Hello everyone thanks for stumbling on my GLOG. My first one ended in a "failure" in that I had to terminate all the plants during moving. Well the good news is I'm moving again in a few weeks, it's been such lovely times.
For now I am in an apt and have about 7 pepper plants huddling for warmth around a powerful but too small grow light. I have enough lighting for them, I am just space limited right now. It is temporary, I am buying a house with a very nice garden in the back so they will be in their forever homes shortly. I plan on keeping them in containers and over-wintering them for some ridiculous harvests next year!
Thought this would be a good place to start the GLOG as the next move should be the last, and it will be very easy on the plants (across town vs across state)
There won't be a nice indoor setup for them, but we're rounding the corner into June and even in Oregon we should get some pretty warm days. They will have all the unobstructed sun they can tolerate at their new location so I'm pretty excited to see where they all go.
I'm doing these GLOGS to hopefully gain tips and tricks so please let me know if I could be doing something better. I will say that some of the plants look a little rough, it's been a rough few months gardening-wise, so go easy on some of the chop jobs I have or haven't done. Thanks!
---
My method:
I used to mix MHP Gardener Masterblend nutrient mix, adding Cal-Mag and pH balancing, but the crazy schedule I have now has made me switch to one thing: Maxi-gro and Maxi-bloom.
I can't bring myself to mix up Fox Farms or Masterblend when Maxigro goes one scoop per gallon and adjusts the pH automatically. So I have switched to that. The dracula and the Datil are on maxi-bloom as they are the only ones I'm actively trying to get fruit or seeds from.
Kratky works the best for me, my garden has always been in my office, and I can't stand the noise of pumps. I did a side by side of the Datil and Purple UFO (PUFO) DWC vs Kratky, and well the PUFO died and the Datil is now chucking out fruits, so I don't know if that was DWC related or just a fluke.
I am space limited so the Datil is in a 3 gallon bucket while the rest are stuck in 32oz yogurt containers (Shout out to Tillamook Dairy).
I germinated some of them using hemp cubes, and others using General Hydroponics plugs. I haven't noticed a difference, they are both covered in hydroton.
I used 3" net cups for all of them, but I wish I had used much larger ones. The Datil is all over the place with barely any support. When I permanently set it up I'm going to glue some supports onto the side of the bucket for it to tie down.
The yogurt containers have a 3" hole drilled in the top. I used to paint them for aesthetics but the paint just chips off and I'm tired of finding it everywhere so I most likely will just wrap them with tape or something nice in the future.
The garden is in a 2x2 TINY tent, which was great for seedlings and veg but is real crowded right now. I rotate who has to stay outside and supplement with natural light through the windows when we get it here in Oregon.
The light is a SF-1000 Spider Farmer LED. I love it. It generates no heat. I wish I had just bought the SF-2000 but instead I bought a 1000 and bought another. I've been trying to contact the company for the pieces to join them together but no luck. Overall it's an amazing light though!
---
Here are the plants
Purple UFO - C.annuum
Was originally the backup plant to a DWC project. Has been growing well. All of these plants are in need of an upsize in container, which they will get in about 3 weeks.
Dracula - C.annuum
Two successful crosses on this plant with the Datil I will show later. One was bagged one was not.
You can see that the peppers are starting to show the smallest bit of green, which is the current color of the Datil fruits. I don't know if Draculas are supposed to mature green but most pictures I've seen show them maturing red! I guess I should have grown them without crossing first but they have been in such small confines with the other plant there's no way they wouldn't have crossed naturally. This one is marked because it was bagged, but both fruits are showing signs of green. They are also the only two fruits on the plant, so nothing to compare with.
Brazilian Starfish - C.baccatum
Described as growing vine like, and I can see why.
Roatan Pumpkin Habanero - C.chinense
Originally thought this was the Khang Starr variety but found out it is not. It's been kind of abused but won't go away. It's very old, but it was in shock or stunted for like 3 months? I think I started it in August 2019. I've rewarded it for it's hardiness but keeping it around, but I'm not very excited about the fruits, they are available in almost every grocery.
Basque Pepper - This is one that got chopped to be able to fit in a box. It's recovered by now, but kind of ugly. I'm very attached to this one as it started life as a dried pepper hanging in a farmer's market. The only reason it got chopped is because I don't have a lot of seeds of the others, whereas I have 100's of this one. It would be much easier to start over.
My main squeeze the Datil / Minorcan Pepper - C.annuum
It looks kind of rough, it prefers much more humidity than I'm giving it I'm sure. It's throwing out a lot of fruits. I don't know if this is normal but it had maybe 300-400 flowers, but dropped them all and is now holding about 15-20 fruits. With all the transporting and underfeeding I've been giving it I'm glad it's still alive much less ripening fruit.
I have greatly increased the amount of food I've given it. I can't possibly see it wanting any more. When I first switched it to MaxiBloom I gave it an ec of I think 600. Now it is getting 3600 and seems fine. I haven't ever made nutes that strong but if that's what it wants.
Thanks everyone for reading, will update after I move and they are getting hardened off. Let me know if you have any experience with any of these or any tips or tricks!
For now I am in an apt and have about 7 pepper plants huddling for warmth around a powerful but too small grow light. I have enough lighting for them, I am just space limited right now. It is temporary, I am buying a house with a very nice garden in the back so they will be in their forever homes shortly. I plan on keeping them in containers and over-wintering them for some ridiculous harvests next year!
Thought this would be a good place to start the GLOG as the next move should be the last, and it will be very easy on the plants (across town vs across state)
There won't be a nice indoor setup for them, but we're rounding the corner into June and even in Oregon we should get some pretty warm days. They will have all the unobstructed sun they can tolerate at their new location so I'm pretty excited to see where they all go.
I'm doing these GLOGS to hopefully gain tips and tricks so please let me know if I could be doing something better. I will say that some of the plants look a little rough, it's been a rough few months gardening-wise, so go easy on some of the chop jobs I have or haven't done. Thanks!
---
My method:
I used to mix MHP Gardener Masterblend nutrient mix, adding Cal-Mag and pH balancing, but the crazy schedule I have now has made me switch to one thing: Maxi-gro and Maxi-bloom.
I can't bring myself to mix up Fox Farms or Masterblend when Maxigro goes one scoop per gallon and adjusts the pH automatically. So I have switched to that. The dracula and the Datil are on maxi-bloom as they are the only ones I'm actively trying to get fruit or seeds from.
Kratky works the best for me, my garden has always been in my office, and I can't stand the noise of pumps. I did a side by side of the Datil and Purple UFO (PUFO) DWC vs Kratky, and well the PUFO died and the Datil is now chucking out fruits, so I don't know if that was DWC related or just a fluke.
I am space limited so the Datil is in a 3 gallon bucket while the rest are stuck in 32oz yogurt containers (Shout out to Tillamook Dairy).
I germinated some of them using hemp cubes, and others using General Hydroponics plugs. I haven't noticed a difference, they are both covered in hydroton.
I used 3" net cups for all of them, but I wish I had used much larger ones. The Datil is all over the place with barely any support. When I permanently set it up I'm going to glue some supports onto the side of the bucket for it to tie down.
The yogurt containers have a 3" hole drilled in the top. I used to paint them for aesthetics but the paint just chips off and I'm tired of finding it everywhere so I most likely will just wrap them with tape or something nice in the future.
The garden is in a 2x2 TINY tent, which was great for seedlings and veg but is real crowded right now. I rotate who has to stay outside and supplement with natural light through the windows when we get it here in Oregon.
The light is a SF-1000 Spider Farmer LED. I love it. It generates no heat. I wish I had just bought the SF-2000 but instead I bought a 1000 and bought another. I've been trying to contact the company for the pieces to join them together but no luck. Overall it's an amazing light though!
---
Here are the plants
Purple UFO - C.annuum
Was originally the backup plant to a DWC project. Has been growing well. All of these plants are in need of an upsize in container, which they will get in about 3 weeks.
Dracula - C.annuum
Two successful crosses on this plant with the Datil I will show later. One was bagged one was not.
You can see that the peppers are starting to show the smallest bit of green, which is the current color of the Datil fruits. I don't know if Draculas are supposed to mature green but most pictures I've seen show them maturing red! I guess I should have grown them without crossing first but they have been in such small confines with the other plant there's no way they wouldn't have crossed naturally. This one is marked because it was bagged, but both fruits are showing signs of green. They are also the only two fruits on the plant, so nothing to compare with.
Brazilian Starfish - C.baccatum
Described as growing vine like, and I can see why.
Roatan Pumpkin Habanero - C.chinense
Originally thought this was the Khang Starr variety but found out it is not. It's been kind of abused but won't go away. It's very old, but it was in shock or stunted for like 3 months? I think I started it in August 2019. I've rewarded it for it's hardiness but keeping it around, but I'm not very excited about the fruits, they are available in almost every grocery.
Basque Pepper - This is one that got chopped to be able to fit in a box. It's recovered by now, but kind of ugly. I'm very attached to this one as it started life as a dried pepper hanging in a farmer's market. The only reason it got chopped is because I don't have a lot of seeds of the others, whereas I have 100's of this one. It would be much easier to start over.
My main squeeze the Datil / Minorcan Pepper - C.annuum
It looks kind of rough, it prefers much more humidity than I'm giving it I'm sure. It's throwing out a lot of fruits. I don't know if this is normal but it had maybe 300-400 flowers, but dropped them all and is now holding about 15-20 fruits. With all the transporting and underfeeding I've been giving it I'm glad it's still alive much less ripening fruit.
I have greatly increased the amount of food I've given it. I can't possibly see it wanting any more. When I first switched it to MaxiBloom I gave it an ec of I think 600. Now it is getting 3600 and seems fine. I haven't ever made nutes that strong but if that's what it wants.
Thanks everyone for reading, will update after I move and they are getting hardened off. Let me know if you have any experience with any of these or any tips or tricks!
