!!! 

 

[kgetpeppers]

Complete shot of the "not so hot bed" with lots of flavorful and just mouth numbing heat. 
 
 
next is mostly the "superhot" bed, with moa, brown moruga, sepia serpent, peach bhut, lightning mix, primo, and a reaper, bbg7.

BUMP
My white devils tongue has some pretty bad upward leaf curl, Im gunna hit it with some calcium and foliar epsom spray and hope for the best. 
How does my rows look?

 

[PaulG]

Looking good - the raised beds are nice.  The isometric
planting layout is a great way to maximize space.
 
Those are going to be a jungle in a few months!

 

[kgetpeppers]

Looking good - the raised beds are nice.  The isometric
planting layout is a great way to maximize space.
 
Those are going to be a jungle in a few months!

Yeah im happy with how they turned out. Price was right too. dirt was the most expensive thing but that was part of the investment. Now I can just add to it!.
Next season(yeah crazy already planning what to do diff) will have a MUCH better start because I know how not to start seeds now, Im going pure solo cup or 3-4" pots to start my Plants I believe.

 

[PaulG]

Starting in the cups is not a bad idea.  When I start in 'soil' or the aerogarden, I
transplant the sprouts before the root really starts to extend so the roots can
fill the cup unimpeded.  Space issues make it tough for me to start too many
in larger cups.

 

[kgetpeppers]

Starting in the cups is not a bad idea.  When I start in 'soil' or the aerogarden, I
transplant the sprouts before the root really starts to extend so the roots can
fill the cup unimpeded.  Space issues make it tough for me to start too many
in larger cups.

For my smaller grow at the moment , well , its now 4x what I did last year and still want to plant more but no space, I find it easy to get quality plants in solo cups. But for me to start lets say like 60 to start with what do you suggest?! If I can get 60 successful starts then ween down to ~40 would be great. 
 
 
also, 2 days after plant out and Most are enjoying their new room to play. My cayenne was fastest grower so far and shot out some buds that I pinched.! SO far havent lost any to the sun burn and only thing ~2 will have delayed growth. Had many tomato extras that are a forest. Hate to waste any plants so Ill either find some random bald spot around house or give to neighbors.

 

[PaulG]

For my smaller grow at the moment , well , its now 4x what I did last year and still want to plant more but no space, I find it easy to get quality plants in solo cups. But for me to start lets say like 60 to start with what do you suggest?! If I can get 60 successful starts then ween down to ~40 would be great. 
 
 
also, 2 days after plant out and Most are enjoying their new room to play. My cayenne was fastest grower so far and shot out some buds that I pinched.! SO far havent lost any to the sun burn and only thing ~2 will have delayed growth. Had many tomato extras that are a forest. Hate to waste any plants so Ill either find some random bald spot around house or give to neighbors.

If you follow GaGrowhead's advice on using Jiffy Pellets, they are a great way to start.  
I like them because you just remove the netting to transplant and drop the pellet into
the next container.  If you do it as soon as their cotyledons are established, there will
be absolutely no root shock or stress.
 
On the other hand, I have had great success with cell packs with seed starting mix as well.
Same drill, transplant as soon as cotys are established and get 'em under some lights!   You
just have to be a bit more careful with the root ball, but no biggie.
 
Good luck getting a home for your tomatoes!

 

[buddy]

Very nice!  Good luck with your 2014 growing season.

 

[kgetpeppers]

Very nice!  Good luck with your 2014 growing season.

Thanks buddy. Hope your plants rebound
 
 
 
Strong storms rolling through northern illinois tonight, Im just going to pray no real damage to me new plant outs!

 

[John1234]

We'll all pray with ya
 
Those beds look great, especially with the little seedling huts hehe. Those smart pots look awesome, props on the DIY.

 

[kgetpeppers]

Thanks miguelovic! They were actually quite easy to make and PL glue holds like cement at least for a few years I hope. Definitely allows for good drainage. Yeah I had to improvise since I knew impending weather was upon us. Works well so far and I wish I had put them on before some had sun burn.

Looks like my sunburnt brown Moruga beauty is putting out some new leaves so I'll pray. Have it in partial shade
till it heals.

Today is supoose to be a scorcher so I'll leave the hats on for another day I think. Tomatoes all look great tho

 

[kgetpeppers]

Small update: looks like I only lost one plant overall so that was a success, and it was some mystery a. pepper so no big deal. Im going to replace it with padron pepper as I have heard good things about them. Watching the leaves on the padron unravel is pretty neat. Hope it makes it to make some tasty peppers!
 
I also topped 4 plants today, one of my jalapenos and ceyenne and some other sweet pepper were racing to make buds. Ill let them grow a little taller and fork to make even MORE! My white devils tongue looks as if it is slowly recovering, I gave a small dosage of nuts as well as some ground up egg shells and I see the leaves looking to make a turn around!!!. Also added three more 5 gallon buckets but its just dirt mixed with sand and some compost so no telling how well they will turn out. Decided to put a tomatillo plant and another MOA and peach bhut i believe in the other. Have enough super hots so my other primo and BBG7 will be donated to a local guy with some of my other spares after a week or so. Well, maybe not my BBG7, he can have some reapers instead! ill keep the bbgum incase of any plant issues.

 

[kgetpeppers]

5/24/14
 
My peppers are all outside in some way or another. I turned off the lights for this year and now letting mother nature decide the fate of my lil guys. I had a full day of sun today on them and they seem to have enjoyed it. I also got some ladybugs just to prevent anything from trying to kill em as well. Hoping to grow my spares for about another week before i give them to some local guy who just started seeds like a week ago. 
 
My sunburnt brown moruga is now growing at a good pace, new growth and plant getting taller by the day. My little Padron plant made it into the ground today as well, Hope he makes it!
 
 
Ill update with pictures sometime next week!