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Kramer Grew a Pepper (Maybe)

Hell, here goes nothing.
 
January 6: Sow chinense varieties.  I ended up covering with soil but it wasn't deep enough, so quick germination but too many helmet heads.  Reaper, Bhut J, Bih J, Carbonero, Scotch Bonnet, and a couple Cayenne for topping experiment later.
 
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January 12: First germinations.
 
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January 20: First true leaves.  Some turned purple or got crunchy because I read it is good to have lights close up to the seedlings.  Well..it was too much.  Read the mfg instructions and they recommend 40% power 24 inches away for seedlings for 14-16 hours a day.  Oops.
 
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January 26: Potted up some of the leggy ones.
 
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February 6: Potted the rest up last weekend.  No new growth since transplant except a couple of cayenne in the same batch which are doing great.  One reaper abandoned all leaves so I just tossed it.  Tried poking some holes deep down with a straw to help aerate.  Just seem small for being 30 days in but hanging in there.  The fan is on and feeding with diluted kelp once a week, bottom watering every 2-3 days.
 
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On a parallel story, I took some of my mistakes with the chinense batch and changed how I did the annums.  Buried deeper and also germinated under lights instead of waiting for them to sprout.  They've turned out much better so far.
 
January 23: Sow annum varieties pepperoncini, hot banana, fresno, jalapeno, serrano, hot portugal, cayenne.
 
February 2: First germinations.
 
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February 6: Many out of the dome now, looking pretty healthy.
 
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Kramer said:
Thanks Paul G.  Just hoping my chinense don't throw in the towel on me.  They've had a tough life so far at the hands of my noviceness.  But if they do..well then there's always next year I guess.
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Just don't love them to death!
 
Sometimes too much attention
is as bad as not enough  :rofl: !
 
Figured it's been a few weeks.  I narrowed down my chinense varieties to just the healthiest ones and actually down-potted some in the bigger pots with a different soil (Coast of Maine + extra perlite), feeding all a mixture of cal-mag (.5mL/gal), kelp (2.5mL/gal), and rooting products BioRoot and RapidStart.  They've finally started growing again!  Something in that BioRoot and RapidStart really fired them up after almost 3 weeks of near complete dormancy, regardless of repotting or not.
 
I decided to try the rooting solutions after the one reaper seedling abandoned all of it's leaves, and so I pulled it completely to investigate - it's roots were brown and scraggly, even in bone dry soil.  Not good.  Probably prior overwatering or dampness from getting cooked in the humidity dome too long.
 
Now I've been bottom watering every 2-3 days, at least twice a week with a solution of .5mL Cal-Mag, 2.5mL Kelp, and 2.5mL BioRoot per gallon.  These are all half or less the recommended dosage, and they all look quite happy.  I've used it on the second batch of seedlings too from early on and they are thriving.
 
My noob take-aways.
 
Don't keep humidity dome on too long - once they sprout, take 'em out.  I even cut the 6 pack trays, to leave the ones left to germinate in while taking the ones that are ready out.
Don't crank 1000 watt LED panels 24/7 5 inches away from your fresh seedlings.  It doesn't matter what people say about keep your lights as close as possible or it can stay on all day everyday, read what the manufacturer recommends and (more importantly) read what your plants are telling you.  If the cotelydons are turning purple or curling shut length wise, it's way too much.
Don't pot up too early.  I'm going to let the 2nd batch get established a quite bit more first, and judge by how the root bulbs look before up-potting.  Don't pot up based on time, pot up based on how the plant has progressed.
Don't pot up to seedling mix, go to an actual soil or potting mix after that.  Many seedling/germinating mixes don't have many nutrients, because seeds and very young seedlings down need them anyways.  It's also better to move to something that won't retain as much moisture (which is great for a seed) as much to something that drains better/has more aeration/won't get compacted as easily (better for a sprouted and more established plant)
Use of a rooting agent seems to be very helpful after transplant.
 
Also, I've started yet a third batch since I honestly didn't know if these would make it or not.  It's not ideal timing perhaps, but there's still a good 3 months+ for them to get going (grandparents' rule here is to wait until after Memorial day to plant out).  For this one, I'm going to start germination under high temps (85F) and then try to back them off (~75F) after 3rd or 4th day in hopes they'll sprout quick but then won't grow as leggy.  Plus they'll be under light from the get go so that should help too.
 
Making progress.  Thanks people of THP for advice, and I gladly welcome any more you have to give.  If you're having a hard first time, hang in there.  I have done almost everything wrong up until recently, but things are starting to turn around.  They should still be a damn sight bigger and better than the scraggily store bought seedlings I started with last summer.  I'll post their progress pics too, for motivation. =)
 

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February 24: Feeling good about the annum's progress so I potted up and fed.  Experimenting with some of the Fox Farm's soil, people seem to dig it.
 
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Most of the chinense have doubled in size since last week.
 
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And round 3 of germinations is off to a good start.  Part experiment to refine my germination process and make healthier plants, part trying some new last minute varieties.  Had to have some plain old heirloom habaneros to go with the bonnets and carboneros, and also doing some heirloom jalapenos and tampiqueno serranos.  The other ones I previously started are NuMex.
 
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March 1: Starting to look like a bit of chaos going on in the grow rack.  I'll take that as a good thing.
 
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Also, some results of my experiments are in.  Since this is my first time growing anything from seed, I was following along with a chili growing tutorial on YouTube where the first potting-up continued with using seedling starter mix.  Well, for me, it didn't work so well since I think it actually held moisture too well and just didn't have many nutrients.  I started feeding an extra root supplement (which has helped significantly) along with the kelp, and also potted a few back out into actual potting soil mixed 4:1 with extra perlite.
 
So here they are.  2 pairs of plants, started on the same day and subjected to the exact same watering, feeding, light, temp, humidity, air, etc.  Can you guess which ones are still in seedling mix and which are in soil?
 
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Kramer said:
March 1: Starting to look like a bit of chaos going on in the grow rack.  I'll take that as a good thing.
 
attachicon.gif
3-1.jpg
 
Also, some results of my experiments are in.  Since this is my first time growing anything from seed, I was following along with a chili growing tutorial on YouTube where the first potting-up continued with using seedling starter mix.  Well, for me, it didn't work so well since I think it actually held moisture too well and just didn't have many nutrients.  I started feeding an extra root supplement (which has helped significantly) along with the kelp, and also potted a few back out into actual potting soil mixed 4:1 with extra perlite.
 
So here they are.  2 pairs of plants, started on the same day and subjected to the exact same watering, feeding, light, temp, humidity, air, etc.  Can you guess which ones are still in seedling mix and which are in soil?
 
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3-1.2.jpg
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Good lesson learned, Mr. Kramer! When using
seedling mix, the sprouts need feeding as soon
as the first true leaves start to appear. One reason
I switched to Black Gold all-purpose potting soil
for germinating, and even with that, I use a little
Rapid Start when the true leaves begin to a appear.
 
It's a must with rockwool and Jiffy Pellets.
 
Plants are looking good. Hope you have a great
season with them!
 
Well, it has been a while, so I thought I would update.
 
I had to grab a different shelf, since there was no way I'd be able to grow these for the next 6-8 weeks in the old one.  Plus it doubles as kind of a cool mood light for the room with the khaki cover, lol.
 
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I've finally perfected (or almost perfect) the seedling.  These are looking great.  Now I just wonder if they will catch up and/or outgrow the adults.  Probably not, but worth the experiment and education.  Next year will be on point.
 
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And here's some of the adolescents, Chinense on the right started in January and Annums on the left started February.  Lots of flower buds coming out which I'll be pinching soon.  Everything just got potted up and fed, and they waited no time to start putting out new growth.  Actually, some were kind of stagnant until potting up.
 
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Another thing, I wanted to ask if anyone is aware.  I've got 10 of these NuMex Cayenne's that have these spots - none of the other ~15 varieties have them.  I've researched it and come to the conclusion that it might be edema, but just not sure why only this one type of plant is experiencing it.  Any thoughts?
 
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Thank you CaneDog. Yes, it shows up on the bottom of leaves as well in the more affected ones. My biggest concern was it was a disease, but they're growing just fine alongside the rest and it hasn't spread to any other plants. Just those Cayennes do it. Thanks again friend.
 
Kramer said:
Thank you CaneDog. Yes, it shows up on the bottom of leaves as well in the more affected ones. My biggest concern was it was a disease, but they're growing just fine alongside the rest and it hasn't spread to any other plants. Just those Cayennes do it. Thanks again friend.
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Once you plant those out, the edema will go away.
I usually get in on the plants that don't get a lot of
air circulation. CD's observations match with my
own experience.
 
Your grow is looking really good, K!
 
Hi Kramer.    Nice looking plants you have there!   Whole lotta heat.  
 
I am just west of you, in Dover.  (We will likely be identically blessed or cursed by what our late spring weather brings.)
 
PaulG said:
Once you plant those out, the edema will go away.
I usually get in on the plants that don't get a lot of
air circulation. CD's observations match with my
own experience.
 
Your grow is looking really good, K!
Click to expand...
 
Thanks PaulG.  Well, I'm just working with clip on fans for now.  It's a balance, getting them to move enough air around but not totally blast any one group, since they don't oscillate.  I've got them angled to be more of a 24/7 indirect air flow, but it seems to be doing okay.  I'm just going to trust for now it's all good, which it seems it is, I hope.
 
cone9 said:
Hi Kramer.    Nice looking plants you have there!   Whole lotta heat.  
 
I am just west of you, in Dover.  (We will likely be identically blessed or cursed by what our late spring weather brings.)
Click to expand...
 
Cool!  Yeah, you are really close.  How about last summer man?  Insanely hot and sunny summer days, but it made for some great pepper growing no doubt!
 
I've culled back to about 50 plants now that will mostly occupy the deck in grow bags, and a few just to be raised smaller inside to be isolated for seed.  Man, I've got tons of bees here, at least last year.  Bumble bees, honey bees, massive carpenter bees, other bees I don't even know what they were..  They just swarm and ensure damn near every flower becomes a pepper, which I am certainly grateful for, except when I encroach on their territory to water and they definitely let me know.  Not a single sting though, yet!
 
Plants are really kicking into gear now though.  I've already given my neighbor a whole flat of various pepper plants, just don't have the room now or the space to grow them out this summer.  This Carolina Reaper is one of my biggest, in a 6" nursery pot for reference.  My favorite though is these scotch bonnet and bih jolokia, very pretty looking plants.  I'll try to snap pics of them later, they're all a bit lazy looking right now from a long day of bright light now.
 
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