Late season 2014...or early start 2015

Jamison · Jun 23, 2014

Looking good!

geeme · Jun 23, 2014

Nice starts there; hope the pineapple takes for you.

Regarding whether it's "too early" or not, it depends on your circumstances. The weather in your area gets cold enough in the winter that you would need to bring your plants inside. In starting my own plants inside, I find space to be the biggest issue, as I do not have a heated garage and nor do I have a greenhouse, so into the house they go. Do you have space when cold weather hits and do you have sufficient lighting for all those plants once they get large?

It seems in the pics above that you have plastic covering over the top of the box you are growing them in. This tells me they likely are getting insufficient air circulating around them. Also, the soil appears to be very wet. If you didn't just water, that's too wet for chile plants. They like things to be more in the range of moist/humid rather than wet. Having still air and wet soil is a prime condition for the damping off fungus to start. Get a fan onto them to help prevent this and also to help strengthen the stems. Watch for signs of overwatering - leaves start turning yellow - and back off if this happens.

Best wishes for your grow!

lucilanga · Jun 23, 2014

G'day,

what's your seed source ?
I would definitely try to get those outside as soon as possible.
As for, starting new seeds, oh I don't know, I'm trying to shut down all my lights and get everything outside.
However judging the weather this year I feel it's going to be a long season here

geeme · Jun 23, 2014

Yes, one more thought - - - if the weather is nice in your area now, why aren't you starting those outdoors? If you start them from seeds outdoors you don't have to go through a hardening off process. They'll naturally acclimate to the sun and wind as soon as they break the surface. However, after you've had them indoors for the winter, you'll have to take them through hardening off once the warmth returns.

cruzzfish · Jun 23, 2014

Most unreliable seed sources give habaneros as the double, I wouldn't be too worried.

LS929 · Jun 23, 2014

I've done the same thing. Definitely listen to everyone who said to start them outdoors!! Just look at my Glog to see why!

plaisir8 · Jun 24, 2014

Hey everyone, thanks for all the moral support and tips! Hope I'll have some pics of healthy, heavy pod laden monsters to share soon.

geeme said:
Nice starts there; hope the pineapple takes for you.

Having still air and wet soil is a prime condition for the damping off fungus to start. Get a fan onto them to help prevent this and also to help strengthen the stems. Watch for signs of overwatering - leaves start turning yellow - and back off if this happens.

Already threw out a bunch of pineapple tops, my flat was too dry while the heating was still on. That's also where the plastic wrap comes in. It has actually been coming on and off to adjust humidity/temperature. The soil is moist but quite crumbly and barely sticks to the fingers at this point, not too worried about damping off or overwatering. In fact, I haven't watered at all ever since the original soak while planting, except for the squirt of water aimed at the little tea tree just before taking the pic. It's probably wet a few inches down, but at the top level it seems to have achieved a good balance between evaporation, retention, osmosis, gravitation, and I only find condensation on the film since the air is cooler.

So anyway, this last week the film has been staying on during the night to keep the heat in (daily lows outside were below 50F a few weeks ago and are still in the 50s, the building's insulation is horrible). So I'd leave it off during the day and put it back on after I get back home and the sun goes down. Added the fan per recommendation!

lucilanga said:
G'day,

what's your seed source ?
I would definitely try to get those outside as soon as possible.
As for, starting new seeds, oh I don't know, I'm trying to shut down all my lights and get everything outside.
However judging the weather this year I feel it's going to be a long season here

G'day to you sir.
For the habs I'm sure because I got them from pods at Auchan (provenance la reunion). Got these particular bhut seeds from this guy I met while contacting some AMAPs (for anyone who isn't familiar w/ the French term, AMAP = CSA). Part of his bid to woo me to join their buyer group, but as he himself wasn't a grower + the fact that the French would call a bell pepper hot leaves a little doubt in my mind.

So has the weather been holding up in your neighbourhood? Are you in upper or lower Normandy? I've been to Rouen once. Passed by Le Havre and Caen on the way to St Malo. I was under the vague impression that it's wet, windy, and well sort of "fresh."

I seriously would like to consider that "shut down all my lights" part--I've been harassed for a few months by an unknown neighbour for the lights in my apartment. He even got the cops to come by (they just said it was for an old man complaining about the light in his eyes, but I get the feeling that he had planted other suspicions in their minds).

geeme said:
Yes, one more thought - - - if the weather is nice in your area now, why aren't you starting those outdoors? If you start them from seeds outdoors you don't have to go through a hardening off process. They'll naturally acclimate to the sun and wind as soon as they break the surface. However, after you've had them indoors for the winter, you'll have to take them through hardening off once the warmth returns.

And yes, think I should explain the circumstances that lead to this counter-intuitive starting indoors in June situation.
First off I live in an apartment building, so no yard (although I have considered sprinkling some seeds in the flower beds...).
For me "outside" is my loggia facing north that gets good ambient light (and maybe 1h of sunshine reflected off the nearby high-rises) but is bombarded by aphids, thrips, all sorts of other bugs and incessant wind. On the otherhand, "inside" is my bed room/growing room facing west that gets decent exposure by the window + 4h of direct sun in the afternoon. They're probably already hardened off to UV, if not the wind. Can't see it in the new growth but the cotyledons had sun burn marks as well as some pigmentation.

So the bottom line is they'll probably stay where they are--and it's still just too cold and windy for reliable germination. Anybody else out there want to complain about the crummy spring/early summer weather this year?

cruzzfish said:
Most unreliable seed sources give habaneros as the double, I wouldn't be too worried.

More habs, well that wouldn't be bad. Thanks for the reassurance!

LS929 said:
I've done the same thing. Definitely listen to everyone who said to start them outdoors!! Just look at my Glog to see why!

I'm heading over right now!

Runescape · Jun 24, 2014

plaisir8 said:
I've been harassed for a few months by an unknown neighbour for the lights in my apartment. He even got the cops to come by (they just said it was for an old man complaining about the light in his eyes

What a dick! Plants are lookin decent...

lucilanga · Jun 24, 2014

plaisir8 said:
For the habs I'm sure because I got them from pods at Auchan (provenance la reunion). Got these particular bhut seeds from this guy I met while contacting some AMAPs (for anyone who isn't familiar w/ the French term, AMAP = CSA). Part of his bid to woo me to join their buyer group, but as he himself wasn't a grower + the fact that the French would call a bell pepper hot leaves a little doubt in my mind.

So has the weather been holding up in your neighbourhood? Are you in upper or lower Normandy? I've been to Rouen once. Passed by Le Havre and Caen on the way to St Malo. I was under the vague impression that it's wet, windy, and well sort of "fresh."

I seriously would like to consider that "shut down all my lights" part--I've been harassed for a few months by an unknown neighbour for the lights in my apartment. He even got the cops to come by (they just said it was for an old man complaining about the light in his eyes, but I get the feeling that he had planted other suspicions in their minds).

Hmm, habs at Auchan you say, huh ...
By any chance,is it possible the package resembles something like this:

On the weather part, lower Normandy, but that's the same for the entire Normandy, might be entire northern area,
for two stinking years it has been exactly like you describe, wet .. too damn wet, windy, even cold I would say.
Starting this year I've seen winds that torn tick branches from the trees, shingles were flown from the roofs like pieces of paper.
You could barely walk on the streets.. holding your breath or watching something falling on your head.
Then it got warmer .. and warmer, winds were almost gone (a day or two to remind us this is still a windy area

Now it's really hot here.
It's been like that since March-April.

Laughing about the lights. I had overwinters on a south facing room, 2 windows, plenty of light, however I had a lot of plants to overwinter, so I've supplemented the sun with a couple of CFLs, 12 by 12 schedule (if I remember correctly). Lights went on at 8 and went down at 20. Both windows facing the streets, lights switching on/off deadly accurate. Nobody cared. I even had sticky tapes hanging from the curtain holder for fungal gnats, lots of them (4 per window). Let a lone a guy that doesn't look like your average horticulturist, inspecting pots and all that jazz. The whole place had "growing bud" all over it. Eh, nobody cares. I think this might be the best place for bud production

plaisir8 · Jun 26, 2014

Runescape said:
What a dick! Plants are lookin decent...

Thanks! I'll put up some more pics once they grow a bit.
Exactly what I would call him! This guy says he lives in the building that's at an angle and some 60 m off. Can't imagine how he can be bothered more by my lights than the full sun he gets from dawn to noon. Even claimed to have been to the ophthalmologist's. But then he either gave me a fake name or he doesn't live there at all, couldn't find his name on any of the mail boxes...

lucilanga said:
Hmm, habs at Auchan you say, huh ...
By any chance,is it possible the package resembles something like this:

for two stinking years it has been exactly like you describe, wet .. too damn wet, windy, even cold I would say.
Starting this year I've seen winds that torn tick branches from the trees, shingles were flown from the roofs like pieces of paper.
Now it's really hot here.
It's been like that since March-April.

Let a lone a guy that doesn't look like your average horticulturist, inspecting pots and all that jazz.

Uh, well, at least the big retailers are subject to labelling rules. Although the recent 700 g of zucchini in a 1 kg net deal at Casino puts that in bad light. They sell them bulk at the local Auchan, thinking it's due to more demand (I live in a neighbourhood with diversity). Probably sourced from the same place though. Anyway, confirmation of form, scent, taste, and heat from fresh fruit--or I've been totally duped.

Yeah, the weather has been really ugly in IDF for the last 2 years as well. I don't appreciate trading warm winters for cold springs (mosquitos are one main reason). Shingles flying around? That sounds dangerous.
Glad to hear the thermometer's holding there. We got a short heat spell in late March, but the temperatures went back down. The heat wave must have moved on to Normandy and just stayed there, lol.

Ha! That kind of tolerance, must be the coastal buzz or something. You think the jazz encourages pod growth?

lucilanga · Jul 2, 2014

Oh right right!
, I remember now habs were sold on bulk too.
They were a bit different from the packaged ones.
Packaged ones were red dominica habanero variety, decent heat and somewhat smaller if I remember correctly.
They were bit pricey 3-4 euros for 70g, that makes over a 40 bucks per kilo!
Unfortunately I do not remember how much for the ones old on bulk, probably much cheaper

If memory serves right the heat on bulk habs was quite inconsistent. It probably varies with the time of buying..

Anyway, how's weather now on IDF?
I do not want to complain, but it's been a bit too hot over here, enough to upset some plants.
And yes, the damn wind is back. Not enough hurt anybody, but yeah it's definitely back.

plaisir8 said:
You think the jazz encourages pod growth?

No, of course not! It just makes them hotter.

plaisir8 · Jul 7, 2014

plaisir8 said:
^--Green tea sprouting in the extra space. Surprised as this came up in exactly one week: the seeds I obtained were fresh however.

So now that it put on true leaves, it has revealed its true identity as a mutant capsicum with 3 cotyledons and fuzzy stem at emergence.

On the other hand, this is the real tea plant seedling:

not even remotely similar, lol.

lucilanga said:
They were bit pricey 3-4 euros for 70g, that makes over a 40 bucks per kilo!
Unfortunately I do not remember how much for the ones old on bulk, probably much cheaper
If memory serves right the heat on bulk habs was quite inconsistent. It probably varies with the time of buying..

Woah, that's expensive.
The bulk is much more reasonable, bought a few pods the other day to cook with at 6.95€/kg. Not too bad.
But you're definitely right about the inconsistency. Lots of variance in heat, shape and size. And the last batch was from Morocco, didn't know they grew habs there.

The weather's started heating up here, much to the delight of my plants. I'm seeing maybe 15-20 new fruit each setting on my cayennes. The habs, well, they're supposed to be slow. 6 weeks on and 3-5 sets of leaves is a good pace of growth, I should think.

lucilanga · Jul 7, 2014

plaisir8 said:
And the last batch was from Morocco, didn't know they grew habs there.

Hmm, I remember some time ago there was little vegetable shop that sold Morocco peppers here (piment vert/rouge du maroc ou piment marocaine).
Naturally I asked the guy about getting habs or even cayennes. He laugh at me like "Have you lost it man!" lol
Do you think it's possible he took that seriously ?

Glad about the weather starting up there, I'm sure it brings delight on you too. Good weather has always made me feel good... well .. up until the last week.
One or two days at 30+ degrees and we would had drought here in Normandy, if that's even remotely possible.

Err, what do you meant by flower beds ?

plaisir8 · Jul 8, 2014

lucilanga said:
Hmm, I remember some time ago there was little vegetable shop that sold Morocco peppers here (piment vert/rouge du maroc ou piment marocaine).
Naturally I asked the guy about getting habs or even cayennes. He laugh at me like "Have you lost it man!" lol
Do you think it's possible he took that seriously ?

Glad about the weather starting up there, I'm sure it brings delight on you too. Good weather has always made me feel good... well .. up until the last week.
One or two days at 30+ degrees and we would had drought here in Normandy, if that's even remotely possible.

Err, what do you meant by flower beds ?

Yeah, I never really liked those Moroccan peppers, although glad to have them in my food when travelling.
The people there seemed quite entrepreneurial and hard working. Wouldn't be surprised if word of mouth turned into something real.

Need to take back that comment on the weather. The clouds and the rain are back and the weather forecast is discouraging.
Can't imagine how people in London or Seattle take it.

Flower beds? Oh, oh, that. There's a lot of common space on the lot with roses and stuff. The syndicat pays to rotate the flowers by season, but apart from that they don't really take care of it. There's a lot of bare ground that eventually gets colonized by weeds and they only tear them out once in early spring.

lucilanga · Jul 8, 2014

plaisir8 said:
Flower beds? Oh, oh, that. There's a lot of common space on the lot with roses and stuff. The syndicat pays to rotate the flowers by season, but apart from that they don't really take care of it. There's a lot of bare ground that eventually gets colonized by weeds and they only tear them out once in early spring.

Yes! I thought you meant those. That's a great idea, those spaces are perfect!
However, you still have to worry about people passing by and city's gardeners.
I say this because I just saw them rotate or whatever they did to a bed not a month ago, I do not think you would like them to pop up your reapers in August

As for the people, I'm sure most of them won't ever notice them or afraid of even touch them.

As a matter of a fact, one guy here does exactly that. There is a bed in front of his house, a large bed (10-15m). He grew tomatoes last season, cucumbers and other vegetables too I do not remember exactly what.
That bed was really really well organised it was a delight just to look at it.
That guy probably was an old professional gardener or something.
Well, I never hang on there afraid of being chased by a old timer with a rake

So if you contemplate doing it, definitely go for it!

PS. I'll grab a shot next time I pass there

I have no idea what that guy grows this year.

plaisir8 · Jul 11, 2014

lucilanga said:
I say this because I just saw them rotate or whatever they did to a bed not a month ago, I do not think you would like them to pop up your reapers in August

As a matter of a fact, one guy here does exactly that. There is a bed iAhn front of his house, a large bed (10-15m). He grew tomatoes last season, cucumbers and other vegetables too I do not remember exactly what.

Argh, that would be heart breaking, to have a year's harvest torn out.

So I went out last night and transplanted some of the runt habs that I didn't have any pots for. They're pretty close to my place and it's on the way home from work so I can probably monitor how they're doing. Noticed that the soil quality is very poor though...and severely compacted. On the other hand, they should get good light.

Well, they're out on their own now.

Take some pics the next time you pass by the old man's garden! Maybe I could get some inspiration.

LS929 · Jul 11, 2014

Plaisir8,

Sir, I do believe you shall have a better grow then I right now. I wish your plants the best!

lucilanga · Sep 11, 2014

Bump,
what's up with those habs?
And how was the weather on you my friend ?
We had our share of rain last month but we're currently enjoying full September sun.
Nothing is flowering, but the hungarians and manzanos, still though, the plants are thriving.

PS. Oh! that old timer's lot we were talking about, I happen to pass there daily since the school has begun and let me tell you there's no joy in doing that.
I believe city workers got to him, or perhaps he just got bored or something like that.
There are no vegetables left in there, just that green fence that everybody has in front of their house and random weeds.