Lespaulde 2019 Season

PaulG · Mar 13, 2019

I don't know much about DWC, so will
be interested in what you do with them.

Ohhhh.

lespaulde · Mar 18, 2019

Weeks are flying by, and I'm simply so excited for spring to finally arrive - gotta remain patient though, as the earliest these plants will be able to go out is a month, and probably more like a month and a half but I suppose a little excitement never hurt anybody... [emoji23]

Finally potted up the overwintered BOC and Numex Orange Spice, which are now in 12L containers before planting them into 60L fabric pots upon plant out. Roots weren't as solid as I had hoped, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed some extra breathing room will kick them into high gear again.

Also potted up the Aji Mango and Aji Pineapple into their 8.5L autopot, so hopefully they like to wriggle their toes a bit too. I've also switched all potted plants back onto the Hesi Coco I had left over from last year, and keeping the hydro nutes for the hydro plants only.

Speaking of Hydro, I think the DWC conversion is appreciated by the gals, and especially the chocolate Bhut is really growing massive and even starting to bud:

The Aji Mango is also shooting out side growth, so am curious to watch it develop:

The contest Sri Lanka Chili Red is also trucking along, and will be potted up to a 15L autopot setup I just received this week in 2 weeks or so:

Full tent overview (as most plants are now outside the tent on a south facing window sill):

And lastly, it seems the extra leg room is paying off for the Lemon Starrburst and Foodarama Scotch Bonnet; just look at the growth over the past 3 days (left pic today, right pic 3 days ago):

Thanks for stopping by and happy Monday everybody [emoji3]

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Devv · Mar 18, 2019

Nice work!

And you're using technologies I know nothing about

I'm still a flouro/dirt guy

CaneDog · Mar 18, 2019

lespaulde said:
The plant under the light is a Bhut Jolokia Purple that's been overwintered and will hopefully start taking off again soon. It was more a showcase plant at the time, but the pods are tasty!

Yeah, well I missed commenting on it at the time - was in a hurry I guess - but +1 to GPR's comment on what a great looking plant your BJP is - no wonder it has that whole fancy light to itself!

The contrast between the pods to the foliage looks really sharp. Hoping we'll get to see more pics of it over the course of the season.

CaneDog · Mar 18, 2019

Great update as usual. Your plants are all looking happy and the leaves on that Chocolate Bhut are massive. Spring can't come soon enough!

lespaulde · Mar 19, 2019

CaneDog said:
Yeah, well I missed commenting on it at the time - was in a hurry I guess - but +1 to GPR's comment on what a great looking plant your BJP is - no wonder it has that whole fancy light to itself! The contrast between the pods to the foliage looks really sharp. Hoping we'll get to see more pics of it over the course of the season.

Haha thanks, it's been idling quite nicely on a southern window sill over the winter, so it hasn't seen the light for quite a while now... [emoji28] I can see it's starting to kick back into gear with the added daylight we have now, so I'm still considering whether I keep it a living room plant (took long enough to convince the missus to let me have ONE plant there [emoji6]), or whether it should go in a 60L fabric pot and get massive. It's pretty with the purplish leaves and purple, then green, then red fruits, so it does make for a great ornamental. Pods are just that little less brutal than a normal Bhut, and thus very enjoyable to eat.

But agree CD, spring really can't come early enough! [emoji41]

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lespaulde · Mar 26, 2019

Just a quick update to show what difference 5 days makes:

Top picture - today vs. bottom picture - 5 days ago.

I will try and get some better pictures of the individual DWC plants tomorrow, but they have really taken off and are filling up my tent faster than I can keep up with! [emoji16]

Also, got approval from by better half to get a (small) greenhouse, so we are go on taking this hobby (/ nerding) to another level! :dance:

This has also raised many questions in terms of how people are insulating. I'm currently considering laying down ~4" styrofoam plates at the bottom to insulate from the earth beneath, but am also gathering that the proper way to do it is to actually insulate the earth in the footprint of the greenhouse from the surrounding earth, so you can avoid it freezing. This is of course a lot more work and am just curious whether people in the less modest climates here have some experience to chime in with?

I wouldn't say I'm looking for a year-round grow, but if I could extend, say, to early April until late October (i.e. no serious extended frosts), I'd be a happy camper. [emoji4]

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lespaulde · Mar 27, 2019

So regarding the greenhouse, I'd really be curious to hear what e.g. you good sir PaulG have done with your foundation, given that you are also fighting the winter and long wait for the summer. Chilidude (whom I haven't heard from since Jan, hope he is alright) also has a greenhouse, and it being in Finland, I'm sure there was some thought put into insulating the foundation. I now found out what I was eluding to in my previous post was called the "Swedish skirt" (I know, my thoughts also first went elsewhere...

) and looks a little like this:

The insulation can also be put vertically, and should go down 60cm/24" to approx. frost-free depth. As it is a lot of manual digging though, I would love to hear if anyone has some concrete experience with how much of a difference this has on the night time temperature in the greenhouse during spring and autumn? To me it makes sense that if you can use all that dirt underneath the greenhouse as a heat reservoir, it should in principle have a really good effect.

The tent has been tidied up again due to potting up more plants, and only a few remain. On the left you can see the SL Chili Red in its final home, and see the size difference between the 15L and 8.5L autopots (on the right):

Two of the DWC plants had to move out (Aji Mango and Aji Lemon from left to right), and hopefully will thrive in the increasing sun:

Lastly, imho, then prettiest plant I own is the Chocolate Ghost, and I can't believe it's only 2 months old. It started flowering quite nicely so let's see when some fruit sets. It remains in the tent and will likely do so even over the summer. Interestingly, it seems like the canopy is experiencing some light burn, but that goes away nicely as soon as you raise the lights. As a seedling, I therefore was mislead to believe it had a purple pheno... [emoji38]

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karoo · Mar 27, 2019

All beautiful plants , especially that Choc Ghost.

lespaulde · Mar 28, 2019

karoo said:
All beautiful plants , especially that Choc Ghost.

Thanks Jacques! The DWC method is certainly intriguing me - compared to my plants in coco, there's simply no comparison. Looking forward to playing around a bit with putting a few of them in even larger containers and having them as Kratky in the greenhouse over the summer. Looking at Skullbiker's insane results last year, I'm definitely keen on trying. That choc ghost will remain my 'de-stresser' at work though, except when it comes to eating the pods I'm sure...

internationalfish · Mar 28, 2019

So jealous of that greenery. Really interesting sketch for that greenhouse setup, too.

skullbiker · Mar 28, 2019

lespaulde said:
Thanks Jacques! The DWC method is certainly intriguing me - compared to my plants in coco, there's simply no comparison. Looking forward to playing around a bit with putting a few of them in even larger containers and having them as Kratky in the greenhouse over the summer. Looking at Skullbiker's insane results last year, I'm definitely keen on trying. That choc ghost will remain my 'de-stresser' at work though, except when it comes to eating the pods I'm sure...

KRATKY RULES[emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

Ghost Pepper Revolution · Mar 28, 2019

lespaulde said:
So regarding the greenhouse, I'd really be curious to hear what e.g. you good sir PaulG have done with your foundation, given that you are also fighting the winter and long wait for the summer. Chilidude (whom I haven't heard from since Jan, hope he is alright) also has a greenhouse, and it being in Finland, I'm sure there was some thought put into insulating the foundation. I now found out what I was eluding to in my previous post was called the "Swedish skirt" (I know, my thoughts also first went elsewhere... ) and looks a little like this:

The insulation can also be put vertically, and should go down 60cm/24" to approx. frost-free depth. As it is a lot of manual digging though, I would love to hear if anyone has some concrete experience with how much of a difference this has on the night time temperature in the greenhouse during spring and autumn? To me it makes sense that if you can use all that dirt underneath the greenhouse as a heat reservoir, it should in principle have a really good effect.

The tent has been tidied up again due to potting up more plants, and only a few remain. On the left you can see the SL Chili Red in its final home, and see the size difference between the 15L and 8.5L autopots (on the right):

Two of the DWC plants had to move out (Aji Mango and Aji Lemon from left to right), and hopefully will thrive in the increasing sun:

Lastly, imho, then prettiest plant I own is the Chocolate Ghost, and I can't believe it's only 2 months old. It started flowering quite nicely so let's see when some fruit sets. It remains in the tent and will likely do so even over the summer. Interestingly, it seems like the canopy is experiencing some light burn, but that goes away nicely as soon as you raise the lights. As a seedling, I therefore was mislead to believe it had a purple pheno... [emoji38]

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Those are some big bhutiful plants

lespaulde · Apr 11, 2019

Ghost Pepper Revolution said:
Those are some big bhutiful plants [emoji317]

Ha, that comment made me laugh! Unfortunately though, as I was away for business for a week, disaster struck the Bhut Chocolate plant, as it dried out despite me refilling it just before leaving, and even turning down the light cycle in the tent to only 12hrs... [emoji24] I'm so annoyed as the plant was doing so well and even started setting some fruit, but I guess this is a lesson to learn the hard way, and I'm glad the plant was more of an experiment rather than one I was banking on for heavy production. Perhaps it could have been saved still, but when I cut it out, the inside of the stems was also already dry, so I kinda doubt it - probably should have been home 2 days ago in order for it to have made it.

The roots definitely filled out the bucket:

And look at that stem, not bad for a 2.5 months old plant:

Instead, I will focus on the Lemon Starrburst that's been in Kratky until now, and convert it to DWC and make that the sole plant in the tent after everything else moves outside in a few weeks.

The rest of the plants are doing fine (yay for soil!

), and I even have the first fruits of the season on the Biker Bill:

The Aji Pineapple and Sugar rush peach:

The other DWC plants and the jalapeños:

The soil Lemon Starrburst (back) and Foodorama SB (front), with the backup Numex Orange in rockwool, and the backup Lemon S. in the 1L pot:

And finally, overview shot of the tent, with now lots of space since the sad departure of the Bhut Chocolate:

Last but not least, the greenhouse is progressing, albeit it a bit slowly, but soon will have all the styrofoam boards in the ground, then I can cement in the foundation and get cracking on the actual build - quite a lot of digging but I'm counting on it being worth the effort:

Now I'm gonna hold 1 min of silence for the Bhut, may it R.I.P. [emoji28]

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lespaulde · Apr 12, 2019

Conversion of the KSLSB to DWC is now complete, so I'm excited to watch it take off over the next few weeks. It took a little while to get going, but has been showing good signs of progress lately so let's where it'll end.

Top view:

Root system while on Kratky:

And its final home:

The Aji Lemon is throwing flowers like there's no tomorrow (and seeing my Bhut Chocolate disaster, there may not be

), so I've had to tie up the plant to make sure it doesn't fall over. Hopefully some fruit will set soon:

The Biker Bill's in the autopot is also been desperately trying to flower, and I've decided it's big enough to finally let it start going and thus stopped picking the buds. I'm hoping all the plants can go in the greenhouse in 2-3 weeks, assuming I've finished building it by then...

Aiming to get the foundation finished up this weekend, let the cement harden for a few days, and then start building for real over Easter. Let's see how it all goes, I'm excited!

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Devv · Apr 12, 2019

So sorry about your favorite plant, I lost one last year that I was sure was going to be killer.

Congrats on the green house! I love such projects, they keep me young

I'll be watching your progress..

The rest of your babies look great!

CaneDog · Apr 12, 2019

Yeah, bummer about the c bhut, but so many other things are looking great right now. And glad to see the effort you're putting into the greenhouse foundation. You won't regret that and it's it's really going to pay off for you!

lespaulde · Apr 13, 2019

Thanks guys! Yes, a bummer for sure, and I guess the hard way to learn to have enough nutes in the bucket when traveling, or to set up a float-valve kinda system. I'll see if I start it up again this season, or whether it'll be a 2020 kinda plant.

And thanks for the moral support; each side takes about 1hr of intense digging, cutting up a few large roots here and there and manually picking out some larger rocks which get in the way, but I'm also counting on it making a difference. We'll find out in the fall I suppose, and can see I would really need all the heat I can get next season, as we've had a few freezing nights this past week which would have killed the plants had they been in a totally unheated greenhouse. Day time temps are awesome, but the nights stay cold (<10C/50F) until about mid-May usually.

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Ghost Pepper Revolution · Apr 13, 2019

lespaulde said:
Thanks guys! Yes, a bummer for sure, and I guess the hard way to learn to have enough nutes in the bucket when traveling, or to set up a float-valve kinda system. I'll see if I start it up again this season, or whether it'll be a 2020 kinda plant.

And thanks for the moral support; each side takes about 1hr of intense digging, cutting up a few large roots here and there and manually picking out some larger rocks which get in the way, but I'm also counting on it making a difference. We'll find out in the fall I suppose, and can see I would really need all the heat I can get next season, as we've had a few freezing nights this past week which would have killed the plants had they been in a totally unheated greenhouse. Day time temps are awesome, but the nights stay cold (<10C/50F) until about mid-May usually.

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You removed and discarded it already? Id have filled it with nute solution and waited a week, Ive had them come back from the brink like that

lespaulde · Apr 13, 2019

Ghost Pepper Revolution said:
You removed and discarded it already? Id have filled it with nute solution and waited a week, Ive had them come back from the brink like that [emoji51]

Yeah, perhaps I jumped the gun a little bit with discarding it, but as most of the leafs already turned crispy, I didn't really have much faith... Had I been ultra keen on the pods, I for sure would've given it another chance, but also seeing how dry and hardened the roots had turned, I gave it maybe a 10% chance of surviving. With the O/W BOC still in play this season, I didn't really need another superhot.

Thanks for the tip though, as I will keep it in mind next time disaster strikes - always good knowing how stubborn these pepper plants can be!

On another note, finished the foundation today so this week the actual build of the greenhouse itself can start:

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